Leaving the States - Part 2

 Okay, so the writing part of this is the easy stuff, at least for me!  Thanks to Jeremiah and Bethany for helping me with the publishing part.  I am pretty illiterate when it comes to computers, and really try my husband's patience. But hopefully I will get better...

Back to our story -  Monday the 18th we spent doing laundry, extra cleaning, paying last bills, and making stacks around the house of things which needed to go.  School books for 3 months, food stuff, clothes, and mission stuff.  We have a HUGE pile of mission stuff.  Part of it is due to a project called "Days for Girls" that Corina heard about.  Some of it, I think, is due to ladies sitting home for months through Lockdowns and keeping their hands busy sewing.  So this is the first opportunity that they have to send it!  It's a good thing, really.  The guys ran errands, and printed off our Kenya visas in color, as we were directed.  We knew we had to go to bed early, and so some of us did.  The guys on the other hand stayed up until midnight enjoying Micaiah in Michigan.  

Micaiah and Matthias carrying the fish tank
down to Grandpa's house on Monday.

I knew that Tuesday was going to be a doozy.  First thing, our crew was all dreading the covid test, partly because we had never had it, and partly because we'd heard all the horror stories of the test gone bad.  At 2:45 am our first alarm rang.  Jeremiah and Micaiah left to go to White Cloud at 3am (45 min.) to pick up Jeremiah's mother, and take her (an hour or so) to Grand Rapids for her surgery appointment at 5:15 am.  I didn't sleep well at all.  I guess I just didn't trust my alarm to go off at 6 am.  I had arranged the appointments with the oldest ones and Bethany first, because I didn't need to sign for them.  So Jerusha, Matthias, Cherith and Bethany left at 6:40 for the Shelby Hospital lab.  I got the younger ones around, and we left shortly after 7.  When we arrived at the hospital, I was checking in, and our first 4 walked out - all done. They were grinning gleefully, and I asked them, "How was it?" 

"It was great!" Jerusha said.  "It was a SPIT test!"  There were grins and fist pumps from all 4 of them. 

I was relieved in one way, but suddenly I started panicking. What if this wasn't the right test?  How would we get another one?  I had already tried to make sure of this.  I turned immediately to the receptionist who I'd just been talking to, and asked "Is this a PCR based test?"  She looked blankly at me and picked up her phone to ask the question.  After consulting, she turned to me and assured me that it was the PCR test. Hallelujah!!  That lightened the whole thing considerably for me.  I couldn't imagine the "behind the nose test" for Melita...

It took a half hour or so to do the paperwork before we were ushered down the hall to the lab.  I texted Jeremiah to make sure he was coming, because he and Micaiah were right after us.  The test went easily enough.  Melita watched us all for a while, and then started spitting into her "test tube".  The staff left us alone, and it was kinda like a party, everyone laughing and wishing they'd at least drank some water before they left the house.  Talk about a dry mouth!  After that we all headed back to the house to make breakfast, and lists of work for the day.  Bethany and I filled out the forms for our guys' international driver's licenses.  We were going to get them in Grand Rapids.  The guys came, and we made our final plan for the day.  After a while, Jeremiah and I left for Grand Rapids.  I was feeling bad, really behind, because Mom J. was suppose to come out of surgery at 10:05 am, and it was after that before we finally left the house.  

We thought we understood from Mom J. that only one person was allowed in at a time, but we could take turns seeing her.  That was why I decided I ought to go, though I had a zillion things to do at home.  Once I got on the road, it was really nice to be with my husband; it felt relaxing amid the stress.  We made several business stops on the way, including getting a cell phone for Mom J. and finally got to the hospital around 12:30pm.  We found out that Mom J. was still asleep from her surgery (I had no idea it took so long to wake up!), and only one person was allowed to go in, period.  Uggggg.  I have to say, I felt pretty defeated.  We decided to go find the AAA office to get the international driver's licenses as we waited for her to wake up.  

The rest of the day went pretty well, though we did some backtracking because we don't know Grand Rapids.  Mom J. was so happy to see Jeremiah, and had a good report from surgery. We were so relieved about that, and she was properly surprised at her new phone.  She'd never had a cell phone before, so he had to spend time telling her how to use it.  They called me in the parking garage as I sat in the car, so it was nice to chat with her that way anyway.  On the way home we shopped at a couple of stores for some last minute things, including more totes, and some luggage pieces.  We have just worn ours out through our travels!  It had started snowing, and in some places the roads were really slippery; but mostly it was just slow driving.  We got home at 8:45, and I was thankful to find a clean house.  (Good job, guys!)  One of the girls asked if I was going to start packing. "No way," I said, "I am too tired to start that this evening."  I cut all the guys' hair, and we finally went to bed.

