Jetlag

Who's turn to wake him up?

We knew we were pushing it. Four flights, back-to-back with three young kids. No long layovers. No night’s sleep to recover on the way. Usually we have a night or two in mainland Africa before the two flights needed to return to our home on Clove Island. But this time, it was a straight shot.

In mainland Africa, we were happy to see our kids still bouncing around. Patience levels were down but they hadn’t collapsed yet. On the flight to the main island, our two older kids fell asleep hard. Our youngest was losing his ability to walk under his own power. Somehow we got them off the plane and through immigration. We laid in a heap as we collected bags. But by the time we got in the other side of the airport to check-in to our next flight, it was over. The kids were lined up against the wall in coma-like sleep using their backpacks as pillows.

Thankfully the check-in lady didn’t ask them to come to the counter— we just motioned to the wall. She looked up surprised. “They’re tired?” That was an understatement. We were checked-in for our last flight and exhausted ourselves. Now we just had to get the kids through security. We called their names. No responses. We jiggled their shoulders. No reaction. We pulled at their arms. They were like heavy dolls.

Finally we got them awake enough to walk to security, but they were whining, moaning and half-crying all the way. I walked through the metal detector and started to collect my things. “Where are the kids?” They had vanished. I looked ahead into the waiting area. There they were already collapsed, dead asleep again on a chair and the floor. It was 10am local time.  When they called us to board the next flight we only slightly roused the two older children.  Tom managed to get them on their feet and then literally, with their eyes closed, he walked them through the gate to board the plane.

As difficult as this sounds, we are still very thankful for how it went.  It could have been a lot worse.  Instead of sleep walkers, we could have had flipping-out screamers, or dull lumps who would have to be carried.  So though we may have made a mistake in choosing such a grueling flight schedule, the Lord was very gracious to us.

But it was a rough return to the island. But then comes the struggle to overcome jetlag. Sometimes it goes fast and smooth, but not this time. We had to nap when we got back to our home on Clove Island— we physically could not keep all three children and ourselves awake.

We decided it should be no more than a three-hour nap. When the alarm went off, it was almost another hour before we adults could pull ourselves from our beds. Then we had to wake up the kids.

Political Rally right outside our house

So has proceeded several days of the kids waking up in the middle of the night, wide-awake and noisy. Then a day of us having to force the kids to stay awake during the day in the hopes that the next night they would sleep all night.  There is something very sad about forcing a tired child to wake up. It goes against most parenting instincts. The idea of just letting them become nocturnal sounds tempting, but then we remember that we really want them to be back in school on Monday.

Uh oh! Look at the time.  Better go wake up the kids from that nap!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We reunited with our team after the long time away. It was exciting to hear all the stories of what they were able to experience during that time! We’re close to being over jetlag! After some initial difficulties, we were able to get internet back up and running. We’ve started our last time of concentrated language-learning with our team— they have learned a lot and are looking to finish strong!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
We had an unexpected overnight guest on Wednesday night— one of our old island friends from the big island. He’s on his way to reach out to a village on our island with a vision for potentially staying long-term— pray for his acceptance in that village and for the relationships he will be making. We’ve heard some troubling reports that one sister has fallen away and is denying her former friends. Pray for her and us as we try to reconnect with her and for her future decisions. Pray for our kids as they transition back to school. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the first round of big nation-wide elections on the islands. Pray for peace and stability across the islands and for fair, just elections. Pray for good leaders for this nation!