Day 2 - Monday, May 7th

Trying to sleep on the floor of the airport was horrible.  I tried really hard to go to sleep, but I couldn't get over the freezing cold!

The TAM counter was supposed to open at 3:45am, but it was more like 5am when we finally were able to start getting checked in.  We are finally off to security around 5:30 and I am really needing some Starbucks at this point - and Starbucks isn't my favorite coffee!

The TSA agent who "pre-checks" your boarding pass and passport was super nice!  I thought, wow, this guy was nice, especially at 5:30 in the morning!  I make my way to put my shoes on the conveyor belt and remember to put my money and ALL the contents of ALL pockets into the bin they give you.  Would you BELIEVE that I received the "special" pat down AGAIN????  Seriously?  I'm trying really hard to be patient here.  But again, really?  Ok. 

We get to the gate and meet members from the church in Florida that will be going with us.  One gentleman, 82 years old, had to go home.  Somehow between northern Florida and Miami he had lost his passport!  Can you imagine?  Losing your passport?  Poor guy....

I took this opportunity to call Rob and my boys.  I spoke to everyone and gave kisses and encouragement.  The last thing I said to my husband was, "Honey, I want you to pray about this.  I think we are supposed to adopt."  SILENCE and then, "Okkkkkaayyy."  I say, "Honey, I love you.  All I'm asking is that you pray about it.  Really pray about it.  That's all I'm asking."

After what seems like forever, we board the plane.  Something kinda strange happened.  When the flight attendants were coming down the aisle, they were all speaking Portuguese.  Interesting.  I thought, we are in Miami folks and I speak English, I have no idea what you are saying! LOL

The flight to Manaus, Brazil is 5 hours.  That's a pretty long flight, seeing my only other long flights have been to California.  I started to get antsy.  Five hours is a long time to be confined to the seat.  4 hours into the flight I had already taken 2 naps, read some of the Bible, journal some and read some of my book.  It seemed like I was the only one NOT sleeping!   

We arrived into Manauas.  Let me tell you - this place had an airplane grave site!  Not the picture of comfort when you know you will be leaving this place on a 767 in about 12 days!  We deplaned.  Customs was a joke and infuriating all at the same time!  Of course, they separated us by foreigner and national.  It took us over an hour to get through!  All they did was look at my passport for the visa, ask how many days I planned on staying and that was it!  Me, being so informed about international travel, thought this was "it".  Oh no....it took at least another 40 minutes to get the luggage.  Then we had to get in line for the "real" customs.  Oh, how I hate to stand around!  I am a "do-er" and people who like to do, do not like to stand around! LOL

We finally made it past customs:

Here is another first:

We made it!  I felt so relieved that we made it!

We got to the boat - I have no idea what time.  I didn't bring my phone and I didn't bring a watch.  Didn't think I would really need one!  I have some pictures of the boat that I will post tomorrow.  Can't wait to show you! 

We ate lunch - interesting, but very good!  They had alot more than I had envisioned!  It was not just rice and beans.  There are some pics of the food that I will load as well!    I took a nap while some others went to some shoppes up the hill.  I had NO INTEREST in shopping!  I just wanted to sleep!  That was the best nap ever!

We hung out for awhile and when everyone was back, we got to work sorting out all the different medications.  We had to put all the like meds with the like meds as they all were jumbled around during travel.  I was relieved to finally be doing something!  I felt like I got to Brazil and it was like, ok, WAIT, we are on Brazil time now!

We were all beat.  We needed to rest.  After a very simple dinner of sandwiches, our pastor, Keith, pictured with me above, de-briefed with us and gave us some encouragement for the days to come. 

I am journaling while waiting for the shower so I can go to bed!  3 hours of sleep in over 24 hours was more than I could handle!

Night!

About Time!

I know alot of you have been waiting to hear about the trip.  I am finally ready to start sharing my experiences and feelings.

I think I have been waiting until I could sort it all out in my head and have "answers".  I wanted to be able to say, "God sent me to Brazil on this mission trip because......fill in the blank."  I'm not sure what answers I have, but I have been encouraged to write, so, I'm gonna write!

