I was so tired by the time I got home on Tuesday night, that I didn't post this until 2 days later. Hope I can remember everything that I wanted to share.
Woke up early to get ready to depart the mission house. Finished off my last bit of oatmeal for breakfast. It felt very strange to put on jeans, shoes and socks. We loaded up the van with all our luggage and some things to drop off at German's house and headed east to León for the last time. After saying goodbye to German's family for the last time (and using their bathroom before leaving town) we headed to Managua.
We got to the airport and it was bustling. We got into the line to check in and it moved at it's usual slow pace. After getting our boarding passes, we went to through another checkpoint to show our little forms, then we went through security. My carryon bag got to be sniffed by a drug dog. He wasn't impressed, so I guess vitamins don't count. Then we went upstairs to our gate to wait for our flight.
I stopped in the restroom and should have known that I was in trouble when I saw the lady mopping the floor. Of course, the water was greasy and I felt my left foot slipping straight out in front of me, which of course, meant that my right foot curled behind me. I knew I was going down and that I couldn't stop, so I just relaxed and went down easily. The mopping lady started making little shouts because she thought I was going to be hurt. Mary heard the commotion and came running out of the bathroom stall. I told everyone I was fine and got up from the floor in the most graceful way that I could (which is not very graceful). That was our excitement for the day. :)
We sat around until our flight was called. I ventured into the bathroom by myself one last time and met a North American lady heading to San Francisco. We had a nice little chat. Before we could get on the plane, we had to have our carry-ons inspected. Then we made it to the plane and our seats.
I got to set beside a North American man heading to Los Angeles. He served in Nicaragua in the Peace Corps for 2 years after he retired. After the Peace Corps, he decided to move to Nicaragua and has lived there for 7 years. I asked if the residency process is difficult and he very earnestly said yes. He watched a movie during the flight, so I didn't really get to talk to him much, but I did give him my card and asked that he email me so that I could get his email address and ask him questions about living in Nic. I don't know if he will email me or not. But it was nice to visit with him a little. Mary teased me that I was trying to pick him up. ha
We made it to Houston and ended up in a huge crowd of people going through customs. It took us about and hour. Then we made it baggage claim and got our bags and dropped them off again. Then we went upstairs through security again. Mary was worried about getting to her plane on time, so she took off and I never saw her again... I got through security and went to the food court to grab a couple of sandwiches, thinking that I could drop one off to Mary at her gate. (Her plane was leaving about 40 minutes before mine) I stopped at Schlotzkis and it took forever to get the food. By the time I was free, it was too late to catch Mary at her gate. I walked down the hallway to my gate to make sure it was really the correct one, then sat in the hallway and ate my sandwich. Then I walked back to the food court area to find a bathroom. While in my stall, I heard little Hope (from the mission team) say, Look Mom! It's Ms Vickie next to us. I guess she recognized my shoes. We figured out that our gates were near each other. The team had originally planned on a sit-down meal, so I didn't even look for them after going through security. It turns out that they went to the food court and I didn't see them. Chet called my cell phone to tell me to meet them in the food court for a sandwich, but I didn't get his call or Mary's 3 missed calls until I got settled in at my gate. We finally met up at our nearby gates and got to say goodbye.
My flight to NWA was uneventful, but a little turbulent. The plane was almost empty, so we all got either single seats or got to spread out in the double seats. The flight attendant guy was funny. The flight was only a little over an hour long, so I was back in the cold weather before I knew it.
Kaylie Reither picked me up at the airport and had a warm blanket in the car for me. It was so nice to see her sweet face. I got home and said hi to Deanna and Jet and rolled my bags to my room. I was really tired and found some warm jammies and jumped in bed. It was strange to go to bed in a cold place all burrowed under blankets after I had been sleeping in shorts and tank tops without blankets and with fans running. I slept really well, though.
It was nice to see Deanna and Jet, but it felt weird to not go back to the mission house to go to bed. I'm ready to be back in Nic, but I'm also ready to be here and doing what God has planned for me. He is in control of my days and I want to live each day to the fullest and do all I can to glorify Him.
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