Leaving on a jet plane...

Good Saturday morning.  Today begins my 16th adventure in Disaster Recovery in 8 years.  I'm so excited!

Our team of 48--33 High School Students and 15 adults--will be in Moore, Oklahoma all week doing whatever God has planned for us.  I'm ready to be back in my boots, jeans and t-shirt, gloves at the ready and wide open adventure ahead.

I don't know if there will be wi-fi access where we are, so blogging will probably not happen (plus, I'm just taking my Kindle and it takes a LONG time to write a blog post on a Kindle.  I do so much better with traditional computer keyboards.).
However, Youth Pastor Friend will be posting to the youth group Facebook page as much as possible.  You can find photo's here:  www.facebook.com/edgeandoasis  Even if you aren't on Facebook (I keep thinking I'm it's time to close my page...tired of the fake lives on there) you will still be able to see photo's of the day and any updates.

So, if you are of the praying time, please pray for the team!  For safety, sleep, good conversations, good work and financial support to keep rolling in!  I'll catch ya on the flip side!

Teenagers, life events and disaster relief

Working with teenagers keeps me grounded.

Last week I wore one of my favorite shirts ever to youth group.  It's a grey, long sleeve t-shirt and simply says "Pearlington, Mississippi" on the front.  The back has the names of people who helped our team go to Mississippi that time for Hurricane Katrina Relief work.  I don't even remember what year or which number of the 12 trips it was.

One of young women looked at my t-shirt and asked "Where's Pearlington, Mississippi?"

I told her where it was and why I had been there and she looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and said "When was Hurricane Katrina?"

"2005," I replied.

"Oh, yeah, I was 5," was her response.

One of the other leaders looked at me and said with a touch of incredulity in his voice, "She was a year old when September 11th happened."  We both took a moment to ponder that.

Time marches steadily on.  There isn't anything I can do to stop the steady movement. There are days when I look at the number I am supposed to claim as my age and wonder how those years passed so quickly. I don't FEEL like the number I'm supposed to claim as my age.  Do you know how OLD that number seemed when I was a teenager?!

Time marches on and world and life events happen.  There are events, such as September 11th or Hurricane Katrina that will forever be etched in my brain.  Those events changed my world outlook.  They changed ME...and many of the students that I work with these days weren't even old enough to understand. They will have their own BIG life and world changing moments. It's just the way the world works.

Time marches on.  This April it will be 8 years since I first set foot in the town of Pearlington, Mississippi.  It's been over a year since I was last there.  I hope to get back there again.  This time for vacation, not Hurricane relief work.  But if something happens and the call comes again, I'll go in a heartbeat!

In 3 days I will board a plane with some of my teenager friends (33 of them to be exact) and head to Moore, Oklahoma.  Time does march on, life does change and teenagers really do keep me grounded...and in case you were wondering, I am taking my favorite long sleeve t-shirt with me.

Public Transportation

I love to drive.  I really like my car.  I enjoy the days when the weather is just right when the windows and the convertible top can be down and I can just drive and drive and drive...

Having a V8 Mustang Convertible can be a wonderful thing...until one tries to commute.  That's when the V8 engine becomes a gas hog of the worst kind and driving becomes not as fun.

I filled up my gas tank the other day.  $54.35.  That was after a week of driving of which two of those days did I actually commute 60 miles round trip, but that did it.  I've let the "low fuel" light come on a few times the last few weeks.  I know, I know, that's not a good thing. Welcome to my reality.

A week and a half ago I bought a bus pass.  For less than $7 per day and an added 45 minutes to an hour to my schedule, I am taking the bus and light rail.  What a whole new world.

I've shared, already, about the phenomenon of the bus.  Everyone lines up to file on IN THE ORDER THEY LINED UP, no one talks to each other.  The world of the bus is very interesting indeed.  The light rail, well, the light rail is a whole new world.

The Office Coordinators in my new office building have been very helpful when it comes to the light rail. They've answered my silly little questions.  They've also given me helpful hints like:

• Jaywalk.  Don't walk down and wait for the light's to change.  It will take forever.  Make sure it's clear and dash across the street.  Got it.
• Do not make eye contact.  Wear sunglasses all the time.  Inside and outside the light rail.  If you make eye contact, you will get hit on, hit up or someone will decide to talk to you incessantly.  Got it.
• Wear your headphones even if you aren't listening to anything.  People won't bother you.  GOT IT!!

It pays to make friends with the Office Coordinators.

