On Monday morning, we began preparing to leave. We packed our bags and cleaned our room. We were sooo ready to begin our journey home! Our son, Isaiah was feeling better; I was feeling better; and we were anxious to get going. Since our flights were at 8:30pm, we needed to pre-check our bags at the Brussels branch close by. They had to be turned in around 10am. For the 10pm flights, pre-check is by 12pm. We had our bags at the front office 1 hour early. Greg kept checking to see if they had taken them yet, but at around 11am they had not been taken. He asked and the driver said he was about to go. Greg asked if he wanted him to go along with him and he said come on. It was a blessing that he did go, because it just so happened that they couldn't find our son in the computer for the flights. Greg had to check with another person in the building because the computers were different. They were able to print up Isaiah's flight and give it to the Brussels agent. Not to mention that the luggage needed to be adjusted to fit the weight limits. Finally, it all worked out and not too soon as the place got extremely busy very soon with a very long line.
So then as we waited at the Parish for time to go, our driver, Matthew, came to our room and said we will be leaving at 2:30pm to go to the airport. He said that he wanted to stop to get something to eat on the way. Okay. We are all for going early. We will be ready! We are ready at 2:30pm, we say our goodbye's to the staff and to the Stead's (a family that has recently arrived), and to William, our helper from One World Orphanage, we change a diaper blowout real quick, and we hit the road! We take a deep breath and reflect on our trip as we drive down the road. Of course, I pull out the camera once more, sit it on my backpack which is on my lap, and click photos out the window. No one knows that I am taking photos. I am not looking through the viewfinder or at the screen. I am just shooting. Hit or miss. Hehe...I know it sounds sneaky, but it is the only true safe way to get a glimpse of the city for others who will follow. It is priceless to give a picture of what to expect. God gave me some nice photos that really give details and reality. Of course, you cannot smell the stench or feel the dirt, heat, and humidity, but it is as close as it gets.
We pull up to a place that is full of hundreds of people. Our driver gets out and disappears. We sit in the vehicle. People everywhere. Running, walking, staring, talking... We sit. We wait. 10 minutes. Okay. Matthew? Here he comes! Ahhh, we breathe a bit easier. He picked up his food. He gets in the car and we drive to the airport. The airport is about an hour from the Parish. We park at the airport close to 4pm. We sit while Matthew eats his dinner. Chicken I think :) We sit and rest. Isaiah is getting a little fussy, so we pull out the faithful graham crackers. He loves them! Any time! Any place! He ran out of the toddler animal crackers which he had to have 2 of at all times. One for each hand. As soon as one was gone, he had to have another. He fell asleep with one in each hand. He is so precious! What a gift!
Finally, at 5pm, Matthew says he will go wait and sign up for us. Not sure what he is signing up for, but we wait and watch. He stands at the front entrance and waits. He talks a bit to others, but he still waits. At 5:20pm he comes to get us. He says it's time. We follow behind him. He speaks to a security guard and follows him. He motions for us to follow behind him. We enter without being searched. He takes us to the immigration and DGM windows to the left of the entrance. They are not open yet. We are first in line. We wait. We wait about 30 minutes. We proceed to the window. We show our passports and our flight paperwork. We are passed to the second window. We are asked for our DGM paperwork. They check it all over and we are stamped to go on. We go to the next station to tag our carryons. We then proceed to the next station to turn in our customs forms and to another DGM officer. He quickly goes through our paperwork and says that he likes to drink Coca Cola. Okay. No, not okay. Our driver says, buy him some Coca Cola. We say, what? He lets us know that Mr. Coke wants a bribe in order to let us go. $10. Ugh! We move on to the next station and on through security. Now, if Mr. Coke wasn't enough, Mrs. Elephant security lady wants a cut too. We have a wooden elephant for Isaiah in our carry-on and she is going to keep it unless we "pay". $10. We are so ready to get on that plane! Corruption to the very end. Sad. Very sad.
We get through security and arrive in the waiting area at 6:30pm. We wait 1 hour 30 min. until they begin loading. We get on the first bus to the aircraft. We again go through a security check as we board the plane. We get on the plane and find our seats. We take a deep breath and look at our son. He will not have to grow up here. He will have a chance. He will learn about Jesus Christ. He will be loved. He will have medical care. He will learn right from wrong. We are so blessed. May we never take our America for granted. We look at each other and say, Wow, just Wow. What an experience. Many things remain in our hearts that we have not shared, but we will not forget. These things we will reflect on for quite some time. Our flight to Brussels was around 8.5 hours, not as bad as the 10 hours on the way over with a stop in Angola. Isaiah did very well. Our flight attendant moved us to a four seat row, so we would have more room to spread out. Nice.
At Brussels, we had a 6 hour layover, so Greg and Isaiah took a nap in the waiting area beside the seating at our gate. I checked on the check in process and after going through a line, found out that Greg and Isaiah had to be with me. I go wake Greg up and we go back and get in an even longer line. We wait again. By now, about 4 hours have passed. We are hungry, but there are only places with sweets and cardboard looking sandwiches... :) Greg goes to another gate, which means going through security again, only to find more sandwiches. Oh well, sandwiches it is. I talk to some people who are traveling on our flight while Greg changes Isaiah's diaper. Finally, our time is getting closer. We are getting ready to board. I go get refreshed. Greg talks to some people while I am gone. A man overhears our conversation and approaches us. He asks us if we adopted Isaiah and if we would tell him our story. He is deeply moved and tears up. We find out that he is a pastor from Pennsylvania. He prays for us right there in the middle of everyone. Very touching. A God thing. He plans to go back and share with his wife and seek God's Will for them. He is clearly moved in his heart and seems to be very interested in reaching out to the orphan. He gives us his card and says that if we are ever in his area, we have a place to stay. God is good. God has a plan. His plan is perfect.
We get on our flight and it is around 7.5 hours to Washington, D.C. Isaiah does very well on the flight. He loves watching the cartoons on the little movie screen. He is fascinated by it. He has a few blowouts and we have changed his clothes about 4 times since leaving Kinshasa. We go through Immigration and Customs rather quickly. Our layover in D.C. is 4 hours, so we get a bite to eat and we change Isaiah's clothes once again. He has severe diarrhea, so almost every time, it leaks. Everywhere. We call home to let everyone know we are in the USA!!! YAY!!! One more flight to go. We get freshened up and we get ready for our flight. We board our puddle jumper aircraft and it is a miracle. Surely this little one is not going to sleep through another flight, but yes, he sleeps through almost the entire 2.5 hours. He looks at the clouds first and he plays a bit, but then, about an hour into the flight, he's out. He stays asleep through the rest of the flight and all the way home. Paul and Karen pick us up from the Pensacola airport and drive us home. 30 hours of traveling has taken its toll on us. We are exhausted, but excited...
We arrive at home expecting to go to bed and see everyone in the morning. Nope. Haha. We arrive and find that our living room carpeting has been replaced with pergo wood flooring and our walls have been painted. There are changes in the kitchen as well. Our friends and family had been working very hard almost the entire time we were gone to surprise us! Wow! What a surprise it was, too! I think my jaw was on the floor for 20 minutes. We were so thrilled! Nothing could have blessed us more! We are so thankful to everyone who worked so hard and blessed us so much! You are all very precious to us! Dad, Mom, Elizabeth, Guy, Hannah, Lizzy, Joshua, Painter, Maid, etc... and anyone else who helped out... YOU ALL ROCK!!!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!
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