And….we’re off!

                I’m currently sitting in the Houston airport, thankful for a strong Wi-Fi signal so I can quickly post that our adventure has begun!  What a whirlwind we’ve had for the past few days!

I cannot complain about how fortunate we’ve been, as last week we were basking in the sun and surf in Maui at the gorgeous timeshare we bought last year.  I can’t believe it took us 50 years to finally see the beauty of Maui.  It was doubly enjoyable this year as we were able to bring our two sons along with us as well.  We haven’t had a family vacation since Andy graduated from high school in 2007 so we were overdue.  We also enjoyed time with old friends that used to live in San Diego that also have a timeshare week at the same resort.  Peter had a golfing buddy and I didn’t have to have my spa day alone.  It was perfect. 

The vacation was planned many months before our mission trip came about and we were hesitant to cancel but boy, oh boy did we have a three day marathon after getting back!  First on the agenda was putting away all the Christmas decorations inside and out.  Fortunately, having the free labor gave us the old “many hands” bit so it went faster than ever.  The boys flew back east on Tuesday.  Andy is moving into an apartment with friends and starts a new job as a paralegal next week.  Talk about excited!  Tommy starts his new semester next week, too. 

We had lists and lists of things to do, turn off, cancel and gather up.  Our phones were ringing off the hook with reminders we’d set so that we didn’t forget anything.  Who knows whether I can buy contact lens solution in Togo?  The guest room was re-tasked as the “staging area”.  Peter got a bit antsy that we had way too much stuff despite his elite status with the airlines and the rumored authorization that we could take heavier bags.  I reminded him that I had many years of military duffle bag packing before I’d ever met him. 

In addition to the piles of stuff and the lists of things to do we had a few hiccups along the way.  When we walked in the door after coming home from Maui we discovered our main computer had absolutely no signs of life!  Yup – a bone fide disaster since Peter still had our taxes to do prior to leaving. 

While in Hawaii the alarm company called that one of the sensors kept going off so that needed fixing, one of the toilets decided it would rather “run” than be a quiet tank holding a finite amount of water and then Peter’s car had some sort of electrical malfunction. 

We started to wonder if maybe someone didn’t want us on that boat??

So, we got our fixer people to come by the house, Peter took the car to the dealer and loaded the last back-up onto his laptop and all was right with the world. 

I started to pack.  When Peter returned he was quite amazed that it all fit!  Just call me “Pack Master General” 

Last hiccup came this am.  We elected to stay at the airport hotel so we could close up the house in the afternoon vs. in the wee dark hours of the morning thinking we’d be more apt to forget something.  We were stunned that neither of the alarms we set for 4am this morning went off!  This never happens to us.  Never.  Fortunately I woke up at 4:22am and thanked the Lord and all the wonderful people that have us on their prayer lists that there was not the chaos that ensues when one is late getting to the airport. 

So, in a few hours we will be off to lovely Paris to recover from jet lag and enjoy our solitude prior to a crazy day on Monday where we get up tres, tres early for a flight to Brussels and then on to Lome, Togo – with at least one stop in between. 

Thanks again to all of you that are supporting us with words, prayers as well as a few donations.  We also are very, very thankful to my sister Jenny and our friend Brian for volunteering to keep a close eye on our home during our absence.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers on Monday as we venture to Africa.  From then on we have little knowledge of what is in store for us other than we’ll be sleeping on the hospital ship and eating most of our meals there.  I will be spending most days off the ship and hoping my general medicine skills will surface to the point of being able to diagnose those that have surgical problems we can fix or improve.  Peter will be taking care of patients post-op.  Since a lot of the surgeries are on children and he’s a bit rusty in that area he may elect to find an internet café to “skype” those of you friends with Pediatric backgrounds if he can’t find what he needs in his nice, new Harriet Lane handbook.

Thanks again for caring about what’s up with us.  We look forward to this next chapter and pray that we’ll not shirk any divine appointments placed in our paths. 

Until next time.  Ann and Peter