In the land of the free...

On Sunday, the second of August, I arrived in Washington D.C, Dulles Airport. The excitement was incredible. For the longest time, I had been waiting for the moment I would hit the ground in the country of my birth. Who could predict that it would even happen in the midst of all the trouble in the world right now?

But of course, there was one who knew all about this, even when I wasn't so sure. Even while I doubted as others did too, He knew that it would come to fruition. My objective was there, and praise the Lord that he granted me this request.

A little background...

Perhaps many of you understand the relief that my safe arrival has given me. Some of you may have walked alongside me, perhaps held my hand in stressful time, kept me in your prayers. But whether or not I was supported along the way (which I was, immensely), God was always there, and he never let me go.

What gave me the greatest thrill in my heart, was seeing how the dreams I had and desires seemed to be God's will for my life. I really wanted to go to America, even in the midst of COVID-19, and God granted my request, opening the borders for me to travel. In the midst of slight illness before my trip, God brought me back to health and kept me healthy on the flight. When I had to get a COVID test done, he allowed my body to be in such health, that the results came back negative. Praise God for all he has done!

And when I look back on all the preparation I have had to do in order to be prepared to leave, including my application for college, God gave me helpful advisors, admissions counsellors, friends. He gave me good results, he gave me time to do all I needed to do, he gave me patience and peace in the midst of stress. There was never a time I could say "Yeah, I did it all on my own". He was always the one.

Many of you know all this, and I have been blessed to have had people praying for me, and praising God as well, as we have seen all he has done.

But let me tell you about the trip over, hey?

The Goodbyes...

Honestly, the day of the trip was kinda weird. It hadn't hit me yet that I was leaving, I expect it never really does for people. I said goodbye to two friends who came over to visit me at home, and it still hadn't hit me. I was sad to be leaving them, but I didn't cry. It was the strangest feeling. Until that night when we loaded up the car, and I said goodbye to the house we had lived in for ten years. That's when I started bawling. That's when Dad said "It's hit you, hey?" You don't expect leaving a home to be hard, but it is. I literally just looked around the house for a few minutes, and all the memories came flooding into me. Because what truly makes your house a home is the people, and the memories you have shared with your family.

I realised, everything good, everything comfortable was right there: where I was standing. As soon as I moved myself, I was removing where I felt safe. It was like I was endangering myself. It's the vulnerability that most frightened me. And losing everyone I held dear for 18 years. Shamefully, I was thankless for all the memories that I had, for everything God had given me, and all the doors he had opened for me. But it was deep sadness that truly hit me in that moment.

And it didn't stop there. I had to say goodbye to one of my older brothers and my sister-in-law, and I started sobbing. I broke down saying goodbye to my friends at the airport, and the same when I had to say goodbye to my parents. I say this, not to make anyone sad, but to illustrate just how much care I have for Australia: a beautiful nation, with beautiful people. At 9:00pm, I passed the departures gate, catching the last glimpse of my teary-eyed parents as my Dad told me "You'll be alright, you'll do great" and Mom said "Do you wanna take these tissues with you?" I couldn't help but smile at Mom being Mom. Finally we all said "I love you".

The first leg of the journey...

Customs was so quick, I was the only one going through the departures area at the time, and honestly, it was so much more relaxing that way. The Australian customs officers were so friendly, honestly, they just kept talking to me. It was really quite nice. I was a little surprised I didn't have to do a temperature test, but believe it or not, there were no temperature tests at any of the airports I went to. Honestly, that was the weirdest thing to me.

It wasn't long till I boarded the flight, which was set to leave at 10:45. I was flying Qatar airways, whom I had flown with before, and quite liked. Not that I had much of a choice anyway, they were the only flight out of Perth. One of the requirements during COVID-19 is not only face masks, but these plastic shield head gear you have to wear over your face through the entirety of the flight (unless eating or drinking). Needless to say, it was cumbersome, clumsy and entirely unattractive, but I got the closest ever to looking like someone who work in disease quarantine.

The first flight was turbulent, but went quite well. We had to socially distance on the plane which meant there was a seat between me and the other person in my row. I watched a couple of movies, wrote a bit in my journal, slept here and there, but the flight was pretty uneventful. I would've loved to have struck up a conversation with the person across from me from sheer boredom and natural "extrovertism", but I have no clue if they would have been comfortable, particularly with COVID-19.

my flight, I wandered around Doha Airport before they posted the gate number for my next flight to Washington. It took an hour and a bit before it was posted, wherein I could grab a cup of Iced Jamocha latte, take a couple of selfies, and get some steps in before my next fourteen hour flight. When the gate number was posted, I went through security which they have right at the gates, and then waited before boarding. Honestly, it was mainly just a scene of me getting an itch of my throat of course right there, having an empty water bottle, no place to fill it and a dozen coughs just waiting to escape me. Oh, and all the people around me who probably thought I had COVID! Yeah, that was a nice time.

The second leg...

Let me keep this brief: Leg...Room! The second flight was so much better than the first. Less turbulence, and more space for me to stretch out. There were very few people on my flight to Washington D.C, and that was such a blessing. You just feel more comfortable anyway because you are less likely to catch anything. I watched some movies, journalled again. But mostly, I could sleep. No, it wasn't adequate sleep, but when you get travel sick like I do, you'll do anything to make the journey seem less long. By the end of the flights, I was pretty nauseated.

Funniest thing though, we were getting close to Washington, only two hours away. When I could see land below me, I started getting all excited, all dramatic. So my thought process went a little something like this:

"I'm returning to my home country, not just for a visit, but to live...Oh, I had to say goodbye to so many people in Australia, and now I will have to create new relationships...Oh, I'm so depressed...But look below me, God's beautiful world, the mountains and greenery are gorgeous...Pennsylvania, my home state...Wow, love my country...I'm happy...I'm sad...The US is amazing!"

Yeah, you can imagine my mind as a soap opera, back of palm to forehead crying "woe is me". It was all very dramatic, until I turned to the map on my screen and realised we were flying over Canada! My new thought process:

"Eww...Canada..."

Just kidding! But in reality, when I was flying over Pennsylvania and the US, it was very beautiful. I was so excited. I loved the accents I heard in the airport. Customs was so easy, and I think that's because I was a US Citizen with a US passport. But everything was much easier than normal. So I picked up my bags, met my grandad at arrivals, and we began the two and a bit hour drive home. And let me tell you, the scenery is so much more gorgeous from the ground than in the air. Everything was pure green. The photo below doesn't really do it justice. It was just spectacular.

My grandad and I had such good chats, it was so nice to catch up with him after at least four years of not seeing each other. When we got home, I got to see my Grandma as well. It was so wonderful to share a meal with them. Getting to sleep that night and resting was good as well. It was much needed after a long journey.

The next couple of weeks...

The next couple of weeks I am in quarantine here in the USA. It's not so restrictive, I just need to limit how much I go out and about. But I would appreciate continued prayers as I settle in to a new way of life, as I get sorted with insurance, and banks, and cell phone plans etc. I would also appreciate prayers concerning the move to South Carolina and settling into college. I know, I am going to get homesick, I know that it won't be easy for a couple of months, I know I will miss people like crazy. But if there is one thing I have learnt from this whole journey, it's that God is sovereign, in control, and so full of love and mercy for his people that he looks out for them.

In the "land of the free", I am so glad to say that my greatest freedom has come in Christ who died for me. And whether or not I find comfort in the "home of the brave", I know my greatest security will come from my home in Heaven, where I will be at peace praising God.

God has kept me thus far, he has brought me to a new place, but he will one day bring me home. And I pray that this is the case for all of you.