Before I begin journaling about our time on the plane and our first week in Uganda, I must share about the drama of not seeing our twins. On Sunday (the 9th), Arkansas was hit by a snow and ice storm. It dumped at least 4 inches of snow and ice from Sunday-Monday. Josh was supposed to drive up from TX on Sunday....but NE Texas and SW Arkansas got hit with the ice part of the storm pretty bad. So we talked on Sunday and decided he could maybe come up on Monday. Monday came and it was still so bad that parts of Interstate 30 were shut down (in SW Arkansas) and roads were described as icy and dangerous all over the state. We realized that neither of them was going to be able to make it. Needless to say I cried all day as I finished packing.
We had been staying at my friend’s house (Melissa Jenkins) during
our time in Arkansas. She and her 14 year old twin girls stayed with her parents and allowed us to have their entire house all to ourselves. We decided it would be a good idea to get from her house in Bryant to my parents’ house in Little Rock to spend the night. So around 3 Scott made the first drive to my parents’ house with all our duffels. He said the roads were ok....but he went around 40 mph the whole time. The next trip he took the kids and all the pillows, blankets, and carry-ons and left me at Melissa’s to finish the last of the packing.
I was scurrying around trying to gather up all our stuff when the front door opens and I hear a voice say, “You know you really should lock your door.” I look up and Katelyn is standing in the front hallway!! I was in shock. I just stared at her and then hugged her so tight!! She had driven all the way from OKC. As I hu
gged her I looked over her shoulder half expecting Josh to walk through the door, too. But, of course, he couldn’t because the roads down south were much worse than the roads up north. It was such a surprise to see her!! I was a combination of ecstatic and sad....ecstatic because Kate was here!!! and sad because Josh wasn’t. Scott got back and we loaded the last stuff in the car and headed to GrandKate’s and GrandDaddy’s to surprise the children with Katelyn. That was lots of fun....watching them run and jump on her in excitement.
That night after we had finished up all our packing and the kids were in bed I walked past Scott looking at something on the computer. I realized he was looking at plane tickets on Southwest. I said, “Whatcha looking at?” He said, “Oh, I was thinking about flying Josh up, but I think it’s too expensive.” I started jumping up and down because my parents had already offered to fly both Kate and Josh to Little Rock that morning....but airports in both OKC and Dallas were shut down. So I figured they would definitely be willing to fly Josh in. The thought of flying him in o
n Tuesday hadn’t even crossed my mind!!
So I ran to ask my parents what they thought. As I spilled out my request I said, “I realize you can’t exactly say no to this....but please.” My dad just looked at me and said, “I was going to fly him to Uganda so SURE I’ll fly him to Little Rock.” I cried and hugged them both!! I could go to bed a happy mama knowing I would see BOTH my oldest kids before we left!!
Josh got to the airport around 10 and we made it there around 10:40. The kids were TOTALLY shocked as Josh stepped out from behind one of the columns at the airport. They ran to him hugging him and saying his name over and over. I hugged both Kate and Josh and just cried. That’s the happy part of our goodbyes!
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