Now, you may be wondering, "Brittany, why don't you want to talk to people on the light rail?"  Well, sometimes I do.  The harmless lady who said "nice weather today" was fine.  There is a difference though, between talking about the weather and hearing someones life story in the span of a 10 minute ride.  The guy with the eyes that jumped all over the place who swore he had never done drugs and gave me his phone number so that we could "chat" sometimes, not so much.  I don't want your number.  Don't make me hurt your feelings, PLEASE.  (See, I truly am a people pleaser.)

The light rail has character, or I should say the light rail carries lots of characters. 

The guy who talked loudly on his phone in Spanish and jumped up every so often to walk around before sitting back down was interesting.  I rode the light rail twice with him.

Monday a guy got on the light rail and talked to himself the whole ride, LOUDLY.  It was fine but the swearing was a little much.

Today there was a guy who was talking and clapping and singing along to whatever music was in his on his iPod.  The rest of us on the light rail probably could have sung along as well, his music was loud enough to hear. 

This morning, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the guy across the aisle stand up and put his hands down.his.pants.  I was freaked out for a moment, but he removed his hands and sat back down.  Whew.  He stood up again and his hands went to the waist of his pants again but this time he just adjusted them at the waist and sat back down.   I didn't look. No eye contact, remember?  I was more than ready to get off the light rail when my stop came. 

Unfortunately my stop happens to be the same stop for those heading to the probation office.  Sometimes these characters follow me off the light rail.  Which is why I decided jaywalking is fine.

Tonight, on the bus ride home, I felt sorry for the guy who obviously didn't have Office Coordinators to tell him the golden rules of public transportation.  He made eye contact and had no headphones and the guy who had just gotten released from the hospital and was heading home but needed to get his stuff from the fire station where he had been taken after getting jumped and then robbed and then...oh the story.  Poor, defenseless man heard the whole saga the whole 45 minute ride.  When I got off the bus, hospital man was still talking.  They had another 10 minute ride ahead.

Ah, the joys of public transportation.  It's almost better than a movie...but not really.

Retreat

A week from today I will be sitting on the shores of a lake.  This could potentially be my view. (Admittedly borrowed the pic from a website.)

The last time I sat around this lake was a couple of years ago.  Two days before I had sat around a lake close by and got a nasty sunburn on my legs.  Two days later, as I sat along the shore of this lake, snowflakes were falling onto my very burnt legs.  Kind of a strange week.

Next week it may very well be the same kind of weather but I will be better prepared (i.e. have long pants and sweatshirts!).

What I am looking forward to, isn't the weather so much, or even the view, it's the space.  I'm paying big bucks to go spend time with God.  There is a part of my brain that says it's wrong that I have to pay money in order to take time to spend with God, but I know myself.  I know that carving out this time is hard.  Other things get in the way.  Having this space seems so precious, so sacred, so needed.  The fact that the retreat that I'm going to is in one of the most beautiful locations in the world (yes, I am a little biased), well, that's a bonus. (Plus people I love live there too.  Double bonus!)

I'm counting down the days and praying in the meantime for ears to hear, a heart that is open and eyes to see what God wants to share...or not share. 

Called and compelled

One week from tonight, in the middle of the night, I will be in Galveston, Texas with a team of 19 people.  We'll be starting a week of rebuilding efforts in response to 2008's Hurricane Ike.  Tonight, as Yo Momma, Papa Bear and I sat and talked about the trip it occurred to me that on April 2, 2006 in the middle of the night I was driving into the town of Pearlington, Mississippi to do Hurricane Katrina recovery work.  So much has happened in those 5 years, things expected and unexpected.  I am the same and yet not the same person that drove into that town with a sense of calling, purpose and Holy Spirit compelling. 

A couple of weeks ago part of a sermon I gave was on following the compelling of the Holy Spirit.  As I've grown in faith I've come to recognize when the Holy Spirit is pushing me into something, challenging me and I've come to recognize how I squelch that compelling Spirit, ignore it, deny it.  I challenged the congregation to ask themselves why they do things...do they act out of the compelling force of the Holy Spirit or because they are expected to do something or because they have been doing the task for so long it just has become something that they do, not something they enjoy or are inspired to do.  After the first service someone asked me if I felt the same compelling to Texas that I did to Mississippi.  My quick answer was no.  But I do feel compelled to support and encourage the youth in my care and so I go to Texas.

