Re-entry

I am currently typing this while suspended several thousand feet in the air on a flight bound to Detroit by way of Phoenix.  We are having a most wicked bout of turbulence, so I’m distracting myself with writing.  The fact that I’m actually hands free from the toddler, bodes well for the current state of her temperament.

On April 29^th, we took off from Port-au-Prince to experience our first case of re-entry since our international move.  It began almost flawlessly in the PAP airport, which I really have no explanation for, aside from a sweet gift from God. 

Upon take-off, with the comedic timing of a veteran, Presley yells, “We’re all gonna die!”  I kid you not.  During landing, I almost had to deploy the barf bag, as in I held it to my mouth like a equestrian feed bag while crying silently and white knuckling my six year old’s poor little hand.  That was not embarrassing at all.  Did I mention I have a little fear of flying? 

Once we landed, we spent three weeks in our home state.  I was extremely excited for this trip.  I had been counting down the days, dreaming of all we would do while in the land of enforceable driving laws and mosquito free slumber.  As in most cases, when you set your expectations so high, they are rarely met.  In a lot of ways, this was a very, very, very (that’s three “verys” on purpose ya’ll) stressful three weeks.  On the other hand, we were blessed in so many ways, it encouraged and refreshed us.

Our family and friends provided for us in ways we never asked or expected them to.  They went out of their way to make us feel loved.   From meals, to Grammy and Pappy time, to date nights, family pictures, groceries, a little home away from home, and time to laugh and talk and process, they met our needs.  There are so many lovely, genuine, kind people in our life. 

The not refreshing part came as a result of some restructuring and focus of what our time in Haiti will look like.  As cryptic as that sounds, I will share more as God reveals to us what that means exactly.  We are returning to Haiti on June 4^th, and we will begin the process of asking God what He wants the Krulls in Haiti to be doing and for how long.  If you would join us in prayer about this, we would love to know who you are.  Please comment or email us (garyandmichaela {at} hotmail.com) so we know who is joining us.

Many people asked us what it was like to be back.  It felt normal.  And yet it felt weird to feel normal.  I am astounded at the sheer number of choices an American has in life.  Not just choices at the grocery store, or choices of where to work,  or choices for medical care, choices where to live and go to school, or choices for recreation and hobbies, and how to spend time in general.  The freedom that comes with having money are so numerous, and I never really thought of how it feels to not have choices.  Money equals freedom in so many ways.  I was born into this land of opportunity, not by accident or privilege, but God put me in this position to do something with it for Him.  I don’t want to squander this gift.  I don’t want to be selfish with it and keep it for myself.  I don’t want to use it for only my voice, but for the voice of the millions who do not have the freedoms that I do.  Also, I probably have a lot less patience now for first world problems, so even if I love you dearly, you should probably go complain that the Starbucks line was so slow today and the barista got your order wrong again to someone else, m’kay?

Today we packed up, and said some goodbyes.  The kind of goodbyes that seem to hurt the worst are the ones when you don’t know when you’ll see the person next.  That’s the kind of goodbyes we said, and that just plain sucked.

Now it’s dark on the plane, and Presley has passed the congenial plane behavior and is just straight up high on sugar while simultaneously crashing from no nap.  There is quite a bit of screaming and stink eye from strangers, so I should probably part ways with the laptop.  Tomorrow we will wake up in The Mitten, That’s Michigan for all of you not in the know.  And a whole new phase of excited hellos and sad goodbyes.  This is some crazy hard weird life, and I feel so blessed to live it.