Let the Packing Begin- Countdown to Africa

One week from today we will be on a plane six hours into our fifteen hour flight to Africa, so today begins the daily blog "Countdown to Africa."  I hope to kick the blogging into full gear beginning today and through the rest of our trip.  

We asked some friends to watch Samuel for a few hours on Saturday and got serious about packing.  This is what our living room looked like as the packing commenced.  The whole time we were packing we thought we were allowed to check one fifty pound bag each (Me and Tyson), so there was tons of organizing and strategizing going on.  We actually managed to  a.) stay friends and not become enemies and b.) do a darn good job.  The funny and great thing is that after we felt we accomplished this goal, I called the airline to double check and we're actually allowed two fifty pound bags each since it's an international flight.  I do have one more airline to double check w/ before I can really breathe a  sigh of relief, but I'm hopeful.

After packing our clothes we're madly in love with the vacuum pack bags.  Those things are life savers!
They're somewhat expensive, but they do their job well.  Let me tell you.  See the sweet baby doll in the photo below?  She's going to the preschool in Africa along with the rest of those craft supplies.
We volunteered to take as much as we could fit for the folks already there and had a great response from friends.  We've got lots of goodies to share when we get there.   We mainly have simple items like craft sticks, stickers, and crayons.  In my opinion,  it's almost cruel to show up with anything more elaborate that the children would get to play with briefly and then not have the means to continue getting.  You know?

Can you see the excitement on my husband's face??  Okay we're waiting and praying for our visas and passports to return from the Mozambican Embassy in DC.   Long story short, I sent the wrong return envelope, but got it all straight late last week.  Expecting UPS  ASAP!!   I know it will work out.  These things happen.  

Check back tomorrow as the countdown continues...