Home Sweet Quarantine | Back in Australia
What is up My Party People!
I am coming to you live from my hotel Quarantine in Sydney, Australia with a very exciting life update! After ten months of prayer and trusting God to bring me back to Australia, I have officially moved back down under. I cannot find the words to express how excited I am to be back in Australia and even more pumped to be back playing with my team, the Sturt Sabres! If you have been following along on my journey for some time, you know that leaving Adelaide in March of 2020 was so heartbreaking. I struggled to understand why I was being pulled away from the place I felt called to be, but knew it was all part of a bigger picture and plan that I couldn’t fully see at the time. As I reflect on the last 10 months of what was a long sometimes exhausting waiting season, I wanted to share a bit more of my story, in hopes it shows you how God is always working for our good even in our struggles.
If you’re new around here, I am so glad you’re here. If you’re an OG, I appreciate you too! I moved to Adelaide, South Australia for the first time April 2019 to continue playing professional basketball and fell in love with the country, the city and the people. One thing about my basketball career that you should know is I have never nor will ever find my identity in basketball. I will always find my identity in Jesus. That being said, Australia felt more than just another place to play professional basketball, it felt like home. After my season in Australia in 2019, I moved to Ireland to continue playing ball with the hope that I will one day be back in Australia.
I played in Ireland September 2019 - December 2019. I ended up leaving Ireland early and lived at home January 2020 - February 2020. During those two months, I was waiting, praying and hoping God would open the door for me to move back to Australia. In His perfect timing, my visa was accepted and I moved back to Adelaide, South Australia March 1, 2020. Well….we all know what happened in March 2020. My season was cancelled and I got on the last flight home before the borders shut. I wanted to stay in Adelaide and my parents fully supported me staying. However, my team was not comfortable with me staying since there were so many unknowns of the pandemic. That being said, I was not happy to be headed home. After spending hours on the phone with Delta to get my flight changed and everything figured out, I arrived at the airport at 4am the next morning to find out the flight I was on / ticket I had didn’t exist. LIKE DIDN’T EXIST. WHAT!?!??! I HAD A PHYSICAL TICKET!?!? It didn’t make sense AT ALL! They rebooked me for the next day. I left the airport around 5am and fell asleep until around 10am. I woke up in a daze and felt like I was living in a dream. I finally came to my senses and realized I needed to make the most of my “second last day” in Australia. Since, I had already said my goodbyes the day prior, I spent the day with myself. I went to the beach, got an iced coffee (duh) and sat and prayed. All of a sudden the chaotic unrest in my heart turned to a calm and peace filled heart. This was the first time in my life I felt consumed at one time with God’s peace. That day on the beach, I knew God would bring me back to Australia one day, but it was time to go home for now. What was once a feeling of anger and sadness about leaving Australia turned to peace and joy about moving back to the states.
God gave me a second last day in Australia to remind me that He knows I love this place, but to trust His plan. The next day, I boarded my flight home to Atlanta. Here’s to almost leaving my laptop in airport security in Sydney on my way home, but hey that’s a whole other story for another day ;)
Fast forward a month and my sweet Nana and best friend took her last breath and joined Jesus in heaven. Nana wasn’t sick. There was no sign that Nana would join Jesus in 2020. But God knew all along He was calling her home in 2020 and wanted to call me HOME to Atlanta to be with her. If I would have stayed, I would have been locked in Australia (all international flights were halted) with no way of getting home to be with family. The crazier thing is I also wrote out a pro/con list to stay / leave Adelaide a week before I left and the ONLY CON on my list was if something were to happen to Nana. At the time I was just being overly cautious of my 94 year old bestie. But WOW. God knew all along. God, I’m glad Nana is dancing with you, but boy do I miss her. I am forever thankful you gave me an extra month with her.
Nana passed away May 8th, 2020. The next months were met with a rollercoaster of grief. Through the grief, I learned to still find joy, exactly what Nana would want for all of us. I launched a social media management business, had my first ever week long KAS Skills Acadmey and spent lots of date nights with my parents.
As time went on and the pandemic still had so many uncertainties, I kept praying to see if Australia was still in my cards. If it was still God’s plan for my life, I wanted a sign. If it wasn’t in the cards, I wanted to close the chapter. As I prayed for answers, I just kept hearing, “I was faithful then. I will be faithful now.” To me, that meant, God was faithful in bringing me Home to be with Nana, but now He will be faithful in bringing me back to my Australia. As the months went on, I couldn’t fully comprehend when or how this would happen, I just knew I had to keep the Faith. (ironically, Faith was my word for 2020).
How I kept the Faith that God would bring me back home to Australia:
I bought a one way ticket to Sydney on September 6th, 2020 for January 30, 2021. The only reason I had money to purchase this flight was because I moved home and started my social media management business in April. I wasn’t even in contact with my team about moving and playing for them again. I just knew I felt called to be back in Australia. At the time the flights were going for anywhere from 3K-10K and I got lucky finding an even cheaper one so I couldn’t miss my opportunity. I bought the flight.
I started packing for Australia January, 9th without having my visa or exemption granted.
I announced publicly that I was moving to Australia without the final piece I needed to move - a negative COVID test result
My visa was submitted January 4th, 2021 and I was granted my visa January 22nd, 2021 (8 days before my flight). This visa process normally takes 4-6 weeks (via the Australian government’s website.). My exemption was submitted January 8th, 2021 and I was granted an exemption to travel to Australia January 18, 2021. The exemption piece is in regards to COVID protocols. If I was granted a visa but exemption denied, I would not be able to move to Australia. Lastly, I had to get a negative PCR Covid Test 72 hours before my flight and receive my results back before my flight. PCR tests can take 2-4 business days. So I took 3 COVID tests at 3 different clinics in hopes that one would come back in time. Two came back negative in 24 hours and one in 48 hours. LOOK AT GOD.
Lastly, I hate to fly. I boarded the EMPTY flight (only 15-20 people were on my flight) with zero anxiety. I ended up sleeping on and off for 10 hours and the 15 hour flight was SO SMOOTH THE ENTIRE TIME. I felt like that was a big God sized hug.
This waiting season brought its highs and lows, but I can not help but look back and see that God's hand was in this situation the entire time. Even though we know His fingerprints are always everywhere, sometimes it’s just harder for us to see but that’s when we just have to keep the FAITH. Coming home to Georgia brought the opportunity to start my own business, cultivate new friendship, rekindle old ones, spend time with my sweet nana before Jesus called her home and get extra time with my amazing parents too. There were so many positive aspects about coming home back to the states, and I see now how God was using me at home for 10 months. Here’s to keeping the faith, believing in God’s plan for your life and being faithful to him in every season of life.
3 things I learned in my waiting season:
What is for you, won’t pass you.
God might be slow, but He is never late.
God will do something IN you, before He does something FOR you. A season of waiting will only end once God’s purpose for your season of waiting is fulfilled. Be present and open to seeing how God is working in the wait. Don’t waste the wait!
I am so happy to be in Australia and although Quarantine has been tough, it’s my reminder that nothing worth having is ever easy. Keep on waiting and more importantly keep the faith. Day 9 of 14 just started and I may or may not being going a little bit CRAZY - that is up to you to decide. Countdown is on for FREEDOM: 5 days!!!! If you want to keep up with my crazy quarantine shenanigans, follow me on IG. But for now, I am going to log off and order another iced latte from uber eats - truly the only thing getting me through quarantine! LOL Thankful for all the love, support and prayers. Lots of love for you all!
