The Malcolms at Cape Town International Airport

On Monday morning, we flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg. It was hard to say goodbye as we had spent two months there. The Helderberg Basin with its mountains surrounding us and the False Bay—not to mention the countless shops, restaurants, and our church family there always in view felt like a home away from home.

We had a great flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg and were able to get to our new accommodations easily. We are actually in the same building as The Codfather, a favorite restaurant of ours two months ago when we were here.

After settling in, we got ready for a busy Tuesday. On Tuesday, we met up with a family adopting one of Phindi’s best friends (and former bunkmate) from her care home. We had breakfast with them and had them over to our flat so the girls could spend some more time playing. After hanging out with them for most of the morning and some of the afternoon, we got ready to meet Mama Debbie and her husband for dinner at Nelson Mandela Square.

Tisetso being silly in Nelson Mandela Square in 2016.

Phindi at Nelson Mandela Square in 2022.

We had such a wonderful time with them at dinner. We are so thankful they wanted to spend extra time with Phindi and with the rest of us. It is so special to have these moments, especially as our time is winding down here.

The biggest news is that on Wednesday, we had our visa appointment at the US Consulate. It was quite the adventure, as it was when we went with Tisetso, although much less time was spent this time.

We arrived half an hour early only to find our names weren’t on the list. Thankfully, our lawyer had emailed us the confirmation email and that seemed to suffice in getting us through the door. At security, despite Brian checking the list of prohibited items, we were stopped because of the MANY cables, thumb drives, and batteries that seemed to spring out of every pocket in Brian’s backpack (which has a lot of pockets).

After turning off and turning in our phones and electronic paraphernalia, we were allowed to go through. As with last time, it felt surreal to be on “American soil” in South Africa. We were almost put into a long line, but thankfully we were redirected at the last minute to a different window where we were seen only ten minutes later. One form and many dollars later, we raised our right hands and swore we were giving the correct information. We were told to come back on Friday after 11:00 am to collect the passport with the visa attached.

Evening view from another angle in our flat.

So as of Tuesday, June 28th, we will be flying home. We officially purchased our tickets today. It feels crazy that our time here is rapidly coming to an end. I am so thankful that this time around, homesickness has been kept at bay. Do I miss home? Sure! But it’s not an overwhelming, powerful, all-consuming feeling like it felt at times last time we were here.

We would just ask that you pray over our family as we have some good-byes to say in the next few days that are going to be hard. Phindi is especially anxious and resistant to going to America. We can’t blame her—it’s a whole new world and culture that she doesn’t know yet! We hope and pray she will come to love her new home and the people she will meet there, but for now, it’s a big scary unknown.

Thank you for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers. We couldn’t have made this trip without your support.

EDIT: Sorry this post wasn’t put up sooner! I thought it had been posted! Gah!