I've thought about that more, though, and my answer has changed.  I am compelled to help people, to love others, to bring hope to others lives, wherever that may take me.  If it's Texas, so be it.  It's a new challenge, a new opportunity to be stretched and to grow...but just so we are clear the people of Pearlington have first dibs on my heart, which is why I get home from Texas on the 9th and go to Pearlington on the 14th.  The call, the compelling of the Holy Spirit is still strong and so I go.

DC recap

There are many thoughts running through my head about my time in DC. Over the last few days, the emotional letdown of these last few months has hit hard. It's been an overwhelming roller coaster! I am so grateful for the experience and though the awards stuff is behind me, I've been left with the question rolling through my head "what are you going to do with this God? What's next?" If this is the end of the line, awesome ride...but my feeling is that it's not. I think there is more to come and I'm excited, EXCITED, to see what God does with this all. So, that said, here's some pics of the week!

1st TV interview of the evening. Outside the Mayflower Hotel in DC.Meg and I in the Mayflower Hotel lobby waiting for the first evening's dinner.Kathleen Kennedy Townsend giving a welcome speech at the Welcome DinnerGiving my one-minute speechMeeting Barbara Boxer
2nd TV interview in the hallway of a Senate Office Building
Meeting Dianne Feinstein
Waiting in the lobby for the buses to the Gala Dinner at the National Building MuseumPapa Bear, Yo Momma and I at the Gala Dinner at the National Building Museum

Learning curve

There are things that one learns on trips with other people. Good things sometimes, tough things other times, annoying things often. I'm sure there are a number of annoying things about me (and I'm not saying that to be humble, I annoy myself sometimes). I caught myself doing one of those things today and decided to walk away from a situation so that other's could achieve. It all worked out but I was annoyed with myself for being annoying. Yeah, logic missing.

Anyway, on trips with others where we co-reside in a home we learn who snores, who talks in their sleep, the person who wakes up the fastest, who is perkiest in the morning and who isn't (me!), who will be the first to volunteer to help with something and the last. We learn who keeps things super neat and who loses all their stuff within the first 15 minutes of arriving. We learn who will be the last one out of the house in the morning (Debbie), who takes the longest showers (Sammy), who needs the shortest amount of time to get ready in the morning and who talks until they fall asleep.

It's fascinating getting to know people on a deeper level, learning to navigate the nuances, dance around the unknown and completely unexpected, yet expected, when people snap after being pushed to their limits. I like knowing where the limits are for others, it's a good thing to know just how much teasing one can take and when to back off.

Then there are those gem moments. Those moments when someone does or says something that makes the room erupt, usually in laughter. No kidding. I thought I knew a lot about Harold and Kanda, I really did, but when in the midst of conversation Kanda said "Oh, they just need to eat green weenie's and die." I realized that I did not know them as well as I thought. It even stunned Joe who spent much of his life at their house. It stunned Kanda and Harold who claim they make that statement all the time and couldn't believe that none of us had heard it before. Believe me, haven't heard it...would have remembered it...am going to remember it from now on!

State travels

A week ago Sunday G.G. and I loaded up the car and headed for the snow covered mountains up North Our destination was a couple of days with Miss Payten. It was so good. She's getting big, is getting quite the personality and is such a happy baby. We laughed and giggled, ate and napped. It was lovely. We took our self-portraits again. I love this pic of G.G. and Payten. Love my Payten!

We got home on Tuesday night. I went to work on Wednesday and Thursday morning. On Thursday afternoon I hopped in another car and headed South with N, Grammie B, Train Guy and Adventure Boy. Our destination was the house of the mouse, D-Land. Friday Grammie B and I took the boys for their first experience of D-land. It rained. All.day.long. But it was fun! We rode Small World twice, visited Mickey in his movie barn, sang along with the birds in the Tiki Room and more. Goofy's house was a big hit.
Saturday K & N joined us for the day. Luckily the rain stayed away for the most of the day. The highlights of the day included Buzz Blasters, Autopia and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...oh and Small World take three. :) Watching N in the Rocket Blasters with the boys was fun too!
Train Guy got to meet Mickey. Mickey was very impressed with Train Guy's fire jacket rain coat and showed Train Guy the fire bucket that Mickey kept close by just in case! It was cute.Adventure Boy met Minnie. K tells me it was the highlight of the day for him. (I had to leave early to fly home for Sunday and didn't get to see it myself.)I got to met Goofy...who was a little flirty. It was pretty funny. Never been hip-bumped by a Disney character before!A lot of traveling in a week but what a fun week to be Auntie B!

All my backs are packed...

