We knew it was a long shot so it's not a huge surprise. It's not a permanent fail, mind you. Just a hasn't-happened-yet-but-could-still-happen-at-almost-any-moment type fail.
So what plan are we going with?
Plan G!! (If you missed the long and tedious list of possible plans previously, bore yourself around the bend and back by clicking here to see it.) We're hoping it only takes a week or two of waiting until we get our visas and can fly on to Africa. In the meantime, we're hoping to be wisdom-leaches from co-workers we love and respect who have lived in Jordan (Yes, Plan G= Jordan) for many years.
This won't be our first time to Jordan. Mike and I have been there twice before. The first time was just a couple weeks after we were married. After our wedding, we had a perfect honeymoon in Mexico. Then we returned home for two days to chop off my hair (later I learned that bucket baths are possible for those with short and long hair) and pack for a long trip of visiting teams and locations in a few different countries.
Less than two weeks after we were married we were in Africa sleeping head to foot in a mini-bed in a mini-mud-hut that previously housed goats and chickens. Those goats liked to express their frustration at getting kicked out of their home with much gusto in the early-morning hours by ramming their heads into the door. And the chickens expressed their frustration by sneaking back in to the hut and leaving 'presents' under our mini-bed. Oh my. I am still in disbelief when I think about the week we ran the seminar in that village. It was my very first 'National Geographic' moment.
After that interesting experience, we arrived in Jordan on a very delayed flight. That meant our host wasn't there to meet us. So instead of getting a taxi to a hotel in the city, these two newlyweds put a sheet on the floor of the airport and slept alongside the cleaners and the Indian Sadhjus. Welcome to the Middle East! Oh yes, those experiences are both DEFINITELY worth a post of their own. Another day friends, another day.
Aaaaaanyway... here I am in Amman after I had washed the airport floor grime off my my freshly married self.
It was all SO new.
Look at us. So young! Two adventure loving, world-traveling newlyweds seeing the world together for the first time. Please pardon the lovey-dovey cheese. I love it! I love him! And I never would have guessed how much more of the world we would be seeing together in the future.
This is the Dead Sea. You know how they say that the Dead Sea is so salty that you can float in it without trying?
I confirmed it myself. Ha!
And of course we smeared the world-famous mud all over ourselves. You can pay a ton of money for this mud. But we just scooped it up from the bottom of the Sea, smeared ourselves and then glopped extra mud into plastic bags to bring home for our family and friends. We're frugal like that. "Merry Christmas... here's some mud!" Yeah. Everyone loved it, I'm sure.
;)
And we've had flawless skin ever since.
Ha!
As if.
Have you seen my face lately?
Aaaaanyway...
The year after the mud-smearing we returned to Jordan for a few months to teach English.
Mike bravely taught level 2. His challenge was learning how to speak slowly enough to get his students to understand the basic instructions in class.
I taught level 7. My challenge was leading the class in conversation while simultaneously praying that no one would use their near fluent English to ask me a grammar question that I had no clue how to answer.
We loved it!
Okay okay. Enough reminiscing. My goal was to tell you where we're headed and I've done way more than that.
We fly this weekend. It's gonna come real soon. And so the extreme-emotional roller coaster has taken me on as a passenger yet again. I regularly switch between packing and crying and doing last minute shopping and second-guessing and crying and organizing and generally feeling conflicted between the extreme sadness of leaving our families and taking the grand-babies with us and the excitement of being one step closer to getting back to our life and home in Africa.
This is just how it goes...
Jordan here we come for round three!
So, it appears that we are both putting a brave face on for each other (probably a good thing!) We live across the driveway from each other, and see each other off and on during the day ~ and yet you save your tears for when you are in the loft; and so far I have kept mine in the big house!! It will indeed be difficult for you to leave, but we have been blessed to have this time together. And we pray that soon, very soon, you will be home where your family can get back to "normal" (whatever that really is). Maybe H & I can do crafts together over skype! ;)
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