Leaving On a Jet Plane

This past week has held lots of emotions. I originally planned to title this post...I'm really mad at Francis Chan right now and don't buy his book or your best friend will move to Africa but that seemed slightly childish and immature.

So instead of all that nonsense I'm just going to tell you how I spent last week.

On Monday I dropped the Lil'Nanny off for camp and went to work.

(Someone took this picture of her at camp and put it on Facebook. Obviously, camp is a good time to start wearing heavy eyeliner.)

Later in the day we had some fun party time for our Africa missionaries. We had a few of Sumer's favorites: Zaxby's chicken tenders, chocolate cake, Coke and water.

On Tuesday, Sumer needed to run a few errands and eat her last Cracker Barrel Meal. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel on Sunday, and I had assumed that would be her last Cracker Barrel meal, but I was wrong. I always joke that any meal that Sumer orders almost always cost $12. She didn't hold back on her plan of fattening up for Africa and on this day her bill was more than $12. I joined her for many meals over the last few weeks, and I'm now "fattened up" for Africa too. The only problem is that I'm not going to Africa anytime soon.

After our meal, we hit the Target to pick up a few items that she needed for the big flight. She was savoring her last Target run so we took our sweet time...

We picked up some stuff for the boys to play with on the flight. And I tried on an outfit...

Fun times. In my book, you're a real friend of mine if you're willing to wander aimlessly through a Wal-Mart or Target with me. We spent the rest of the afternoon helping her get the 10 containers ready.

Then it was time. Time for Wednesday. The day that I had been dreading for weeks. So I picked up Alicia and we went on our way. I had borrowed a redneck truck that I literally had to climb into and the ten containers were loaded up, a prayer was said and then it was time to load everyone up. Sumer climbed in with us for our last outing together.

Yes, two people were wearing sunglasses for a reason. We drove to the airport and chatted about random stuff because there was a slightly large elephant in the truck that kept shouting:

We're taking you to the airport and we're going to have to say good-bye!

We said our goodbyes with lots of hugs (generally, we have a no hugging policy) and lots of tears. She handed us each a card, and two women left the airport crying the ugly cry.

When I got in the truck I opened my card and read the first sentence...

You've got no one to blame but yourself.

And I laughed. Because one day last August I got on the internet and typed this in a google search engine: babies Africa orphans Please note that I didn't type this: friend Africa moving.

I recently heard this quote in a Bible study: God's character is always the same, but His activity is always surprising. I can say for a fact that is true and be careful what you type in a google search engine.

Stay tuned for part 2:)