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March 21, 2011
So an update from the “home front”. I attempted to leave Niger as scheduled on March 18 but after about 2 plus hours in the Air France booking office I didn’t get to leave as scheduled. My travel agent booked my return flight home when he booked my original flight to leave back in April of 2010. I had already confirmed my flight back with the Air France website, their customer service and I had already been assigned a seat (44A) in my name but they said they didn’t have a ticket number for me so therefore they couldn’t let me board……crazy! I learned one lesson…….I thought I was a stubborn person but Africans beat me in the stubborn range…. Very disappointing and maddening since it was a simple mistake on Air France’s part and should have been fixed ASAP. So I went back home and just prayed. I’m a firm believer in the saying there is a reason and a purpose for everything so I just had to stand strong and believe that Jesus had a reason. The next morning my supervisor and I got up and went to the Air France office and the ticket number problem was supposed to be resolved. Around 3:30pm I went for early check in only to be told the problem wasn’t resolved and that I didn’t have a valid ticket. In the mean time my travel agent sent me an email saying he just bought me a new ticket so everything should be fine…so after a lot of patience practice Niamey’s airport finally found my ticket but they couldn’t confirm my flight from Paris to Atlanta. I didn’t really care because I just want to get out of Niamey,because the next flight would have been either Monday or Tuesday. So I left Niamey at 12:45AM and sat by a French guy. The French guy proceeded to get drunk on the wine, champagne and cognac on the flight, he started a fight with the guy in front of him and yelled at the guy behind him and then he fell asleep with his head on my shoulder……so I slept a totally of less than an hour on that 5 hours flight. I arrived in Paris around 6AM and went to the Air France counter only to be told the exact same thing that they couldn’t find me and I would have to pay for a ticket change even though it wasn’t a change……finally after an hour of explanations, and patient practicing, he talked to his supervisor and gave me the best seat he had left which was directly behind the first class seats. Yeah, I’m going home ;) I had lots of leg room and sat by a really nice sober French man on the way home. The flight from Paris to Atlanta was a little over 9 hours and I only slept for 2 hours…..excitement I guess kept me from sleeping. While we were descending to land someone 2 rows behind me called for help. A teenage girl had passed out while we were landing. I went and found a very faint pulse on the girl and she was stiff as a board. So me and the flight attendant picked her up and carried her to the back of the plane and attempted to revive her. She finally woke up about 10 minutes later and was totally embarrassed. I told her it was fine and then proceeded to tell her that I was on that flight to be there to help her because I was supposed to be in Paris or back home already but had been delayed. God’s timing is perfect and he allowed me to help someone and then share about his mercy and glory. The funny thing about this is that nobody would talk to me and treated me differently because of my hair being braided and my hands/feet painted up but after I helped this girl then people started treating me like a person and talking to me…I wasn’t the weird white girl trying to be different but a person who had helped someone in trouble….I just have to laugh at how people think sometimes…I’m the same person no matter what color I am or how I dress… So I was super happy when I stepped out in Atlanta airport. I smiled and talked to every single person I could talk to while walking…why? Because I could speak English to everyone and they all understood I walked 3 out of the 5 concourses to get to the baggage claim and as I come up the escalator I see a wave of people and then I saw my sisters and the welcome home signs. My sister Holli didn’t recognize me at first, I saw her look at me with a determined “I need to find my sister” look and then a look of “hey I think I saw her but that can’t be her” and then a look of pure joy. Julie and Holli both ran to meet me and then we all hugged and the crying started. My momma, niece, nephew and future brother-in-law Jeremy were next to get hugs and then we left the airport. I took my first hot shower in 24 hours and then went to my Dad’s house and saw my grandparents, step mom and Daddy. It was super nice because all my ATL family ate supper at my Dad’s house and we got to spend time together. Daddy and Nancy had my favorite Sprayberry’s Aristocratic Hamburger with fries and onion rings, and a HUGE bowl of Oreos for me. It was an amazing night filled with domino playing and a great welcome home party. That night my momma gave me a bag full of Chickfila nuggets, sandwich and a bag of skittles I fell asleep while my niece was jumping up and down around me and the rest of my family watched Blood Diamond….
