We made it !!!!!!

It started off quite rough, but we finally completed to weeks in Uruguay and made it to church today.
On our way from Idaho to LAX we had a few problems. Go Go (grandma), the kids and I stopped at Buffalo Bills Friday night to spend the night and ride the Desperado the next morning. My brothers, Adam and Andrew followed behind with our luggage (16 suitcases, 6 carry on and 6 personal items). They decided to stay and hang out with my other brothers and would see us the next day (Saturday) at our meeting point in La Canada (The Ward's house).
Saturday morning we went on the Desperado. The kids were all excitecd to go on the rollercoster(Payton,Rydder,Quinn). Dutch and Lloyer were going on the log ride with GoGo. So as we were standing in the line for the rollercoster, I noticed that i didnt have any pockets for my phone so I told Payton to hold my phone because she had deep pockets and the seat belt would hold it in... so I thought. Well, needless to say the phone flew out. I could not believe it we were distraught. All of my phone numbers of friends and family gone and of course I did not back it up on Verizon. A security officer sent one of the his guys to look for it in this one particular spot where everyones stuff falls out and no luck. Payton suggested we pray so we did and with in five minutes our phone was found. Someone turned it in to the front desk. Miricle 1 for the day.
We arrived at our dear friends the Ward's, who later became Miracle 2. We were all having a great time visiting, attending a BBQ for their relatives Birthdays, doing last laundry, when I get a phone call from my brother Andrew, he said the van was acting up. The blinkers won't work, the lights won't turn on but it is running. We all thought, it's a fuse, should be no problem. WRONG. They stopped in Primm for gas and the van would not start, they got a jump and continued on. Well they barely made it to Baker and the whole thing shut down, no power steering, no power brakes, nothing. Luckily, they were able to roll up right next to a tow place. In the mean time, GoGo borrowed the Ward's old Yukon XL, which Mike, by divine intervention did not sell it to Car Max that morning and decided for some reason (The Driggs) not to. The Boys had the van, with all the luggage towed to Barstow, where GoGo met them. They loaded it all in the Yukon and away they went. They arrived at the Ward's at about 11:00 pm. We left to the airport at 2:30 am. Quite the scare. Thank you so much for all the help guys.
Once at the airport it did not get any easier. I had 4 extra bags and 2 oversized so those went on stand by and cost an extra $800.00. YIKES! Not to mention we each had a carry on and a personal item. Luckily we arrived 3 hours early or else we would have missed our plane. I was so overwhelmed after the check in and then saw the line to security and knew we would never make it, I started to cry. Our stuff kept falling off the carts, it was a mess. This really nice airport worker told me to go up the handicap elevator and enter from there, however it was still a huge line. Out of no where she appeared again, grabbed my stuff and put us right at the x ray machine. I was so embarrassed that we cut all of those people, but so greatful. It was a circus. Finally, we arrived at the gate, take off was in 20 minutes, the same girl that checked me in was there she looked at me horrified and said, "you can't take all that stuff on the plane, it will never fit. You will have to gate check it and it is usually another $50.00 per bag, but I won't charge you, I know you have had a rough morning" Thank you. On the plane, thank heavens. All the kids slept the first leg to San Salvador (5 1/2 hours). We had a lay over there for 1 1/2 hours and switched planes. Then we made our way to Lima, Peru (4 1/2 hours). We had a 2 1/2 hour lay over and switched planes. Finally, we were on our way to Montevideo (4 1/2 hours). We arrived at 4:25 am and all of our luggage made it. Every last piece of it. I couldn't believe it. As I collected all of the luggage with the porter the kids went with an airline worker to get Troy in the waiting area. Apparently, according to Payton and our American friend Aaron who lives in Uruguay also, Quinn saw Troy, dropped her back pack and went running, crying out, "DADDY," he fell to his knees sobbing and they embraced and both cried. It was right out of a movie. We made it!!! Next up.....our first 2 weeks