Thursday, December 25, 2008

Today we are off!

Hello Everyone!

Finally, the day has arrived and we will be boarding a plane- well, 3 planes- and heading back to beautiful Rwanda!  Getting safely to this day has been no small feat.  Barton and I have been up to the wee's hours of every morning for the last few weeks trying to finalize all the end-of-year paperwork associated with a charity, along with working our full time "day jobs", Christmas shopping and preparing for our trip.

While most lucky people were winding down and enjoying Christmas shopping, we were making crazed trips to buy items such as: malaria medicine, Deet, passports, hiking boots, etc...etc...etc... And to make life that much spicier, the lovely and always easy to deal with- Kenya Airways- decided to cancel our original flight.  Sweet Barton spent an entire billable work day on the phone, to organize a new route.  The Bad news about the new route is we are now a leaving a day early, today or Christmas Day, and still arriving in Rwanda on the same day.  The good news is we get a long layover in Amsterdam....enough said:-)

A HUGE thanks to all my wonderful girlfriends who pulled through, once again, and donated TONS of toys.  Barton and I are transporting 2 enormous army-surplus duffel bags full of toys, books, arts supplies, 1 latop (for their new computer literacy program we will be implementing), educational CD Roms, workbooks and more!  I literally can't think of anything I am more excited about than to see the kids receiving all the new loot!

We have been invited to a party with the Orphan Center, complete with a skit that the orphans have made costumes for, how excited am i?

For those that don't know, Barton has never left the country.  As a girlfriend, I really should have come with that warning label: "WARNING international travel is mandatory, proceed with caution...".  But, he has embraced this entire experience with an enthusiasm I never dreamed possible, and the patience of an angel!  His Georgia Tech "nerdiness" will be making it possible for us to send home pictures and videos regularly, so keep checking for them!

Check in daily on our posts!  Merry Christmas and love to all-

Brin and Barton

2 comments:

The Slyes - Aubrey, David, and Harrison said...

We wish you the best of luck with your travels. You guys are doing an amazing thing! Merry Christmas!

Love, David and Aubrey

Unknown said...

the georgia tech "nerdiness" -- it's irresistible, isn't it?! :) merry christmas and hope you guys have an uneventful time getting over to rwanda. xo