It's official - I have a departure date - July 21, 2008. I can't say I have the tickets "in hand" because they are electronic, but I have my itinerary. I'll be flying from Portland, OR to Washington DC on United. From there I switch to South African Airlines and fly from DC to Johannesburg which is a 17.5 hour flight!!! Fortunately we stop in Dakar, Senegal for fueling but I'm not sure if we get off (it's the same flight #). I have an 18 hour lay over in Johannesburg before flying the 2.5 hours to Blantyre, Malawi. So I'll arrive on July 23 - finally!! So probably about 24 hours of actual flying plus the layovers -- I'm tired just thinking about it!
I've also made other progress towards being ready - as I mentioned in my latest email we needed an LCD projector (or two) for the hospitals to use for lectures and training presentations. Well by God's grace he has provided two for me to take with me. One was almost new Optima donated by Youth Outreach Unlimited (a foundation run by Bucky Weeks and Tom & Sue Murrell) along with the funds to buy a new bulb. The other is a new one from Dell (2400 lumens) with the money donated to buy it by Don Pursely, chairman of the AHI-Malawi board. Praise God!! and a big THANK YOU for your generosity. I was also able to order my laptop and accessories which should be arriving next week as well! It's been exciting to get these technical things done and be a little bit more ready to go.
On Father's Day I went up to my parents place to stay for a couple of days. My mom and I took advantage of the time and went shopping on Monday and hit up "thrift store row" in Longview. I've been on the hunt for long skirts to wear in Malawi (since they don't approve of pants or shorts) so that was the purpose. I was successful in finding 2 that would work. We also did some shopping for supplies like toothbrushes, deoderant, snacks, books, insect repellant, & other miscellaneous stuff. I think I'm ALMOST ready. We also made a trek to Wal-Mart and found some black plastic trunks that will work really well for packing my stuff. I am taking 4 pieces of luggage plus two carryons so I got three trunks and will take a suitcase or duffel as well.
It was nice to hang out at home especially since I caught some sort of cold. It's always better to be with Mom when you don't feel good. :) We helped my dad with a shed he is building and painted the boards that go on the front and back of the building. It was nice - although we got green paint everywhere!
Wednesday morning all the boys, Randy, Nicole, & Nicole's sister Naomi and I all loaded up and went stawberry picking!! Within an hour we thought we had plenty (Nicole just wanted a few for freezing and some to eat fresh). Well we got back to weigh them and ended up with 73 pounds!!! That turned out to be A LOT!!!! So we spent the day making 3 strawberry pies, 9 pints of freezer jam, 24 quarts of frozen berries, and this morning Nicole made a batch of canned jam (7 pints)!!! Whew! They sure are good though! Of course we had stawberry shortcake too!!
What a blessing to just BE here with my family!! I don't even have the time or room to tell you all of the little special things that we have done together. Each day is some new adventure and with a 1, 4, & 6 yo almost everything is exciting. Also I value the time to spend with my brother and sister-in-law and my parents. This gift of TIME is so important to me and I'm so thankful for their support and encouragement. AND most of all that they are willing to put up with me for so long! :) I'm looking forward to seeing my cousins and aunts and uncles around the 4th of July when they come over for a bbq.
Well - speaking of nephews - the older two are outside playing so I probably should check on them and get something ready for them to eat (Daddy & Mommy are running some errands in town - a much deserved break).
I'll try and post some pictures soon... Oh and for those of you who have asked about calling to chat - my cell # is still the same as Chicago and now I'm in the Pacific Time Zone.
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