Well we've been back for two weeks now but we hit the ground running and we didn't have WiFi for awhile and this just never happened! The trip home was semi uneventful but did have a few bumps. Boy, I have to sit and think about it awhile to remember how it went! It seems like so long ago...
It was soooooooo nice to be able to fly from Cayes to Port au Prince. After last year's traumatizing exit from Haiti with almost no sleep and multiple rounds of puke, it was night and day difference. We drove ourselves to the airport, picking up a hospital worker along the way so he could bring the vehicle back. We also met up with the Haiti in country director for Harvest Call who was flying in to stay for a little while so Lydianne would not be completely by herself. Just did a little switch a roo with him at the airport:)
Spirits were high and moods were happy as we started our two day journey.
There was very limited napping for Tanner but he did manage to fall asleep in the stroller finally. Five minutes before we went through security. I was so hoping they would have a little compassion and let me just push the stroller through but nooooooo. I wasn't surprised. I mean, they can't really make exceptions. So I carefully, gingerly took him out of the stroller and carried him through the metal detector in my arms. Of course I set it off. And of course they gave me a pat down while I tried to keep him asleep. And when I say pat down, I mean more like squeeze down. Let's just say some private parts aren't super private in Haiti... But somehow, someway he stayed asleep through it all and I was so thankful. But then there was a second security check that I had forgotten about. Same thing- "Can I please just keep him here?????" Noooooooooooo. We weren't so lucky the second time around. Naptime was over!
But we carried on with our day and things went really smoothly until it was time to go to our hotel in Miami. Also judging by the picture below, Sawyer had to go potty. Anyway, we did not have cell service at this point. Until Danny went to the A T&T store we could only use our phones with WhatsApp when we had WiFi. We tried looking for a phone we could use and found ourselves standing at the shuttle pick up place asking some kindly looking gentlemen (I think they may have been pilots) if we could use their phone. They were so nice and friendly to us! So I called and to our surprise and dismay the hotel currently does not offer shuttle service unless you belong to a flight crew that has a contract with them. Found out once we finally got there and checked in that it's in the fine print even though the list of amenities says "airport shuttle". Phew.
So it was back across a couple lanes of traffic with taxis barreling through. We found our own taxi and piled in. Danny and all four kids in the back and me up front. Our driver was mostly Spanish speaking and after trying to speak Creole for two years our Spanish skills have dramatically dwindled so we had very limited conversation with him. And it's maybe okay that he couldn't understand all we were saying- at one point Summer asked "Why are there Haitians in America?" He was very dark skinned:)
We finally made it and got checked in. We had been talking for months with the kids about ordering pizza and watching TV in the hotel. We did that last year and they loved it. So after managing to get ahold of the local pizza chain, which was no easy task, they let me know that they are not doing delivery right now. Same ole unemployment issues I guess. So I set off walking to find the Burger King we had seen on the way in and was not having much luck. But I did see a guy walking down the sidewalk with a Panda Express bag in his had and asked him where that was and it was just right across the street and I was giddy with excitement!
We put Tucker to bed nice and early and then Summer and Sawyer joined him in his king size bed until Tucker woke up around midnight and realized he was sharing. He started crying and yelling "MOVE!!! SCOOT!!!! NO!!!!!" and so on and so forth and was not going to be happy in the middle of his older siblings no matter what. After trying and trying we finally gave up and put him in our bed at like 1:30 where he promptly and peacefully went to sleep. Why didn't we do that a lot sooner?????
In the morning when we woke up, my brain said "Ok let's go!! And my stomach said "Nope." Not sure if it was the interesting textured cheeseburger I had in the Port au Prince airport or what but my stomach continued saying "nope" for almost a week. Not cool. But back to the story at hand, we continued on our journey, calling another taxi back to the airport and finding our gate and some lunch. At this point Tucker especially was getting very travel weary (and probably very tired from his midnight escapades) and he was DONE being anything close to cooperative with his mask. God answered our prayers with those kind and understanding flight attendants we asked for and nobody said a word when his was safely packed away in the diaper bag. He was also being really stubborn about walking because apparently he was sore in his diaper area and he let everyone in that general vicinity know.
Our flight from Miami to Chicago was delayed about 20 minutes which was unfortunate because we did not have an abundance of time to catch our next flight to Ft. Wayne. We got to Chicago and while I went and took the kids to the bathroom quick, Danny waited at the end of the tarmac for the stroller that we had checked gateside in Miami. He waited and waited and waited..... finally he gave up because we just had to go. He was holding Tanner and I was dragging Tucker along. We traded boys, and with Summer and Sawyer on the loose, we ran to our next gate. Danny said later that he had the Home Alone music going through his head! 😂 We quite breathlessly got on the plane and they shut the door behind us. We got settled in our seats and then had to rearrange a little because of not having enough oxygen masks on one side of the plane for a lap infant. Summer and Sawyer got to sit by themselves and they thought that was pretty cool. Danny ended up with Tucker and Tanner both and I fell asleep feeling guilty because I had no kids. But then he said that both boys crashed almost instantly so I no longer felt guilty:)
We landed a little early in Ft. Wayne so the kids could run around a little while we waited for Danny's parents to pick us up. When they arrived, they informed us that mere hours before, our driver's side van window had broken and was permanently stuck down. Welcome home:) It was so good to be back. The kids went with grandpa and grandma while we took the second vehicle and stopped for supper before going to their house. It was a welcome relief after the last two days. Travelling internationally with a small host of young children is no leisure walk in the park.
We had not made plans concerning church because we just didn't know how things would go for us. But we didn't get in super late on Saturday and everyone slept good so we decided to go on Sunday morning. Also, with going to the lakes and Illinois, we only had one other Sunday to be there for church. I thought I was going to be really overwhelmed being there but I think some adrenaline may have kicked in because I loved it! I did crash the next day though. Come Monday I just kind of existed. Okay I guess I did a little more than that because we had to get ready to go to the lakes! Which will be a post of it's own. But they're over now and we are camped out in IL for 2 1/2 weeks.
Furlough is already 1/3 over! Time flies I guess. I'll hopefully get the lakes post done before our time in IL is finished. We are looking forward to some time of rest here so I should be able to. We'll see about if I have motivation though:) But for now, we are just enjoying being up here!
