Mexico City - Coming Home

August 15, 2013 - This is a significant day that Troy and I are never going to forget. After five years of waiting, we will go to bed tonight on Mexican soil.

Our flight out of Costa Rica was at 7 AM. Due to the fact that many families were also leaving today, we ended up sharing two big van taxis with another family. As their flight was earlier than ours, we left our house at 4 AM. Between squeezing last minute items into the carry-on luggage and sheer excitement, I’m not sure that either of us got more than 2-3 hours of sleep last night. We were up at 2:45 in order to make sure we were ready for the 4 AM pickup. I’m so glad we arrived sooner than we’d originally planned. By the time we stood in line to pay the exit fees for all six of us, then got all of our 15 pieces of checked baggage tagged, checked (plus our six backpacks and 6 carry-on suitcases tagged), and paid for, we ate up a significant amount of time. (The sight of 6 gringos behind two enormous piles of luggage on baggage carts, carrying backpacks and pulling carry-on suitcases created quite a spectacle I can tell you.) Then, it took an additional 30 minutes or so to get through immigration and security before we could head to our gate. Just like in the Jackson airport when we came to Costa Rica a year ago, we had only just gone to the bathroom and sat down when they began boarding! Although this time, our seats were not all together. Tori and I had seats in row 9 on one side of the aisle and Tayler had the end seat across from me on the other side of the aisle. I offered to let her sit with Tori and I would sit next to the strangers, but she didn’t mind. She ended up spending the bulk of the flight entertaining the 4-year-old boy traveling with his 2 sisters, mom, and grandma who was sitting in the row right behind me. Indeed, he became so enamored of her that when we all saw each other again in the baggage area, he followed her around like a puppy. We had our mountain of luggage assembled before theirs (how, I’m not sure), so I had to watch to make sure he actually got back to where his mother was standing. The boys, however, were not so fortunate. I’m not sure how this happened, but they were each placed in different rows---in the back of the plane! Before takeoff, Troy told me that he’d managed to convince someone to trade places with him so that he could at least sit by Cody. But people weren’t cooperating to allow Clayton to join their row, to Troy’s great frustration. Thankfully, when he came up to get our customs paperwork during the breakfast service about 30 minutes into the flight, that problem had been resolved and the three of them were together in one row.

Our landing in Mexico City was a bit rough. Troy and I were talking about it this morning and it seems our landing experiences varied greatly just from being in opposite ends of the plane. In the front, we could feel the plane ascend and descend as there must have been significant wind the pilot had to contend with. Touchdown was fairly normal, but he had to really brake hard to get the plane to slow. Everyone in the front portion was jolted forward in their seats quite a bit--you could see people place restraining hands upon the seat backs in front of them. In the rear of the plane, however, they didn’t experience that part. The worst part was the actual touchdown. Troy said the pilot hovered quite a bit and then seemed to drop down, bounce back up again, before dropping back down again. Very rough. Amazing how different flights can seem from one end of the plan to another.

As the guys were in the very back of the plane, the girls and I let our seat mates out and then just waited for them to make their way to the front. This allowed most of the passengers to disembark and make their way through immigration before we got there. Unlike in Costa Rica, where we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes just to reach the counter, we walked right up to the counter. And unlike in Costa Rica, where we spent 20 minutes with the immigration agent before she allowed us to enter the country, we maybe spent a total of 5 minutes talking to the Mexican official before being waved on through. Yay for those preliminary Mexican visas! Next, we headed to baggage claim to gather our checked bags. As we watched for the little hot pink pieces of duct-tape wrapped around each handle (so that we could easier spot each piece), two men came over to help us with our luggage. I am so proud to say that I was able to communicate with them in Spanish--not always very well, but we at least understood each other. That is vastly different than one year ago! I’m also so thankful that all of our luggage arrived with us! God is good. With our baggage literally piled high on two small carts, we next proceeded to customs. Whether or not your luggage is searched is completely random--you push a button. If it’s green, you continue on to the security scanner and they push it through extremely quickly on the conveyer belt (some have told us that if you have less luggage and receive a green light, you can sometimes just skip that last part and leave the building). If it’s red, they search your bags--one piece, two, or even all. We prayed--and asked many of you to pray as well--for green lights. Troy pressed the button and God answered that prayer--green light! Another five minutes saw us out in the waiting area where Steve, our field director, was the first face we saw.

I’m so thankful for how God blessed our day and was with us through each step. It was during this process that we realized once again how truly miraculous our initial move to Costa Rica was. The afternoon before our flight then, we had nothing packed in our suitcases. Nothing. Yet, Troy managed to get everything to fit in a matter of six hours’ of straight packing. This time, however, we spent many more hours over several days packing and repacking, trying to get everything to fit. That God gave Troy supernatural abilities last time, I do not doubt. We had one extra bag this time than we did last time, yet we had to pay a significant overage fee for the 3 bags. Last time, we paid nothing for those two extra bags. Regardless, as we stepped outside the airport and eyed the Mexican landscape, we were overcome with emotions. I’ve been in tears often during the past (almost) 24 hours, but they are definitely tears of happiness. One of the sweet ladies in our church back in Mississippi made the comment that she was thankful we made it “safely home”. Home. Yes, indeed. Upon our arrival to Mexico City, we finally made it home.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our family during these last weeks in particular. Please keep praying as we work this next week to get the kids in school (Monday) and begin the house and car shopping process. And stay tuned for future posts about our ministry experiences here.