Okay, not quite. There are clothes in the dryer, batteries in the charger and I have two bills to pay. Today kind of got away from me, but I wouldn't change much...maybe would have gotten up about an hour earlier. Why is it that I felt compelled to change my sheets and clean-up a little this morning? I don't get it. I enjoyed lunch with a friend today, a pre-trip massage and adjustment and dinner with Train Guy and Adventure Boy. Train Guy was extra lovey tonight which just about melted my heart. Seriously. My Christmas gift to K & N was a weekend of kid-sitting...which Train Guy heard as a week and got really excited to spend a WEEK with me. I told him we would try a weekend first and then upgrade to a week if I survived. :)

Anyway, updates on the trip will be here sometime in the next few days. We don't have internet access at our rental houses so it may take a little while to update but never fear, I can't stay away too long!

Keep the prayers coming!

LA bound

This weekend the National Youth Workers Convention takes over the LA Convention Center. My cohort in ministry, Jon-boy, and I are heading there for the weekend. The time that this post goes live is the time that we will be leaving. I'm excited because one of my favorite bands will be there, DC*B, and one of my favorite authors, Donald Miller, will be speaking. Both have new stuff out right now...excited about picking those up too! (Which reminds me, I don't need to pack all those books that I just packed!)

The bad thing about having to get up before the sun is that I need to get to sleep early...which is nearly impossible on a Thursday night when Project Runway is on (though I fell asleep a couple weeks just as the runway show began) and really hard when I've become addicted to Models of the Runway. I love the inside scoop/behind the scenes things, even if that's not reality. Totally dig it.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, looking forward to continuing my Youth Worker training, but most of all I'm looking forward to the opportunity to focus on my need for God, for my own spiritual rejuvenation and some time to just be.

The last day of June

On this last day of June, I sat at my desk and flipped over my calendar from June to July. It is admittedly a little premature seeing as today is still June, yet it was a necessary move. I was tempted to switch the one on my bulletin board as well, but resisted the urge; there are just some things you can't rush. Anyway, I flipped over the page from June to July to write something in and all of a sudden realized that I'm a crazy person. The first 8 days in July are relatively sane, though not lacking in things to do with that whole 4th of July thing in there. But after those 8 days, the craziness begins.

The first excursion is gonna be pure fun. Three of my favorite people and I are going the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and are going to see three plays including this one...which happens to be my all-time favorite musical. Ever. Plus we're staying a nice hotel, close to downtown so there's no need to drive, we can just walk. The next excursion three days later will be a quick trip that can't be talked about right now. I'll be home one day and then up to Shasta for a Houseboat trip with a youth group...but not my youth group! Opinionated Friend asked if I wanted to go on her youth group trip to lead music and I said yes. I'm looking forward to just hanging out and not being in charge! I get home to do a Flea Market Fundraiser, preach for the vacationing Pastor and then run my own trip the last week of July. No kidding, I think I've lost my mind.

And yet, I'm looking forward to almost all of it. Plus, there's a outside chance that I'll get to meet Baby #3 on one of those trips...depending on if he takes after his brother and makes his entrance into the world early. I'm looking forward to the adventures. I'm looking forward to the challenges and I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store along the way.

Yep, July is packed and I wouldn't have it any other way.

A tale of a congressman

I've been home a full 24 hours now after 48 hours of traveling. Actually, if I'm going to do the math correctly it was more like 54 hours of traveling. I'm just going to say it out loud (or in writing), I'm not a fan of Continental right now. Granted the weather problems were legitimate but the complete lack of communication and misinformation that we were given was really very frustrating. My sense of humor was pretty much gone by the time we got home. But I must tell you a tale, my dear blog reading friends, of a Congressman from Texas (every time I write the word Texas I hear William Shatner in the movie Miss Congeniality).


Sunday night Continental paid for our overnight stay in Houston. 2 of us got to leave in the morning but for 4 of us our flights didn't leave until after 5pm Monday. That meant we had the whole day to, well, do something with. After an early morning and a frustrating day in the airport, none of us was moving too quickly and our window of time to explore Houston went away quickly...plus we really wanted to spend a whole lot of money on a taxi and the airport is out in the boondocks, which makes sense because it is Texas.


