Magnificent Malawi

We have arrived! It was a very long journey.

It all started Thursday afternoon when we got the phone call that Robby’s grandmother had passed away. We knew that there was a good chance it would happen while we were gone but to have it happen the day before we left the stars was difficult l. Knowing that we could just get a flight back to California and postpone our trip was tempting but Robby was confident that we should still continue as scheduled. We spent the rest of the day packing, cleaning and loading all 9 duffel bags into the van. We had everything clean and ready to go because we were leaving Friday morning at 3am. Around 1130pm Robby and I went to try to get a little sleep and as my eyes started to close I felt something move on my scalp. I was able to pinch it and look under the light at it while Robby googled what do lice look like. I kept trying to convince myself that it was something else, maybe a bug native to Florida. But no it was indeed a louse. Robby checked my hair and found another one so he went in search of a 24hr cvs that was about 20 minutes away. This all happened around 12am so by the time he got back with the treatment it was almost 1am. We quickly treated our own hair and threw all the clothes and bedding that we hadn’t packed yet into the dryer so we would have something to wear on the plane. We then woke the girls up one at a time and washed and combed out all of their hair at 2 in the morning. Nora and Robby didn’t have any and the rest of us only had a very few eggs. After finally being lice free and heat drying all our clothes and car seat covers we were only 40 min late leaving for the airport. Thankfully I had put an hour cushion in our departure time. We got the airport with plenty of time and checked in all 9 fully packed duffels full of expensive tools and multiple large rechargeable batteries. That was just the beginning.

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As we boarded the first flight Emma tripped and I was unthinkingly holding her left hand. The one we had just took her cast off and were celebrating the healed fracture. As she tripped I pulled her hand and immediately heard a pop and she cried. I felt sick to my stomach and I knew that I had just refractured her wrist. We sat down and tried to game plan what our next step was. Either we delay again and get her treated at our next stop in Washington DC or we continue on and get her treated in Malawi. I messaged the Missionary in Malawi to see if we could get X-rays and castings done when we landed and she reassured me that we could. So I asked the flight attendant if they had ice and a first aid kit, all while praying hard that they would have what I needed to splint her wrist. When she brought me the kit I opened it and printed right on top was the directions to splint a fracture. They had all the supplies and I was able to get Emma comfortable and prevent further damage.

As all of these events happened and the feelings of discouragement and utter helplessness started to feel overwhelming all I could think of was the the way God had taken care of us so far. He had provided everything we needed up to the point. We were easily able to raise the support needed for this trip because God was caring for us and showing us His love through our friends and families. Our house was rented out quickly, we were able to sell our car quickly, we both were able to leave our jobs with hope to return. Our health insurance coverage through Robby lasted right up to the day we left the US. Even through the insanity of last years delay due to covid God proved faithful because it allowed us to get Robby’s symptoms of dizziness and nausea diagnosed as a mild seizure disorder that without treatment could have progressed to full seizures. The pattern of Gods faithfulness helped me continue on and have faith that this was still the right path even through these trials and feeling like everything was telling us to turn back. And through these events each time God provided us with clear thinking and the ability to find exactly what we needed to treat the problem.

The flight itself was uneventful. The girls slept, played with toys and watched hours of movies. There were only a few tears but mostly when we woke them up to get off the plane. When we landed in Malawi we unloaded our circus of 5 people and multiple carryons. All three girls were crying and just melting down after more than 22 hrs of travel. Nora and Emma insisted on being carried, Nora on Robby’s shoulders and Emma in the car seat. Abby refused to wear her backpack or carry any of the pillows and blankets so I was wearing two backpacks, carrying a snack bag, rolling two suitcases and an arm load of blankets. Again God provided through an airport employee who saw us and took pity. She grabbed one of my bags and took us straight to the front of all the lines to get checked through customs and visa processing. When we went to get our bags to go through customs they were all piled together and she grabbed 4 other people to get luggage carts and help push all the bags through customs and put to the truck that was waiting to pick us up. I’m not entirely sure what we would have done without her.

We met the missionaries who will be our hosts and then immediately went to the hospital to get Emma’s wrist crates. She did refracture the bone and the splinted her and will do a perm at cast on Thursday. After this adventure we continued on our two hour car ride through Malawi. Driving here is like most places I have been, narrow roads, incredibly fast traffic all dodging and swerving around the pedestrians, bikes, motorcycles and animals. It is the thing that anxiety nightmares are made of.

When we got to our apartment we did a through re check of everyone’s hair and all was clean except we found one almost dead louse in Abby’s hair. So we retreated everyone just to be safe and then quarantined all our clothes and soft items for two weeks. We boiled a few clothes for ourselves because our washer, (which how great is it that we have a washer?) Does not have hot water. I am praying that we will not get reinfected. Lice is my absolute worst nightmare and it happened and I am still standing. So far.

We are getting to know the people and the area and we are looking forward to settling in now that the crisis is abating. Facebook messenger is the best way to contact us and we would love to chat! Thank you all for your prayers. God is faithful!

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