The day before I leave

This time tomorrow morning, I will be getting ready and making sure I have everything to head to the station, to get in one of the vans and head to the IAH (Bush Intercontinental Airport).  I only have a few things left to pack...pants, Alieve, my iPhone charger, and if I can find a certain Flip camera and firewire cable.  After that I'll just run through my checklist again to see if there's anything I can leave behind, because my suitcase is busting at the scenes, like it almost WANTS me to pay the luggage fee!  Good thing I know I'll get reimbursed for that though.  Carry-on luggage will consist of my laptop bag, and the digital video cams I'll be using on the trip.  I think I'm good to go though, so I'm not worried.  I usually never worry about this stuff anyway...just ask Belinda, as I know this part of me drives her nuts at how calm I am.  I always feel that I do a good job of planning, but if I forget something, I either live without it or run up the street to a local store and get what I need. Another reason that she is the ying-to-my-yang.  When she packs, we forget something 0.00001% of the time.  When I pack, I usually forget something about 5% of the time.  Better odds to go with her plan!  HA!

I was thinking yesterday about the trip, and a few things came to mind.  From what I've heard, this is the cheapest missions trip K S B J has ever done.  I didn't understand what that meant until I found that since employees were staying in TENTS, that there was a huge cost not being incurred for them...LODGING!  I then did research and found that most time when they would go on these sponsored missions trips, they would stay at a local hotel with the company they partnered with.  The last trip they went on, they were upgraded to a 4 star hotel because of various conditions.  At first when I signed up to go on this trip and found out we were staying in tents and on air mattresses I was worried, because with my bad back, and my usual nights of tossing and turning on a bed, how would I handle sleeping on an air mattress that will be flat by the time I wake up...let alone the noises and other things that I'll have to fight with to keep me from getting any sleep?  I usually only get around 4 hrs of sleep a night before I start the tossing and turning from back pain.  So you can see my frustration.  Then, like I said, yesterday I was thinking about the trip and felt God gave me some insight.  This is a REAL missions trip.  I'm not going on a vacation.  I'm working 14-15 hr days, documenting people going through hardships...REAL hardships...and when I go back to where I sleep, I won't be sleeping in any cushiony place with a pool....I'll basically be living closer to what these people are going through.  With that, my view totally changed to one where I am even more excited about this trip, and am looking forward to relating more with these people, and seeing what God will do through us.

If you want to see the videos I'll be uploading of the missions trip, be sure to check the station's YouTube channel located at: http://www.youtube.com/893KSBJ.  I'll also upload videos that I do of my own views and experiences here on my blog as long as I have the connection to the interwebz!

Okay, well, it's time to continue studying for my Net+ exam, while I enjoy a Venti Bold Blend...which today is their "Gazebo" blend.  Yummmmmmy!