Mind over Matter

It's amazing how your mind can be transported to a place that almost makes you forget what's really going on around you. Last night we went out for pizza at Satchels, an ultra cool, Gainesville-y hangout with a great atmosphere to celebrate our one month one year anniversary (yes, we're still celebrating the months). Sitting on the "back porch" eating pizza and enjoying the breezy evening almost made me feel like we were at home here. I'm comfortable in Gainesville, feel pretty well connected with our church, and have so many memories that span the majority of my years. The night before that, however, we shared our love, hopes, and dreams for ministering in Bolivia with the college group at the Vineyard. Scotty put together a power point of only our best photos (so as not to put any one to sleep) accompanied by distinctive Andean music. In that couple of hours we were transported back to Bolivia, my heart yearning to be there and walk among those places I have once visited. I woke up the next morning with the vague sense that I was actually there. This morning I spent some time browsing through the blogs of my friends in Charlotte and almost felt like I was back with them, reminiscing about that wonderfully enjoyable year. How quickly we bounce back and forth between worlds...although I think more and more of our mental energy is spent in Bolivia, soon followed by our physical presence. These last few days are looked on with high expectations, knowing that these our our final good-byes. I'm starting to say things like, "This is the last time for years we'll be in Target!" or "This is the last good, American pizza we may eat for a long time." But, more often we say, "This time next week we'll be walking the streets of La Paz!"

T minus one week and counting...

From the very beginning, Scotty and I realized that it would be much cheaper to each purchase an extra piece of luggage to check onto the plane beyond the allotted 2 bags rather than try to ship any of our goods to Bolivia in boxes. Scotty found a great rolling duffel bag last week and we were excitedly stuffing all our belongings into our bags this morning, feeling confident that we would have just enough room to take what we wanted, after making some fairly difficult descions to leave a few things behind. I called American Airlines today to make sure there would be no problem with us taking one extra bag each and had the following conversation with a nice latin lady named Elizabeth:

Me: "My husband and I are flying to Bolivia next week and wanted to let you know we were bringing 2 extra bags."

Elizabeth: "Ok, they will take care of that for you at the check-in counter at the airport. Let me just check and make sure there are no special regulations for Bolivia. (pause while searching) Well, it looks like Bolivia has an embargo that prohibits more than 2 bags per person, no matter where you are flying from."

Me: (a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach) Really? Even if we've paid the fees for extra baggage?

Elizabeth: "Yes. Your best bet would be to try to pack everything into one bag and up your weight limit to 100lbs."

Me: "Ok. Thanks for the help." (In my head I was thinking, "how in the world am I going to fit 3 suitcases into one???)

After telling Scotty and both of us reeling from the shock, we unpacked all our bags and started over. Our new strategy includes 101 gallon-size ziplocks, with Scotty trying to break the world record for largest sweater zipped up into a plastic bag. I think he's the winner. So several hours later and most of my summer wardrobe as well as a few very desirable items abandoned temporarily, we are thinking it might be possible. It's exciting to see it all come together and almost impossible to fathom that we will be on a plane at this time in a week. We give much praise to God for bringing in the rest of our monthly support and offers still coming in above and beyond- he is truly gracious.

Sabbath

Yesterday, Scotty had been given the whole sermon time at the Vineyard to share about our ministry in La Paz. He worked for days in advance to prepare a well-structured and applicable presentation with power-point slides. Much to my delight, Scotty is comfortable speaking in front of large crowds, so I joined him briefly at the beginning to intro our time, and then quickly escaped to the balcony to run the power point...possibly one of my spiritual gifts. It went smoothly and we got very encouraging feed-back about the talk and in reference to Cafe Yungas coffee that we will be selling next week. Each Sunday makes us feel even more a part of this church and we are so grateful for their support of us. We spent a fun evening with the associate pastor and his wife on Friday, grilling buffalo burgers (a new one for me) and talking about the possibility of a college team coming in the spring. That is an exciting thought for us!














After church we went to Jacksonville with my parents to visit my aunt, uncle, grandfather, and cousins. I've grown up spending every major holiday with this group and so my aunt got the fun idea about midnight on Saturday to make a Christmas dinner for us since we would not be home for the holidays this year. We came in to see her feverishly running around the kitchen taking care of last minute preparations for the big festivities. We had everything that is on our typical Kincaid/Perlowich menu for Christmas- ham, turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, lima beans, green beans, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole (with the cooked marshmallows on top), rolls, and fruit salad (with shredded coconut- my Nana's specialty). And I musn't leave out the pumpkin pie, chocolate silk pie, and key lime tarts. There was even a little Christmas tree set up in the Florida room, complete with our present underneath! All of this my aunt pulled off in one afternoon- we were thrilled and honored. It was a relaxing day with my family and one that will give us warm memories during those times we are missing them.

