If you read the last post, you know that our family was very busy in the weeks leading up to our move. We are thankful for the activities that our children participated in and we are thankful that we could travel to say farewell to family and friends; however, all of the activity meant we were not doing as much packing as needed. At the beginning of June, we decided that spending some time with family and friends was important and we would have to let others help us. We had many offers and we needed to accept them. I can't say that it was easy for me to let others help me so much, but I can say that I received an added blessing. I believe I will always cherish the time I had with my friends and family during our packing sessions. It was so encouraging to spend some extra time with loved ones and share thoughts and plans along with the work of packing. I will also mention that Rick's parents, Roger and LaVonne, were a tremendous help to us. They kept our children more times than I can even count and may have spent more time at our house packing this last week than they spent at their own home. We could not have done it without them!
While we enjoyed the time we could spend with others while packing, Rick and I still felt an immense amount of stress. Also, it was hard on Mara and Krae to see everything packed up in the only home they have ever known. Krae ran a low-grade temperature for a few days and was not feeling well, so it was especially upsetting for him. On the Saturday before departure, I took a break from packing for a few minutes and helped the kids make some tunnels between moving boxes and then drape old blankets over them to make a tent. It was lots of fun and provided a fun play area for the rest of the weekend!
Some other positives (although still a bit stressful for the planning) during this week were selling our vehicle and getting an offer and a contract on our home. We received an offer on our home exacting one week week before departure and we signed a contract that evening. Fortunately, the closing will not be until September - this is helpful as the building that will store our household belongings will not be completed for a few more weeks. We had to leave the responsibility of moving our household belongings to storage with Rick's parents and his business partner, Brad Strahm. I know they will appreciate help when the time to move stuff arrives.
The last couple of days before our scheduled flight were some of the most stressful for Rick and myself. Getting all the last minute details wrapped up and having to leave so much of the moving to others was very difficult. At the same time, God was teaching us a lesson about depending on others. I guess the real lesson is depending on Him and letting Him use others to help us along this road. To all of you that have helped, are currently helping and will help us in the future with this move, we want each of you to know how much we appreciate and love you. As well, we thank each of you for the prayers!!
On Tuesday evening (the night before scheduled departure), Rick and I sent our children home with Roger & LaVonne so they could get to bed and get a good night of sleep. We finished packing for the trip to Haiti about 10:30 PM and then did a small amount of cleaning up in our home on Jefferson Street. A bit before 11 PM, Rick made me quit and we said good-bye to our home and went out to his parent's home for the night. It was a relief to finally be done with packing and to feel like we were on our way.
Wednesday AM was a good morning; LaVonne had a nice breakfast for us and Rick's sister Lori and her husband John came to give us a final hug. We left a bit after 9 AM for the airport. Lori decided to come along at the last minute so we had a nice send-off team with her and Roger and LaVonne. Our flight from KC to Atlanta was delayed about 45 minutes and we appreciated the delay this time as it gave us more time to deal with all of our bags, eat a bite of lunch and then say our final farewells.
Our flight went well and we arrived in Atlanta safely. It was a bit challenging because we were not able to check our 10 bags through to Port Au Prince, so we had figure out a way to get our 10 checked bags, our 5 carry-on bags, our 4 backpacks, a diaper bag and a stroller to our hotel room. For the first time ever, we used SkyCap service and let Delroy help us get our bags from baggage claim to the hotel shuttle. The hotel had a locked storage area where we could keep 10 of the bags overnight.
Our flight to Port Au Prince went smooothly and the kids did great on both flights. It took a bit to keep Selah entertained during the flights, but she did extremely well overall. I believe all the prayers offered up on our behalf were being answered.
We were thankful to meet up with Daryl and Norma Luginbuhl in the PAP airport as well as their grandson Josh. They arrived shortly before us and were still in baggage claim so they were able to help us get all of our bags. Several others had arrived early in the day and met us outside the airport. This included Lon and Sandy Butikofer and Bob Pflederer and two of his grandsons. All together, we had a bus load of 13 people for the drive from PAP.
The drive was uneventful, but long as we were stuck in traffic for about 1 hour right outside of Port because of some road construction. After about 12 hours of travel on Thursday, we finally arrived at the apartment in Les Cayes that will be our home for the next few weeks.
Looking back, the trip was as long as I remembered, but I did feel the prayers and a wonderful sense of peace from God. After struggling with the decision to come, it was a relief to be here and to feel that we are following the path that God has laid out for us.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalms 19:14
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