"It Began, In Africa...." (sung to the Chemical Bros. song of aforementioned title)

So……..the end of 2007 came in a whirlwind! The holidays were chock full of tedious jobs at church, such as parties, programs and projects. They were all nice things…but they piled up the stress. Combine that with the general busyness of the holidays, and visiting family…..oh yeah and the crazy emotional stress of preparing for over 3 weeks in a 3rd world country without your family! So……it was a dizzy blur of activity.

Yet….praise be to God, it all went off without any major hitches. Christmas was great. My parents went ridiculously nuts on the kids, and they were in gift and toy heaven. We exchanged gifts on the Christmas Eve at my sisters…and it was nice. The next day was spent with the family at our house. It was a very nice Christmas…….I can barely remember it, but it was nice :).

That night, after everyone left, it became very hard. The realization that I was leaving hit us liek a truck! My kids were clingy. Jude wouldn’t leave my side. He was begging me to sleep with him in his bed. I finally broke down and had a good cry outside, and then all was better :). So we compromised….the kids slept in our bed, and we stayed up late watching their newly acquired copy of Underdog. It was surreal…I knew that in a few hours, I was going FAR away for a LONG time.

The next day saw me off to Seattle to meet with our team. Matt Tibbles picked me up at the airport. That day and evening were spent with last minute preparations, prayer time and getting to know each other.

Bright and early the next morning….the adventure began. So….all you will really read about today is the LONG airplane ride. Seattle to Amsterdam was the 1st leg…about 8 hrs. I was originally seated next to a huge old guy…who due to his gnarly white beard, gold rimmed glasses, blue pea coat and hat, I kindly dubbed “Cap’n Ahab”. Needless to say he was a HUGE man….and I 'aint the tiniest guy around! :) It was gonna be rough…….but praise the Lord, the row in front of me stayed open so I acted quickly………and had 8 hrs of NO neighbors…….just me, and the movie selection from NWA (Darjeeling limited was excellent!)!

I could barely sleep…..(airplane sleeping is an art I have yet to master, but I am accepting ANY tips!). So surprisingly, upon arrival…I still felt somewhat fresh. We were weary, but were being carried on by sheer adrenaline. I had an amazing chocolate pastry and cappuccino for breakfast…and then read my book and listened to tunes for the 4 hr layover…………

Here we are in the airport in Amsterdam (God bless America for our communist ban on public smoking! :):




So………..my loyal 3 readers----- the journey had begun. Stay tuned for more interesting items….I think you will enjoy it. Tommorow's exciting episode: Arriving in Entebbe………..