We continue to be thankful for our time in Gainesville before we leave for many different reasons. A huge one is to be near my family and have the opportunity to spend much time with them and enjoy their company. Last Saturday they took us out to a surprise dinner as a late celebration of our first anniversary. High Springs is a little town nearby that boasts freezing cold springs (go figure) and dusty antique shops. In the last couple of months, in an attempt to add more culture to this sleepy town, a great little jazz restaurant opened called Trombone Charlies. My parents drove us out the back way, through beautiful country roads, in order to confuse us. It worked! I had never seen this place before and was pleasantly surprised by the casual, yet elegant atmosphere and big band style group that entertained us during an incredibly yummy meal (with killer chocolate silk pie for dessert!). Two thumbs up to Charlie and my parents who picked a great double date spot.
Another fun opportunity we had this week was to spend a few nights at the beach. St. Augustine is the closest beach to Gainesville and carries so much history and character. This was the first time we have been on a real vacation since our honeymoon, one that did not include visiting supporters and staying in peoples' homes (although we love that too!). Although we "missed out" on Potter's Wax Museum, the Alligator Farm, and the Pirate Ghost Tour, other interesting discoveries we made were a little, dead hammerhead shark (12" ones are much cuter than the big guys), a huge, beached sea turtle (I'm afraid it was dead too), and fluffy cinnamon and nut biscuits on the continental breakfast bar. The trip was a great way to relax and say "good-bye" to the beach.

A funny thing about preparing to move to Bolivia is the necessity to stock up on items that can't be found there. Since Scotty just started wearing contacts (doesn't he have gorgeous blue eyes?) and I use them as well, we recently ordered enough to last us our first 3 years. After receiving our shipment in the mail today, my mom commented that I reminded her of Mary Poppins in the scene where she repeatedly reaches into her magic bag and pulls out enough stuff to furnish her bedroom. Our contacts kept coming and coming and coming...

The next couple of weeks remind me of the last bit of time we had in Charlotte when we had scheduled a dinner with a different family every night. We are attempting to do something similar in order to see everyone we love here and find much satisfaction as a couple having meaningful interactions, dinners, prayers, and other "normal" life experiences with people. It's good to see how God has uniquely created us and brought us together to so enjoy a ministry of hospitality- something that we will very much love doing together in La Paz. Check your calenders to see how you can take advantage of our open house policy and come visit us!

Where am I again?

It's amazing how much stuff you can still have even after you thought you had whittled down to just what you need to move to a new country for a few years. Scotty's parents assisted us with emptying out our Poindexter home and stuffing full our little red Lexus, building a comfortable cocoon of all our worldy possessions around us. When our possessions starting creeping into my leg space on the floor and threatened to spill out of the side doors when I opened them, I began wondering if we weren't holding on to more than I thought necessary. The good thing is that we'll have a month to continue making decisions on what goes and the rest will stay here in my parent's house. We enjoyed our final evening dining with Scotty's parents and our great friends, Andrew and Laura. We stretched the time, not wanting to say good-bye, by sitting in our empty living room in four chairs while laughing and appreciating the relationship God has gifted to us. I said a tearful goodbye to my inlaws the next morning, sad to know it will be a while before we meet again, and also overwhelmed at the love I have for them and gratitude that we have been formed into a family.


We arrived to our little poolhouse "cottage" on Wednesday evening, realizing that the bed Scotty used there last summer had mysteriously shrunk during the year. The Gibbys, owners of our cozy temporary abode, had spent much time painting and decorating, making the place even cheerier and cuter than previously. We are so happy to have a little room to ourselves for this time we are in town. Scotty and I had a day to organize a bit, and then I headed out of town the next morning to spend a much anticipated long weekend with my best friends in the world. I found myself waking up somewhere in the middle of this thinking, where am I again? It seems we can't stay still for very long. I loved connecting with these girls again, friends who have stuck by me since the awkward, painfully shy middle school years. They've got a lot of dirt on me...or just bad pictures. I was able to share much about our my first year of marriage, reminded again of how much we loved living in Charlotte and loved the people we got to know so well there. I also remembered how good it is to be in deep relationships with people. Now I'm back in Gainesville to stay for a few weeks and we are prayerfully approaching this time with expectant hearts of what God will do here and how He will continue to prepare us for Bolivia.