What now...

So if I was organized, I'd post these in some kind of order. But then I'd also have an organized spice shelf, sock drawers, and life. None of those things exist in my life, so organized blog posting is probably not realistic.
So I left off our story of the trip to Miami with us leaving the airport conference room. Just walking away with our children. First of all, we had no clue what we were doing. First decision as parents was to put them on an elevator. After they had experienced an earthquake. Repeatedly. As soon as it started to move, they grabbed for something to hold onto and looked as us with panic. The light bulb went on over our heads and we felt like a couple ding-dongs. We held onto both of them, and reassured them that it was a ride, not an earthquake. They both calmed down quickly, and we were off and running again. As we walked through the baggage claim area, we both kept looking at them and each other. This is real. This is our new life. This is our children with us. Not our children separated from us, but together. The other thought was we are tired.
We caught the shuttle back to the hotel. We stumbled through the front doors, to be greeted enthusiastically by the staff. This is the same staff I had a complete and unattractive meltdown in front of the day before over early check in. So that moment of excitement for us, was a moment of grace. As we walked down the hall to the elevator, Re looks up at us and ask, "Is this our house?" with a look of utter wonder. No honey, our house only has 3 rooms for people to sleep in. This is a hotel, just a place to sleep tonight.
We got up to our room, and got them a snack. We then made a couple phone calls, and tried to get an action plan for going home. We could leave the next day, or stay an extra day. We were anxious to get home, back to our girls here. We didn't want them to get too settled. So R and the kids laid down for naps, and I started to book flights. Another moment of grace, one way tickets home were $167, leaving the next morning. So after travel plans were made, I crawled into bed about 1:30pm and fell fast asleep. We slept until 5:00pm, ordered dinner, had baths, read, colored, and made more calls. We were back in bed by 8:00pm. We all slept really good. We ate breakfast and prepared to leave for the airport. I was sad to see this part of our journey end so quickly. It didn't feel like anyone of us had time to process what had just happened. We all had the deer in the headlights look.
As we passed security there was a moment of concern (okay, panic for me). Our travel letter, had a different child's name in the second paragraph, and was clearly cut and pasted in a hurry. It was also a copy and not on official letterhead. The security guard looked at it, at us, at them, at the letter, and repeated this process at least 3 times. I was holding my breathe and praying that God would soften his heart and give him understanding. The guard looked at me, and asked if they spoke Creole, and were from the group that came in last night. I exhaled and said yes. His coworker then said something to them in Creole, and she had tears in her eyes. She wished us a safe travel home as he put our papers back together. He handed me the papers and said, "God bless your family." And that was it. No one was coming to ask further questions. The Department of Human Services wasn't going to intervene. We were just going to go get on that plane and fly home.
We went to go get a cup of coffee and wait by the terminal. Now, a moment of silence for the rest of the world that does not know what a decent cup of coffee taste like. Russ got me something that I'm pretty sure included the coffee in the mocha mix from the only 'coffee stand'. We were blessed to be waiting with another family headed to Northern California with their children from GLA. I wish I remembered their names, or their children's names. I wish I'd been better about writing down those details.
Their children were a boy and girl, around our kids age. Er and the little girl passed a lifesaver back and forth up until we were seated. Re and their son shared juice and crackers. I think it gave our children a moment that felt just a little bit normal in what must have been so much unknown. As we loaded, the flight attendants were very captivated by our two little children who were in full charm mode. Before we knew it we were offered tv's to watch, food to share, and blankets to sleep with. The captain came on to do his announcement, and announced that they were delighted to be flying families home that had just received their children from Haiti. What happened next, still bewilders me. The entire plane erupted in clapping. People stopped by to say congratulations, to offer help, to give us small gifts. Not just our family, but all the families.
As the plane took off I felt this emotional and spiritual exhale. A breathe I didn't know I was still holding. The part of me that didn't have faith. That believed at any moment someone was going to tap my shoulder and tell me there was a problem. And as that part of me had no reason to doubt, the tears started to just flow. Not an ugly cry, but a cry of understanding. That God really was faithful. He really does fulfill his promises. He really does create miracles. He really does use us to tell his story. That God really did answer my prayers. I can't really put it into words, but when you get a glimpse of the reality of God, you can't help but be moved.
It was a long flight. Eight hours. And for those of you who travel 18 hours, I can't imagine. We landed in Seattle, had a short layover, and were on our way home. We landed in PDX, got ourselves collected and took a moment just to enjoy what was going to happen. We had waited for years to have that moment. The moment where we are all together. A moment ordained by God. A moment we saw slip away when the earthquake happened. A moment we decided to believe would happen, not because of anything besides who God is. And we walked out to our older girls, our family, our friends and became what we are now. A family ordered by God, completed by God and living proof that he still orchestras miracles.