Sunday April 23, 2017

In the meantime, I am posting all three of her letters that we received and ranting about New Zealand customs!  They don’t allow ANY animal products to be sent into their country (which I DID NOT know and no one at the UPS store told me), so because I put beef jerky in her box that she was supposed to receive between kayaking and sailing, is STILL in customs – or maybe it’s on it’s way back here.  I don’t really know, but they wanted to charge $90 to take the beef jerky out and needed approval from HER.  Since she was in the field and they couldn’t get ahold of her. It just sat, unbeknownst to me.  With six handwritten letters from us and a bunch of treats, sunscreen and easter stuff.  She could have cared less about anything but the letters and it genuinely broke my heart that she was so sad not receiving anything from us for SIX weeks.  Also, I’ll rant a tiny bit about UNITED airlines.  As if the rest of the country doesn’t hate them enough and this is probably why they hate them….they CANCELLED her connecting flight from San Francisco to Salt Lake City and offered to fly her the next afternoon with no reimbursement or overnight accommodations.  Seriously?? I booked her a flight the same night on Alaska, so while she was four hours delayed she made it home safe and sound. It only took her 25 hours to get home.  

she did not get mail from us…I swore (in my car) more than I think I ever have in one long raging fit and then shaking, I cried all the way to Provo (to have Master D help me with my Easter lesson video, which didn’t work out that day either – he did fix it for me before Easter. Phew!) knowing she didn’t get our mail. That was a BAD day! But my final letter made it when she finished.  Thank heavens!  TT thought it was necessary to bring Halle to greet Lelu at the airport, so he and Ari gave her a bath and she stunk up the car like wet dogs do. And the only reason I agreed to let them bring the dog was because we did have a huge group of family and friends planning to be at the airport when she landed but because of the delay – it was just the few of us.  Me, Ari and TT colored her a welcome home sign.  Ari drew the sunflower and the New Zealand flag and I wrote the sort-of-inappropriate-but-so-appropriate words and then we all colored it.  Coming up soon…Lelu will add photos and write her own blog – as this experience was life-changing to say the least.