Welcome to America

My team has done a number of pick-ups at the airport. Each has touched my heart in its own special way. In airport pickups, we get to go to the airport and meet the families as they are flying into America for the first time. Technically, they land in either New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles and go through customs and then they fly from there to their new home city. My favorite part of this is when they have family already here and we get to take the family to the airport to meet them.  

One of my favorite nights was with an Iraqi family. We picked up Reem and her brother. Reem was the sweetest thing. She hadn’t seen her sister in 3 years and the last time she saw her, they had been at the amusement park with her nieces and nephews that were coming in and they hadn’t completely understood that when she said she was going away that she wasn’t coming back. We got to take some good pictures for her and she was crying and hugging everyone and it was down right heartwarming. Even her brother was smiling and tearing up and hugging everyone. I loved that night. 

Another favorite was the night before that when a Burmese family arrived. This family had three kids, ages 4, 3, and 1. They had been on the plane/in terminals for over 48 hours so the children were exhausted and all three wanted to be held, which is not possible with just 2 parents, especially with 2 of them being so big. Because they were Burmese and most have been in Thai refugee camps for many years, they don’t know how to work anything, like the stove, oven, shower, deodorant, etc. This was one of my first airport pickups so this was my 1st home orientation to watch as other families were either staying with extended family or had family there that was going to help them.

Natalie was doing the home orientation and I was watching because it was my turn next time. However, the poor 4 year old was exhausted and no one was holding her. Since I needed to follow around anyways and watch, I ended up holding the 4 year old the entire time and she fell asleep on my shoulder. It was so sweet. They were just the sweetest family.

Another favorite pick up wasn’t actually with World Relief but was with another organization. One of the families here that we have gotten really close to is the "E" family. Their sister was arriving and they asked if I could drive them to the airport and just tag along and help once I apparently know what’s going on and can help. So I got to drive the family to the airport and see a family that I had grown very close to reunited with their family. The sister had three children. I got to help them make their beds and unpack once they got to their new home. When we were making the beds one of the young girls looked at me and cupped both her hands around her face, pointed at me and started speaking in Karen. The translation I received was that she thinks my face is cute. I told her that her face was cute too. 

While they were settling in, a family member & I drove back to our apartment and got stuffed animals and coloring books for the children. They loved their new toys and one of the teddy bears was bigger than the youngest son but he carried it upstairs all by himself anyway, just as proud and happy as he could be. After they were settled in a bit, we took them over to our apartment complex where a lot of their extended family lives and they visited their grandparents and great grandma. I showed the young girl the pool at which point she clapped her hands and jumped up and down and said a lot in Karen, none of which I understood. The next day I took her swimming and she had a wonderful time. I’ve taken her multiple times since and she loves the water and is becoming a very good swimmer. It’s been such a blessing to continue to get close to that family these past couple of weeks.