Wrapping Up

Our trip was amazing.  The time with family was enlightening and full of laughter and joy.  The time away, outside of the US was refreshing and once again a learning experience.  But by far, the most important part of our trip was the people.  Reconnecting with old friends, meeting new friends, meeting people Dad and Mom had been working with for years that we had never met before, and finding voids friends used to fill but who have either left or passed away.  (These pictures of people are in no particular order.)

We started this trip with our greatest prayer being that we might be a blessing and came home with a renewed sense of our own blessings.  We also came home with a better understanding of grace.  There are so many who are being persecuted for following Christ, those who live every day knowing this might be their last.  And yet, those who have the most to fear are proud to say, "If I die, then I go to be with Jesus.  Why should I fear?"  In the mean time, they stand up for their faith, no matter the cost.

What grace that the Lord has placed us each in specific places, and what grace that he has given us the priviledge to be a part of working in His kingdom. 

What grace that we too have a story to share, to tell the nations, that our God reigns, no matter what is going on in our lives.  How amazing that the body of Christ is made up of so many different types of people.  What a priviledge and burden we have to now pass on our stories of grace to the next generation.

Praying you will have a renewed sense of His astounding grace in your lives this week.

Atlanta

Thankfully, our 12 our flight from Ghana (where we stopped over for a couple hours) to Atlanta was fairly uneventful.  Unfortunately, Ibrahim, who was flying stand by, was kicked off the plane in Ghana because of weight restrictions and he had a horrible time getting back.  He didn't get home until Sunday evening.

Brandon started having diarrhea on the plane, but again I thought it was pretty normal with the change in water.  He had had a little of it on the way out as well.  I started thinking maybe it wasn't just changes once we landed in Atlanta and a little turned to a lot and didn't stop.

We all got through customs and immigration very smoothly and continued on to the domestic terminal where we just had time for a quick Starbucks drink before Aaron and Stacey had to leave for their gate.  This was when it finally hit me that the planning for over a year and the trip itself actually happened and it was coming to an end. 

The rest of us walked Rachel to her gate shortly after.

Waiting at Rachel's gate while she was offering to give up her seat. 
She ended up leaving but giving up her seat in Detroit instead and getting home on Sunday as well.

We were all a little dazed but thankful to not be squished into tight confines with the kids any more.

After Rachel left we walked to the food court and found two tables that we pushed together near a pillar that had an outlet.  Al had brought a power bar with him (so smart) and so we all charged phones and the DVD player while hanging out.

Al touching base with his family.  Shortly after this they started calling for boarding on his flight to Rochester.  They must not have had very many passengers because they very quickly started calling his name and he sprinted down to his gate, which we weren't very far from.

Cal trying to get the Internet to work on his phone.

I had packed a blanket in our carry-on so Micah could lie on the floor and kick for a while since I knew we had several hours in Atlanta.  He was thrilled with the freedom.

Brandon coming back from yet another bathroom run.

And this is where my pictures end since the next 10 hours became rather intense.  We decided to walk Cal and Christel to their gate, but never made it.  We took the train and then an elevator to their terminal and as we were getting off the elevator Brandon vomited.  I cleaned him up and put another set of clothes on him and we managed to get to our gate without another incident.  Our flight was delayed by an hour so we just laid around at our gate watching airplanes.  Bryan called his dad who was going to be picking us up in Seattle and asked him to bring Gatorade and a bucket just in case.

I was standing in line waiting to get a gate check ticket for the stroller and holding Brandon when he vomited again, all over himself and me in the midst of a long line of people.  Thankfully there were a couple who were very helpful and gave me extra bags and called Bryan over to help.

I managed to just get Brandon and myself changed again when they called for boarding with little kids.  This time they let us go through first.

We settled on to the plane and Brandon vomited again.  We tried getting him to take little sips of water but he couldn't keep anything down.  At one point he went lethargic on us and that scared me pretty badly. 

