How to fill 17 hours on an airplane

Having been through this flight once before (actually I guess it would be twice) I know have a better understanding of just how long 17 hours on one airplane is. I do believe I have managed to find things that will fill up a LOT of the time.

Blake is downloading Episode 4 of The Office for me on my iPod. That's several hours right there. We also are taking the laptop with a couple movies to watch...one we've both been dying to see but have held off for the trip. It's the new Tyler Perry movie, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself." We love, love, LOVE Madea in our family and have been waiting for months to see this new movie. I'm also bringing "Knotting Hill" which Katie hasn't seen yet but I remember laughing so loudly in the theater at one point in the movie, that I managed to make a complete spectacle of myself. I better try to control myself with this on the airplane, I think! People would really think I was weird for sure! Oh yeah, I want to see "Julie, Julia" too.

Then I reordered my YWAM series of books that I lost in the fire. They are missionary biographies and I have read all of them but the 2 new ones! I CANNOT wait to read them. So I"ll bring those.

I also have my presentation that I'm giving at our church's womens retreat on March 6th. I have it mostly written but it does need some polish and memorization. There won't be much time to work on it when we get home, since the retreat is only 3 weeks after we get back.

The last thing I hope to get done on this flight is sleep. Last time, not one single minute of the trip, either way included sleep on my part. This time I am taking sleeping pills with me. They are Blaine's old ones from when he was on Prednisone which caused major insomnia. I know, I know, if you're a doctor or pharmacist, please don't freak. It will be ok. I'm a nurse:-) I'm trying them out tonight to see how I react to them.

Then last but certainly not least, I have Jill and her friend to visit with (and of course Katie) and get to know. That could take hours right there!!

So I'm thinking, when the pilot announces that it's time to land, I'll be like, "No, wait! Can't we just fly around another couple hours?? I'm not ready!! I have so much to do!"

Katie and I are getting so extremely excited to go!!! I cannot believe that in only 1 week, we'll be on the airplane heading to Africa. We absolutely cannot wait to meet our sweet Tarikwa! Oh, my goodness we can hardly stand it any longer. It's the most exciting thing we can imagine right now, to meet her and bring her HOME! To hug her and kiss her and just hold her hand, to let her choose what new clothes she would like to put on and give her all the letters and gifts the family has made for her will be so overwhelmingly fun!

No, we still have not heard about our paperwork, including Tarikwa's birth certificate and the status of her passport. But our hope and faith is not in people but in God ALONE. He can move mountains and move the hearts of kings. It is no problem for Him to get the officials who are working on our paperwork to move in favor of us and get it all done in time. So we completely put our trust and hope in Jesus, just as Tarikwa always tell us she does in her letters. I'm not stressed and I'm not nervous. Just waiting in anticipation to see just how our Great God will pull this all off.

On a totally different note, Katie and I took Mihiretu to the mall for much needed new shoes today. I bought him size 2 1/2 in the fall before school and they were getting pretty scruffy and a little tight, so I was thinking maybe a size 3 now. The man sized him and told me he was a SIZE 4! WHAT?? My 7 year old first grader is a size 4??? That means we're out of the cheaper shoe size and into the big guy expensive shoe sizes. (I can wear a 3!)

Whenever I look at a puppy with huge paws, I think, "That's going to be a big dog someday." If this follows through for boys, we're going to have a linebacker on our hands! He's also 66 pounds. He's doubled his weight in the 3 years he's been in our family. Truly amazes me!!

Thanks for your continued prayers on our behalf for all the final pieces to come together so that we won't have any delay.

Blessings,

Laura