After spending most of the morning in the hotel lobby, we boarded the shuttle van and headed to the airport where food and bookstores were. We had our boarding passes, which meant we went directly to the security line, where I proceeded to get behind a man with many, many items going through x-ray. I had already put all my stuff in bin when I realized I should have changed lanes. The guy in front of me had an ice chest...yes, I said an ice chest, filled with dry ice and ice cream. He loudly proclaimed "It's solid as a rock! Honest!" When the checkpoint guards called over another guard the guy made the same proclamation and then said these fateful words "I'm heading to Washington DC. I'm a Congressman." Now, I was willing to give this guy a break. I want to see the good in people and usually make excuses for them but when those words were uttered, my cynical side took over and all I could see was a politician.


Mr. Congressman-from-right-here repeated himself several times, "I'm a congressman from right here." Once for the brisket, a couple times for the ice cream and again for the bottle of BBQ sauce in his carry-on, which when questioned about he proclaimed "Its only 3.4oz." and when he was told it was supposed to be less than 3oz he then said "I told her to only fill the bottle half full." At this point alarm bells are screaming in my head, screaming! But I will get to that in a minute. They let the ice cream slide but that bottle of BBQ sauce raised eyebrows. As he continued through the checkpoint, he kept saying to all of the security people (and to me) "I'm a Congressman, I'm a Congressman from right here."


Mr. Congressman-from-right-here finally went through x-ray along with all his stuff. I was pushing my things down the line, just wanting to get through security to the Starbucks that I knew was on the other side and desperately trying not to lose my cool on Mr. Congressman-from-right-here when one of the checkpoint guards caught my eye. Without skipping a beat the checkpoint guard looked at Mr. Congressman-from-right-here, looked back at me and said, "And those are our tax dollars at work." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! I could not stop laughing. Loudly, without a care that Mr. Congressman-from-right-here was standing on the other side gathering his stuff together. That one comment made my day.

They did pull his bag aside and they were checking through it. The last I saw Mr. Congressman-from-right-here was using his politician charm on the seriously not amused or interested checkpoint guard.


For the record, I think the checkpoint guards should have confiscated that Blue Bell Ice Cream, right then and there. I know it was Blue Bell Ice Cream because Mr. Congressman-from-right-here said it over and over and over again. Just like he told anyone who would listen that it was for his daughter. I didn't care but he kept telling me. No way, no how should that have gotten through. They should have kept it for themselves. But seriously, this Congressman was clearly not above using his status to get through the system. A system set in place to "protect us" (we've been on Orange alert for years now), to protect the city that he was flying into (Hello, 9-11, planes crashing into the Pentagon, one intended for the White House, ringing any bells?) and a system that should be equal for all people, no matter who they are or what they do.

I met a Texas Congressman in the Houston airport...and I wasn't impressed.

California Dreaming

It was too tame of a trip. We didn't have rental car problems (except for the windshield wiper issue and, well, that one is kind of embarrassing for Yo Momma so we won't talk about that), there were minor injuries aka no hospital visits, and we had pretty steady work all week long. And then we got to the airport this morning. We are being held hostage in Houston. Only one person is being released at a time. Don't worry, it's pretty nice here. We have Starbuck$, BBQ Beef, Borders and more! Plus Yo Momma has oranges and apples.

I'm having too much fun for some of the passengers frustrated with the delays. I keep laughing and people keep giving me dirty looks but seriously, people, I've worked hard all week, been up since 5am and am a little loopy. If I don't laugh, I'm either gonna fall asleep or cry. Laughing is the better option, trust me.

A trio of songs for Easter Day--edited for the correct video!

I love music. Music speaks to my soul, reminds me of days gone by and makes me happy, happy, happy. One of my favorite things about my job is being a worship leader. I love to hear the sound of people's voices join together in harmony and soar in praise of God. Friday night the worship team from my church went to Opinionated Friend's church and lead worship for the Good Friday service. At the close of the service we sang this song:


The smile wouldn't leave my face, the tears were threatening and the harmony was awesome! I'm blessed by our worship team.

This morning we will sing many of my favorite songs:
Lord I lift Your Name on High
Resurrection Day
We Will Glorify
That's Why We Praise Him
plus the standard Easter morning song, Christ the Lord is Risen Today.

The music will be uplifting and joyous, just as the day should be.

But perhaps the song that best describes this Easter Day for me is this one:
I couldn't resist the Alvin & the Chipmunks cover version. My apologies to Highwaymen purists :)

After worship I'm heading to Pearlington again...for the 7th time! Yes! 5 others are traveling with me and we'll be meeting up with Yo Momma and Papa Bear who went a few days ahead to travel and explore. Updates will be mostly on the Pearlington Blog so click here to read our adventures on the road!

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!

