Our Journey 5

Each month and deadline brought with it another complete lockdown in India. They weren’t letting their people move and people were being punished if they did so. Idaho also started restrictions. The kids stayed home and only I went shopping. Dennis still came to visit but we were always worried we could spread it back and forth. Thankfully to date, none of us have contracted COVID-19. 

Dennis’ work let him continue to stay employed as he trained his replacement. They even let him borrow a work truck so he could get to work and come see us. We also took a few trips to visit him again in Gooding.  The kids wanted to take part in community things but we didn’t let them as we would need to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice and that wouldn’t be fair to others. 

One month went by, then two, and three.  By this point, the kids were tired of it all.  Some of them were adamant that they weren’t going and we couldn’t make them.  I was tired of fighting them about everything: finishing school, going to India, why they couldn’t get a job, why they couldn’t leave the house, and how we were ruining their lives.  Remember we had been living day-to-day out of suitcases for a year now thinking all along we were leaving.

In July, Dennis showed up to work one day. During the course of the day, work told him they needed the truck he had been using. At the end of the day, he learned that the truck wouldn’t be returned to him. He needed to find an alternate source of transportation.  The place he was staying at was 20 minutes away.  We didn’t want to buy a car just to have to sell it again. Some dear friends gave him rides around and even drove him to Idaho Falls to see us that next weekend. 

To our surprise, a life long friend surprised us and showed up from Utah with his spare car for us to borrow until we left. We will never be able to repay his kindness. This made life so much easier. 

In the middle of August, things at work got slow. The pandemic was effecting everyone. With most of the training done for his replacement, work was kind enough to find alternate things for him to do. Dennis was asked to sometimes make metal parts on the assembly line. This was physically demanding for him. 

All of these setbacks made us question if we were still supposed to move. Had world circumstances made it so we needed to do something different?  With Dennis dad’s death, what would happen to his mom?  We had been able to support her these months. Did we want to try to move during a pandemic?  Would the kids continue to struggle learning through homeschool?  I felt my faith tried many times. It would be so much easier just to stay there and make some minor life changes instead of following our commitments.

Finally at the end of August, we received official word that our visas were allowed back into India. We booked our flights for two weeks later. We began repacking suitcases, making sure they were under 50 pounds, planning transportation to the airport and buying last minute items. We had made it!  Now we didn’t have to wonder about when we were going. Those questions could be replaced with how would we survive quarantine and how would we live in a foreign country. 

This process was trying for me physically, mentally and spiritually. We learned so much about ourselves, our goals, and each other. We felt from the start that it was what God wanted us to do. We don’t know why we are supposed to be here yet, but know that it’s right. Sometimes doing the right thing is difficult and even when you know it’s right, there isn’t a promise that you won’t have to struggle to grow. There were times when my convictions failed. Other times Dennis’ did. We needed each other to be our rock during those times. You may wonder why I followed through after all these setbacks. I hope to share how this tested my faith and marriage and what helped me to overcome myself.