We left our house around 6:15 with four bags weighing close to 50 lbs each plus our carryons. There wasn't too much traffic, so we arrived at LAX in a little over an hour. Thanks, Jon, for driving us. 

The airport was eerily empty. We walked straight up to the self-check in counter and then the interesting stuff started happening. The machine had questions for Kim and me, so an agent had to come help us. Since we are flying through Ethiopia she asked if we had a Visa. What? We don't need a Visa for Malawi. Then she realized that was only if we were staying in Ethiopia. Then we continued to check our bags and sure enough the machine was ready to charge us $100 for each of our extra bags, for a total of $200. I explained to the agent that since we purchased tickets through Ethiopia Air and are going through to Malawi, United always honors the 2 bags for the international flights. The agent said she'd need to get a manager or see my documentation. I had no documentation, but showed her our tickets that showed us flying to Lilongwe. Jon, Kim and I all explained to her that 8 members of our church took 17 bags for free just a few months ago. She said, "Okay, she'd override the system but she made it clear she wasn't supposed to do this." So, for the first time in all of our church's Y-Malawi trips, we had momentary problems with our bags. But in the end we got checked in and didn't have to pay for the bags of goodies we are taking to Malawi. We got to our gate at 8:00 pm. Now to wait 2+ hours until we board the plane.

Thanks everyone for your prayers.