Rental Car Saga

I love driving rental cars. I like testing out new vehicles, finding ones that are fun to drive, ones that I would love to own and then the ones that I have no desire to drive at all. I was convinced to buy my current car because I rented one almost exactly like it first and took it on a road trip. Fun, fun, fun.

Rental cars in Louisiana, though, have given me nothing but headaches. Seriously. Our first trip I reserved cars through one agency that had the best price. My aunt who was getting there earlier rented from a different company, which turned out to be a good thing. We arrived late in the night and went out to the rental companies shuttle location and waited and waited and waited. No shuttle. Aunt C came and picked us up and shuttled us herself...to a very closed rental company. Seriously closed, closed, closed. So we wound up at the one that Aunt C had rented from and they were friendly, kind and considerate and open.

Trip number two came and we went with the friendly, kind and considerate company. This time they had 2 of the 5 vehicles we needed ready. Great. An hour and a half later we left with all 5 vehicles to pick up the 20 other people waiting at the airport baggage for us. I was not a happy camper but I dealt with it.

Trip number three came. We decided to rent the vehicles at the airport counter in the baggage claim area. All was successful until we went to pick up the 4 vehicles...there weren't any there. We had rented vehicles that weren't there. We finally wound up with all 4 vehicles but not without a little headache.

Trip number 4 we tried same rental agency again. This time we had 5 vehicles again. Shuttle bus picked us up and we rode happily to the rental agency. Again, no cars. I was really not a happy camper and stood my ground very firmly. 5 mini-vans, no 15 passenger vans. It took a while and some convincing of those who were going to be drivers but I stood my ground and we wound up with 5 mini-vans, a couple of which had 3 miles on them. Frustrated, we arrived at our motel, unloaded and then loaded up to head to dinner. At which point the mini-van that I was driving and that had a total of 49 miles on it decided it wasn't going to start. 45 minutes later, after many frustrating phone calls with the company they were sending someone out (with the intention of charging me for the service call if the battery was truly dead...um, no!). I must have needed the 45 minute challenge because for some reason the car started just fine when I tried it one last time. But the nail had been put in the coffin...the company was going to hear from me.

Returning home from trip number 4 I wrote an email to the company complaining about the service, the lack of vehicles, the frustration with the reservation system and wound up with a nominal credit back on my card. Enough to give me a reason to try them again.

Trip number 5 we were a little stuck when it came to car companies because we were getting in so late and many closed. So we went with same rental car agency again. This time there were multiple cars to choose from and we picked out the one we liked the best.

Which brings us to trip number 6. I was fooled into thinking that possibly the rental car agency had changed it's ways, gone down a new path and was actually going to have cars for us when we arrived. I reserved 4 cars (3 in October, 1 December 1st) and was optimistic. HA! All 4 drivers piled into the shuttle bus and made our way over to the rental car agency. As we turned the corner into the lot I looked out over the parking lot and said "Oh, this isn't good". There was nary a car in the parking lot. Nothing being returned and cleaned, nothing in line to be put back in it's proper home. Only a lonely 15 passenger van and a couple of teeny tiny cars. The shuttle bus driver said "I know this looks bad." You think???? The lobby had people spilling out of it waiting in vain for a vehicle. The lady behind the desk said "I can put you on a waiting list. It could be 20 minutes but..." Um-hum. Reservations mean nothing to this company is what I found out. Nothing. "You can try other car rental agencies, but if you leave here you lose your place on the waiting list." We left.

We got back on the shuttle bus and the bus driver let us have an earful of his opinion. He wasn't happy with the company either. Not good when an employee isn't happy folks. We returned to shuttle bus central and immediately split up, chatting up all the drivers and trying to find vans for our group of 20. In the meantime three lovely ladies in our group were inside the airport calling all the rental car agencies looking for help. Finally one driver let out the yell "There's one 12 passenger van at A---." A couple of minutes of deliberation, a check to see if there were two (they said no, just one) and we had a plan. C got on the A--- shuttle bus and headed over to get the van. I sent 2 drivers back to the original rental car agency to stage a sit in. I called the group in baggage claim and had 6 people come out to meet me with all their luggage so that we could join them in the sit in. The rest of the group was to wait at baggage claim until C came back with the 12 passenger van and then they would all come join us. 20 people and their luggage was sure to make an impression on that rental car agency. Especially some of the hot-under-the-collar momma's I had with me. Whew.