I've decided to update daily as I experienced my trip.  I might put a little commentary in at certain spots, but, we shall see how it goes.

Sunday, May 6th

I said goodbye to my family at the airport.  Most members of the group were there and we checked our bags.  We were carrying 9 "bins" with us to Brazil.  9 bins full of vitamins, Tylenol, Motrin and the like - all weighing approximately 70 pounds.  It was amazing how heavy and how full these things were.  It cost over $750 in addition to our baggage, just to check these things to Miami.  Whoa.....That is alot of money.

We made our way towards security so we could get to the gate.  It has been awhile since i have flown anywhere, so I was kinda surprised by this new x-ray type thing you had to step in and put your arms over your head.  Kinda weird....but, ok, I stepped in, put my hands of my head and stepped out.  I was told to wait on the black mat with the standard yellow footprints.  "Ma'am, do you have anything in your back right pocket?" Oh, yes, I have my cash and my credit card.  "Ma'am, when we say take everything out of your pockets, we mean everything."  Whoops, sorry.  "Please turn around ma'am and empty the contents of your back pocket."  I removed my cash and credit card.  At this point I was still just like, whoops, and I kinda thought it was funny.  Well, maybe it wasn't funny - I'm just one of those people who laugh at inappropriate times and in inappropriate places.  Well, about 10 seconds later, I met the nice TSA woman who would give me the "special" search.  I didn't think too much of it, she was nice enough.  Then she started the pat down and by "pat down" I mean "rub down".  Talk about embarrassing!  OMG!  It was by no means one of those horror stories you hear about, but goodness.  Once they were assured I was not carrying anything illegal onto the plane, I had to get my hands wiped down and analyzed for explosives.  I'm thinking, really?  Really?  Me?  But then I remembered I would do this everyday if it means we don't have another 911. 

Finally, I am off to the gate.  Sweating and nervous chattering every one's ear off.  Not only am I nervous laugher, but also and nervous chatter.  HA!

We make it safely into Fort Lauderdale a bit early.  Our luggage is off the plane rather promptly.  Our shuttle to Miami is already waiting.  We pack up and drive to Miami and get in the doors and in front of TAM Airlines at 10:20 pm.  Oh boy.  10:20?  We weren't expecting to be there so early.  Our check in time was 5am.  Have you ever seen 9 people with 20 pieces of rather large luggage just standing around?  Someone has a picture, I'll find it.  We took up so much room it was really funny!  What was really funny was when these 9 people and these 20 pieces of luggage had to sleep on the floor in the airport.  Did I say sleep?  HAHAHAHAHA!  The Miami airport has this announcement every 15 minutes that says, "The time is now 12:45 am." "The time is now "2:15 am"  "The time is now 2:30 am".  Sleep?  No, we did most definitely did NOT sleep.  Here is an excerpt from my journal:

"We have arrived in Miami.  I didn't really feel like writing but I want to remember this.  We re-arranged the bins because some were slightly over the 70 pound weight limit.

I've brought the book "RADICAL" for the plane rides.  I'm not sure how you can read that book and not want to adopt a child.  The numbers are so staggering it is overwhelming.  I hope God makes it clear to Rob and I what he wants us to do.

I'm sitting here on the floor of Miami International VERY TIRED.  I'm not sure how this is going to work out because I am not very good without sleep!  I'm just going to have to trust God that he will help me feel rested and rejuvenated.  I pray for strength and for quality sleep on the plane to Brazil"

"The time is now 10:30" and I am tired.  Can't wait to post pictures and get into the meat of the trip.

Night!

Today is the DAY!

Today is the big day!  I am sitting here at the computer 30 minutes before I leave for the airport.  I'm pretty anxious, excited and fearful all at the same time.  It feels very weird to know that tomorrow around noon, I will be in South America!  So cool!  It is always exciting to go to places you've never been before!  I'm excited to see the wildlife, the culture and the people.  I know this will be amazing!

I found out that I will not have any access to Internet and probably not to a phone either.  I will be without any technology until I get home on the 18th.  That is crazy in itself!

