Homeward Bound – Scotland to USA

Fire Drill

At 11p, I guess we had been sleeping enough, so the Holiday Inn in Glasgow kindly woke us up with a fire alarm drill. Chloe forgot to grab her jacket so she was pretty cold standing outside in the rain in the Scottish night. One of the hotel staff kindly gave her his own suit jacket. Since the airport was next door we went into the airport while the authorities decided if there was a real fire or false alarm. We were back in bed before mid-night, making our 6a wake up feel quite early. We got up and off with no issues. During our first flight from Glasgow to Halifax, Nova Scotia we had a medical emergency on the plane when a diabetic lady’s sugar got too low. The medical team met her on the plane when we landed. We have been praying for our servers when eating out on this trip, asking them how we can pray for them. While on the plane we were getting ready to pray over our lunch, so Chloe asked if I would ask the lady next to me how I could pray for her. I asked her and she started to tear up. She had just been in Scotland attending her eighty year old mother’s funeral. We prayed for her and got lots of conversation with her on the flight. She was one of nine kids, and she loved her mum so much that she was not sure how she was going to get used to her not being around.

In Nova Scotia we went through customs and got the opportunity to met Inspector Javert’s twin sister. She threatened to take Chloe from me because I was not carrying a notarized letter from my “team guardian giving permission for me to travel with my ward”. I felt sorry for this poor lady as she had a lot of anger in her that she was choosing to get rid of through her profession. She next attacked my customs form. I did not declare anything as we had less than $50 worth of Scotland stuff with us. She wanted an itemized list, down to the mints we received from our hotel stays. I went through the things we had collected, giving them estimated values. As I was doing this she threatened me again saying that she had the authority to search through our stuff and if we forgot to declare even one thing I would be fined and put on a list that would mean every time I ever come through Canada again I would be body searched along with picking through all my stuff. I kept smiling and thanking her making myself a very unfulfilling target for venting anger, so she eventually got tired of me and sent us on our way. 🙂 After going through customs they made us go through the normal airport screening process. They were also vigilant in their jobs, and we got chosen for special inspection and Chloe even got selected for extra screening and swabbing. We were praying hard that Chloe would not be asked to be put in the body screen. The guard did not want to put Chloe in that thing either so he chose to do extra swabbing, thank you Jesus. After a couple more flights we were finally home. It was so nice to get home and get a huge hug from Jodi who came to pick us up at the airport.

A Celtic Heart

Chloe’s Take:
After getting to bed, the fire alarm started just as we went to sleep. I don’t know why, but it did. We were tired, but we bundled out of the hotel (I forgot to bring my jacket) and a kind hotel man who had given me a breakfast box just for standing by daddy and saying nothing (he called it patience) gave me his hotel jacket. And when we were finally allowed in the hotel again, we gave back his jacket with many thanks. Then God allowed us to sleep. Praise Jesus! A couple hours later we were waiting for our airplane. We were in Zone 4 (I didn’t like being in zone 4 because it was the last zone, and I was impatient). Thank you Jesus for teaching me patience! When we got to Canada we had a run in with the custom’s lady. I couldn’t understand all she said, but I didn’t like being called a “ward”. I think she needs prayer. I don’t want her to end up like Inspector Javert did (in Le Mis). It was very exciting to see mommy! Oh and God answered because we didn’t have a phone to call mommy and say we were ready for her to come pick us up. Daddy said we should pray. As he said “Amen”, I thought I saw mommy’s car and…There she was!!! Praise Jesus! In the morning, I woke up at 3a and couldn’t go back to sleep. I was so excited to see my family! Thank you Jesus for all the things you have answered and have done and also for my fun trip and for loving FRamily who prayed, wrote letters and loved me (and missed me) and for coming safely and being HOME!!!!!!!!