Just as the shuttle bus pulled up to the curb my phone rang. It was C, A--- had two 12 passenger vans, did we want both. YES! We jumped shuttle bus lines and raced to retrieve our two white 12 passenger vans. Mine had 3.5 miles on it when I jumped in. I put over 600 miles on that van by the time we were done...and had another adventure as well, but that's for another post. "Vanna White" pictured below
So, the moral of the story is, when reserving cars at the New Orleans International Airport, steer clear of the rental car agency that sounds like a place in Texas...they may be open late but that doesn't mean they have the car you reserved...or any cars for that matter.

Argh!

No, it's not talk like a Pirate Day...that was so last September...that Argh that you hear reverberating in your head is coming from me. One of my favorite things to do is organize trips. I love that stuff. One of my least favorite things to do is play the "is the airfare going to go up or down" game. I've been playing that game for awhile now and I'm getting pretty darn tired.

Our Mississippi Mission Team heads back to Pearlington on December 26th. There are 20 of us flying and we have specific times we need to fly because our trip is bookended by Christmas and then the wedding of a friend that many are invited too. We have to fly out on the 26th and back on the 2nd. The cheapest flight I have found has been $540 on S.West. Comparable flights have been seen on other airlines but S.West is the only one that doesn't charge for luggage. I could have gotten a cheaper flight on another airline but by the time we pay for luggage there and back the price skyrocketed...especially since some of us will be taking more than one piece of luggage. Quite a racket these airlines have going on.

Yo Momma is keeping track of the airfare costs as well and keeps calling me, saying "Check here or check there" which I diligently do because I'm her daughter and I want a good deal. I think, though, that she's checking sites that don't really exist because I can't find one of her good deals. Last Thursday I saw the above mentioned flight and tried to book it. Nope. It wouldn't go through. I was getting mad and finally gave up. The next morning, poof, the cheap flight had disappeared...cost had grown $60 overnight. ARGH!

Today the $540 has returned, only with a different flight that gives us 50 minutes to sprint through a big airport to our next flight. Do I take it or do I wait until Wednesday morning when the prices supposedly go down again? That's a tough question. Maybe I'll just go to lunch and figure it all out later.

Updated to add:
Booked!!! We've got tickets! One headache done!

Camping

I'm not a natural camping type person. I don't like living in dirt and tents but I will do it ever so often just for "fun"...even though I don't find it as much fun as say a hotel. In the name of being a good Youth Director and saving money, though, I will deal with camping a couple of times a year.



This last week was one of those weeks. A small but happy bunch loaded into the car on Sunday afternoon and headed out on a Road Trip. Much laughter, singing, dancing and talking ensued. Our first stop was Lake Isabella for a two night stay followed by a two night stay in San Simeon. It was a good trip and I'm so lucky to have gone camping with this great group. Highlights from the Road Trip:

• Playing at a ghost town...though we didn't find any ghosts...Sammy was a little scared.
• Walking the trail of 100 giants and getting to play in the trees.

• Battling the wind at Lake Isabella...the tent almost collapsed on itself a number of times, we lost the directions to the camp stove and a couple of tent poles cracked under the pressure.
• Having a close encounter with a snake in the dark.
• Losing things out of the bags on the top of the car on the way from Lake Isabella to San Simeon. Luckily they didn't hit the car behind us!
• Stopping at the shop that claims to be the last stop of James Dean before he died.
• Touring Hearst Castle, especially the pools. Oh those glorious pools.
• Playing on the beach in Pismo.
• Singing around the camp, um, smolder. Yeah, had a little trouble with that.
• Lunch in Monterey at Bubba Gumps and playing at Denis the Menace park.

But perhaps the most exciting moment on the whole trip was when we spotted the zebras. Yep, zebras on the California Coast. Mr. Hearst used to have a private zoo on his property complete with bears and zebras. The bears are gone but zebras remain. We spotted them one day but they were too far away. Luck was with us though, when we saw them by the side of the road on our way out of town. We stopped to take pictures and by the time we left 30 cars were parked alongside the road as well. So, if you are ever traveling up Highway 1 in California between Hearst Castle and San Simeon State Park look towards the hills, you just might spot a zebra.

Packing and procrastinating

It's 1pm on Saturday. In 24 hours I will be on my way to the airport heading for a week in Pearlington. My laundry is in process (as I type this my procrastination enabler just brought said laundry in), packing is in process, there are still details to be put together for tomorrows Easter Service, I've got a bunch of things that need to be done at church before I leave and at 4:30pm I need to be at a local radio station for an interview. I should not be spending time reading books, perusing my favorite blogs or checking my email constantly! There is much to be done, but in typical fashion I am procrastinating.