I've been thinking alot about this verse today:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The heavenly Father KNOWS I need some of that peace right now! 

God has done some AMAZING things leading up to today!  I wish I could tell everything and if I had not been so consumed with other things over the last couple of days, I would have been able to tell alot of them.

Everything for this trip has just lined up so perfectly, I know the hand of God was on this from the moment I said yes.  Things that have taken others months to do God has done in weeks.  It is truly amazing and I have a new found trust in God that I did not have before.

As I get ready to walk out the door, I pray that I will keep my eyes, my ears and my heart open to God and to what he wants from me and for me on this trip.  I never would have chosen to go to the Amazon jungle, so I know there is a specific reason what he wants me to go.  I pray I don't miss it.

I am so very thankful to all of my friends who have donated.  The financial obligation was lightened so tremendously that we have room to breath.  I can not tell you how much it means to me that you have made a sacrifice to help me go to Brazil.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!  It has been extremely overwhelming.

Please pray for Rob and the boys - it has been a rough couple of days for us.  I hope that it is just all of the tension that has led to me leaving and that once I am gone, it will even out as much as it can.

17 days until my return.  I can't wait to share with you everything that will happen and the pictures of what I have seen.

God Bless!
Christy

Coming together

It is amazing to me how much things can change in just a week!  I think it has alot to do with perspective as well.This Experiencing God has been really really stretching me.  It is so hard to talk with God and not just at Him.  I've been doing alot of talking at Him.  I have also been trying to do everything I can to make sure this all works out....including...wait for it....worrying!

Yesterday, during the study, I came across something very simple - What God has purposed to do, he will complete.  It was like a light bulb went off!  Duh!  I know this - why am I freaking out? After I thought over this for awhile, all of my worry has been lifted.  I am so much more relaxed than I thought I would be.  One example - I have been checking the Brazilian consulate website everyday - they received my visa application at 10:49 am last Wednesday. It was showing as "received".  I had started to think - wow, this is going to take awhile!  So, yesterday afternoon it went from "received" to "ready for pickup"!  Ok, no "in process" - "approved", just straight from received to ready for pickup!  Pretty cool!

I have an official meeting for the trip tonight, which I am really excited about because I will get to meet the other people going on this trip.  I am also excited to get some more details. 

Donation status - Last Friday, a friend at work, who is 8 months pregnant, handed me a check.  I was floored!  I struggled with taking it because I know she wants to stay home for awhile after the baby and I know they have been saving money for this time and I felt guilty that she thought I was worth such a large donation!  Then I remember something that I learned in my class - Don't deny someone an opportunity to participate in God's work.  Ughhh....so, I took the money.  Another girl at work gave me a donation towards my trip on Friday as well.  Rob's mom also sent a check - which I received on Friday!  I turned in all the money that I had on Sunday.  Another shocker - a gentleman that i work with walked into my office yesterday and said, I would like to donate towards your trip and handed me a $20 bill.  That was really sweet of him.  I have been surprised by the donations I have received from the people at my work.  Pleasantly surprised, and humbled, but surprised none the less.  I still don't know if I have received any donations sent directly to the church.  I'm trying to relax about it.  I really feel like God was telling me, "Relax.  I got this." AFTER I stopped talking at him and stopped to listen for Him.

Things are coming together.  The nanny is set to be home on Saturday the 5th from JMU.  She is going to be helping Rob and my mom while I am away.  It worked out perfectly.  All the paperwork is done, all the travel arrangements are done.  The only thing I have not done is pack and go see my PCP.  I got anti-malaria medicine from Patient First, but I am thinking I want to take something else after reading the side effects.  Other than that, it is just time to wait. 

For those who know me, you know how I LOVE to wait.....

11 DAYS!

Updates

Over the past week I have been getting more and more frightened.  Not of the trip itself, per se, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was scarring me so badly.  I mean, my anxiety has been through the roof and I have no idea why.
 
No, I’m not afraid of the mosquitoes that could carry me off.

No, I’m not scared of the anacondas.

