run that by me again?

Tomorrow morning we'll be off to the early service at Central, then to the airport!!!! It reminds me of 5 years and 5 months ago today when I went straight from church to the airport, moving to Bolivia.

By the time I get back I will have been gone 10 weeks. Unbelievable, when I've always found it hard to be gone more than a day or two.

That is, if they let me back in. (The country, not the Baby Home!)

I will travel on an expired 2 year Bolivia visa, an unsigned and undated indefinite visa, and have an official, thoroughly stamped and signed piece of paper from Bolivia immigration granting me 60 days out of the country (which expired last week). So how will I get back in the country without losing 1000s of Bolivianos worth of paperwork? Easy. I have a verbal approval from someone in immigration to a lawyer who told my lawyer who told me via skype.

The same approval they refused to give on October 8. Perfect. This should be an interesting trip.

(Currently I also travel with two passports - the voided one with the last vigilent visa, and my new valid one with the visa-in-progress.)

Prayer requests: the obvious, that all is good with immigration, but also for grace with American Airlines and Aerosur during the 26 hour trip! I will attempt the unattempted (at least for me), to check 2 full bags, carry on 2 bags, and beg on Wilson's wheelchair. While Christmas is the season of giving and holiday cheer, something tells me that the mood in the airport on the Sunday before Christmas will be anything but. Happily, there's an acceptable back up plan, which entails the 2nd suitcase getting brought back to my family's, stuffed into a 25 kg flat rate FedEx box, and being sent directly to Cochabamba at a deep discount, arriving about a week behind me.

Lastly, please pray that I arrive to Cochabamba on time!! And no this is not only for my sanity because I am liable of exploding if I do not have at least one baby in my arms very shortly after 2:30pm tomorrow, but because at FOUR PM we will hand out Christmas gifts to all the staff, who will converge at the Baby Home before several take vacation time. I don't want to miss it and have gifts for them myself (thanks to Emma's friends - blog post forthcoming).

Thank you and if you live way south of this border, hasta PRONTO!!!