LONG JOURNEY HOME

Miriam and I began our long trek back to Minnesota yesterday. It’ll be another 32 hours before we actually get on our first International flight.
As you know, we began our Sunday morning at the crack of dawn, with the three of us in Kinshasa. Miriam and I boarded an 8 AM flight for Goma, while Andrea waited for her 10:45 flight to Nairobi. It was a very different flight from the one we had taken just a week earlier to Kinshasa, where Miriam cried for her mother for a good chunk of the trip. On this last trip, she asked lots of questions (she’s very inquisitive and aware of her surroundings). Hearing that were would land in Goma, she asked a few times if her mother would be there to meet us. When I informed her that would not see her, she seemed to accept it without any problem. (I had spoken to her birth mother the night before, and we both agreed that even though we could make it happen, emotionally it would make things harder for everyone).
We arrived in Goma about noon, and Jo and Lyn Lusi from Heal Africa assisted us in getting thru the border, to an awaiting cab. The cab took us on a 3 ½ hour ride to Kigali, where we spent the night. I connected with a Congolese family friend and his American wife and family in Kigali for dinner, before retiring for the evening.
As much as I would have loved to have stayed on the same itinerary as Andrea, in some ways this time alone with Miriam has been a blessing, as we are able to spend extended time alone getting to know each other. She spent most of the day with her little head nestled in my chest, or her hand firmly planted in mine. The trust that she is developing for the two of us is very apparent, and although we know there will be challenges ahead, we are savoring the gift God has given us in Miriam.