On this Fourth of July, we, meaning myself, Lauren, and our four youngest children, are on our way to South Africa.
We left Atlanta at 8 p.m. Friday night. We’ve flown 11 hours, so far, and still have five hours to go. It has been long, but our kids have done surprisingly well. Lauren packed a lot of things for them to do, and the plane has movies and games they can enjoy from their seats.
It’s a full flight and it has been interesting talking to the other passengers. There are a few people just going on vacation, as we are, but many are going on some type of mission or outreach, and many of them are doing that as a family. It’s inspiring to see the young people who will be spending part of their summer vacations sharing the gospel.
We had to do a lot to get ready for the trip, including a series of shots which weren’t that pleasant for the kids. However, the biggest challenge was packing. South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere, so it’s wintertime there. That means sweatshirts, long pants and jackets for a family of seven. We had to go up in the attic and pull out our Indiana clothing and, amazingly, we were able to get it all into eight suitcases. And, from our previous trip to Africa with Derrick Brooks’ youth group, we learned that American snack food is hard to find – so that meant an additional suitcase of water and snacks.
Our oldest daughter, Tiara, is in graduate school in Johannesburg so we let her do all the planning. She has some fun things in store, like a bicycle excursion and a mini safari, but we also hope to see what normal life in South Africa is like. We should have a fun week – once we get through customs in about six hours.
