Flight status - CONFIRMED

Wednesday 8th October was a very exciting night because we booked our tickets!! So there's no turning back now. The money is gone! It was quite a stressful day for me because I made an appointment to go back to the travel agent to see if the flights were still available at the same price she quoted me about 6 weeks ago, only to find out they were not! I was quite upset and didn't really know what to say as the total had risen by over $1000.00. It seemed that we had missed out on the Air New Zealand sale and would now have to fly with someone else at a higher price. She gave me 2 options and I wasn't really impressed with either. "Is that all there is?" I kept saying... "So we have no other options?" "That's all there is" she would say. So I left, thinking that it all sucked and wondered what the hell I was going to do now!! 

But when the kids went to bed that night and I sat down on my computer - I became a very happy young lady! (I am still a young lady aren't I!?) 

I spent a VERY long time searching and finally got some very good results! At first I was happy because I found flights on Air New Zealand for the same price she quoted me with United (Air New Zealand is who we wanted to fly with if possible). Then I became even happier because I found the same flights a few hundred dollars cheaper (just by changing our departure date a few times) and then I was ecstatic when I got the price down by over $1000.00 just by changing our return date (which we will have to change later anyway!) So the price was back down to our original quoted & budgeted price!! Although it was actually even cheaper because I wouldn't have to pay the travel agent fees and credit card surcharge by purchasing them online! I was over the moon!! I did however feel very nervous booking them online because if I stuffed it up I was in BIG trouble!!! 

All went well though - as far as I know - and we are very excited to have our tickets. Not so excited to part with our money but I guess we can always get more of that!!!! 

So FYI.... (for anyone that cares!) 

We are flying from Melbourne to LA via Auckland on the 14th January where we will spend a week with Laura, Mark and new bub in Colorado Springs. We then fly to London arriving on Wednesday 21st Jan, which gives a few days before Mick has to start work on the 26th January. Very exciting! Can't believe how soon it is though! So much to do! I'm really looking forward to seeing Laura though and spending some time with her and Mark and the little boy bub!

I think Lani is quite excited to go too - she obviously doesn't really understand what's going to happen but she knows we are moving to 'England' or 'another place' after Christmas and with all the Christmas stuff out in the shops now I think she has been thinking about it all because the other night she said in her prayers "Please help Christmas to hurry up" and tonight before bed she was very concerned about what we would be doing tomorrow and asked Mick "Can we move tomorrow?" when he told her that we have to wait until after Christmas to move she said "but is Christmas coming soon?" It was quite funny! You forget how much they think about things. 

I was reading a book the other night, written by D. Kelly Ogden, and it was talking about how besides the Saviour and his prophets, little children are our best examples of how to pray. They say just whatever comes into their minds and hearts, and whatever they are thinking of at the time - which is sometimes quite funny - but this is how we should speak to our Heavenly Father - from our hearts instead of getting caught up in standard cliches and vain repetitions. When Lani asked Heavenly Father to help Christmas hurry up, I was reminded of what I read in this book, and that we need to pray about what's on our minds. 

I'm really grateful for the following quote because I think about prayer quite often and what it means to pray...

"Heavenly Father knows what we are grateful for and what we need before we even kneel down. He does not necessarily need to hear it, but we need to say it. We need to express ourselves to him verbally - frequently and regularly. But we should do it from our hearts."

I think that sometimes things are going to happen - whether we pray for them or not, and whether we want them to or not, but when we pour out our hearts in prayer to our Father in Heaven we will be more prepared for them when they do happen.