{Travel log on the way to Rwanda}

Friday Sept 21st 11:09AM
Right now we are somewhere over the Gulf of Main. (I didn't know Main had a gulf. Already this trip is making me smarter!) We have 3774 more miles to go! There are these cool TV's hanging down from the ceiling that show a map with a little airplane going across the Atlantic. It updates every so often with the altitude (33,000ft), temp -47F, and arrival times. We have TV's in the backs of our seats, but so far none of the sound works on our row. This is by far the biggest plane I remember being on, and I'm sure it is not all that big compared to some. It has two seats by the window, three seats in the middle and two more on the other side. Dave and I were seated in two by the window, but there is no one next to us, so I have scooted over and spread out on the 4. Each seat comes with a pillow and blanket and the one next to me has a very handsome man in it! It's nice to have a good looking traveling partner!

Lunch was served at 11:45 by our very nice flight attendants who offered cheeken or feesh. We both had the Chicken with rice, veggies, small salad, very hard, cold roll and some yummy cheese cake. It is served in hard plastic dishes the color of advacado green once seen on our refrigerator when I was little. The dishes are the same size as Paige's tea party set and would make a nice addition to her collection if not for that pesky commandment that makes me give them back.

I am surrounded by languages I don't understand and faces I have never seen before and it is refreshing and scary all at the same time. I'm not scared for my safety. My mind is being stretched farther than it has ever been with thoughts of places I have only seen on TV being reality very soon. All these people, all children of God. All loved by the same heavenly father that loves me. It's hard to compute in my tiny little Midwestern brain.

You know me...always chatty...I've already met a girl from CA who is probably a little younger than me who is on her way to Ethiopia to spend 10 days working in an orphanage. She is the opposite of the quintessential Valley Girl. Her long brown hair is streaked with almost white highlights (that I want to re-create when I get home), she has a tattoo on her wrist and I saw one peaking out from under her pant leg. She oozes coolness and in just the few minutes we chatted I knew she was someone of depth and would be fun to get to know. She's a few rows ahead of us and later after I nap, I'm going to go see if she wants to share my luxurious seating so I can listen to her life story some more.