I just wanted to let everyone know that I received a note at 12:03pm today that Cara made it safely to Cameroon. I’ll certainly let everyone know if I hear anything else, but it isn’t likely that I will…

Also, I am going to be taking a bit of a hiatus during Cara’s two weeks away to try to get the blog moved over to another platform, as I wrote in this post. If anything exciting or noteworthy happens, I’ll post, but otherwise, you can expect to hear more in June.

Happy Memorial Day!

This is a special guest post from Cara – the first that she has ever written for this blog!) 

Hi Everyone,

I just want to say thank you all so much for praying.  I am totally excited and ready for whatever may come my way – even the long boring plane trip.  Here is a copy of my “fight boredom” plan.

1. Read SkyMall
2. Do a 3-D puzzle of the world
3. Learn French
4. Enjoy a free beverage
5. Write some song lyrics
6. Read exciting travel book
7. Go to the bathroom (repeat as necessary)
8. Play Solitaire
9. Calculate how much more time I have to spend on this plane
10. Advil PM

And that is just the first hour… ha ahah

Anyway, thanks so much to all those who gave clothes and a suitcase to the kids in Cameroon. Johanna, Stephanie, Vanessa, Deirdre, Jodi, Mary and Beth you guys are great. The clothes were the exact right amount to fit into the duffle bag. I hope to get some pics of the kids wearing them, if possible.

I am also bringing Melissa’s camera and am going to try to get some video of the villages, people, and sights I will be seeing, along with the work that we will be doing there. 

Moe, Jay, Mom, Jess, Barry, Melissa, Kim and Chris, thanks for all you gave and did to help me prepare for the trip. 

See you when I get back!

Cara

These are the bags that Cara brought with her on the trip. The big one is STUFFED with all the clothes that people donated for the children of Cameroon. (THANKS!!)

I dropped Cara off at the airport today for her 2:55 flight to D.C., and everything went fairly smoothly. I just got a call from her, she’s in the Dulles airport and has met most of the people on the team (all nice so far), and she is getting ready to board her Air France flight to Paris. From Paris, she heads to Cameroon.

I heard a bit of trivia from Cara today on the way to the airport. She wanted me to make sure to tell Jay that she brought her long john’s with her. To Africa. When I pointed out that no one in their right mind brings LONG JOHN’S to the EQUATOR, she told me that the first time that she ever owned a pair of long john’s was when she went to Kenya. She specifically bought her first-ever pair of long john’s to travel to Africa.

That tells you how hot it is in Houston!

I’ll be sure to post a note here to let you know when Cara arrives in Cameroon (they are supposed to notify me), and she left a message for me to put up here for all of you, as well.

I got Cara to agree to a video about her upcoming trip to Cameroon (she leaves tomorrow!) It was a little weird because I had a camera and was asking her questions as I was video taping, but hopefully it will give you all a sense of what she’ll be doing on her trip.

I covered up the addresses in this one, but this is what the envelope looks like.

I’m heading out the door to send the direct mail piece out. Very exciting to be able to reach so many people that I think could make great partners with Cara Austin going forward, and a few that will hopefully be eager to review her music.

This will be the first thing that people see when they open the package. I’ll post pictures of the final product all assembled next week.