Traveling Home Today
Traveling home today has already been an adventure. My flight leaves late today so we left the house around 9 this morning. We did not get to the airport until a little after noon, and it has not taken me 3 hours to get to the airport in probably 5 years or so. There are just so many problem areas that you have to avoid, and everyone avoids them in the same way, that it seemed like it took forever.
The good thing about leaving later (my flight will not leave from here until around 5:00) is that I got to the kids house a little before 7 this morning and got to spend a little more time with them before I left. It is so funny watching how calm and orderly the girls and younger kids are, and then how the older boys sleep until the last minute and then do a mad dash to get their clothes on and eat. I remember those days, and for a few extra minutes of sleep, I would have done the same thing.
On the way in, we got stopped at a police road block and found out that we had not paid one of the fees that we were supposed to pay. It was kind of annoying, but they were right and it was our fault for not paying. This actually added about 30 minutes onto the drive.
At the airport, the power has gone out 7 times in the past 3 hours, and I fully expect it to go out again soon. The last time it went out I was in the middle of sending an online form and I am still not sure if it went through or not.
All in all, this trip has been great. There is still a definite tension in the country about what might happen next, but at the same time there is a sense of joy and normalcy that is coming back around. Everyone, including the kids, want students to be in schools and I believe this desire for kids to finish the school year will get Haiti through the next few months at the very least.
The kids were definitely sad I was leaving, but there was a relief that I was here. It had been a long time since either Jess or I had seen them, and I know that they must struggle with some abandonment issues to some degree when that happens.
They are so excited about the idea of Jessica coming down also. My relationship with our kids and our ATN kids is so much different than Jessica’s is. Both are needed, for sure, but there is just something different about the way they feel about her. I know the older boys needed to see me, but I am pretty sure everyone else is just holding their breath until Jess arrives (especially the employees because they are pretty much all a little scared of me).
Please continue praying for the kids, for ATN, and for Haiti. There are a few stories that I want to tell you about these past few days, and I will this week. For now, however, it is important to know that we are doing our best to get things back to normal and we need your prayers for this to happen.