We are here! We are here!

To quote all the "Whos" down in "Whoville" ("The Grinch That Stole Christmas").... "We are here, we are here, we are here, we are heeeerrrrrrre!"

I must admit, it all felt like a dream. And it was late enough to be one!

After a pretty eventful trip, we arrived at the airport gate in our destination city at the correct time (11 p.m.) but a whole day later than scheduled.

Bad weather in the "windy city" forced us to stay overnight. But after two cancelled flights, we were able to get back on track. All's well that ends well.

A "welcome service" greeted us at the airport gate as we de-planed and drove us through the airport on their speedy cart. Daniel was impressed. The welcome service whisked us to the front of the customs line like we were VIPs and then on to baggage claim.

As I was standing there with my family watching all but two of our trunks and suitcases unloaded off the conveyor belt (the other two arrived two days later!) that's when it all hit me.

I was overwhelmed with God's faithfulness to finish what He starts. This moment was the culmination of a year long process when we first began to sense "the call" to come to this great city. All praise and honor to our great King!

We were greeted by a team of people waiting for us outside the airport. That too was overwhelming. Our team took care of loading all of our bags and drove us straight to our apartment that they had fully furnished for us. What a blessing. All we had to do that first night was to lay our weary heads on our pillows and sleep...and sleep...and sleep some more.

We have done a lot of sleeping in our first 5 full days on the field but our bodies are slowly but surely getting over the jet lag. In spite of catching up on our rest, we have also managed to obtain cell phones and drivers licenses. We have ventured out into the crowded traffic of our city a few times and have stocked up on groceries. Our vehicle, a 6 passenger, standard shift Galloper with 109,000 km is doing just fine.

We have also visited a couple of schools and seem to be leaning towards an all girls school. We took a tour a couple of days ago and our daughters took placement tests yesterday. They really, really like this school and the faculty they have met. Our whole family seems to be at peace with it. Plus, it is only a 15 minute drive from our apartment!

The Burns Bunch seems to be adapting to the new time zone and busy city life. Tomorrow, we will travel to another city to visit and go to church with some friends. We have had a few "orientation" type meetings and dinners with two different team member families. As I mentioned earlier, the team we will be working with has done a super job of making us feel welcome.

It is great to finally be "here".