R&S Potter Family: Three Week Blitz in the US

Imagine a 2 year old, sitting atop her daddy's shoulders, waving her passport out of his reach. This was just one of the fun airport moments we had during our long travels with a 6 month old and toddler. Perhaps the airline crew member did not approve of us coming through the line with the other priority boarding members, but most airlines encouraged early boarding for families with young kids. The crew member stopped us the first time we tried to board, saying we each had to be holding our own passports. With Zack on my front, I usually lugged the carry-ons while Ryan had Sydney on his shoulders while handling the passports or boarding passes and the kid's bag. We stepped to the side, Ryan gave me my passport which took some reshuffling of hands, and we stepped up again. She again said, "everyone needs to have their passports in their hands," and shooed us to the side. Ryan asked incredulously, "You want me to give the passport to our two year old and the baby?" She nodded her head, motioning for him to give it to Sydney. Thus, we had the situation which followed. Sydney joyously took the passport, held it up like a trophy, and started swaying back and forth in tiredness and boredom, refusing to let Ryan take the passport back much less show it nicely to the crewmember before boarding to compare her face (still her 3 month baby pic anyway) with her ornery 2 yr old face. Ryan looked back at me and smiled. What was she thinking??

Our journey started as took the short 1.5hr flight from Vanga's grass runway to the regional airport in Kinshasa. We stayed overnight with our good friends, the Lind's, who graciously host us when we spend time in the capital, and provide entertainment for Sydney and Zack with their 4 kids.

The Lind and Potter kids (minus Levi)

The newest missionary babies, already holding hands

The next night, we took a flight from Kinshasa to Paris to Atlanta to San Antonio. Our 8 checked items took the first flight, 3 joined the airline strike in Paris, and 1 took a vacay in Atlanta. We got our lost half of baggage back in 3 installments, and one had to be mailed to our final US destination because it enjoyed the Paris airport THAT much. In all seriousness, we had what we needed except for my breast pump.

We spent about a week each in San Antonio, St Louis, and Tulsa. Ryan, of course, spent several days in Dallas standing up in a wedding for a good friend. Turns out the bride was originally from Congo! I don't want to blog an endless itinerary, nor do I want to leave people out. Everyone we saw, even if it was for a short time, was a tremendous encouragement to us. I will highlight a few things.

My grandparents and my aunt DROVE over 20 hrs roundtrip to see us for just a few hours on Sunday morning. It was a complete surprise, and they were waiting behind a door when we walked through. It was one of those familiar feeling, wrong place moments, and I wondered who else might be lurking around the corner. I confess that I spent more time watching Zack pick up and swing my grandma's cane during the service that I did paying attention, but it was a moment I will cherish.

Snuggles with great-grandma

Coloring with great grandpa

My initial reaction when walking into Walmart was utter joy to be able to get haircuts, buy food, electronic items, misc, and clothes, and go to McDonald's, all without leaving the building. I ate ice cream 1-2 times a day. And it was awesome. Sydney enjoyed playing on many playgrounds with old and new friends. This is not original, but a quote from a missionary mom on Facebook, but it is very similar to our feelings.

"I did the most amazing thing today. I was feeling cooped up and wanted to get out with my daughter. I slipped my shoes on and we walked out the door. Three and a half blocks later we were at a beautiful park. Playing. On a playground. all I could do was cry. Innocence. Beauty. Adventure. We don't realize the bondage we live in until we taste freedom. No one was staring at us, or touching us, or wanting to take pictures with us, or asking us for stuff."

First haircut :)

Reading with Granddad Potter

All smiles with Nana

Making breakfast together

Jump!! into the backyard pool with the cousins

We left open several time periods to fill with hanging out or meeting people, but no one had filled the day before we left San Antonio. On the same day, my brother-in-law had a job cancellation. So, on the spur of the moment, we all decided to spend the day at Schlitterbahn Waterpark. Nana, Kara's whole family including 3 girls, and our family headed out to a day of splashing around. My favorite moment was getting to the front of the line and finding out that Zack had to ride in his own tube (with a bottom)! The kids all had lifejackets on, and the tubes indeed proved to not tip as they went down the steeper parts of the slide. In fact, Zack slept through most of it as we floated along between chutes. At the top of a particularly steep chute called "a waterfall" the lifeguard pushing us over the edge looked at Zack sleeping peacefully and said, "Sorry buddy," as he pushed him over the edge. Although it woke him up for about 20 seconds, he went right back to sleep.

Schlitterbahn kids play area

Sooo much fun!

The Potter clan all together in San Antonio

On our trip from Dallas to St Louis, one of our supporters based in St Louis was the pilot. He made sure we had extra water on the flight and greeted us by name when giving the captain's greeting before the flight!

We were able to visit the hospital where I lived, err, did my residency, in St. Louis. It was wonderful to be reunited with faculty and nurses that were nearly my family for four years.

Speaking at First Free church in St Louis

Spent the better part of a day at the St. Louis Zoo with my mom and the kids. It was so fun to see the joy and excitement on Sydney's face, see the new polar bear which put its face right up against the glass for Zack to stare wide-eyed at. The Orangutans were hilarious. The male kept spitting on the female, antagonizing her until she had had enough, started chasing him and wrapping him up in a rolling tackle.

The carousel!

Up close and personal with the polar bear!

I had little hope that we'd get an appointment, but I decided to call one of the dentists who supports us to see if we could come in to get our teeth cleaned. At first we were told they were booking into the month of October, but after I explained that the dentist had invited us personally by email to call, they got back to us that we could come the next day in the afternoon. It just fit perfectly into the very hectic St Louis schedule. Even though it was less than 24 hrs notice, the dentist gave us a personalized frame of our family picture from the newsletter. It was one of those moments that we felt particularly cared for.

The hospitality shown to us was over the top. They specifically stocked their pantry with food items they knew we missed, the laundry fairy came by and our clothes were neatly folded, sometimes with extra items added. They told us to make ourselves at home and invite others over, and they truly meant it! That significantly freed us up to spend more adult time with old friends as our kids could rest in their beds as needed.

In Tulsa, we got to eat at a Brazilian Steakhouse to help celebrate my parent's 40th anniversary! If you haven't eaten there and you like meat, it was a place not to be missed! Tulsa was our most restful stop, with lots of time spent just hanging out with the family at home. My aunt and uncle drove to see us and we got to see a cousin’s wedding in realtime as it streamed live from California.