Homecoming

Well the little bird made it home safely. Hallelujah.

After spending Thursday saying goodbye to precious friends, we loaded my duffel into the Land Rover and headed to the hospitality center to fetch the baby girl. Turns out, the chauffer who works at the center didn’t quite understand and drove Jean and Aissa to the airport alone while we were on our way to pick them up! Oops, they wouldn’t have made it very far…

So, the error was hastily rectified and we three made the journey to the airport together. A porter settled us and our luggage in the seating area and promised to come back once it was time to check in for our flight. He was wonderfully kind, a real answer to prayer.

However, sitting in the dark airport, surrounded by suffocating humidity and a cloud of mosquitoes, right in the center of a new and strange West African port city, I struggled. My heart began to race, I felt I couldn’t breathe, and I wondered if I would be able to get us home. The thought of having to make it through the next 24 hours was almost too much, and I wanted desperately to run away.

God was there. He saw my struggle.

I began to pray, took a few deep breaths and God gave me what I needed for the next step. So little by little we made our way home. I navigated airport check-in, customs and security with Jean and Aissa in tow. God gave me strength to handle corrupt porters, questionable policemen, crowds on the plane and 28 hours of sleeplessness. He blessed us along the way with kind people, like the man at the metal detector who told me to have “courage”, that he appreciated what had been done for Aissa, or the woman at the ticket counter, who overheard Aissa’s story and personally led me to the front of the line, or the flight attendant who remembered us from a month ago when we were on his flight to Togo. God was so faithful.

So we landed in the familiar brownness of sub-Saharan Africa, it’s beloved mud huts and scrub bushes a comforting sight to tired travelers as we stepped off the plane into the shimmering, dry waves of heat. Sweet Aissa was swaying on her feet from fatigue, and rode quietly to the village but flashed me a huge grin when I glanced back at her from the front seat of the car. I assume from this that she was happy to be home.

Upon pulling into the compound, Aissa was an instant celebrity. All of the staff ran up to greet her and exclaim how wonderful she looked. They received us with such love and warmth, it was good to see them all. There will be more to come, I’m sure.

So, after resting, unpacking my suitcases, and chasing the welcoming committee of two cockroaches, one lizard and an enormous spider out of my house, tomorrow begins anew. We are still praying to know God’s will for Aissa, and it looks at this time as if she will be returning to her village. Please continue to pray with us over her future and continued physical healing.

Thank you.