Learning to fly and the beauty of Belgium!

Saturday, the day I learned to fly. Yes, I'm using a play on words. Not only did I fly on a plane but my heart flew as well. Through the tears of departure from my family my heart soared with mixed emotions I didn't know how to deal with. There I was, a 17 year old, sitting on a plane next to people I didn't know, flying to places I'd never been and for the first time in my life not having immediate contact with any of my family or friends. All of these things were heart wrenching, and I cried a lot of tears that day. But among the tears there was joy. There I was, a 17 year old, going to new places, meeting new friends, having the pleasure to hang out with their awesome kids, hearing God whisper "This is it. This is the first real day of the rest of your future. This is what I've planned for you daughter. This is where you belong." seeing stunning views that have taken my breath away, experienced several different cultures within a matter of 24 hours and finally feeling like I no longer need to just dream my dream but I need to start living it! Saturday was a big day for me, a day that will forever be etched into my mind as "the first day of the rest of my life!" Saturday's flights all went tremendously well and I met up with the wonderful Baskin family in Newark, NJ later that night. We then flew from NJ to Brussels, Belgium. The original plan, as some of you may have known, was to then meet up with the Willis family and take a flight from Belgium to Burundi. To put you at ease we did meet up with the Willis family, but we did not depart for Burundi. Our flight was cancelled because of birds, yes, birds. Saturday the plane we were supposed to fly in to Burundi hit a flock of birds and one of the engines was ruined. Therefore our flight was moved to tomorrow. The cool thing about this was that we got to explore some of Brussels! As you can see from some of the pictures it is a beautiful place! Even the view from the airplane was breathtaking! I was enchanted the whole evening by this magnificent city's culture, restaurants, architect and of course the many people walking around speaking French! In all honesty I hope to someday return to Belgium so that I can explore more! Just this one city has already captured my heart with its beauty! Tomorrow we take off for Burundi and then go on with the rest of the plan as it was before, except for this time a day later. Please continue to pray for us as we travel and keep in mind especially the children, we have an 8 and 1/2 hour flight and the time change is doing a number on us all! Thank you all so much for everything you have done for my group and I. I'm sorry that this update was so short, I've had a full day of exploring, 6 miles of walking and with only 3 full hours of sleep since Saturday morning! I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did! As they say in Belgium! Bonsoir(Goodnight!)