Thursday, March 17

A Day of Errands

Well I had a productive day.

Yesterday, between the txt-ing and the phone calls, my video editing got delayed rather late and for a bit I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get everything done! I even managed to eat dinner in the middle of my editing; thats how late one video was running! And I did most of my laundry in the middle of all that too! In the end, thought, I did managed to get everything done I wanted to! But when I finally crawled into bed after packing the last of my one suitcase, I looked at the clock and groaned: 3am! An hour past my bed time! So much for making it all fit!

Today, I got up (running a bit late, although early in the morning, after only a few hours of sleep--which is not me!) but managed to get everything figured out and done before Mom showed up for our date. We hit Green Acres and had French Toast under long conversations! In fact, we were there chatting for so long that when the place started to fill up, I glanced at the clock and realized it was Noon and we should probably clear out so they can have our spot! Then we ran to Big Lots to see if there was anything there I needed to grab (but for a better deal) before we ran to Walmart; I found a small thing of Rice Milk that would do for the next couple days, but a better price, for instance. Then at Walmart, I ended up txt-ing back and forth with Deb-in-Africa quit a bit before we finally figured out and grabbed that thing she wanted me to grab for a friend over there (which I'll fit in one of the suitcases later). Then we hit the drive-through for a quick lunch snack at Taco Bell, which I ate while Mom made some phone calls from the house phone. Then she drove me to the Library quick and dropped me off, so I could run a couple more errands...and we parted. So sad! But it was such a great day! (it was about 3pm then and she had to head back up to Buffalo to meet some people for dinner)...I managed to get my errands done, make a couple phone calls too, and then I found myself falling asleep back at my laptop, so a quick late-afternoon nap.

Sometime tonight or tomorrow night I need to finish up the near-last (separate from my very last)of my packing. Otherwise, I think I had a rather productive couple of days...Oh, I have a date with a fantastic friend tomorrow morning, so it'll probably be another few-hour-night of sleep, but I don't have much left to do before leaving so between the evenings and Saturday, anything left should be easy to finish up...with time to twiddle my thumbs inbetween as well!

Oh, but what I have really been dying to sit down and say all day is this: IT'S BEAUTIFUL OUT! I'm so happy! To wake up this morning and hear something that sounded like a faint version of our doorbell and then to realize it was the birds outside, was just too awesome! It might be a bit muddy, but who cares about that? SPRING IS HERE! Mom and I both ended up taking off our jackets and leaving them in the car after our brunch-date while we did our running around, and then I left it at home when I did my Library and bank errands later! I love birds. Sunshine. Warm weather! Who could complain about a day like this? (aside from Deb, who likes things freezing?!) IT'S BEAUTIFUL OUT!

Tuesday, March 15

My next trip

For those who do not know by now, I'm heading on another missions trip. This time to Africa. I leave this Sunday, March 20th, and arrive the next day.

It's been over a year since I've left North America, so I'm very excited! A little sad that it means my chance of getting a car are pretty much gone, now, though since I've used the little bit of money I had tried to save up for the car for this trip. I still owe a bit for the trip, too, however, so any prayer and financial support would be greatly appreciated!

This is a trip of many firsts, too. First time in Burkina Faso. First time in the Brussels airport. First time to fly internationally by myself. First time in the Burkina Faso airport, too, of course. Although, technically, almost every trip I go on has "firsts", I guess what makes this one special is that I know the "firsts" before they come! LOL! That and I love adding more countries to my passport, so I get to mark off one more country on my list. As well as a new airport experience to my memory.

Originally I was going to to try and fly with Deb last Sunday, and fly into Accra (where we usually fly into West Africa). However, I could not get on her flight. Then it looked like I could not get the two required visa's back in enough time to leave even close to the beginning of this week (I needed Ghana and Burkina Faso). Then the idea came to us. They're over there, making their way up to Burkina Faso this week, traveling with a few meetings; what if I missed the traveling part? If flew in to meet them in Burkina Faso, instead, I would miss the long road trip and acquire another week to get my visa's. Since that seemed the only option, really, I booked my flight for next Sunday heading to Burkina Faso and then sent my passport off to the DC embassy for my first visa. Thankfully, I got my first visa (Burkina Faso) back on a Saturday and could have sent it off for the next one. But then it occurred to us of one more thing (and one less worry for me: will my passport get back in time to fly out next Sunday?) when I googled embassy's and found that there is an embassy over in Burkina Faso! And since we'll be there about a week, it'll be plenty of time to take it by hand and pick it up by hand a couple days later, all before heading to the next country! So I'm all ready to go now, just waiting till Sunday comes!