So, I'm going to pack up this laptop in my newly acquired messenger bag, finish packing for the trip, go take a shower and get on with things. But before that happens, I ask of you, my blog reading friends, please pray for our group (pictures below) over the next week as we work. I will do my best to find internet access and keep you all informed of what we are up to!

Gail and Brittany

Debbie and Jonathan

Douglas

Zach

I should be wearing socks

I feel asleep last night at 9pm. I started the day at 4am Florida time and ended it at 9pm California time. In between there I was on Houston time for a few hours. And it was also the end of daylight savings time, which meant I got an extra hour of sleep, but really, it doesn't help much when you travel from the east to west coasts.

I had some time to sit in the Houston airport and think about random things. I've done a lot of traveling this year...a lot of traveling for me anyway. And as I've traveled I've noticed a few things.

• Why is it that when you pay $100+ a night for a hotel room, in a fancy hotel that you also must pay $10-20 a day for wireless Internet? Whereas when you stay in a Best Western that can also get $100+ a night and isn't quite as fancy the wireless Internet is free. When I'm paying $50 or less at the Motel 6 in Slidell, I don't mind paying $3.00 for my wireless Internet card, but if I am paying over $100.00 a night, that Internet should be free!
• Speaking of wireless, if airports really want to make people comfortable in their travels and accommodate them and encourage them to fly, maybe they should get on the free wireless bandwagon. I won't pay $7.95 to access the Internet in an airport that I'm only going to be in for a couple of hours. I really appreciated the free wireless and awesome rocking chairs in Charlotte, North Carolina and if I was awake enough to even turn on the computer in Tampa, I would have enjoyed the free wireless there. Houston and Dallas...the places that I have the most delays while traveling...yeah you have to pay there. Maybe it's a conspiracy. My hometown airport, SJC, needs to get on the free wireless bandwagon as well. Seriously.
• K and I are curious. Why is it that people line up really early to board airplanes when they already have assigned seats? What's the rush? There was one lady that mystified us. She was not going to move as we came up to pre-board with the Little Boy. We could have caused a back-up on the plane as we tried to get the stroller put away, find our seats, put luggage in the overhead bins, etc. I don't get it.
• Speaking of lining up, when heading to San Diego a couple of weeks ago on S.West my traveling partners and I were amazed at the rude people who were hurrying to get into boarding line A. They seriously camped out in front of us for over a half-hour. And it wasn't just one line, it was two lines swerving their way through the chairs. One guy came and stood with his rear end literally a foot from the face of my friend Todd. It was greater fodder for jokes later on but really, really rude. Todd couldn't handle it and moved and rear-end man immediately sat in his seat. Amazing.

I won't be traveling again for another 50 days. It's nice to go places but I always appreciate home. I came home this time with a light flip-flop tan line on my feet, which is totally unusual for me in November. I couldn't resist wearing my flip-flops today but home isn't as warm as Tampa and the cold that I came home probably isn't being helped by my lack of socks. But it sure is fun to have a little tan in November.

Halloween, Computers and Tampa

This morning in staff meeting we talked about Halloween because, well, it's Halloween. In the last few years I've come to realize that I don't really like Halloween. I don't mind the little kids getting dressed up and having fun, but the whole dark, scary part of Halloween just isn't my thing. I'm so tired of horror movies on TV. My imagination runs wild. Just ask Lil Bro, he's seen me in Haunted Houses. I'm chicken and I admit it. So I choose to not really participate in Halloween and that's okay.

Today the High School youth and I put together a mini-carnival for the kids at Snack Time complete with a ring-toss, ball toss, bobbing for apples, relays, a pinata and pumpkin bowling (which was my favorite). The kids all had a great time, even the big kids.

Tomorrow I head out to Tampa for the weekend. I'm going as the Little Boy's nanny while K is in a conference. I haven't been to Florida before, so it will be fun to add that to the places I've been. Hmmm...I should find a US map to post here with all the states I've visited. That could be fun. Anyway, I was planning on taking my laptop on the trip but randomly last night the power cord gave out. That would be power cord number two. It's working okay for right now but I'm being very careful not to move the cord at all. Sometimes technology is a pain! Yo Momma and The Dad (still haven't found a great name for him, though I've got a couple of ideas) are being nice though and letting me take their computer on the road...yea!

I've got to get some sleep. The plane leaves way early in the morning. I can't believe that it's going to be November in just a few hours. What happened to this year???