Philippines...Phi-nally Part 2

We boarded the plane bound for Manila and landed within 3-4 hours after Singapore. Since we had our Saturday wiped off the schedule because of the time changes, we landed on a Sunday afternoon. Time travel is exhausting :) Anyway, Stacie decided to stay with the little ones at the hotel because they were O-U-T! Good thing because Maddie, Meredith, and I barely scrunched in to a PACKED house at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It was the biggest church I'd ever seen! The priest looked so tiny that there were TV's on the sides just to be able to see his face and what was going on up front! We made it back to the hotel and crashed. We needed two rooms- boys and girls. Funny thing happened to both of us. The girls' story is funnier-- Stacie woke up and looked at her watch...

Stacie: "12 o'clock!!! Maddie, go wake up Dad we're about to miss our flight (12:55 pm)!"

Maddie (stumbling over luggage trying to reach the door): "Mom, it's dark outside!"

It was only midnight! In their defense, I did the same thing. There were lights just outside of our windows that looked like daylight peeking around the edge of the room-darkening curtains. I stumbled trying to see the time on my watch but opened the curtains first and noticed the darkness. Boom! My head hit the pillow. Next phase of the trip was up as we got in line to board the final plane ride to Cagayan de Oro only to be told that Stacie was not going to be allowed to fly because of the pregnancy. Even though we presented them with a note from the doctor back in Louisiana saying that she was healthy to fly, it was rejected because it wasn't "within the last 7 days". AHHH!!!!! We pleaded our case saying that we just flew over 25 hours and that everything went fine. Still, it was "against their policy". I even used "the Bishop of CDO is waiting on us" thinking I was able to break through just a little bit...NOPE! All this was going on as they were trying to contact the Doc at his office in Louisiana at 11pm. "No answer, Ma'am. You cannot fly." We asked what our options were. They said she would be able to fly only if she was checked out by a doctor nearby. Okay, then. Here were the options:

1. Allow the children to fly to CDO while Stacie, Julian, and I stayed behind at a doctor's office...NOPE!
2. Cancel the entire flight plan and lose all of our money while we ALL visit the doc... NOPE!
3. Beat up the flight crew and take their outfits and try to fly there ourselves...maybe
4. Leave Stacie and Julian behind so that they can get a transfer to another flight after getting to and from the hospital...in a taxi...in one of the biggest cities in the world...and trust God keeps them safe...Okayyy

I ran off to the ATM to get her the taxi fare and hospital fee. For some reason, I felt a calming peace throughout all this even though I knew that my wife gets lost coming out of every Wal-Mart we've ever been to. I got back and all of us decided to turn our prayers up a notch. We started singing what has now become the official Alvarez missionary travel song-- "My God Is Able". (Thanks, Suz, for teaching us that song.) When the manager returned, we told her we'd take option 4. Her eyes got big and she paused for what seemed like forever. Then she said,"You know, it's okay. We will go ahead and let you board but you have to hurry. The plane leaves in a few minutes!" What followed after that were huge sighs of relief and then shouts of praises to our God. "Praise the Lord!" I said loudly. The kids had tears of joy streaming down their faces knowing that "Mom gets to fly with us". We couldn't stop thinking of how GOOD our God really IS and how BIG He is! Another saying we've always repeated after times like this-- "God is rarely early but NEVER late!" We boarded and everyone who had already been seated turned their eyes to stare at this army of 8 coming down the narrow aisle of the plane. All seated and all smiles as we lifted off headed to CDO!
 So, here we are...Phi-nally! Our new mission has begun. We are patiently waiting on our newest member of the Alvarez clan. The due date is November 30th so we appreciate your prayers for a successful delivery and healthy birth of our baby. We plan to stay in Malaybalay with the Romeros (another missionary family from Louisiana). On Tuesday, Lora Eckstine, and her family fly in to join us and the Romeros in mission. Lora will be the midwife assisting Stacie throughout labor so please pray also for the baby to stay put. We thank you all for your love and prayers. The next post should be about the birth...so stay tuned!!!

• "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."--Proverbs 3:5