Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

Archive for July, 2007

   We heard on the news the other day that American Airlines is averaging 59% on time this summer, the worst in the industry.  Go figure that’s the airline we fly on our first leg to Chicago.  I’m writing this blog at 2:24p (was supposed to leave at 2:25p), still sitting here at gate A11 and boarding hasn’t even begun.I’d be my normal lolly dolly laid-back self if we didn’t have such a short layover in Chicago before our British Airways flight to London.  Our original 2+ hours layover has been cut to around 1h 20m.  Whoopee.   All-in-all, things have gone great so far.  Ken, Brian, and Pete brought us to the airport so you know we had fun with them.  They took care (and are going to take care) of things I wasn’t able to finish we left.  Friends are a blessing. I’ll update from Chicago… if I can…  BTW – Dana is on her no-vomiting third day in a row and is feeling pretty good today.  She had to buy me a brand new Carl Edwards shirt because the one I was wearing smelled and was making her sick.  I’m telling ya, a bloodhound’s nose has nothing on a pregnant woman’s! 

Well, on Friday our air freight shipment items were taken out to JAARS shipping to get packed up and sent to Tanzania.  Mom and Ralph (stepdad) were in town a few days to visit and they brought their F150 truck.  So, I took advantage of the opportunity and got him to drive me and our stuff out to Waxhaw.  It was the first time in a REALLY long time that I got to ride in the passenger seat of a vehicle being that I take care of my Dana.  Since the trip is 45 minutes each way, I had a lot of time to take in my American surroundings.  I noticed quite a bit of my culture will stay behind in the States and that I am going to miss it all more than I had allowed myself to realize up to this point.  Melancholy (officially my first time EVER using that word) set in and I suddenly wasn’t looking forward to leaving this week as much as I have been.A regular question we’re asked is, “Are you excited?”  Of course, we are.  We’re not only moving to another continent, but to a third world country in sub-Saharan east Africa, learning Swahili and having our first baby there while we’re at it.  That would get Droopy excited.  But, that also means we’re leaving everything we’ve known since birth.  Did you know that staying on your side of the road is part of our culture?  How about having access to your choice of grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, churches, and drug stores?  Meticulously maintained asphalt roads EVERYWHERE with intact markings and bright functioning LED traffic lights?  Free Wi-Fi internet access almost anywhere you go to get a cup of coffee or a meal?  The ability to order an item online and have it hand delivered to your doorstep in the matter of a few days?  The majority of your family within mere hours of you?  Is it hard to walk away from all this even with a calling from God?  Yes.  And it is really beginning to sink in.

Poor Dana had another bad vomit day today.  Unfortunately her morning sickness has allowed me to put different plastic shopping bags to the test. Food Lion, Eckerd, Harris Teeter have all had contestants but one has outperformed them all.  The Target shopping bag.  The return of Dana’s early morning waffle showed me the Target bag was here to help.
Next time you shop at Target, be sure to save those bags for when you need to contain… um……. things. 

 That was our baby’s heart rate when we went to our first doctor’s appointment today! Everything looks great and we have a due date of March 1, 2008.  I’m sticking with February 29, 2008 as the doc’s little calendar thingy didn’t have that date on there so he’s a day off.  I’ve never been smarter than a doctor before.  Really doesn’t mean that though, does it?  Aw shucks. 

This is the packing monster as it growls now.  You would not BELIEVE what is in there.  The monster ate more than either of expected it to.  That’s a good thing though.  The stuff in the background to the left (desk, open boxes, blue ottoman) are not part of the monster’s body.  Those are just leftovers.All-in-all, we’ll end up using every inch of the 44″ x 44″ x 44″ pallet box.  We just hope it all makes it to Africa. 

Dana wasn’t feeling well again today so I made a solo trip to pay a last visit to the Dorcas Quilting Group at HGBC North. They presented me… us with this quilt for our baby. That group of women is absolutely AWESOME, so good to us, and even crucially important to our support structure. Dorcas Group – Y’all are a blessing. Thank you for all of your support.

Poor Dana. Last Tuesday was one of the worst I’ve ever seen anyone sick. She’s steadily improved since then but things took a turn today. She’s sick again to the point of needing a small trash can on the floor right by her. When her mother was pregnant with Dana, vomiting happened methodically every Saturday. I hope Dana doesn’t suffer anymore, especially not on a schedule.

I’ve had to fax quite a few things here lately and I don’t have a fax machine.  So, I searched online and found this website that will send an electronic document to any fax number in the U.S. and Canada. An example of how I used it is JAARS Clinic needed a copy of my health insurance prescription card. Not driving way out there just for that. I took a picture of it, inserted that into a Word document, and uploaded it to faxZERO.  Within a few minutes I received my fax confirmation e-mail notifying me it had successfully been sent.  And it was FREE! Can’t beat that.

  If you have been keeping up with how quickly and easily our possessions have sold, this story won’t surprise you. Our last big item to sell is our 2001 Honda Civic.  We put a small ad on the back page of our 2nd quarter newsletter that was sent out at the beginning of this week.  Within two days we had numerous inquiries with the very first one being a serious one.  Well, that person came and looked at the car this morning and decided to buy it for our asking price. God is really enabling us to make this missionary move.  There hasn’t been a single possession of which we’ve had ANY difficulty selling.  It’s all Him. 

 One week I’m testing audio-recording equipment to prepare it for a departure for Africa in a month’s time and the very next week I’m surfing the web trying to find the best place to buy enough cloth diapers to last until our (newly-discovered growing in Dana’s womb) baby’s 2nd birthday. Definitely caught by surprise on this one. Well, if you’re wondering about a way you can help this young missionary family and haven’t found one yet, here ya go.  A FAT bumGenius giftcard.  Our friend who is in Tanzania right now with her infant advised us to budget $500-$600 for diapers to buy HERE and take to THERE since none of any kinda quality are sold THERE, only HERE. Good thing is that she also said having a baby in Africa is a ton cheaper than in the States. That’s a plus. Please pray.