International travel is always interesting; there's always sure to be something seem to go wrong and get you all nervous for a while! As our plans solidified for a face-to-face prayer meeting in Zambia this June with all our missionaries and national directors,and Rob our chaplain, to seek the Lord's direction for our ministry, this was already looking to be a different experience for me. First was the question, what to do about Nathanael? Leave him with his daddy? Take him with me? Take them both with me? Which would be worse, to take a toddler on probably 40 hours of flights, or leave him 12 days without his mama? If we took him, should we lap him or get him his own seat? We prayed about it, thought it over, and looked at what money was already available. Anthony told us there was enough ministry funds already to purchase the international tickets for the three of us, and with that, we decided that the three of us will go, so that the family could enjoy Kenneth's vacation time together, Kenneth can participate in the prayers and blessing of what God will do, and Nathanael wouldn't have to be without me. There was even enough to get Nathanael his own seat, which I was quite grateful for--while he'll still be under two years old, he is already as big, hungry, and squirmy as most two-year-olds.
Next, the itinerary was looking to be a pain. I've always had to book two separate tickets for my trips, because the travel agent cannot book me out of Lubbock. So I have to order a domestic flight to Dallas or Houston, usually picking up my bags and re-checking them to get to my international flight. But this itinerary was looking even more complicated because the route from Dallas to Lusaka involved an overnight in Dubai. Kenneth had heard some scary stories about tourists getting arrested in Dubai for the tiniest things, and even Pam, the travel agent, seemed pretty hesitant about the idea. She was working on itineraries for the whole team, giving us tentative ones with 48 hours to decide to book. Anthony wondered if we could get a domestic flight to JFK airport and join him and Nancy on their flight. (They live in western New York, about an hour from Buffalo.) We checked, but that would require an overnight in NYC, which would be extremely expensive, no doubt. Then he got an idea, "What about Toronto?" His daughter and her family live near Toronto, and that would be a fairly easy drive for them. "We could all crash at her place and fly out together from there," he suggested. Pam checked, and that was actually a couple hundred cheaper per ticket than what she had originally booked us.
So, we are flying to Canada first, staying the night, then to Amsterdam, then to Nairobi, then Lusaka. That means a twelve day trip: three days of travel, six days in Zambia, and then another three days of travel. It'll probably be rather grueling, but at least we'd get a rest in Toronto, I figured.
As soon as that was decided on, I looked up what we would need for the little guy's passport. Certified copy of his birth certificate. Ok, so I ordered that, and waited and waited. Turns out, Texas is incredibly slow with records requests. I ordered it on Feb. 13, and it finally came in on April 9th. So I hurriedly filled out and printed the online application, and we got the photo printed and the passport applied for this morning. They say it doesn't take longer than 6 weeks, so here's hoping, because after that we will still need to apply for the visas!
I was putting off buying the flights to Toronto until I had some more money raised, and then was rather dismayed when the Boeing 737 story broke. Sure enough ticket prices went up, though then when I saw I had been given several gifts, the prices were't nearly as bad as I feared. But, then there was another problem--it seemed all the flights either left at 6am, or arrived at 11pm. Leaving at 6am would mean we would have to leave the house by 4:30am, which would mean Kenneth would have to take an additional day off work, and his boss had already really stretched things to accommodate our trip. But arriving in Toronto at 11pm, with customs to clear, baggage to claim, a car to obtain, and a drive to make (in an unfamiliar area in the dark), would mean we probably would get to Elizabeth's after 1am, which would be quite an imposition on her family, not to mention exhausting for us! Kenneth said he'd double-check the dates to make sure he had right what he had requested. He did, and then I checked Expedia again and found there was a reasonably priced flight option, with just 3 seats left, that left at 7am and arrived at 4:30pm. Well, that would still cut in some to Kenneth's shift, but it would probably be workable, and certainly would be a better prospect for a restful evening!
So, things are coming together, it's just some extra work this time around. At least I probably won't be trying to bring a dozen laptops this time around! I probably will bring three for Christie, assuming that's still allowed on flights these days. (The rules seem to change every few years.) I admit I had my doubts a few times along the way that the trip would work out this time, but now it seems that the big things are out of the way. We still have to get immunizations and visas, transfer some money to cover our part of the food, transportation, and lodging while we're there, figure out what to do about our dogs, garden, and vehicle, and all sorts of little things like that. By the way, I still need to raise about a thousand dollars for those things. If you would like to help toward the trip, you can do so by clicking here. And especially be in prayer for us as we gather to seek the Lord, that we be attentive to each other and to His Spirit, and know the next steps we should take so that our many years of work may best serve communities, giving sound, practical education that grounds the students' minds on Christ.
