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 cafĂ© 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
Very cool - so excited for you two!
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