The Long Jounrney

Sorry that this is so long, you dont have to read it all if you dont want to.
I know that you all have been waiting to hear all about our trip here, well here it is.
It all started on Monday Janurary 23. When we were loading up the suitcases, we figured out that we had 32 instead of 30, and we decided that we were going to fix it later. We 8 Blackwoods set out for Layafette in four different veheciles all full of stuff. I was with my Dad in the moving van, Tamara was in the mini van with my mom, Charity was in the Buick with Allen, and Benjamin and Zachary were in the Big van. We went to the Nelsons first to drop off a piano. At around 11:30 we got to the Larsons. We brount all of our suitcases in, then went to sleep. At around 4:30 am, my Dad realized that he had left our paseports back in Indianapolis. He got up and drove back to get them. He got back home around 7:30am, which was when we all woke up. We started condensing suitcases. We tried and tried, but we ended up with 31. My Dad left with Allen and Benjamin in the moving van. The rest of us packed up the big van with our suitcases. We left the buick and the mini van in Layafette, then headed off in the big van. We met my dad, Allen, and Benji at a Pensky drop off place where we dropped of our shipping crate. When the crate was pulled out, we saw that we had left some stuff that was supposed to be for the Saunders in the moving truck instead of in Layafette. We tried to stuff as much stuff as we could into the big van along with our 31 suitcases, and all 8 of us. We got some of it in, but some of it we had to throw away in a dumpster. We all stuffed ourselvs in, and drove to the train station. We unloaded everything, and then we put lugage straps on everything, and name tages. We then went to the cafateria, and ate our last meal with the boys. After lunch we went down to the train station lounge, and talked to the boys, and took a few picture, and cried...a lot. We said our goodbyes. It was the saddest goodbye that I have every had to say. The boys couldnt come past the train gate, so we had to leave them at the gate, and when we were trying to say goodbye a lady was yelling at us that we were going to miss our train. We boared the train. Charity and I shared a room, Benji and Tamara shared a room, and my parents shared a room. The train was delayed, so we were on the train a 1/2 an hour before it moved. Charity and I read all of our notes from people before we even left the station. My mom said that she felt like we were in a movie, but instead of the parents watching the children leave on a train, the parents were leaving their kids. Charity were listening to the song that Andrew Doerr wrote for us, and it was almost like the background music in a movie. We sat in our room being sad for a while, then we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory untill dinner. Charity and I then listened to Odysseys, did our Quiet Times, then went to bed. The next day we were in the mountians most of the day. Tamara and Benji played on the train, and made some new friends. Charity and I stayed in our room and wrote letters to people, and listened to Odysseys. We did stop once, and we all got off the train and walked around, and then got ice cream. Charity and I stayed in our rooms the rest of the day except to eat and take showers (it was a very scary experience to be knocked around while taking a shower). Then we went to bed. The third day on the train. At breakfast, the stewards and stewardesses sang happy birthday to benjamin, and the brought him a peice of cheesecake with a glowstick in it. After breakfast we all packed up, and we waited around for a while till we made it to LA. We arrived at Union Station, and we put all of our luguage in a storage room, and headed out to see the sights. We rode the metro to the LA library where we all got on the computer, and my dad printed out our plane tickets. We then rode the metro to China town where we looked around, then we ate lunch. We then rode the metro to a stop called Allen LA, and we took some pictures of us by the sign. We then rode the metro back to Union Station. Then we moved all of our lugage out to the shuttle bus that was going to take us to the airport. We stuffed the van full of all of us and our suitcases and went to the airport. When we got there we had to repack our suitcases to get rid of one, and to make our carryons from the train weigh less, but our checked could weigh more, so we finally figured it all out. After we brought all of our suitcases through security, we ate dinner with the Elders and Fishers. After dinner, we wernt through security, then we got on the plane. It was my first plane ride since I was three months old, so it was pretty exciting. Charity and I listened to Odysseys then fell asleep. Sometime on Janurary 27th I woke up, and said happy birthday to benjamin who was asleep, then fell back asleep myself. When we woke up again, the served us breakfast. They anounced Benjamins birthday over the speakers, and gave him some toys for a birthday present. A while later when the sun was just begining to rise, we landed in New Zeland. We got freshened up, and then waited for 1/2 an hour to board. When the anounced that small children could get on, my dad told benji to ask a lady if he was a young child. She said yes, so we got on early. It was a four hour flight. They fed us another breakfast. Charity and I listened to Odysseys for most of it. We finally, after a week of traveling, landed in Australia. We went through security, then went to the baggage claim. We all got carts, and stuffed them full of our suitcases. We had 6 carts full, so we all grabed a cart and pushed through security. When we finally got through, we found most of the church waiting for us with signs that said Blackwood, and Fishers. Everyone was so welcoming. We got hugs from everyone,, then we headed off to our new house. We were finally in Australia.
Quote of the post: "We dont have a home or a time zone"
-Charity said this on the train while we were going in and out of time zones.
Verse of the post: Have I not commanded you be strong and corageous do not be terrified do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua1:9
-this verse was very encouraging to me for the whole move