Trip 2 (Nov. 2011)

In November 2011 Rob returned again with Tate, Austin, and myself. We traveled with a group from our church to install the floor systems in the silos. I was a bit nervous about flying but after our Pastor sent us YouTube videos of planes crashing as they were taking off – I figured worst case scenario is that we won’t make it, and then we would be with Jesus, so all in all – I had to get over it. Oddly enough, Rob, Tate, and Austin came down with the flu two days prior to our trip. As the group from our church was in route to Chicago to depart, I was at home in bed feeling the first part of the flu while Rob, Tate and Austin were trying to get back on their feet again.

After many phone calls, and many prayers some people on our team that were sitting in Atlanta waiting to board their plane for Johannesburg, connected with someone who got all of our tickets changed so we could fly out the following day from Chicago, and not miss a beat.

The trip was great for all of us. Rob and I had traveled to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina but my eyes were opened to things I had never seen before. I loved traveling with a group from our church body, it gave me a chance to get to know people better. I loved meeting people from another culture, it gave me a glimpse into their lives and softened my heart to people from a different part of the world. It was also awesome to see Tate and Austin and the other children with us from our church to interact with the kids of Africa. Even though our kids came from a vastly different culture, all the kids played together as if they all lived in the same neighborhood.

As our trip came to a close, and we were at the Johannesburg airport to depart – our family was told we were flying out one day later because we came in one day later. Remember we had the flu and were delayed one day at the beginning of this journey. At the time I was pretty upset, I was ready to see Tanner and Hudson. But God’s plan was different and as John came back to the airport to pick us up and take us back to J-life for one more day – Tommy walked over to us and said, “I am not sure why this is happening but I think God wanted you guys here one more day – we will see you when you get back!!” Although this seemed to be a huge nuisance from our perspective we were able to spend one more day with the Abrahamse’s. This was a true blessing it allowed us to get to know John, Lorna, Jordan and Nathan better. To understand their hearts for Africa and their tireless committment to the youth. I was chatting with John about the obvious orphan crisis and inquiring if it would be easy for us to adopt. Much to our surprise, adoption wasn’t as easy as it seemed. After much discussion he said, “I would like to leave you guys with something to think about. It would be great for you to adopt one but have you ever considered the impact you could have on more than one over here?” I was kind of shocked by the question and I think I tried to changed the subject really quick, but it was a question that remained at the front of my mind for months. Looking back, that extra day in South Africa was God continuing to mold us and shape and allow His plan to get planted into our hearts.