Leaving on an empty plane

Hi everyone.
I figured I'd start a blog about my trip instead of emailing you guys every once in a while. It will keep things more organized.

So this trip was a bit last-minute, as I was expecting to do something a little more "missionary" in nature, but hey, I'm not gonna decline an offer to go to France if God could use me out there in some shape or form. Out of all the other travel opportunities I had in mind, the Lord began to close doors one-by-one, either by way of the other ministries not needing help at the moment, some didn't have room until a later date, and some simply never responded.
The guy I'm staying with now (I'll call him the dad)has 4 children, all boys and the mom is from the United States. I had spoken to them months before, but since they were in the middle of a move, they thought it best to get back to me at a later time. Right during my scramble to find a way to leave the states for a while, the dad got back in touch with me and made it pretty clear that he would value my help at this time.
So there's a little background.
First thing in order was to figure out what to take... and what not to take, as you see by these old shoes that I had to retire, after faithfully serving my feet for nearly a decade.

I didn't find replacement shoes that would suit me, so I decided on taking an older pair (but much newer than the ones I trashed) with me to the airport, because mom gave me the great idea of having them shined while I waited during a 4 hour layover. As you can see from the photo, this proved to be a wise investment of 7 dollars.

The flight itself wasn't too long. Especially since it seemed no one wanted to go to France today. The plane was practically empty which allowed me to sprawl out along the middle three seats and take the best nap I could possibly take on an airplane.

As we descended, I expected to see some great view of Paris, or even the surrounding countryside, but it was completely cloud covered. I thought I'd see at least a little scenery after we passed underneath, but when the plane touched the ground, we were still in the thick of it.

Well, I'm sleepy now, but I'll post more soon.