So, I feel silly posting another note to you saying ...

"well, we are still over here packing"

But, indeed, that is what we are doing.

Packing.

and sorting

and packing

and then realizing we are at the end of our suitcase allotment so we unpack a couple bags, reprioritize, and then pack again.


Jae and I did tackle the skateboard issue... it turned out to be my favorite bag ever. I bought a couple of rolling duffels. Those things are fantastical wonders! Christy says they are like Mary Poppins' bag in reverse, you just keep putting things in and more things in and more things in. This particular duffel right now holds: Uh-hum... Two skateboards,Two helmets,One pair of shoes,One double burner griddle,My biggest every day pan,My biggest saucepan,My next biggest saucepan,My regular sized saucepan,A vegetable steamer that fits on the saucepan,Billy's giant for the grill spatula and tongs,A bunch of knit hot pan pads and a few knit dish scrubbers,Two rubber(ish) pan liners and cupcake holders,Billy's favorite blanket... the one I made for Christmas with the old sweaters.

No joke!

I also bought a big old hockey bag from a sporting goods store to be able to pack Madyline's new ripstick castor board. We obviously made the decision to not contract a container the day AFTER we gave it to her. Ah, it is all working out. Not to worry. Although that is a crazy statement all by its self in these days.

Another great story is that God timed it just right so that all of these people we love are coming into Johannesburg around the same time as we are, and all of them are packing light and offering us their extra luggage allotments. Right now, we have our 10 bags we are traveling with and 7 extras that will be there between now and the first week of March. I'm thinking this is providence.


Silliest thing I've put into a suitcase?

I packed my drinking glasses. You know I love those things. We use the glasses from our POM tea. You know the ones, perfectly straight with the lids that pop on. Billy and I wrapped them in kitchen towels and then taped them into an immovable block and then vacuum sucked them into a ziplock bag and then wrapped them in a blanket and then put them in a hard suitcase Jae found at Goodwill. Oh, I hope they make it! On the other side of that suitcase, I packed the big pictures I have had in the living room... the big ones from Rwanda. I'm not taking much artwork, we'll create more while we are there... but I'm taking those three images and the cheetah Mady painted last year. It will go with Reb's giraffe that is already waiting for us in South Africa.


Thing I'm most excited about pulling out of our suitcases in South Africa?

Billy's afore-mentioned blanket. I hope when he snuggles under it on our new couch in our new living room he feels the same love that permiates our blue room that has held so much life here in Michigan. That is a good blanket created with a lot of love. And I'm super excited about the new scooter I secretly bought today with the last of a gift card I had from Christmas. I took clothes out of my suitcase to find room to hide it in there. We can't take our bikes, the other two have their skateboards, and Avery really does love her scooter, but it is trashed from being so well used. I found out that the Johannesburg zoo sponsors a 5k once a month in the park... so there must be an established, and I'm hoping relatively safe, running trail through that same park that the kids and I can go run/wheel on. Avery is going to be so excited when I pull it out!


Thing I'm most thankful I had the extra room to pack?

6 large bags of Pamela's gluten free baking mix. and Thya's big wool zippy rainbow sweater with the elf hood. I know, you all hate it... but it is good to me and I'm glad it is coming along.


Thing I'm most regretting to leave behind?

Remember the big LOVE board from the shanty house the guys constructed for our big marketplace fundraiser in May? Yeah. That was a sad moment I realized I couldn't take that along after all. It WILL be waiting here for me though. Expect to see it in a place of honor in our next Michigan house! Also, my guitar. This is a hard one to verbalize... but in the absence of an amazingly talented group of worship leading friends to jam with, I really am/was hoping and dreaming of learning my seventh and eighth chords and putting them together iwth a couple of other's I'll hope to figure out to make my own music. I have learned that I need to sing. I need to worship with music. I need to release my soul with songs. And I have a desire to learn to not be dependant on others to facilitate this. Silly thing for the South Africa prayer chain... I'd like a guitar and perhaps a piano and maybe even a friend to help me learn to play them. Do you think in the midst of all the other big things that matter so much more, God will notice that one?


For now, For tonight, I am practicing living in the moment I am in, and putting all my packing diagrams and cleaning schedules to sleep and snuggling up with my littlest dicoccos instead. We all need each other right now, so instead of sleeping alone, we are all piling in the big bed and cuddling closely.Mady is at Jae and Grant's house... probably not sleeping yet. Bill(y) is out with his guys one last time. I'll be here in the morning. Still packing and cleaning. I'll see you Saturday.

You ARE coming to the treasure hunt... aren't you?