"Is this why they call it the windy city?"

Greetings from....Chicago!

Yes, that's right, Chicago. It has been a whirlwind of our first 20 hours together. Due to weather in Chicago, we were stuck in Minneapolis much longer than planned. This delay- which included a round of starbucks, card games, and picture taking - caused us to miss our flight to Munich out of Chicago. Unfortunately, due to the time of day, we could not get a flight out last night and were handed a 14 hour layover when we got off the plane. For those of you who remember the 11 hour Munich layover of 2014, know that this seems to be par for the course. As the common denominators, we're trying to figure out if it's Josh or Kate's fault or maybe a combination of the two... ;)

At any rate, this time we had beds to sleep in for the night. No luggage, but beds! Our luggage is not lost but rather will be on the plane with us to Frankfurt (our new connecting point).

Our flight leaves Chicago at 2:15pm today, Tuesday, and we will arrive in Krakow, Poland at 10am Wednesday (Polish time).

All things considered- this team has been rockstars. Spirits are still high (I've already seen plenty of smiles this morning!) and we are looking forward to the day ahead-and more excited than ever to see our Polish friends.

Even throughout our day, God was faithful (because that's who He is!)::

- We caught the last shuttle to the airport after running through the rain. If we had our luggage, we  
would not all been able to fit.
- We are all on the same flight today. This didn't seem like it was going to be the case at first! For those of you who have tried to reroute a group of 12...you know how amazing it is for us to all be together for the duration.
- Being able to laugh and sing the entire way through (I think the people on the shuttle to the hotel at midnight may have not been our biggest fans).
- Conversations we had with people who we encountered on the plane (foreign exchange students continue to have a special place in the heart of Timberwood youth!)
- For those who were anxious about flying, to the point of being sick, had an hour on the runway to calm nerves and ended up having a great flight.

Thank you for your prayers- God is so good. Bóg jest dobry!

That's all for now....

In the words of the 5 year old at the hotel breakfast-

"Sometimes you meet a bad day- and you just gotta make it a good one."