Finally, for your reading pleasure, an account of our weekend...

We flew from Boise to Chicago to Minneapolis. We were supposed to arrive in MSP at 7:30 PM, drive 2 hours to a B&B and take the rest of the drive (2 hours more) Saturday morning. This is so incredibly far from what happened, it's startling.

The flight from B to C was just fine. We even got in a little early. After wandering around O'Hare for some time looking for something that resembled actual food (as opposed to deep fried cardboard), we ate dinner and headed for the gate. And so the longest delay ever began. Our plane was late. Then it had mechanical problems. We were assured every half-hour that our plane would be fixed in the next half-hour. We went through three different gates, three broken planes (including a shattered windshield), loaded on and off of two planes, sat on the runway for an hour, and finally left Chicago at 12:30 AM. Needless to say, we called the B&B to say we weren't coming.

We arrived in Minneapolis at 2 AM, where we called every hotel in town looking for a room. After being told by a dozen different hotels "No vacancy", Aaron hung up the phone and said, "I think they think I'm bringing in a prostitute!" Just then a Marriott shuttle arrived. Aaron asked the driver if we could hitch a ride. The pilots from our plane were on the shuttle too. They said they'd never seen such a string of difficulties.

Of course, since I looked more like a bedraggled traveller than a prostitute that ANYONE would hire, they found a room for us at the Marriott. We called Patty in the morning and left a message about where we were, hoping by some miracle, she might check her messages in the midst of the Fest and be eased of mind as to our whereabouts. It took over an hour to get our rental car and we were finally on the road by 11 AM. With four and half hours in front of us. The festivities were slated to begin at noon. Sigh.

Well, after driving all over the Wisconsin country-side trying to find the farm, we managed to pull-over a kindly older gentleman who was delivering newspapers (I wish I had a snapshot of the wonderment on his face when two city-folk in a fancy rental car covered with road dust got him to stop on the side of the road by honking wildly and waving their arms with gumption--actually only one of us had the arms going, I'll let you guess who!) to ask for directions. After trying to explain and being rebuffed by blank stares, he gave up and said he'd take us there. A half-dozen paper-throws later, he shooed us down the proper road. Thinking the farm was only 1/2 mile in from there, we were cock-sure we'd have no trouble finding it. Several miles down the road, we employed our honking-and-flailing method again and wound up with a sweet woman who also employed the explain-blank-looks-follow-me method of giving directions, and before you know it, we were making our way up the Anne-of-Green-Gables-ish driveway of the farm.

We arrived just as everything was winding down, but we got to meet a few people and eat a few bites. After things settled down a bit, Patty gave us a quick tour of our soon-to-be home! It was kinda surreal to see these places I've thought about in my mind. Then we went with Patty into "town" to see the place (and pick up pizza and other groceries). That night we had a little campfire with S'mores. Mmmm. I never pass up a S'more! :)

The next morning was great as we had a worship service and testimonies from people who've experienced Liberia. Junior, from the Liberian staff of AOH, told us about his life. And, Lloyd, a retired Texas businessman-turned-missionary spoke also. It was wonderful to hear and share the passion in their voices. Aaron and I wiped tears from our eyes more than once.

Later in the day, after most everyone had headed home, Harold (Patty's very significant other!) gave us a tour of the rest of the property. It was fun to imagine Pence, Punk, and Pea rollicking in the hills and forest! :) As the weekend wound down and the number of people diminished, it seemed our connection with Patty and Harold increased accordingly. It was very reassuring to feel that comraderie and mutual appreciation grow.

We drove with Patty and Lloyd back to the airport on Monday. It was fun to get to know both of them better. They are like old friends with each other and witnessing their relationship was fun. We also had a very funny conversation about what our new title(s) should be! Hee hee!

Then, it was back to the wonderful world of airtravel. I have to believe that Liberian travel takes the cake, but United is getting my second place award for awfulness. We made it from MSP to Chicago quite easily, but then everything broke lose again at O'Hare. There was a thunderstorm and although our plane made it in, apparently our pilots did not. Go figure. We were on a 2 AM streak, so why change anything? We made it home to Boise at that lovely hour, and were thanking God that we live a mere 10 minutes from the blessed airport.

So there you have it. Now, we begin the unbelievable breakneck-speed wind up to taking our places as the US Directors of Operations! We'll be helping cover simple phones and emails at the end of the month while Donna (whose shoes we'll be filling) is in Liberia. Then we head over ourselves Sept 4-12 to visit our babies, meet the Liberian staff, and seeing how things go on that side. We'll head to Wisconsin about a week later, settle in, and start training by Sept 24th! Wowza! So, pray, Pray, PRAY for us!

PS--Every time I mention we're taking Punk to the farm, he lights up and cheers! Fun!