On Wednesday the 20th I woke up early and cleaned out the fridge, then we did packing, and more packing.  The children hauled our turtles and dog to Hosanna's house (sniff, sniff), and brought the box trailer that we would use for hauling our luggage to Chicago.  Hosanna came over, and it was nice to work with her, and see our sweet Talitha.  Everybody was super excited, for sure!  In the afternoon most of the covid tests results came on our phones. They were clear.  Celebration!!!  Later in the evening we made some phone calls and figured out that Jerusha's app hadn't been activated, but her test was also in and clear.  Matthias's test still wasn't in though.  The Noecker girls made supper for us, which was so kind of them!  I just couldn't think of cooking with everything else going on in my mind, and the meal was delicious!  Several people stopped in to say goodbye throughout the day, including the Horst family in the evening.  That was so nice!  They helped to load most of the luggage into the trailer, and even the children helped.  

Thursday morning we were trying to fit the last things into the last pieces of luggage.  That always takes longer to do than you imagine!  How many times can you weigh one piece of luggage?  And these they had to stand on the scales and hold, so it took some math skills!  Matthias was the only one without test results, and he finally got a report on his app.  - "Invalid".  What?  A phone call assured us that he had to have another test.   "Oh, God!  This is just too much!  How were we going to do this?"  My mother had offered to serve us breakfast, and we had suggested a time of 9:30.  We finished everything, said goodbye to our house, and got to my parents' at 10:10 am.  Mother had a good breakfast waiting, and we tried to focus on eating, amidst all the excitement.  We said goodbye to everyone, being careful not to say anything extra to Great Grandma.  No one wanted to upset her, because she really doesn't like goodbyes!  

My dad praying for us before we left for the Airport.

Grandpa is going to miss sweet little Talitha!

The trip to Chicago is 4 hours, and it felt very short this time.  Everyone was excited; Carleton and Clayton were along to help with driving etc.  For the first hour I tried to relax from the work of the morning.  After that, I was busy making sure we had everything in line for our paperwork.  Micaiah and Bethany were on the phone with the airline as we drove, because their flights had been cancelled.  I was rather oblivious to it, because I was busy with my own stuff.  I started filling out the Health Surveillance Forms for all 9 of us.  We rode with Seth and Hosanna in their car for a while and wished for time to chat, but we had to focus on our business. In the back of our minds, we wondered how we were going to get a covid test for Matthias in Chicago. 

We arrived at the airport at 1:15pm.  Suddenly Jeremiah realized we hadn't stopped for lunch, but we figured maybe this was better.  We ought to get our paperwork in line before we take time for food.  Our flight was scheduled to

 leave at 6:35pm so we ought to have time, right?  We parked in a far out parking lot because of the trailer, and it took a bit to get all the luggage inside, but Jeremiah and I were focused on the paperwork.  We got to a kiosk where you can check yourself in, and found an airport attendant to ask questions about what they required for each thing.  She heard where we were headed, looked at our covid tests, and was on high alert.  She was sure this wasn't right, so she called another lady who looked and said, "We need name, CPR test, and date.  No, I don't see a date on this. You need more information."  They told us where we could find a print shop. When we asked the first lady about getting a covid test for Matthias, she was very pessimistic, and pretty much told us that we might as well reschedule our flight right now.  "It takes 2 to 3 days to get results.  There is no fast covid test that is CPR."  She was an "in your face, animated personality", and your only choice was to nod and agree.  We told her thank you, and then discussed it ourselves. Jeremiah looked sunk, really overwhelmed.  I did not believe her because our midwife had just last week tried to go to Kenya, and she did several tests, one (15 min. one) at an Urgent Care, and it was PCR.  

