First Class Cookie

We woke up at 2:45 AM yesterday, Mother's Day, to ride to the airport in Nashville courtesy of Brynna Kate. Bless her heart! We made it through security and to our gate and boarded the first leg within 30 minutes. We flew away from Nashville at 5:30 AM and believe it or not…I was starved outta my mind. We were able to get first class seats this trip (mostly so we can bring 3 checked bags weighing 70 lbs with us with supplies for the next 90 days!) and I was highly anticipating the french toast, eggs, fruit, some sort of fancy breakfast in flight. 

The flight was 2 hours and 5 minutes long. We were offered beverages and a little cookie. Nothing else. Nada. Zilcho. Did you notice the word "little" as I described the cookie? That's all I've got to describe it... compared to my big hunger!

I was highly disappointed in my "first-class" experience to say the least. Our last day in America was full of celebrations of food. Breakfast was homemade by Tammy Young and covered all the bases: eggs, bacon, gravy, biscuits, fruit.... mmmm.... then she made a wonderful turkey, cheese, avocado, wrap for lunch garnished with flavor blasted goldfish. And dinner was at the Chop House and it was Prime Rib! Mmmmmm!!!!! Deliciousness! As the day went on I thought to myself and probably uttered to someone along the way, "We're really gonna be hungry tomorrow with all this food we're eating!" We even had a piece or two of Tammy's homemade Chocolate Coca Cola Cake! (Chris may or may not have exceeded the two pieces I mentioned...) 

So, my stomach was growling as we deplaned in Miami and headed to the next gate. Chris knew of my hunger pains and we walked the entire length of what felt like Florida from our deplaning to boarding... and there was really NOTHING along the way where I could pick something up. I really just wanted an egg mcmuffin and large sweet tea. That woulda been the perfect send off. (Like we hadn't already had a fantastic send off! How selfish am I?) We arrived empty-handed... and empty stomached with just 5 minutes to spare and boarded our next leg to Haiti.

This plane had seats that you could actually become completely horizontal in! I couldn't believe it! I'd never seen such a thing! So, I was lost in the thrill of pushing buttons to recline and even lay down! They immediately brought us a cold drink and I inhaled a cup of Coke. It didn't bring my stomach to contentment, though... The plane was completely packed and we were ready to take off. So, we had to sit up straight and behave again. We had a wonderful flight attendant who waited on our every "need". He brought us hot wash cloths! I washed my face off first and then my hands. That was sweet! Then he brought out a little square fancy dish of hot nuts! Nuts of all varieties! I didn't care for the dark ones, so I traded Chris dishes and finished off his lighter colored ones. The attendant came by and asked if I'd like another dish of them... it looked like I had eaten them all, but it was a combined effort I tell you! I was hungry and they were HOT!

Later we were offered a salad with beef strips or pasta. I chose the pasta. All I really wanted was breakfast! This flight was only one hour and 30 minutes. Why didn't they take advantage of feeding us breakfast on the first flight that was just over 2 hours? Makes no sense to me. But, I ate my salad and bread and picked around on the pasta. It was alright, but not really satisfying. After our trays were cleared he came back around and offered us a hot chocolate chip cookie! Hallelujah! That was superb! And that was the last of our "American food experience" until August 3rd…or so we thought.

We landed around 11:50 and Francky got us up the mountain safe and sound by 1:20, I think. He caught us up on his family and his orphanage - House of Blessings. There's a solid drought going on again in Calebasse. (I'm assuming since they're not free-->) He had to pay for a water truck for the orphanage so that they could bathe and clean. Please pray for rain. We need it! I believe we're transitioning from a rainy season to the dry season that will last most of the summer. 

Once we got to our apartment we were greeted by the Dearing family. They had put their "Mother's Day Lunch Celebration" on hold until we got there. What a sacrifice! It didn't really hit me until this morning that that is what happened yesterday. So, they put their stomachs on hold after church and waited for us. Thank you Dearings! Mark started the grill and we searched through our luggage for things we had brought back with us specifically for them. We were able to bring back some homeschooling materials, some decaf tea bags (hard to find here), and various treats for each one. Then we sat down at the table and enjoyed steaks from the grill, baked potatoes and corn pudding! Then Mark made some white macadamia nut cookies! Mmmmm.... perfect lunch... at 2:30. What an incredible unexpected treat!

We headed back and unpacked some more and Chris crashed on the couch. I tried, but couldn't fall asleep. I was TOO tired. Exhausted. Emotional. So, I decided to go ahead and publish that blog from many weeks ago and try to prepare my heart for this next 90 days. I knew that some of my favorite people in the world would take the time to read it and would commit even more to praying for us as they got a glimpse of some of the hard days here. And we need that bad! We need your prayers! Prayers for safety and health and gumption to get up and keep going after hard days.

Chris was able to FaceTime with his mom and I FaceTimed with Rachael. Chris and my children got me for Mother's Day AND my birthday an early present - a new lens for my camera! My 50 MM's technology didn't work with my new camera when I got it in July, but I didn't figure that out until we were already here. So, I'm super pumped to have it and be able to put it to good use taking pictures of these beautiful people and this beautiful place.

We ended the day watching "Mom's Night Out" and laughing out loud. Only way the day coulda been any better was to spend it in the presence of my children. But, I'd much rather be in the center of God's will than fulfilling my desire to spend that particular day with my kids. He blessed us with time with each of them in the US the last 30 days.

Today is Monday and we've spent the entire day catching up on paperwork and on the computer. A Door to Hope has set up a new database system and we continue to spend hours and hours balancing and double checking the old with the new and learning all along the way.  It’s been and continues to be a long process of preparation for our summer teams coming with ADTH.  It's going to be a long, hot summer, but we are really looking forward to seeing God move in and through the teams that He is bringing to Haiti this summer.  We cannot wait to meet them at the airport and serve Jesus together here in Haiti. We are very honored to be a part of the Master's plan... risking the ocean one step at a time… together.