Sunday (March 20, 2011) I woke wide awake at 7 AM which is very unusual for me because I’m usually the last one up but I was the first one today….but then wait…I hear something…my adorable little nephew is talking his own little baby language so I go and get him and we had some bonding time while everybody else sleeps…..around 10 AM My momma and I left ATL and started heading towards Andalusia. We stopped at Wal-Mart on the way back where I went into “little kid in a big store” shock and my momma had to keep reminding me what I needed and help me chose between options 1 – 1,000. We went to eat at the Smokehouse in Greenville where I ate a BLT, onion rings, and 2 huge glasses of sweet tea, and pecan pie We arrived in Andalusia and I saw my Maw Maw first…My husband came shortly after I arrived to pick me up and brought my 2 dogs with him….sadly my dog didn’t act like she remembered me and kind of snubbed me….Koa went into happy mode and did the helicopter tail spin Mike & I left my mom’s house and headed home, my best friend Chris and his wife were at my house when I arrived so I got to spend time with them and then we went straight to church revival. Chad preached an awesome service! Mike and I tried to sneak out the back before church was over but the pastor called me out and made me feel appreciated and loved it was very humbling and nice at the same time. I received a lot of hugs from the church family. Another first for the 2nd time that day was Mike was actually waiting on me in the parking lot of the church (I think for the first time in years) and as I walk out I see my brother, my niece and my mother-in-law. I proceeded to get the awesomest hug from my brother, Nathan and then another round of hugs from the rest of the family. Mike and I took Nicole to my house where I gave her the “princess” dress for her birthday. I missed my nieces and nephew so much! Then we went to Nate’s house and he had gave me my 1st American steak…it was great!!! I got to see Papa Joe, Devin, Brittany, and Jeff while at Nate’s…..then around 10:30’ish me and mike finally head home….My “new” house looks amazing! Mike has totally remodeled my kitchen, bathroom, and dining room! My husband rocks! I slept for about 9 hours and woke wide awake this morning at 7AM…. Mike asked me what happened and what was wrong with me (I usually am the last one up)……I woke up early this morning and couldn’t remember where I was at and why someone was in bed with me so poor Mike didn’t get much sleep ! I left Mike sleeping in bed and went to Corner Market around 8 (with hayleigh) and bought a Biscuit smothered in white gravy, bacon, eggs, chocolate milk and orange juice…..I’m waiting on Michael to wake up (its been 3 hours since I got up) and then we are off to spend the day together. We are going to Florida tonight for church with Marcus Johnson and then we have revival in Andalusia the rest of this week.
I’m still in jet lag coma mode but it has been an amazing journey to arrive home and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for my future. I’m already telling people about the “Return to Niger” mission trip that I’m planning in January or February next year…..if anyone is interested in going please let me know!!! It still hasn’t registered that I’m home yet! I’m still super sleepy but wide awake at the same time so I’ll try to write more later when I get more rest!
God Bless You and thanks for all your prayers :)
So an update from the “home front”. I attempted to leave Niger as scheduled on March 18 but after about 2 plus hours in the Air France booking office I didn’t get to leave as scheduled. My travel agent booked my return flight home when he booked my original flight to leave back in April of 2010. I had already confirmed my flight back with the Air France website, their customer service and I had already been assigned a seat (44A) in my name but they said they didn’t have a ticket number for me so therefore they couldn’t let me board……crazy! I learned one lesson…….I thought I was a stubborn person but Africans beat me in the stubborn range…. Very disappointing and maddening since it was a simple mistake on Air France’s part and should have been fixed ASAP. So I went back home and just prayed. I’m a firm believer in the saying there is a reason and a purpose for everything so I just had to stand strong and believe that Jesus had a reason. The next morning my supervisor and I got up and went to the Air France office and the ticket number problem was supposed to be resolved. Around 3:30pm I went for early check in only to be told the problem wasn’t resolved and that I didn’t have a valid ticket. In the mean time my travel agent sent me an email saying he just bought me a new ticket so everything should be fine…so after a lot of patience practice Niamey’s airport finally found my ticket but they couldn’t confirm my flight from Paris to Atlanta. I didn’t really care because I just want to get out of Niamey,because the next flight would have been either Monday or Tuesday. So I left Niamey at 12:45AM and sat by a French guy. The French guy proceeded to get drunk on the wine, champagne and cognac on the flight, he started a fight with the guy in front of him and yelled at the guy behind him and then he fell asleep with his head on my shoulder……so I slept a totally of less than an hour on that 5 hours flight. I arrived in Paris around 6AM and went to the Air France counter only to be told the exact same thing that they couldn’t find me and I would have to pay for a ticket change even though it wasn’t a change……finally after an hour of explanations, and patient practicing, he talked to his supervisor and gave me the best seat he had left which was directly behind the first class seats. Yeah, I’m going home ;) I had lots of leg room and sat by a really nice sober French man on the way home. The flight from Paris to Atlanta was a little over 9 hours and I only slept for 2 hours…..excitement I guess kept me from sleeping. While we were descending