Hello friends.  I am taking a month away from home and my first stop is Bangladesh, with Women of Vision.  This will be my second trip there and I am so excited to see friends and sponsored children.

Trip day – October 31, Halloween, and I had breakfast with Luke Skywalker and Hermione Granger!

The rest of the morning meant packing the last bits and tidying up the house. It has to be show worthy while I’m gone. Here’s hoping.  (I told Peter and Carin that it is their job to get the place sold while I’m gone!)

Today’s flights start with an anti-climatic short hop to San Francisco. Then the long flight to Istanbul and finally to Dhaka! I’m all set to turn into a vegetable – read, write, sleep, and watch any old stupid movie that will help pass the time. I have this long flight zone thing down pretty well by now!

In San Fran now, enjoying a pizza and a glass of wine before I board the flight to Istanbul.  Had to switch terminals and check in again – I have some good seats on these next two flights.  In my dotage, I decided to spend a little more and have some legroom and a little more space – definitely not first class or even business class, but at least I won’t have my knees under my chin for umpteen hours!  Great blessing!
And yeah for TSA Pre – breezed through security twice!

I’m writing in real time today so this will feel a little stream-of -consciousnessish!  (I, like Dr Seuss, like to make up words.  That is where the resemblance ends!)  On the plane to Istanbul now – seated next to two Turkish men who obviously know each other very well.  They are chatting away and sharing pictures on their phones.  Fun.  I’m getting that not-in-Kansas-anymore feeling and I love it!
Ok – second leg done.  About twelve and a half hours, but I slept a good bit of it!  Such a gift.  Having room to stretch out my legs makes such a difference.  Thank you Lord!

The Istanbul airport is lovely and quite new,  However, I didn’t have time to explore as my layover was only an hour, but I’ll be back two more times so I’ll see it more then.
Now onto Dhaka.  This flight is now other-culture.  Almost all of the passengers look to be Indian or Bangladeshi.  I love seeing the women in their bright flowing colors and draped scarves.  There is little English to be heard except by the flight crew.  And I am one of only a handful of white people.  Isn’t that great?

Why do I thrive in these other culture places?  And places where life is often hard and we go off the well trod path.  These places are not tourist destinations.  But I feel such a sense of honor to get to share with these people – to find our common humanity and know we share so much.  We all love our children and want a full life for them.  We are willing to make sacrifices to see that that happens.   We want life to be fair and rewarding.  And many of us want to serve and worship God, even if his name is Allah over here.
In a favorite cartoon, the grandma of a family is working overseas.  She tells her family that she misses them,  but then says, “But I like who I am here.”  Boy, do I resonate with that.  Maybe because I don’t have all the responsibilities of “normal” life, I can be patient and kind and not feel anxious so much.  I’m not sure what it is, but I, too, like who I am here.

Enough philosophizing!  I’m here now – all safe and sound and happy.  God’s grace abounds