Driving in Arlington

A couple posts ago there was a photo of Rachel by the Honda Pilot that she needs to learn to drive for the family she is now nanny for. I agreed to drive over there each day this week after I get off work and go practice with her. I'm happy to report that she has had two lessons and hasn't hit anything yet, and has only been beeped at twice. The goal is to help her become comfortable with this large car, and to memorize her way to the grocery store and back since she isn't so good with maps (but she does fine with the landmark-style of navigation).

Continue to pray for her strength and adjustment as she and the family get used to each other. There is no way she could really do everything the mother herself used to do, so they will all need to find a way to get the most important stuff done and leave the other stuff undone or ask someone else to help or something. In general, she seemed happier today than yesterday because she had gotten more sleep.

Last night she went to bed at 7pm she was so exhausted. But then at 8:30pm she was awakened because they decided to evacuate the house since a neighbor thought she smelled gas. That must have reminded Rachel of dorm life when someone pulled the fire alarm when everyone was asleep.

Speaking of being awaked in the middle of the night, this morning the phone rang at 5:20am. No, it wasn't Rachel. It was a guy from British Airways Heathrow airport in London asking if we were missing a suitcase. Yes, yes we are I told him, and correctly identified it. He said he would send it to DFW and they would deliver it. Good, I said and went back to bed. Then at 5:40 the phone rang again, again the guy from Heathrow. He needed a tracking number. I was getting a bit annoyed by then--didn't he know what time it was in America?--but then he said I was "brilliant" because I had put a sticker inside the suitcase with my name and phone number--the baggage tag and the ID tag were both missing from the outside.

It will still be days before we see this suitcase, since now David has to call them with a tracking number, etc. And he said he tried, but they are still on holiday. Hmm...

In other news, I spent time on the phone with the Embassy of Ethiopia, still trying to figure out how to get all the red tape taken care of so Laura can legally stay in the country. And I mailed David's backpack to him, since he left it here yesterday. And I mailed out tickets for Andrew's side job.

Good thing my nest is empty so I have time to take care of all these things, huh?