Does that mean I'm packed? Ha! Are you joking? I've got the suitcases, the carry-on, and my little backpack sitting in the middle of my floor. A pile of possibilities in the clothing department on my African hope-chest. A pile of bags with random objects of things I have to take for Deb & Fred (a couple Deb couldn't fit in her suitcases) sitting around the suitcases on the floor...but packed? NO! Just thinking. Mostly I've been doing work on my laptop, making sure everything I like or can't live without it backed up on my external hard-drive I'll leave at home. And everything I might need while I'm gone (like at some point I've got to work on PSE and make our usually mailing and other items for our Women's Conference coming up in May) is on my laptop, with room to create or do whatever on my laptop (since the hard-drive is apparently too small for everything!)...

My schedule...for this week:
Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll finish editing the last video of the Twelve Tribes. Pack. And fit church meeting in there somewhere...Thursday my Mom comes to hang out for a date, as she'll be in Buffalo for a few days, so that day is mostly taken up with that and seeing if I can employ her as a chauffeur to make a quick run to Walmart as well...Friday will be laundry and finish packing, as much as possible (there's always a few essentials that a person doesn't pack until just before they head out the door--like a toothbrush--unless they happen to own doubles of the items)

LOL! I know, y'all are probably wondering what my AFRICA schedule is, not this week...well, I'll be...so picky!

Anywhooos...give me a couple minutes to find what little bit of the Africa schedule I know...I wrote it down somewhere...la, la, la...Ok, can't find it. What's more, I haven't got Fred's Google Calendar yet, so I can't see the schedule again to remind me. So sorry, for building up all our hopes. Hopefully I'll get access to the Calendar later and have time to post the schedule then. Although, if I remember right, there should be a schedule for Fred's whole three-month trip on Davismission, which includes when I'll be there. For those who are wondering, I'll be flying to come home from Accra, Ghana, April 13th (on a different flight then Deb, again, though our planes will know of each other since it's all about the same time and places) and arrive a couple hours earlier then Deb in the Buffalo Airport that Thursday, April 14th, morning.

I also hope that my access to the Internet won't be to shaky during the whole trip so I might post occasional updates, but sometimes even just connecting long enough to send an e-mail gets interesting. So we'll just have to see what happens!

Keep me in your prayers throughout, and may God bless y'all abundantly!
<>< Hannah Joy

Monday, March 14

Madagascar 2: flying quotes

As they’re boarding:
[Mort wants to go on the plane]
Julien: Stop him! He's carrying scissors and hand cream!
[several lemurs pile on Mort, in response]


Before take off, during normal safety demonstration & instructions:
Private [as he demonstrates]: In case we go down, place the life-jacket over your head, pull the string, and kiss your kids good-bye...
In case of a loss of oxygen, please place your masks over your faces to hide your terrified expressions from the other passengers. 

Lemur King (in first class) says to another passenger, who intrudes from the back looking for drinks:
Julien: This is first class. Nothing personal. It's just that we're better than you.
Right after passenger goes back behind the dividing curtain:
Julien: Whatever happened to the separation of the classes? 
Maurice: I'm sure this whole democracy thing is just a fad. 

Later, in the cockpit of the plane:
[Bulb on the fuel gauge is flashing] 
Kowalski: Skipper, look. 
Skipper: Analysis 
Kowalski: It looks like a small incandescent bulb, designed to indicate something out of the ordinary, like a malfunction. 
Skipper: I find it pretty and somewhat hypnotic. 
Kowalski: That too, sir. 
Skipper: Right. Rico, manual! 
[Catches the manual and smashes the bulb with it] 
Skipper: Problemo solved. 
Kowalski: Sir, we may be out of fuel. 
Skipper: What makes you think that? 
Kowalski: We've lost engine one, and engine two is no longer on fire. 
Skipper: Buckle up, boys. Don't look, doll, this might get hairy. 
[on the microphone] 
Skipper: This is your captain speaking. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we will be landing immediately. 
[everyone claps] 
Skipper: The bad news is, we're crash landing. 
[Plane goes on a dive] 
Skipper: When it comes to air travel, we know that you have no choice whatsoever, but thanks again for choosing Air Penguin. 

After crash landing, in the cockpit of the plane:
Kowalski: Only two passengers unaccounted for, Skipper. 
Skipper: That's a number I can live with! Good landing, boys! Who says a penguin can't fly?