When we got to Seattle he was so weak he couldn't walk off the plane.  Thankfully I had also packed the sling in our carry-on luggage so I put Micah in the sling and that left the stroller available for Brandon.  It had taken Don four hours to drive from Lynden to Seatac (normally a two and a half hour drive) because of a snow storm so we were looking at a long ride home, too.

I called Brandon's doctor after hours line and was able to talk to a nurse who had me do a couple tests on Brandon.  Thankfully they showed he wasn't overly dehydrated, so we went home instead of the ER like we had been talking about.  He was completely empty by that point and was able to just fall asleep on the trip home. 

Bryan and Don tell me that I was so tired on the drive home that I would start a sentence but never finish because I had fallen asleep.  I think they're making it up.  ;)

We were all thankful to be home again.  Even Micah was visibly more content and relaxed when I put him in his own bed.  He knew he was home.

Sunday we stayed home to relax and rest.  Brandon slowly started to be able to keep liquid down again, though it took him a couple days before he was able to keep everything down.  And it took him a good week before he felt like running or playing at all.  I've never seen him so mellow and disinterested in even rough housing.  He just wanted to sleep and be held. 

Despite the crazy trip back, our trip out and the time we spent with family and friends was amazing and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  The memories are so precious to us and the pictures are a wonderful visual reminder of the incredible blessing we experienced. 

I have one more post.  I've saved the most important for last.

Blessings on your Friday.

The Final Phase Begins

Friday, February 25 was a day we met with the whole spectrum of emotions.  Some were in tears because leaving was like tearing part of themselves apart.  Others were torn between wanting to stay and wanting to leave.  Still others of us were thankful for the time we had been able to enjoy as a family and for all the memories revisited, but we were ready to be home.  Through it all, though, we somehow kept the laughter going.

One of dad and mom's guards brought his family to greet that morning because his son was born on the same day as Micah..  It was a precious moment, a connection. 

My mom, ever the teacher!  The kids really got into the puzzle once they figured out what was supposed to happen.

After lunch everyone on the compound, including some who had come specifically to say good-bye, gathered around the vans for prayer.  It is a tradition with my parents that whatever vehicle and all going with it are prayed over before leaving for a trip.  It is a prayer for protection but also a blessing on those leaving and staying.

Our drive to the capital was not without adventure!  We stopped for supper around 4 on the outskirts of the city because there wasn't much to eat on the road to the airport.  Dad's chicken was rotten (as in you could smell it fermenting on his plate) and none of us were sure if we'd get sick from our own meals. 

There is lots of construction on the way to the airport, through the city.  Now, you have to understand that people there put such formalities as lines on the road, but understanding and and following those lines and signs is beyond their comprehension.  It's just not an important part of the culture. 

Signs to tell you to slow down?!?  Nope--logs are far better understood.

We hit a pretty major go-slow.  Some, like this taxi driver, decided the best way to get out of it would be to turn around
in the middle of the congested traffic and drive over the pile of dirt to the left.  He didn't make it over the first time and I'm pretty sure it took three times before he finally reached the top.

While we were sitting (more like parked) in the go-slow, we kept noticing cars diving out and driving down the adjacent road.  We couldn't see where the road went, all we could see was the miles of parked cars ahead of us.  So dad and the driver decided to take a chance and join the escapees.

A couple miles down the road we came upon this scene.  No kidding, there were probably close to 20 "lanes" (term used VERY loosely) trying to merge into the equivalent of four lanes.

It was unreal!  We only saw one "accident" of one car scraping another.  It was only God's protection that kept us from scraping the cars on either side of us several times.  These cars in the picture are way too far apart to do the chaos justice.

Looking behind at what we just maneuvered through.  We came through the opening on the left.

We had just pulled through and I was breathing a sigh of relief and thanks when I happened to notice this lorry along the side of the road.  The saying on its side (Trust In God) seemed so fitting for what we had just come through.

We were through the go-slows, right?  HA HA!  Thankfully this one was a piece of cake--it was only five lanes trying to merge into one or two.

I, personally, was thrilled to see the sign for the airport.  I am such a fool some times.

We got to the airport about 6pm for our 10pm flight.  Unfortunately, I can't show you any pictures of the airport and our experience within because they would have taken my camera away if I had tried taking pictures.  Here's what happened.

