Leaving on a Jet Plane: Part One

I'm in Bolivia! Here's the account of my time in the skies, for what it's worth. I will post about Bolivia when I get the chance.

Excerpt from journal:
Flight #1 Sea Tac -> San Fran
I survived saying goodbye to my family! Yes! I am such a big girl, haha. Dad and I got up at FOUR AM to catch my 7:30am flight. We left in plenty of time but I accidentally got in the wrong airline check in, so things got rushed/stressed at the end. But I made it to my gate, only to find out that the flight was delayed for about an hour due to fog in San Fran. I was still scared to leave the gate though in case I missed my flight. So I texted the love ones and people watched.

It was while people watching that I noticed a woman with her small dog and realized that this might mean that she was bringing it on my flight. And I got real worried that she was gonna sit next to me with that small animal. If you know me well at all, you've probably heard that small dogs and I are not the best of friends. I like to think that God put all my love for animals in my love for babies bank, which I am perfectly ok with. Anyway, so I am praying that the dog will be far from me, with the prayers growing more frantic with every yip and yap. However, thankfully here from my seat in F26, there is no sign of the small animal! Praise Jesus.

Said my goodbyes to Washington as we lifted off. Man oh man, I love this place! Born and raised here and this state has treated me well (excluding the Rains of '99 and the Winter of 2010-11). Good bye, sweet Washington! Stay green and beautiful!

Dad always makes me cry whenever I say goodbye to him. He's just a sweet Dad. I kept waiting for him to stop me and be all "Ok, you might be fooling everyone else but I know you are still eight years old and there's no way I'm letting you on a plane by yourself!" But he didn't. Gotta love both of my parents for their faith in me -makes me have more faith in myself.

Other thanks thus far goes to:
Katrina and Josiah -thanks for your sappy, goofy goodbyes. I'm so proud of both of you, can't wait to see what the fall brings in both of your lives!
Linds: Thanks for calling me yesterday. It meant a lot that you were still thinking of me. I treasure the week we got to share that room! OUR room :)
Bri: Thanks for always joining me on my pre-trip Target shopping sprees. We have another tradition to keep now, my dear old friend.
Joey: Oh man. Thanks for being positive when I wasn't, for making me laugh and look forward to this trip, and for the late night phone call. I hope someday I get the chance to encourage you the way that you have encouraged me.
Alrighty, signing off from the skies!

Quote of the week "DAV! That's FAR! That's not even by Mexico!! It's way down HERE" -Josiah, while looking at the globe and figuring out where Bolivia is.

Journal Entry: Feb 27th

Every so often, I'd like to post some old journal entries about the bigger picture process of going to Bolivia. They won't be too personal and I'll edit them as I go but I thought it might be cool to see just how long this trip was in the making. This is one from way back in February.  

Exhale. This weekend I was reminded how much I hate change. This house is going to be completely different next year. I won't be in my sweet little room. There will be new people and new stuff and new ways of doing things. And I might be semi-ok with all of this, truly, if it weren't for the fact that I'm planning on being in Latin America in the fall. Laugh with me, won't you? The momma's girl that doesn't like change will be on another continent. Can I really do that? Am I crazy? This could be disastrous!

And amidst all those thoughts, God so clearly said, "Legitimate reasons and fears become bad excuses after I call you."

It made me stop. Which is a big deal in the middle of a busy Thursday -or any weekday for that matter (PS I am so thankful that God speaks amidst my chaos! Yes, it is fantastic to give Him sacred space but sometimes -He just speaks anyway). It makes my stomach drop because a) God just spoke to me 2) Conviction does that to you and lastly, 3) Could this be confirmation that I'm actually supposed to go? (just realized I "numbered" those thoughts a, 2, 3. Shesh). 

And yet I still want to leave myself a back door in case things don't work out in Latin America. In case I really am crazy.