I knew we had to divide and conquer to get all this accomplished, so I suggested that Jeremiah go with Micaiah and Bethany to get the copies made, because they needed copies of their covid tests also.  I said I would go with Matthias  to get a covid test, and we agreed that we should ask Seth to be our driver.  I have no good sense of direction, but I was trusting Matthias for that one!  How would we even get back to the parking lot to find Seth?  I started making phone calls to Urgent Care offices nearby, asking if they did the CPR test.  The first one didn't, but she was very helpful, and gave me another name. I called that number and finally talked to a person who assured me that they did the CPR test, but the line was an hour out.  I told her we were coming.  We wandered around the mammoth O' Hare airport until we got out on the right level, and into the parking lot.  Thanks to our phones Seth found us, and we got Google Maps directing us to the right place. I was grateful it was only 10 min. away, and wondered what in the world I was doing. I thought, I am totally out of my comfort zone. When we arrived at Physician’s Immediate Care, we walked into the entry to register ourselves in line. We had to talk through a mike in the cubicle entryway, and it was very hard to hear, especially since we were all wearing masks. My voice isn’t loud anyway, and I was shouting! She told us their line was 1 1\2 to 2 hours out, and the test would cost $240 cash. She acted like she was sure we wouldn’t do it. I didn’t see any other option, but said I wanted to call my husband. Jeremiah and I agreed to go ahead with it, so I returned to the mike to shout our decision. Such a weird world we are living in…. The receptionist asked for name and phone number, and we shouted the information, then went to wait in the car. There, I received a registration form to fill out. At least it was something to do to pass the time… They spelled Matthias’s name ‘Mapphias’(due to shouting into mikes with masks?) . That HAD to be corrected; I can’t give reason for the airport to reject this test. I sent a text back. Does a person actually read these texts? Jeremiah asked in text, “Any hope of getting in sooner?” I wrote back, “All our hope is in You, Lord!”

Melita likes her pink mask.

An hour and 15 min. after checking in, we were called in for the appointment. It was now 4:20 Chicago time. A nurse attended to us promptly, and took Matthias’s blood pressure first. She took it a second time. “It’s a little high”, she said. “Are you nervous?”

“Just worried about making our flight”, he grinned.

“Oh, you will be okay”, she said. She did the test, which wasn’t bad, but a little burning. We asked how long it takes to come back, and she said “15 to 20 minutes”, and she left the room.

We sat and waited. It felt like an eternity! We watched the clock – 20 minutes, 25 minutes. Jeremiah asked, “Any word?”

“We’re waiting,” I said. “Going crazy!” We heard talking outside the door. “The test is negative,” the voice said, and they were talking about printing documents. I looked at my watch. We fly in an hour and 35 minutes. (Pretty sure security closes an hour before the flight.) Talk about ‘praying without ceasing’ this entire afternoon… At 5:02 pm we raced to the car with the coveted document in hand.

The rest of the crew waiting in the
Chicago airport for Mom and Matthias.

Seth drove us back to the airport and (of course) it was rush hour, so it took a bit longer. Seth wanted to be able to say goodbye, and Jeremiah was pretty insistent that he bring us to the door, because time was so short. So he stopped at the door, and we rushed inside. Hosanna was on her way out with Talitha, and I said goodbye to them first (in a daze. How short this day had been!) then she went out to be with the car by the street. We gave quick hugs all around then went to check in. The airport personnel were so kind and encouraging. Everything was in order, and we were so THANKFUL!   Our family of 9 got to security as the guards were saying “Only 10 more minutes til we’re done here.” “Oh Lord! You are good!” Everything went well there. Before the gate they checked our passports, tickets and QR codes for the Health Surveillance Form. We were on cloud 9, there were still people in line, and everyone was friendly. We met Micaiah, Bethany, and Corina ready to board and then we had a Hallelujah worship service right there at the gate!! We couldn’t help ourselves. What a miracle God had done for us!! We boarded with only a few minutes left. God is good!

As I sat on my plane seat trying to breath(through my mask)and relax, my head was just pounding. I realized that my stomach was really empty. We were just so THANKFUL to have made it. I was so thankful for Seth, Clayton, and Carleton's help. I told Carleton when we were saying goodbye, "God knew we needed everyone who came down today.  We were on the plane for an hour before they served us supper, and that was okay, because I was finally able to eat. I realized, and Jeremiah said the same, that we hadn’t had anything to eat or drink (not even water) since Mother’s breakfast 10 and a half hours ago!

Well, there’s the story of leaving. I hope it wasn’t so long and nitty gritty that it was boring. I just felt I had to tell it, so you understand the struggle, and our feelings about being in Kenya!