Well this is amazing. I'm actually doing it. It has seemed like a dream, something way off in the future for so long. But now it's here. I'm in Washington, D.C. For the night, to meet with my teammates in the morning to fly to Africa. It is exciting to think of what God has in store.
It was so hard to say goodbye to Erin and family on Sunday 012416. I cried off and on all the way home. Those babies are going to have grown so much by the time I get back. I hope they don't forget me. I've got to Skype with them often.
Then today, Mara cried when she had to go to school and knew I was leaving. She just clung to me. She and Cade are staying at my house this week. I'm so thankful for Cade to be able to look after my house for me while I'm gone.
Then Cheryl and family came to pick me up to go out for lunch and then to the airport. Since Tamara was flying to Houston today for a work related conference, she met us there and rode to the restaurant and airport with us. We ate at Captain Tom's. Very nice lunch.
At the airport, I didn't have any trouble checking in. All my checked bag s were under 50 lbs. Praise the Lord! We looked at family pictures together on my computer. Then we said good bye. Another teary time. Cheryl cried. Emma cried. I cried. We hugged all around.
Then Cheryl and Jeremy and family had to go while Tamara and I went down to the gate. It was so nice having her wait at the gate with me.
Tamara was able to get pictures of me getting on this tiny little prop plane.
It took awhile for them to get all the luggage loaded. We sat there for quite awhile. But we had an uneventful flight to Dulles. When we landed, it sounded like the plane was going to fall apart. The whole thing rattled badly. But it didn't.
I was supposed to call the hotel to let them know I was in and needed the shuttle to come pick me up. But for some reason the phone was busy. We tried and tried for over an hour. The service desk lady helped me and she couldn't get anywhere. Finally she suggested I take a cab and get the hotel to pay
for it. I finally got to the embassy suites about 6:30. I ask d the desk clerk first thing. Why aren't you answering the phone? He said they didn't realize the phones were down. He said he pay for my cab
and he did. He was so very nice. I got my bags in the room and them went down to get supper. Got on their internet access. Got into my pjs and started calling people back that had tried to call me earlier
but I was unable to take the call.
This has been a good day. I've been seeing all the comments on FaceBook. I'm so amazed of all the
people who are praying for me.
God called me, he provided the financial support, and he has provided the prayer support. It must be he wants me to go to Africa. I can't wait to see what he is going to do over there. I'm a little nervous about it all. But I know God will enable me to do his bidding. I know that he will make a way for me.
Oh. Somehow I lost an earring. I'm so sad. It was one that I'd gotten from my trip in Israel in 1998. I
really don't understand, since it hooks on so very securely. This was the pair I was going to wear most of the time. What am I going to do? I guess I'll just have to find others over in Africa.
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Today is the day. We actually boarded the plane for Africa. I met Brittany and Brittany at the gate. We boarded the plane, the three of us in the middle section.
We are ready to go. So excited.
We've watched movies. Me - three of them. Little Boy, The Martian, and The Intern. In between we've eaten. The meals have been very good. Beef tips for lunch, a chicken sandwich for supper. Played candy crush some and solitaire. It's been a long flight. 13 hrs. Will be glad to be on the ground again for about 2.5 hrs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Then we climb back in a plane to go on to my permanent country. About 24hrs total travel. It will be Friday when we get there.
What a surprise. They served us breakfast. Omelet, croissant, fruit, roll. The sun is up and it is morning coming into Ethiopia. I haven't slept. But then it is 10:43 pm home time. I'm going to want to sleep the entire flight.
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We arrived at Addis Ababa. About 12 mm. EST. Friday morning. it is 8 am here. I have only dosed. It looks like our next flight is going to be 7 hrs. They are supposed to feed us on this plane. I hope I get to sleep a good bit.
It is Interesting watching the people in the Ethiopian airport. Many different kinds of dress. It's 59-60 degrees here. Some people are all bundled up. Others are in regular shirt sleeves. You see African dress, Muslim dress, American dress. Anything goes. Mamas with their toddlers and carrying their babies on their backs. Men in long dresses. Men in neat suits. And many people in jeans. There was one little lady walking with a quad cane, walking up and down the concourse. I think she may have had a stroke. Maybe she was walking for exercise.
There are quite a few wyfi's available here but they needed a password. So I went into a store to ask
for the password. He said I needed to buy something for him to give me the password, so I asked for bottled water. It was $2. I gave him a dollar bill and 4 quarters. He said he needed paper money. All I
had was a 20. I asked him if he had change and he said yes. So I gave it to him. He sauntered away with it very slowly. Then I didn't see him. After a little while he came back with my change. $18. But he wouldn't give me the password for the wyfi. Said it had to be at least $10. So I never got wyfi access.
10:10 am. We are boarded and ready to take off for our last leg of the trip. We are on a smaller plane. 3 seats on each side. We are in the front of the economy section. We were able to spread out and are quite comfortable.
We slept a good portion of this 7 hr trip. Woke up enough to eat the lunch they provided. Glad to be able to sleep.
We arrived in at our destination about 2:30 pm Friday. Local time. That would be about 9:30 am est. it took some time to fill out the customs form and then get out luggage. We went to get a cart to carry our bags on and were told it would cost $10 a cart. The cart came with a man to grab it off the belt and put it on the cart and push it out of the terminal. Then we were told we had to pay extra because we had food in our luggage. I told them there was no food in my luggage. It was in my carry on. They didn't pay any attention to that. We had to take our luggage back to a room where the opened it to look for the food. What they had seen in mine was my vitamins. When I explained what it was the let me go. We were finally allowed to leave the terminal.
Glen and Karen met us at the airport. He loaded our bags into his truck, we claimed in and we were off to our new living quarters.
We got to our room and unpacked. There is still much organizing to do. Brittany Hickman and I are sharing an apartment underneath Glen and Karen's apartment. It is nicely furnished with the necessities.
We went to the team flat where we had supper with the team. Glen and Karen Smith, Dean and Emily Hartsel and their daughter Lilly May, Craig and Liz Corbin, Natali Williams, and Sandra Gomez. Who just got here from Columbia, S America last Saturday. We had a nice meal of pizza and fresh veggies.
Now it's bedtime.
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