No, I’m not scared of leaving the kids with Rob for two weeks.

I just couldn’t put my finger on what was scarring me to my core.  Seriously, as the days were progressing, I was becoming more and more frightened, freaked out and overwhelmed.  You would think that I would be getting more and more excited, but the opposite was happening. 

Last night it became clear – I have already been trying to figure what I was going to “do” when I got back.  I’ve been expending all this energy and mental capacity on trying to figure out what was going to happen when I got back from Brazil.  I haven’t even left yet!  I’m not even ready to GO, much less worry about what is going to happen when I get back.  I realized that I have been trying to deal with the feelings that my trip is going to invoke internally and what to do with them when I haven’t even gotten there yet!  How in the world am I supposed to deal with feelings that I haven’t even FELT yet?  No wonder I feel like I’m frantic!  Not sure why I put myself through all of this – oh, wait, I do know.  I’m a control freak!  Everything for this trip is out of my control and I have no say.  Kind of a different feeling for me that I think I have skipped over the trip part and am already trying to control the after part.  (Yes, it gets tiring being in my brain!)

Anyway, I am feeling much more relaxed today, so I thought I would give some updates!

First things first!  I know how we will be getting to Miami!  By plane, on May 6^th.  We will be getting to Miami late and will need to be there super early, so, we are going to stay at the airport. (hmmm, this should be interesting.  I’ve seen people sleeping in airports, but never thought I would be one of them!) 

Second – I went to Patient First and got all of my shots this past Sunday.  Yellow Fever – check, Typhoid – check, Tetanus – check, Hep A – check.  The only one that did not hurt was the only REQUIRED one – Yellow Fever.  I also received the little international traveler certificate thingy to prove I have had all of these immunizations.

Third – My visa application is now at the Brazilian consulate in Washington DC.  It will take anywhere from 8 to 10 business days to process.  They are saying it will be shipped to me on May 2.  Wow….that’s really close.  The document services company said it should not be a problem because it is “quiet” in Brazil right now.  In February it might have been a problem because of Carnivale, but I should have no problems.

A lot of people have been asking me about donations I have received.  I haven’t wanted to post anything about it because – I don’t know – just seems – weird – to broadcast something like that.  But, I decided that I would.  I have personally received 2 donations.  One from Rob’s co-worker - he was telling her about my trip and the next day she came back and gave him some cash to give to me.  The other one is from Ben’s preschool – again, another source Rob told (is there a theme here?).  I was so incredibly touched and humbled that Ben’s preschool would want to donate to me.  They have been the biggest blessing to our family over the last 5 years.  James went there and then we loved everyone so much that even though it was out of our way once we moved, we kept Ben there.  This is Ben’s last two months.  I’m so touched that the place that has provided stability and love to two of our children decided to bless me on this trip.  It is incredible and I am so deeply appreciative that I can’t even find the right words to express it.

Thank you for taking the time to read my update!

17 Days.....

Officially Official!

Well, now it is really official!  I have a plane ticket from Miami to Brazil!  There is no turning back now!  In 24 days, I will be on my way!  Only thing is that I still don’t know how I am getting to Miami.  I guess I’ll be finding out at some point.

Yesterday, I was researching the website of the mission where I will be going and found a journal from a lady who went in the same trip in January.  It was very informative and exciting!  I know there was plenty that she left out, but I am getting excited instead of uneasy.  So, that is a good sign! 

 

Today I must fill out the Brazilian Visa form and get it ready to Fed Ex to the document processing company that will expedite my visa.  Apparently, it is not so easy to get a Brazilian visa quickly without one, so I will bite the bullet and pay the fee.

 

Next on my list will be the immunizations.  There is a Patient First in my area that stocks shots for international travelers, so I will go there and get them all knocked out at one time.  Then I will have to go to my PCP to get the malaria pills and a prescription for cipro.  Why go to two different places?  Well, my PCP doesn’t stock yellow fever or typhoid so I would have to go to a specialty pharmacy with a prescription, get them filled, and then take them back to my PCP for administration.  AND my insurance company covers them only under medical – not prescription.  So, I will be jumping through some hoops, but I would rather do that than play ring around the rosy!

