Part 7
HOMECOMING!
By day four we were exhausted but so excited to be going home! Rex headed out early with an agency staff member to go back over to the Embassy to pick up the Visa - please be ready... He returned an hour later, Visa in hand. We went downstairs for our last breakfast and then finished craming our suitcases with all the goodies from our shopping spree.
A driver took us to the airport and we proceeded to go through baggage check and a number of security points. There were quite a few people in line so it took a little while but we eventually made it and stopped to get a bite to eat before boarding.
A friend of our's we sing with in choir, Suzanne, works for the airline we were using and we knew that flight's to and from Guatemala were part of her regular schedule. We had told her when our flight home was going to be and she switched days with a coworker so that she could be with us. What a joy to see someone from home waiting for us at the gate. She had checked the seating chart and saw that we were supposed to be in the very last row. Rex had done that on purpose so that we'd be close to the bathroom in case we needed to tend to Kenan. She told us, "That's not going to work for my friends!" and bumped us up to first class! What a surprise! We had an entire row to ourselves and got a meal we had not planned on too.
After we boarded, the captian announces that we were going to have to make a stop in Fort Myers, FL to refuel. The reason behind that was the plane only had a half tank of gas. If we had taken off with a full tank, the plane would have been too heavy and not been able to get enough speed to get us high enough to clear the downtown buildings. Suddenly, refueling didn't sound so bad, even though it would delay our arrival. We stopped and sat there for over an hour. What was taking so long?! Because it was an international flight, no one could get off or on. People were starting to get antsy, Kenan was getting fussy and so were all the other babies that were going home. Come to find out, there had been some engine trouble during flight and it was being looked at. Again, getting in later would be just fine.
We finally landed. Our original arrival time was supposed to have been at 8:00, it was now 10:00. We still had to go through Customs and Immigration. We were told to have a seat in a waiting room and they would call our names when it was our turn. Our family was the third group that got there and more and more kept coming in. We thought that we'd be called in the order we had arrived but we weren't that fortunate. After another hour of waiting, we were the next to last people to be called. We went out to a desk and had a man look over Kenan's passport and Visa and asked us if that was Marco we were holding. We said yes and he said welcome home, and handed us back our papers. That was it! Oh well, what can you do?
It was so late and I had been hoping that we'd have a welcoming committee there to greet us but I just knew that everyone had gone home to put kids to bed for school the next day. I was so surprised to see all our friends that had waited an extra 3 hours that I was overcome with emotion. Friends, if you're reading this, words fail to express how important and special that was to me. Each of you are so dear to us and we love you so much. We just can't thank you enough for making those first moments home so memorable.
After lots of hugs and pictures and prayers of thanksgiving, we made our way to the car for Kenan's first ride in a car seat. We got home about 12:30 and were surprised to find a clean house that had been decorated with banners and signs. Thanks Valarie for making it look so pretty. We love you!
It had been a very long day but we were finally home! Welcome Home Kenan! We Love You!
