Our Journey 4

Make sure to read the 3 other posts about our Journey!

As the semester of school ended, we decided to pull the kids from school. We were hopeful that things would move forward more quickly now. We also were tired of being apart. If we moved to Dennis parent’s home, the distance would be half of what we were driving now. We would be able to see him almost every weekend. Half way through January, we repacked our van, said goodbye to my parents and moved to Idaho Falls. It was hard to say goodbye after living in Kemmerer for 6 months. I’m sure my parents don’t miss the grouchy mornings, splattering of cups on the kitchen counters, and running up and down the stairs all day. We are beyond thankful for all they did for us.

After our arrival in Idaho Falls, Dennis received news that he needed to leave the place in Gooding he was staying at within two weeks. We now needed to find a new place for Dennis to live too. As he told his plight to friends and associates, a friend from church offered a room to him for the few weeks we had left. Dennis was able to get his employment visa which allowed him to work and be paid in India. We then applied for visas for the rest of us. 

We started homeschooling all the kids. They enjoyed it for about one day. They missed seeing other kids and having a break from each other. School lasted only a few hours and then there wasn’t anything to do. Boredom equaled pestering each other. With our departure coming quickly, we listed both our cars for sale.  Within a week of each other, we sold our mini van and our Suburu.  We were now ready to leave.

Typically families visit a place before you move there and find a place to live. We needed to do this as well. The end of February, Dennis left for India by himself to find a house and register with the government. Dennis was able to visit several potential rentals. He finally secured the rental we have. He needed this before he could register with the government. On the application, you must declare your place of residence. One week into his two week stay, he started the application. This sounded easier than it was. Everyone he visited with told him that he needed to visit someone else. He had several locals who attempted to help him as the language was also a barrier.  It was finally determined he needed to fly to Chennai to finish the process. 

In Chennai, the government office kept telling Dennis that he needed other documents to register. With the language differences, he was having trouble figuring out what he needed to do. They weren’t specific in what was needed but kept telling him what he submitted wasn’t right. 

As this was all happening, our lives turned upside down in the US. Late one night, Dennis’ dad wasn’t feeling well. We had been passing the stomach flu around to each other for weeks. At first, we thought that’s what he had. Then quickly it went downhill. We ended up taking him to the hospital. I accompanied Linda and left the kids at home. At the hospital, we learned that he had a massive stroke and wouldn’t make it. Family members drove from across the US to say their goodbyes. With all that was happening in India, I didn’t want to tell Dennis that now his dad was dying as well.

That was a hard phone call for me. I wanted to be with him to provide comfort but I couldn’t.   We were able to video call to Dennis so he could see his dad and his family. There was no way that Dennis could fly home to be there as his dad’s will stated that he wasn’t to be embalmed and must be buried within 2 days.  In the end, he was able to get registered and participate in the burial over video.  

He was scheduled to fly home the middle of March. This was right when Covid was striking. Countries were shutting down right and left and quarantines were being enforced. We received news that flights from England were being shut down. This was the direction Dennis would be coming from. Dennis was able to squeak through right before the deadline hit missing the mandatory quarantines and blocked flights.

While Dennis was gone, we bought tickets for all of us to fly over at the end of March. One week after Dennis’ return, India announced the complete lockdown of their country for at least 30 days.  They also blocked all visas from entrance. This meant we weren’t allowed to fly over for now and until visas were reinstated maybe many months. Dennis’ job was planning on him being there for only two more weeks. We had plane tickets that were no longer valid. We were also without a vehicle.  Not again?  So many roadblocks?  One minute we are going, the next we are not. It was a mental game the kids and I regularly played.