The interesting thing is that it seems each day for the past week, someone from my job has asked me about “going into the jungle on a boat” and “Am I crazy?”!  I can’t tell if it is making me excited or making me more nervous about the whole thing.  Everyone always asks about the anacondas, spiders and mosquitoes the size of monkeys.  It is very interesting to hear all these different perspectives about a country that none of us have been to!

24 days…..

And it begins....

Was it wishful thinking that I would actually not have any doubt about this trip?  Yes, yes it was....

Since last Wednesday I have been waiting for my TAM number so that I could begin filling out the Brazilian visa forms.  I received my TAM number yesterday evening - on Sunday, my pastor told me that another pastor would send me the information since he would be in Haiti this week and I needed to proceed. 

So, I received the TAM number.  I sent an e-mail to the other guy at church, saying, hey, I got my TAM number, but I don't speak Portuguese so I don't understand the website.  Is there an English conversion or something??  I'd like to get the itinerary.  He sends me back an e-mail saying the TAM number is not an itinerary number and that he is still waiting on flight information.  Oh...ok.  I ask him what is this TAM number then because I was told it was very important and that I needed to keep a copy of it in my passport for reference.  No response....

One hour.....

Two hours.....

I get a forwarded e-mail saying here is your flight.  You will want to do the expedited visa.  I have included his information at the bottom.  You should really pay by credit card by April 12th or the flight will be cancelled.  I scroll down, down, down.....

The flight is Miami to Manuas, Brazil - round trip.  Great.  Whoa.....that is alot of money!

Now, I didn't ask how this was going to work, but I had assumed from the way my pastor I spoke last week and again on Sunday, that I was going to pay the church right before the trip.  Well, apparently not.  I have to pay for this ticket, right now.  Hmmmmm........I can feel the anxiety creeping in.

Then I realize - wait - this is from Miami round trip.  I e-mail him, and ask How are we getting to Miami?  Do you want to know what his response was?

"We will worry about how to get to Miami later."

Um, excuse me?  Later?  Like when?  Seeing that today is April 10th and I am leaving May7th - or possibly late May 6th!!!  Seriously....when is later?  Is this a man thing?  Or am I just freaking out for no reason?  I think this man thing...

So, now I am in a bit of a position:

1. I can send him back an e-mail that says - what do you mean later?  You never answered my question - what is a TAM number and why is it so important?  And then have him think - Wow, this girl needs to relax.  I'm glad I'm not going on that trip - she is really uptight and a control freak!

2. I can pause and try to trust that God is in control.

Hmmm, my way would be number 1 for sure.  No doubt.  I had actually thought of e-mailing the lead pastor of the entire church to tell him about how I was feeling like no one was giving me any information - about anything!  I was going to tell him maybe he needed to hire a woman to come in there and get this sort of stuff organized.....(you can hear the anxiety can't you???).....but then....

I determined NOT to do that.  I kept telling myself this whole last week that God has this, God will see this through, God called - I said yes and that means he is going to work this out.

So why am I freaking out????

CONTROL!

This is not going like I thought it would go - already.  Rob keeps saying, "This is not YOUR plan, it is God's plan.  HE will work it out".  Immediately in my head, I thought....easy for you to say!  And right after that - I know!

I really wanted to not have any doubt through this process.  I'm actually disappointed that it has only been a week before I allowed doubt to consume - even for a short bit.  

Thankfully, I know - without a shadow of a doubt - this trip was his plan and not mine.  He will work this out.  I don't know how - but he will.  There was a verse that was said tonight at our class that I know was for me:

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord

Just the beginning made me feel a bit better.  Some of my classmates laughed with (at) me because they know how hard it is for me to release control.

Bright spot - My insurance company pays for travel immunizations!  Saves me $393!!!  Whoop Whoop!  So excited about that!

It is hard to remember that his ways are not my ways.  His timing is not my timing.  Ugghhh.....

Still stressed, asking for forgiveness for my doubt, and emotionally drained after a long day at work....27 days left.