i don't have any words yet, just memories

Scott...Jenna Scott...

Packing our bags for Africa yesterday was like something out of a James Bond movie.

B, can you see what I'm carefully wrapping in a towel here? To be carefully stashed in the bottom of my bag, intentionally surrounded by and covered with innocent-looking packages of stickers, rubber bands, T-shirts, band-aids, Play-dough, toothbrushes, soccer balls, hand sanitizer, Tylenol, sock puppets, fabric, baby blankets, and so much more.

Our trip is partly to transport things to MCF--like some much-needed (and slightly illegal) medical supplies, computers to network a satellite connection so MCF is communicado,
clothing, Bible materials, hygiene products.

Last time ABC tried to get computers to MCF, customs demanded a "$700 fee" to let them through, or give them 1/2 the equipment we were trying to take through. Having to give up so much stuff to greedy "officials" was a tough lesson.

This time, we're being a lot more intentional about
our packing, and going through customs individually rather than in pairs or even worse an obvious group. We got a pep talk on playing "dumb", being courteous, brief, and stalwart as we go through customs with our loaded luggage so that we can get every single much-anticipated and highly-needed items to MCF.

I can so play the part of an international secret agent.......

between friends

e-mail to jeb earlier this afternoon:

Yay! I'm so proud of you driving stick! The drive to church is a TOUGH one--lots of hills--you should be really, really proud of yourself for accomplishing that! Thank you Lord for green lights all the way.

We drove from Cleveland yesterday morning, stopped home for an hour, then jetted back to church to pack our 50 pound duffel bags for the trip. The packing was exhilirating. I'm working on a blog post about it, so keep an eye.

I thought I'd be really handy and start dinner--boil the rice then turn the burner off to let it just sit and steam (and save energy), but I forgot to turn the burner off and smelled an acrid, smokey smell. So...now we're having salad for dinner--can't burn that, right? Oh my....life...

Has the laundry been softer w/out the fabric softener? Elli helped me do laundry today, which means she put in way more laundry soap than I ever do, and there were a few clothes with clumps of soap still on them. Partly my fault, though, too, for really loading up the washing machine. Oh well, they'll shake off when I give 'em a good snap after taking them off the line.

My mom arrives at noon tomorrow, I think I'll really be able to focus on packing, getting prepared for this trip (mentally), as well as getting a few more things for LAB organized before I go...I'm already getting calls, e-mails, and people asking what it's all about...here goes!

Jenna

mé·lange [mey-lahnzh, -lahnj] a mixture; medley.

"...who woulda thought...it figures..." (10pts)

known & unknown
dangerous & beautiful
scary & wonderful
harming & healing
sustaining & singeing