to land someone 2 rows behind me called for help. A teenage girl had passed out while we were landing. I went and found a very faint pulse on the girl and she was stiff as a board. So me and the flight attendant picked her up and carried her to the back of the plane and attempted to revive her. She finally woke up about 10 minutes later and was totally embarrassed. I told her it was fine and then proceeded to tell her that I was on that flight to be there to help her because I was supposed to be in Paris or back home already but had been delayed. God’s timing is perfect and he allowed me to help someone and then share about his mercy and glory. The funny thing about this is that nobody would talk to me and treated me differently because of my hair being braided and my hands/feet painted up but after I helped this girl then people started treating me like a person and talking to me…I wasn’t the weird white girl trying to be different but a person who had helped someone in trouble….I just have to laugh at how people think sometimes…I’m the same person no matter what color I am or how I dress… So I was super happy when I stepped out in Atlanta airport. I smiled and talked to every single person I could talk to while walking…why? Because I could speak English to everyone and they all understood I walked 3 out of the 5 concourses to get to the baggage claim and as I come up the escalator I see a wave of people and then I saw my sisters and the welcome home signs. My sister Holli didn’t recognize me at first, I saw her look at me with a determined “I need to find my sister” look and then a look of “hey I think I saw her but that can’t be her” and then a look of pure joy. Julie and Holli both ran to meet me and then we all hugged and the crying started. My momma, niece, nephew and future brother-in-law Jeremy were next to get hugs and then we left the airport. I took my first hot shower in 24 hours and then went to my Dad’s house and saw my grandparents, step mom and Daddy. It was super nice because all my ATL family ate supper at my Dad’s house and we got to spend time together. Daddy and Nancy had my favorite Sprayberry’s Aristocratic Hamburger with fries and onion rings, and a HUGE bowl of Oreos for me. It was an amazing night filled with domino playing and a great welcome home party. That night my momma gave me a bag full of Chickfila nuggets, sandwich and a bag of skittles I fell asleep while my niece was jumping up and down around me and the rest of my family watched Blood Diamond….
Sunday (March 20, 2011) I woke wide awake at 7 AM which is very unusual for me because I’m usually the last one up but I was the first one today….but then wait…I hear something…my adorable little nephew is talking his own little baby language so I go and get him and we had some bonding time while everybody else sleeps…..around 10 AM My momma and I left ATL and started heading towards Andalusia. We stopped at Wal-Mart on the way back where I went into “little kid in a big store” shock and my momma had to keep reminding me what I needed and help me chose between options 1 – 1,000. We went to eat at the Smokehouse in Greenville where I ate a BLT, onion rings, and 2 huge glasses of sweet tea, and pecan pie We arrived in Andalusia and I saw my Maw Maw first…My husband came shortly after I arrived to pick me up and brought my 2 dogs with him….sadly my dog didn’t act like she remembered me and kind of snubbed me….Koa went into happy mode and did the helicopter tail spin Mike & I left my mom’s house and headed home, my best friend Chris and his wife were at my house when I arrived so I got to spend time with them and then we went straight to church revival. Chad preached an awesome service! Mike and I tried to sneak out the back before church was over but the pastor called me out and made me feel appreciated and loved it was very humbling and nice at the same time. I received a lot of hugs from the church family. Another first for the 2nd time that day was Mike was actually waiting on me in the parking lot of the church (I think for the first time in years) and as I walk out I see my brother, my niece and my mother-in-law. I proceeded to get the awesomest hug from my brother, Nathan and then another round of hugs from the rest of the family. Mike and I took Nicole to my house where I gave her the “princess” dress for her birthday. I missed my nieces and nephew so much! Then we went to Nate’s house and he had gave me my 1st American steak…it was great!!! I got to see Papa Joe, Devin, Brittany, and Jeff while at Nate’s…..then around 10:30’ish me and mike finally head home….My “new” house looks amazing! Mike has totally remodeled my kitchen, bathroom, and dining room! My husband rocks! I slept for about 9 hours and woke wide awake this morning at 7AM…. Mike asked me what happened and what was wrong with me (I usually am the last one up)……I woke up early this morning and couldn’t remember where I was at and why someone was in bed with me so poor Mike didn’t get much sleep ! I left Mike sleeping in bed and went to Corner Market around 8 (with hayleigh) and bought a Biscuit smothered in white gravy, bacon, eggs, chocolate milk and orange juice…..I’m waiting on Michael to wake up (its been 3 hours since I got up) and then we are off to spend the day together. We are going to Florida tonight for church with Marcus Johnson and then we have revival in Andalusia the rest of this week.
I’m still in jet lag coma mode but it has been an amazing journey to arrive home and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for my future. I’m already telling people about the “Return to Niger” mission trip that I’m planning in January or February next year…..if anyone is interested in going please let me know!!! It still hasn’t registered that I’m home yet! I’m still super sleepy but wide awake at the same time so I’ll try to write more later when I get more rest!
God Bless You and thanks for all your prayers :)
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