The Waiting Game

Friday, January 5th - Saturday January 6th
After we were released from the airplane we went to find the place where we were to eat lunch. It was very busy so we found a cool section of carpet covered cement and made "beds" to take a nap. There were many other people from our plane also sleeping along the walkway. After a short nap we went up to eat. It was a typical Kenyan buffet and pretty good! Some of our group who hadn't had any Kenyan food on our trip weren't as thrilled. We then went back to "our spot" only to find several other people there. We found a new place to lay down and tried to pass the time playing games. The airlines would not allow us to leave the airport. And at one point I told Jamie "NO ONE can help us but GOD! We were so thankful for all of the phone calls we received. They were a big encouragement to us. We were told from several people that a lot of Christians were praying for us and we could truly feel their prayers. We all felt pretty exhausted though so we dozed off and on. At one point an area with an actual couch opened up and we moved there. I'm not sure which was harder the floor or the "couch". Finally at midnight they called us to go thru security at the gate as our flight would leave "soon". While waiting the Brussels Airlines Representatives took down all of our connecting flight information so they could have everything ready for our connections once we arrived in Brussels. At 5:00am we finally boarded the plane. It only took about 45 minutes to repair the airplane but then they had to take it up for a test flight. I was a little nervous about taking the same plane but felt as if there was no other choice! Thankfully the flight was uneventful. There were several people who had become very angry over the whole ordeal and were passing around a sheet to sign if we wanted to sue. Our group passed it along without signing it as we felt it was wrong to sue and Brussels Airlines were doing the best they could under the circumstances. And most of the choices they made were for our safety. It felt so good to finally land in Brussels! We even had a crazy hope that we would somehow be able to connect to Chicago yet today. Mackenzie had a basketball game tonight and it would be awesome if she were able to make it!