A Step Closer

We found out yesterday that the USCIS office here emailed our updated information to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire yesterday. Yey! We had to release our plane tickets on Friday, so we checked to see if they were still available. They were not. SO, we have tickets on hold, departing two days later (Sept. 7th.) We are hopeful and prayerful that we will find out in the next couple of days from the Visa Center that they have processed our information and have cabled/emailed it to Ethiopia. We don't want them to DHL it, if at all possible. They indicated that they could handle it either way, so we're trying to get them to just do the fastest thing. Because, until we know the information is in Addis Ababa, waiting for us, we just don't feel confident booking flights. SO, if you would, please pray that the info flies through the world-wide-interweb and lands where it should, SOON!

Meanwhile, I have divided my days up into "categories" of preparing for the trip so I don't stand around, wringing my hands wondering what I should be doing, and I know I have it all covered:

Yesterday was Educational Materials Day. I'm taking some English Language materials to the kids there but have also been asked to do some teacher training at a school in another village while we're there, so I grabbed a few teacher materials as well as some supplemental materials for the school-aged kids. Educational Materials Day may occur next week, too. In fact, I'm sure it will. LOL

Today is Medicine Day. I am going to Walmart and buying every type of medicine for our trip, as well as get our travel prescriptions filled. I have a medicine bag perpetually packed for travel, but some of it is expired/depleted, so I am stocking back up. (Children's Tylenol, Pepto, first aid, etc.) One thing I also like to pack is powdered Gatorade. If someone gets a bug, you want to be able to re-hydrate and replace electrolytes quickly without the possibility of needing to be re-hydrated in a foreign hospital if at all possible. This really, really helped on our last trip to Ghana when Kyle was so sick.

Tomorrow is Kids' Clothes Day. The older two have clothing, but not enough for a 12-day trip, so tonight we are taking an inventory of jeans/t-shirts/jackets/etc. and grabbing whatever else we need tomorrow. Also, thanks to the wonderful gift cards from our shower, I can go buy Minte enough clothes for the trip. I packed him a bag back in July, but it's got summer shorts and shirts... and it's cooler there now! (The shorts will be put to good use when we return to Texas where we wear shorts through October...) I've got his "feet" in my wallet so I can buy him some shoes. Anyra traced around them while she was there and yesterday I cut them out and folded them up to take with me. Fun! (I made a copy of the original because I couldn't bear to cut the page where his actual feet had been!)

Thursday is Parents' Clothes Day, with a fun shopping trip with my Mom who has graciously offered to buy me some clothes for the trip and for life in general. I also need to buy a few things for Luke (like maybe some more of the awesome carpenter pants he always wears on mission trips so that he has ginormous pockets...).

Friday is Orphanage Party Day. We are preparing a party for the kids at the orphanage, and my older two have been planning a puppet show. We will put the finishing touches on the puppet show and go to the party/craft store to buy the rest of the supplies for the party. This will be fun!

Saturday is Finish the Boys' Room Day (involving a trip to Ikea! Yippee!!) We have put off buying an extra dresser and doing wall shelves for the boys' room, partly waiting for the whole thing to be final and partly due to busy-ness and procrastination. WELL, he is officially ours and this is potentially our last weekend at home, so it's time to head to Ikea for two new dressers and some shelves for the wall. And closet organizers. And whatever else I find.

SO there's my Week In Categories. (In the meantime we are doing school!)

Thanks for checking in on us and for your prayers. He's almost home!