Praise the Lord, we're here!

Firstly, let me apologize that jet lag may indeed be speaking some but I need to work hard to keep myself awake until at least 8p.m. in order to get on the local time schedule.
We're here! The trip went smoothly without any major hitches, the girls did really well, it is a little hard to believe this trip that we've been talking about doing for so many years has actually begun. We left the AV yesterday Saturday, May 31st and arrived today, the next morning, in Manila just before noon only it is Monday, June 2nd. Caleb and I are both find that really strange. Other things I found strange was this morning for breakfast when the flight attendant asked me if I wanted "an omlete or spicy octopus" just like she would say if she were offering an omlete or pancakes or something. Also, Caleb pointed out as our passports were being stamped, it is weird that Aubrey got to be the first in our family to have her passport stamped.
I'm not sure if all of you have fully experienced a totally different culture and the state of shock a person can find him or herself in when suddenly immersed in said circumstance but there was a bit of that for me today.
But let me start in Los Angeles where we started. LA is pretty familiar. The signs, the hustle and bustle, even though we don't experience it to often it is still our culture. There are things I don't understand about it but for the most part LAX is the image I have of what an airport is like; extremely crowded and full of a variety of cultures. We arrived Saturday a little bit earlier than was required for our international flight and ended up hanging out for three hours before flying out. The great thing about this was that we were not concerned that we would miss our flight and we made friends with another lady with a little nine month old baby.
When we did end up boarding, it was really great because they gave us the front row so we would have plenty of leg room and room for the little ones. We shared one of the four seats in the row with a Chinese women who had a 20 month old with her. The extra room that we had really helped us. We were able to get a baby basinette that attaches into these peg holes in the wall in front of the front row.
The most difficult hour of the all our travel to the Philippines was the next hour but honestly it was no big deal at all. Aubrey just had trouble falling asleep after being kept up so late and so she was awake and a bit wiggly but not really fussy or anything. After awhile she did fall asleep and then even though there were times in the night when she woke up she was very good about sitting still and she never got angry. She fussed a little bit a couple of times but she never screamed. It was certainly an indication that there were many people praying for that little girl. She actually spiked a fever for some of the trip which seems to have been either a slight reaction to immunizations or just from the stress of the travel but now she's fine. And the fever made her feel like cuddling more which is good since it was really the only option she had.
Sophie didn't complain a single time during our whole trip. She really was a real trooper.
I'm going to have to retire now. I can't see straight but I do want to say that our first day here has been great and I will try to write more about it tomorrow.
Good night,
Sleep tight,
and DON'T let the bed bugs bite.
Leah