Do you hear that sound? That's me not holla'ing because I hate surprises with a passion.
But, this isn't about me. It's about you! And I promised I'd share a special surprise with you.
Why the special journey to lose 17 pounds in 17 weeks (now down to 14 pounds in 16 weeks. Yay, me!)?
No, I'm not renewing my vows. That would be fun though.
Ok, I won't drag it out anymore. I had to delay by one day already because I was knocked over by a nasty bug--the stomach kind. More about that tomorrow.
So, the big news is.......
We are traveling to the U.S for a 2 week trip in late January / early February!
For the first time in nearly nine years our family will be traveling together to Texas and Alabama. Troy is thirteen and the last time he was in the States he was 4 years old. What a crazy ride this will be for him!
We will be attending a 3 day missions conference in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The rest of the time we will be in Houston, Texas visiting family (my babies!) and friends.
Where do you all come in to this? I really hope I'll be able to see many of you during our short and hopefully sweet time in the States. To that end I'm trying to plan a big ol' party (we'll be in Texas so I had to use the vernacular) so we can see as many people as possible.
Any ideas? Should it be a dinner where everyone can eat while we stand up and talk and answer questions? Should it be more of a free for all cocktail (not really) and finger food time so people can come in and out and look at displays and get to chat with us one on one? Should it be a combination of the two or something completely different.
Tom is a bit nervous about organizing this type of gathering. And with good reason, poor guy.
When Tom was a missionary in Bangladesh, he and his colleagues organized a special Christmas pageant. The hope was that they could sell tickets which would go a long way toward raising their annual budget and would also get the Gospel message out. They booked a conference room at a fancy hotel, sewed costumes for the performers, organized food, practiced again and again, sent out invitations and finally the big day arrived. The drama group and singers gathered nervously in the hall waiting for the invited guests to arrive.
And they waited and waited and waited.
No one showed up! Finally someone in the group invited three of the hotel guests who were waiting in the lobby to come sit in. Now there were three attendees (non-paying though they were) so the show had to go on. The entire pageant and concert was put on for three people!
Handsome Tom and his guitar. He was 20 years old.
Fast forward to 15 years in the future. We had come to the end of our planning and preparation for our move to Africa. We decided to have a send off meeting where we could do a formal presentation. We booked a room at the local library, Tom spent hours putting together a Power Point slideshow that would be shown on the large wall screen. We printed up programs, sent out 200 invitations and covered a long table with delicious cakes, pies and finger foods. We practiced the songs we performed as a family and were ready to go.
The gang's all here. This was May, 2001
The evening came and to Tom's horror (he had been dreading a repeat of his past) ,only 6 or 8 people came. We went ahead with the whole program and everyone had a good time (they all got to go home with armloads of food) but it wasn't the big shindig we had envisioned.
Why that trip down memory lane? Because we do not want history to repeat itself again! What can we do to make this upcoming event a success? What tips would you have for us?
I would so love to see each and every one of you this coming February. I'll post early and often about any dates, times, etc as I know them, so anyone reading this can come out for the fun.
P.S I had some adorable photos to add to this post but Blogger and/or the internet are not cooperating!!! I'm really sorry. If I can get them added later I will and will post an update asap. Thank you for your patience with my African life. Update: Photos done. Blogger conquered!
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