Day 1…Hiccups

Yesterday was a roller coaster of a day.  I woke up knowing that I would be boarding three planes in the next 24 hours and at the end of it all, I would be in Africa.  Definitely a little scary.  Not only would I be traveling further than I’ve ever been before, but there was a lot of uncertainty as well.  I’m always anxious about flying…throw an ocean in there and I was pretty much a hot mess.  I literally cried at least three times before we ever got on the plane.

Ready to go…

Upon arriving at the airport we were notified that our flight out of Omaha was delayed by an hour.  Not a huge delay, but we only had a 53 minute layover in-between flights.  Panic quickly settled in as our group tried to figure out how to reschedule our flights or what we needed to do.  Our flight was the only one to Brussels for 24 hours.  There was a slight possibility that the flight would wait for us, otherwise United Airlines would put us up in a hotel in Newark for the night.  That is where the roller coaster began.  In the next few hours, our plans changed more times than I can count.  My blood pressure was probably off the charts (it is just remembering it).

We landed at Newark to find our plane was still there.  We rushed to our gate to find it had just pulled away.  As we talked to customer service we thought the plane was coming back in off the tarmac.  We’re going, we’re not going…up and down.  After all that, it was official.  We were stuck in Newark, New Jersey until Friday at 5:55 p.m.  So, what do you do with less than 24 hours in Newark?  You take advantage and go into the city!  First up we took the train into New York City to see Times Square at night.  It was a quick trip, but worth it. 

Friday morning we got up early to check out some more sights before we needed to be back at the airport.  It was a rainy day in the city as a result of Tropical Storm Andrea, so we skipped out on the Statue of Liberty and went to the 9/11 memorial, the New York Stock Exchange and had a slice of New York pizza.  New York was an incredible delay along the way.  The only thing that would have made the delay better was if I could have hit up the Today Show. :)

The new One World Trade Center Building…

9/11 Memorial…

The most bizarre part of this was that in all of New York City, we ended up on the same train last night and today with a man giving us some tourist pointers.  He helped us find a cheaper way into the city and told us how to get where we needed to go.  Ironically enough, his name was Angel.

Now, we are on our way again.  We are currently enroute to Brussels somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.  For the second time I can say that in less that 24 hours we will be settled in at the orphanage.

{The Launes}

Summer Reading List…

It is not so strangely easy for me to settle into summer break.  I think all of the excitement of the final days of school was a little more exhausting than I realized at the time.  I am working on catching up on some much needed sleep and some much needed cleaning at home.  I have also mentally been preparing my summer reading list.  I am not so good about reading for pleasure during the school year, but when summer comes I am ready to go!  Some of these books have been on my summer reading list before and I just didn’t quite get to them…hopefully this summer.

Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge

Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

I am anticipating a little reading time this summer while we are on the plane ride to and from Africa.  Any other suggested page turners I could add to my list?

{The Launes}

All My Bags are Packed…

I’m ready to go.  I’m not really ready to go, but as I have been working on packing John Denver’s song has played through my head each time I look at my suitcases.  We do have some of our bags packed.  We met up with our team twice this week to fill our checked bags with supplies to take with us.  Currently in my living room I have four huge suitcases filled with hygiene packs, diapers, toilet paper, gifts for the children, books and other miscellaneous items.  We have nearly two hundred pounds of luggage and that is not even counting what we still need to gather and pack for ourselves!  Total, our team will be bringing 26 suitcases filled with supplies, with each suitcase weighing about 50 pounds.

The countdown is getting to the point where it might be more appropriate to use hours rather than days.  In less than 48 hours we will be arriving at the airport ready to officially begin this journey. That means I have less than 48 hours to pack for myself, do laundry, update my i-pod and finish up preparing to be out of town for awhile.

The past few days have brought a range of emotions from happy, to nervous, to excited, scared and everything in between.  I keep asking myself questions like will I be able to sleep on the airplane?  What will the food be like?  What if I get sick?  Lots of questions that really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.  I really just need to continue to trust.  This is going to be good.

We got our itinerary for when we are in country which brought me to a whole new level of excitement.  I was looking through what we will be doing when we are there and I got to the end of the list and it read: Farewell Ceremony, hugging and goodbyes.  I haven’t even made it to Sierra Leone yet, but my heart already aches at the idea of telling the children and people goodbye that I will meet.

The encouragement from others in the last week has also been amazing.  Lots of prayers, support and questions from everyone around us.  I am so thankful to know that while we are halfway across the world people back home will be praying and thinking of us.  The number one piece of advice from people has been to take lots of pictures.  Because of this advice I have had a reoccurring dream lately about how it is time to head to the airport to go home at which point I realize that I forgot to take any pictures while we were in Africa.  In my dreams I have failed the people who told me to take lots of pictures.  I really don’t think that taking pictures will be a problem for me.  I was even able to convince Trent that it was necessary to purchase a new memory card for my camera.  I am 99.9% sure that I will have lots of pictures to share upon return!    

With all that said…I need to get busy!  The mix of the next 48 hours also includes Trent being out of town to help at a football camp in Missouri, a sister date and a birthday party.  And more packing.  Stay tuned…

{The Launes}

And So It Begins…

I am one day away from officially being on summer break.  It is always bittersweet.  It’s hard to let go, but at the same time I am so proud of my students and all of the progress they made throughout the year.  I teased them throughout the week about how I was never going to let them go and that someday they would be the biggest first graders ever.   Most of them really didn’t seem to mind that I was going to keep them in first grade. :)  But, I know that they are ready.  I’m excited for them.  I’m proud of them.  I will miss them!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy.  Kirsten graduated from high school…unbelievable!  This is the same little girl that once wiped me from head to toe with baby wipes on a car ride up to Morningside College for a football game.  It is the same little girl who use to watch Disney Channel with me when Trent and I were first dating.  Now, she is all. grown. up.

