the day of our trip

just waiting to get ready to go to the airport, full tummies full of Friendly's hamburgers. Dan's favorite when he visits Hershey.

This is Anna's car seat for when she comes home. It is now officially test rated by Lily. She slept in it all night.

3 tupperware bins, 3 suit cases, 3 carry on's, 3 back packs....and poor Dr John, he got to carry them all (except one) down the stairs and pack them in the car. See below...

Farewell, and see ya soon. Africa, here we come, we are getting our Hosanna Faith for keeps.

3 strangers

On 9/11 /08 I started my adventure for Ethiopia.
Dan dropped me off and I stepped Thu the doors of Midway Airport. 4 am.

Met two sisters from California who were originally from Pittsburgh. They were visiting their 80 year old mom for her birthday. They had an adventure with their 10 sisters and 5 brothers.
We spoke back and forth and she found out about my adventure and she said she was an intercessor and would be praying for our trip. Coincidence ?

Waiting to board the plane I was A-33 and I wanted to sit in the bulk head to stretch my legs. But 32 people were ahead of me. So anyway, I missed out on that seating and went to the middle exit doors because the seating is good there too.
I met Ray. Stranger number 2. He was returning from China or some place far away. We didn't speak much until 15 minutes before landing.
In efforts to make him think I was a world traveler I told him I was going to Africa, and why. He said" you are not sitting here by chance". He told me about how he and his wife lost five babies Thu miscarriage, and invertro fertilization. Ray said that just last evening he called his wife and said "lets adopt twins". His wife said "my heart bears witness with that" and I agree with you. (That had been the first they spoke of adoption) So I gave him Grace's blog address and all the info I had about the orphanage. Ray and I both felt God's conformation of his adoption idea.
Coincidence ?
The next stranger was a lady waiting for her shuttle. As we spoke I told her of Grace's decision to adopt and she said"God bless your daughters heart for what she is doing" Coincidence ?

Then Grace picked me up and when I got to her house I didn't take long to lock my self out of the car and house (while Grace was in the shower) I'm enjoying the Walk...on the water......

Getting a few vitamins ready for the trip

Now you know what lurks in my stomach and in my pantry at home. Yup, vitamins. I had to set them out on the table to bag them up. This is most of them but I still have a few I didn't really need.
Gotta Blast! Especially since I have so much fuel....

A BIG THANK YOU TO FAITH FOR HER LABOR OF LOVE IN HELPING ME GET READY FOR THIS TRIP FOR THREE DAYS.

Hershey, Pa. here I come

Less than 23 hours and I will be in Hershey with my daughter and grand daughter. Yeah!!!
Faith has been with me for the last three days and we are having a blast. Trying to get ready and eat too much junk food and IM with Grace.
Abigail is too funny and I hope to be able to blog what all goes on with her.
From time to time check out Grace's blog for better updates:

http://allthesereasons.blogspot.com/

So for now, talk to ya in Hershey.....

Today is Tuesday and I heard from my good friend Carol. She is a joy and delight to know. If you know her, than you know what I am talking about.

Faith and I are at the library. Should be packing and such, we still have a lot of errands to run but here we sit. That reminds me of a rhyme...naw, better not....its kinda ...inappropriate.

Lets see, anything new here?

Oh yeah, I was scheduled to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday up until 4pm. Then I had to rush home and pack and get ready to leave in 8 hours after that. Last Saturday Visiting Angels called and said I didn't need to come in on Monday because my client had been admitted to the hospital and would be out on Tuesday. I was elated. Now I could pack and do alot of stuff like wash clothes, etc.

Monday came and Faith came over to help me. Because over the weekend my mother in law came for a visit and left on Sunday afternoon.
Anyway, Faith and I got alot done but by the afternoon I prayed and asked God if he could keep my client in the hospital so I could get ready for my trip. That afternoon V.A. called and said they were keeping him in another day and they could find me another client in the mean time. I said no, I will call them when I return. What a blessing.
I gotta blast and finish my chores, love to who ever is reading this.

Quick report on my second day at work, my client is a Jewell . What can I say ? The agency speaks highly of him and so does all the PT nurses and home health care nurses.
He also eats snow cream.

One thing bothers me tho, he makes me miss my dad. I guess I have to admit it, I am a daddy's girl. And being around my client makes me wish I was with my dad instead. All day long my conversation goes to times my dad and I did this or that together. I tell him how my dad raised four girls by himself and all he taught me. How to cook, clean, fish, ride a horse, hunt, and the list goes on.

Recovering from the heat of yesterday, I see today, the thermostat is down to 75 degrees. Thank God.

Also, I saw my friend Barb at the Wal-mart last night. I worked with her at Fisher. We had a nice chat and she gave me a free ring tone to my best song "Praise is what I do".

Praising God......

God made a good match

5:45 am, Wednesday morning rolled around quickly. My first client. What am I going to be doing for 8 hours ? How long does it to re-heat a meal , make a bed and straighten up three rooms and make a snack ?

I eagerly awaited in the clients drive way for the case manager to do a meet and greet with the client. What will he be like ? Will he like me ? Will I like him?

Opening the door to his house the case manager called out his name. He answered in a sweet, weak voice,"I'm here". As we rounded the corner I quickly gave him the once over and sighed a deep sigh of relief. Its going to be okay, I thought to myself.
After the case manager introduced us and she left, me sat at his kitchen table making small talk. I noticed pictures of tractors and barns and milk cans. Ah hah ! Something to talk about. After 30 minutes or so we had exhausted the conversation and we both stuck our heads in the newspaper, end of conversation for about an hour and a half. My butt was crying out by that time. I quickly reminded him he needed to stretch out his legs and with that we sat in the living room. Within a few minutes he settled in for a nap. Did I say he slept at the table too while pretending to read the paper?

Lunch time rolled around and I warmed up his lunch and ate with him. I suggested another walk in his walker around the house so he would wake up some. Again we sat at the table and made small talk.

Whew it was getting so hot in there. I looked at the temp outside and it read 70 degrees and then I saw the thermostat in the house and it was a blistering 80 degrees. I was wiping sweat off my face and neck. I could almost wring out the napkin.

In his kitchen he has two jars of popcorn to be popped. How fun is that ? He also has a pressure cooker next to his sink. I just used mine last week. We are too much alike.