South Africa: round #1

Leaving Evie and William to go to the airport was harder than I thought.  I am usually not a crier, but when it comes to my children, it’s on a whole different level.  When we started our trip, we were excited though and enjoyed the beginning of the flight, having endless movies to choose from at our seats and eating a meal together.  However, I didn’t sleep a single minute, so I got a migraine and entered South Africa throwing up!  Our Indianapolis friend, Samantha, and Tim, who we will be working with all summer, greeted us at the airport.  It was hard to be friendly since I felt so sick!  It felt great to finally get into bed that night.  We awoke the next morning to jungle sounding birds, and thankfully I felt back to normal! We had a yummy breakfast at our bed and breakfast.  (However, I did find a few ants in my granola!) 

                         Chad's parents were so wonderful to take care of the kids for the week!

We spent the majority of our time looking for housing for our family and group for our summer.  It took a while to figure out the best situation, but I’m excited that we finally landed on a beautiful guesthouse called Tower Lodge.  The view is spectacular and our bedroom connects to where Evie and William will sleep, so we were thankful to work out a great deal with the owner.

Tim and Zwai helped us navigate this huge city!

 Here is Chad and I with the car we drove all week; it was the only yellow car in Joburg so it was easy to spot!  It was fun learning how to drive on the right side of the car in the left lane- we only had a few crazy moments as we were learning!

We spent a lot of time of time with our friend Samantha, took a tour of the city and campus, met some of the college students, ate at several fun places, and yes, even at McDonald’s! 

One of the most impactful times of the trip was on Sunday before we went to the airport to fly home. We drove with 3 South Africans through a part of Joburg called Alex.  Here are some photos of the way these 3 million people are living.   It was very eye opening for Chad and I. 

We got word right before we left for the airport that our flight at been canceled.  Instantly I thought of Evie and William and how I couldn’t stand to wait another day to see them, it had already been hard enough for me!  We immediately started calling Delta and had no luck getting through to anyone that could help us.  We got to the airport only to find a hundred others trying to get flights out of South Africa.  We were told it would be impossible to leave that night and that it could even be up to 4 more days!  I was an emotional mess, but fought to see my kids and was extremely persistent with as many people as I could and by the grace of God we found a way to leave if we went to London and then to the States.  It really was a miracle that we were able to get a flight out that night. We were delayed in London and again in Detroit. We spent a total of 32 hours in airports/planes.  

This is the face of one anxious and tired momma! :)

All in all, it was a very beneficial trip and I am so looking forward to our trip in only a couple more months.  However, I missed Evie and William so much that I’m not sure I will fly out of the country until they are all grown up!

the "deets" and our little getaway

So here are the details of our trip!  Our family is leading 11 Indiana college students on a 7 week Cross Cultural trip to Johannesburg, South Africa.  We will be spending the majority of our time with South African college students at The University of the Witswatersrand  (Wits, pronounced "Vits", and is the equivalent of an Ivy League school).  We will also spend a small portion of our time with a poor community and get to do some sight seeing (a Safari!)
This Tuesday Chad and I will take a trip to Johannesburg for 6 days to see where we are going, meet with the CO staff, and find ourselves a place to live for the summer.  When we first decided that I would come along, I was super excited.  A week alone with Chad was something we hadn't had in 4 years!  But now as the day approaches for us to leave, I have found myself extremely anxious.  I don't want to leave my kids for that long, especially being an ocean apart.  I know they will be in great hands (Chad's family), so I shouldn't worry, but I have let my mind imagine the worst and I almost told Chad 2 days ago that I didn't want to come along with him!  But the Lord has been good to remind me how much He loves me and that He loves Evie and William even more than I do...so it has been a great opportunity to trust Him with my children and my own life.  I have been reminded of this promise: Isaiah 41:10- "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
So, hoping for a fun week with Chad!  I won't have to change a dirty diaper or feed picky kids all week!  Good luck Doug and Sue!  ;)

We have a blog!

I finally decided to start a blog!  I have always loved to journal, in fact I have all of my journals since the second grade when I got my first diary.  So when I first started hearing about blogs forever ago, I never thought I would want to do one.  I just journaled on paper and scrapbooked all of our photo memories in albums.  And although I enjoy reading blogs and archiving our family's memories, since I didn't start a blog at the beginning of our marriage or when we had our first baby, I kind of thought it was weird to start up a blog randomly.

But the other day I was talking to my grandmother on the phone about our upcoming trip to South Africa.  When she asked me to keep a journal of our trip for her to read upon our return, I immediately thought how much she would enjoy reading a blog of our trip.  And I bet some other family members and friends would like to keep up with our family while we are gone for a couple of months.  It would be such a great way for them to hear how we are doing and see pictures of our South African adventure!

So, thanks to my amazing grandmother, I am starting this blog for our trip to Johannesburg, and then after we return, I will see if I want to go back to my journaling and scrapbooking or make this my new way of recording our family's adventures!