The Journey Home - September 8, 2012

When you look back at the who crazy process of adopting from Haiti it is amazing that you get to the end of the process with some sanity left.  The stress of adopting from Haiti is unlike anything that I have ever experienced.  The constant lack of information and feeling of uncertainty tends to push the most faithful to the breaking point. I know that even though we had completed everything and had US approval there was still as sense of foreboding.  An unmistakable feeling of apprehension.  What else could go wrong?  That was a question we asked ourselves time and time again as we were packing for Haiti.

The day was finally here!  It was September 8th and we were leaving Knoxville at 5:55 AM to fly to Atlanta.  We would be meeting the rest of the team in Atlanta for the flight to PAP later in the morning.  Lynn Steele, Victoria Smith, Christy and I would be traveling together on the first leg.  In Atlanta we would meet Brock, Kevin, Nayia, Ke Ke, Jason, Kojak, Shauna, Breezy, and Grampsie.  Billy was flying American and would go through Ft. Lauderdale.  There were 14 total.

Christy and I had barely slept.  We were very excited and could not wait to get going.  We checked in at the counter, went through the security screening, and then had a seat at the gate just waiting on our departure time.  We boarded the plane and found our seats and just sat back for the ride.  There was a weather system moving through Atlanta  so our flight was a bit bumpy but we made it safely to Atlanta.   Christy went to Starbuck's and got us some coffee and we settled in to wait on the rest of the team.  Our flight for PAP would be leaving at 11:30 AM.   The rest of the team made it safely to Atlanta and joined us at the gate for departure.  We spent the morning sharing stories and eating our last American meals for 7 days.  Then it was time to leave.  We boarded the plane and the final leg of our journey to pick up Berline began.

The flight to PAP was uneventful.  It is amazing that I get the same feeling every time on approach to PAP.  You look out the window, see Haiti and you feel like you are home.  It is a feeling of excitement and adventure knowing that God is solely in control of the experiences you are going to have.

Toussaint Loverture airport is best described as chaos.  You get off the plane and then move to a ground transport vehicle which takes you to immigration and the terminal.  Once in the terminal you gather your bags and say "No" to 10 different Haitians who want to carry your bags and then move out of the airport into the waiting parking lot.  On the walk out you pass by at least 100 Haitians who stare at you.  It is arguably the most difficult part of any trip to Haiti.  I have done it 5 times and it still is a challenge to negotiate things smoothly.

I was last to make it to the PCAP truck.  I stopped and purchased a Digicel phone in the kiosk near the end of the walk way.  The phone cost about $20 US.  When I got to the truck everyone was standing around saying their Hellos to Mona, Alfred, Jean Luc, and Deltha.  It was good to see old friends.  We boarded the PCAP truck and started on our way to Mme Samuel's house.