Traveling halfway around the world is certain to raise
problems, right? Well I guess that last two times I got lucky. This time, the
travel was not so pleasant!
To start off the terrible three days, my British airways
flight from Dallas to London was cancelled. There was a fuel leak in the plane
and so we couldn’t take off. So they had us standing in lines trying to fix our
reservations for what seemed like hours!
When I finally got up there, they told me they had one more seat on an
American Airlines flight to London that was leaving at 9:30pm that night, and
at the time it was like 8:45. So I took that seat rushed to AA checked my
luggage and headed to the gate. I looked at my boarding pass and it said “FIRST”
and yes that means FIRST CLASS. I was seriously SO excited! And let me tell you
that first class cabin is seriously awesome. My seat turned into a bed. They
served me dinner on real china, offered me pajamas, and hot towels! So fancy!
Well I got to London around 12:30 local time, and I rushed
to lock up my carry on items and head into London. The train took about an hour
to get to Trafalgar Square. That is where my tour bus left. The tour was great,
and such an easy way to get to see things. Unfortunately I didn’t get to stay
on the whole time! But that’s okay! Because of the Olympics the trains were SO
slow and it took forever to get back to the airport! Of course as in the
fashion my travel has been playing out, that flight didn’t even end up taking off
until 2 hours later, because the pilot was late!
I got to Johannesburg Wednesday morning at about 8am. I
headed through customs to go get my luggage. I waited and waited and waited.
Finally nothing else was coming. Commence freak out mode. So I headed over to
claims and the lady tells me that my luggage was left in LONDON. I almost lost
it! I was so mad! After what seemed like forever I believe I finally conveyed
how important it was that those bags made it to Kasane, Botswana on the next
flight. They promised me there would be no issues!
I left Johannesburg about 11:30 and got to kasane at almost
2. Travis and Lorna were there waiting for me it was great to see them!!
Unfortunately during all my travel I developed some sort of
awful cough, and even still today I have it! But when I landed that first day,
I had absolutely no voice! What a fun way to start things out!
We spent a little bit in kasane and had lunch at a
restaurant and did some shopping in town. On our drive to the border my nerves
kept getting higher and higher about possibly not being allowed into the
country! But the awesome animals helped distract me! We watched an elephant
knock over a tree right in front of us! It was awesome! We also saw monkeys,
zebras, kudu and sable!
So we finally get to the border and I could hardly breathe I
was so nervous! Since I have been gone, the border became computerized. Which
means they scan your passport and can see your travel history, and all your
information. The problem with that is that know they really know how long I
have been in the country. I hand the lady my passport, she reads my form, scans
my passport, and then stamps it. I had asked for 3 months, and when we got
outside I looked at it and she only gave me 2 months (September 24th)
which I guess is better than nothing. All this means that we are searching out
options on how to get enough time to stay in the country longer!
But I have to honest. I can’t tell you how at peace I am
with all this craziness. It is so funny; old me would have just about had a
panic attack in the unknown. But I do have peace, I have an understanding that
God is in control and He will keep me here as long as He wants me here! I just
have no clue what that looks like or how it will play out right now! But that’s
okay!
We finally got to ZION. When I walked up to the children’s
home, someone saw me and yelled “AUNTIE MAKINSEYS HERE” and literally ALL the
children ran out and gave me hugs and asking millions of questions. Seriously
made me the happiest I have been in a long time!!! Then little Liseli comes
running out, she kind of looked at me funny, and all the kids were asking her
if she remembered me, and she just wasn’t to sure. But then about 10min later
she was running at me with her hands held up for me to pick her up! Nsala
remembered me right away! She came running yelling my name! SO sweet!
The twins are HUGE. Its so precious! I’ll have to have a
baby photo shoot soon and upload pictures!!
I hung out with the kids for awhile that evening and then
headed to my house to shower and head to bed. It is weird being here all by
myself. Its so quiet in my house, kind of creepy! I went to sleep at like 9:30
and slept almost the whole night! It was great!
Over the last several days, I have just been trying to get
back into the swing of things. As I mentioned earlier, I am under the weather.
For some reason I just can’t kick this cough and flu like symptoms. Besides
that, this past weekend was an outschoolers weekend, so Friday we loaded up the
cars and headed to pick up all the kids! I drove the quantum there and I have
to say did pretty darn good, for being gone for a month! We had a great weekend
having all the kids home!
Zion was also busy with a different kind of adventure! A
local church hosted their kids camp here on our property. They camped out all
weekend and they were so excited! We could hear them singing all throughout the
day! They got to go on a boat ride and an adventure walk around the island!
Some of the men who were involved in the helping are the same men who sang at
the church service I went to before heading back to the states. They have
voices that are so amazing! We enjoyed their singing so much, they even came to
our church service on Sunday!
Sunday afternoon we drove all the kids back to their
schools. This time I went with Travis to a different school. While we were
waiting on some of the kids, we heard that they were cleaning game from the
festival they had over the weekend. So we pulled the car over and the first
thing we saw…. A hippo head just laying on the ground! We saw parts of
elephants, Cape buffalo, hippo, and wildebeest. Talk about a crazy sight.
Over all this first week back has been great! I can’t wait
to see how God chooses to move and use me in these months here!
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