Jamie and I also ran the Lincoln Half Marathon again this year.  I was a little skeptical after last year and didn’t really know how it would go.  However, it ended up quite perfect.  Weather was great, playlist was great, company was great and I was able to beat my personal best by a couple of minutes. 1:54.25 was the final time.  And, the best part of all…it did not result in a trip to the ER.  Trent was very thankful for that!

As you may have noticed, these are in no particular order, but we also celebrated Mother’s Day.  We made a little trip to Saturday night church follow by a stop at Lake Wanahoo and Dos Margaritas for dinner in Wahoo.

Love them both…

Finally, I have to show off my flowers I planted.  I love spring and flowers even if I don’t have the best setup for a flower garden!

Until next time…

{The Launes}

14 Days…

In exactly 14 days, Trent and I will be on a plane to Sierra Leone.  I can honestly say it doesn’t seem real yet.  I don’t think it will really hit me until I stop off the plane in Africa.  I am strangely at peace.  I am thankful for this and excited for everything that is to come.  We have been busy preparing little things over the last couple of weeks. 

First up, we mailed our passport and visa application.  I came back in the mail stamped by the Republic of Sierra Leone.

We have also been working on raising money for our service project when we are there.  We are going to be building bunk beds for the children in the orphanage.  Currently, many of the children are sleeping on the floor.  As crazy as it seems, the cost to make each bed is $250.  Since there are three of us going from my school, we organized a little breakfast and lunch treat day.  Our principal said it would be okay to accept free will donations and AGES staff is amazing!  We were able to raise over $400 toward the purchasing of materials for the bunk beds.  Joint efforts between everyone going raised over $7,500.  With the money we will also be able to purchase mosquito nets and some other supplies that they are in need of.

We also had our final conference call to go over last minute details.  I have my packing list and am excited to start getting things together and  buy some of the things we will need.  I am also looking forward to perfecting the art of packing everything I will need into a carry-on suitcase and backpack.

Tonight I watched a documentary on channel 7 about the doctors and nurses from Omaha that went to Sudan earlier this year.  It made my heart ache, but at the same time it also reassured me that we are making the right decision to travel to Africa. These people need us and while I’,m hoping to help them, I think they are going to have a bigger impact on me. 

{The Launes}

Closing Day…

About a year ago Trent and I, along with his parents bought a house.  We bought the house with no intention of ever moving in, but “flipping it.”  Some of you may be thinking that’s crazy.  Yes, we live in an apartment.  No, I don’t know when we will be buying a house that we intend to move into.

I have been reluctant to write about the house since it sold for fear of it falling through.  Because it did.  The house was a whole summer of blood, sweat and tears…literally.  I think most of the tears came from me.  Like when I hit my head on the light in the dining room.  Believe me, most of the sweat came from Trent.  Kayla was also an incredible trooper with the endless hours of painting and cleaning that she did.  I painted a little, cleaned a little and picked the trim color outside.

The house was in a nice little neighborhood just outside of the downtown area.  It was old and beautiful.  A little TLC, some paint, and windows and the house was ready to go. 

The house closed last Monday and it is a huge relief to have it out of our hands.  I didn’t snap any before pictures, but I definitely got some afters!

 

The  man behind it all.  He’s amazing!

Now, I am in countdown mode…

6 days until the half marathon

18 School days left

and…

38 days until we leave for Africa.

Time is flying by!

{The Launes}

Launes to Africa…

2013 is going to be a big year.  Like go to Africa big year.  As unreal as it all seems to me, two months from tonight, Trent and I will be getting ready to board a plane and travel nearly halfway around the world to Sierra Leone, Africa.  In a way it’s been a long time in the making and at the same time it seems a little spur of the moment.  We decided to take this leap of faith in December, but didn’t officially get our application sent in until late January.  For some reason, when I think of a mission trip and Africa, I think of it as something that is planned out more than a year in advance.  But, it really is not. Not this one anyway.  Instead, it is a lot of trust and faith that we are calling on as we prepare to serve the Lord through this opportunity.

I have wanted to sit down and write about our trip and our planning so many times, but I just didn’t feel like I had the right words to describe what we are about to experience.  I still don’t feel like I have the right words, but I want to record this journey before it’s too late.  My goal is to update along the way.  I don’t really expect anyone to keep up with it, but if you are interested, be my guest!

Without going into a lot of detail, I will share the basics.
-We will be traveling with an organization called the Raining Season and staying at an orphanage in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
-We will be gone 10 days, leaving June 6th, 7th, or 8th.  Plane tickets will be purchased this week!
-We found out about this organization through my friend Sarah that I teach with.  Her husband has been twice before and we will all be going this time.  Another teacher at my school, Janet will also be going.
-Most of our time will be spent with the kids.  We will work to develop relationships with them in the short time we are there.
-We are hoping for the opportunity to help train teachers.  The schools in Freetown are not very reliable so the orphanage is wanting to teach the children on site.  We will also be doing community outreach such as visiting the local hospital.

That is not a lot of details, but honestly, I really don’t know what to expect.  I ask lots of questions, but at the same time, I think I’m better off not knowing every detail.  A little spontaneity will be good for me!

This is truly a leap of faith for me.  I am feeling very blessed with this opportunity, but also a little anxiety.  I will need a lot of prayer for peace of mind as I immerse myself in a culture like I have never experienced.  I am praying that God will use me and allow me to connect with the children at the orphanage and teach them about Jesus.

Hoping to update again soon…I will leave you with a picture of an envelope I got in the mail from my friend Amy.  I think I will pack it on our trip for when I need an encouraging reminder.

Until next time…

{The Launes}