The plan was to leave our carry-on luggage with mom in the waiting lounge while we checked our bags (a method we had used for years).  Once everything was checked in we would come back out and hang out for a couple more minutes before heading through security and emigration. 

The path through:
1. Show your passport to the police officer sitting at a desk.
2. Put your luggage on the x-ray machine and pick it up on the other side. 
3. Walk to the seven or eight agents on the far right side of the room, show them your passports and talk to them a minute.
4. Weigh your bags and receive your ticket saying how much weight you had.
5. Go the metal tables and have every single one of your bags opened and looked through.  (Remember there were 12 of us flying out--imagine the number of bags we had.)
6. Stand in line and then proceed to another agent at a desk, show your passport, and be told that you needed a special sticker for your carry-ons.  (Aaron and I had to repeat the process with all our carry ons, no one else was told they had to but Ibrahim worked his captain magic and got everyone else the needed stickers just in case.)
7. Proceed to check-in counter, deposit bags and get boarding passes.

At this point we all went back out to Dad and Mom who were still waiting in the lounge and hung out for about a half hour before traversing phase two of the maze.

About 8:15pm we all said good-bye to Dad and Mom and headed through:
1. Policeman outside checking all passports.
2. X-ray carry-ons
3. Emigration--check passports and emigration paperwork.
4. Another booth but I don't remember what it was for--but they checked passports again.
5. Up the escalator (waving good-bye to the parents who were standing in the upstairs lounge watching our progress)
6. Through X-ray machine #2
7. Stand in line to have our passports and boarding passes checked again.
8. Have our carry-ons thoroughly searched and put on the benches behind the agents.
9. Patted down before retrieving our carry-on luggage and finally being at the gate before boarding the airplane.

I had just enough time to change out of my skirt, into jeans, and change Brandon out of his dirty shorts (from crawling all over the floor while waiting in lines) into long pants.  As I was coming back out of the bathroom they called for families with small children to board the plane and EVERYONE rushed into line.  As we're getting into line I looked over and Al and Rachel, who were the last of our group, were just getting patted down.  We boarded the plane around 9:15/9:30 pm.

Brandon slept over half of the 12 hour flight back to Atlanta and at the time I thought it was just from sheer exhaustion of the late flight and the busyness of the past two weeks.  We found out later, however, that he was already getting sick.  But that's for another post.

Good-night.

Family Protraits

Thursday evening I took family portraits.  I'm quite happy with them for most part.

Mom bought all her grandkids the same type of shirt.  We took this on Sunday, earlier in the week.

Dad and Mom--where it all started

The Horlings Family

Cal, Kinsley, Christel

Bryan

Al, Rachel

Micah, Bryan (B2), Sara, Brandon (My dad took this picture)

Stacey, Aaron

Grandpa and Grandma with the grandkids (Brandon, Micah, Kinsley)

The whole family!  (A friend came to take this picture for us.)

Just for fun--I took this within minutes of leaving for the airport.  Thanks Christel, for a great idea.

Happy Wednesday!

Winding Down

Our time together in the country of our youth was winding down.  Thursday was used as a day for last-minutes and finish-ups. 

Aaron, Stacey and I did some last minute shopping.

Rachel, Al and Christel went back to the zoo.

Bryan finished the rocking chair make-over.

There's just something so right about having your mom cut your hair!

Brandon's new friend came to play soccer and hang out with him for a while.

Rebel joined one of our last tea times together.  (I forgot to tell you something very important, Mom, the other day
when you asked if Brandon remembered or still talked out our trip.  Brandon has named one of the birds on his wall "Rebel".)

The biggest job of the day was getting two of these HUGE water tanks out from behind Dad's office building.

I'm pretty sure every man on the compound at the time was conscripted to help.

BEWARE of your garden/produce fields when the Horlings are around--they will empty it out with their foraging!

Mom got in as much grandkid time as possible.

And finally, I took family photos.

The evening was spent packing and sitting around the table playing games and talking.
Blessings