The house is quiet after a very busy Sunday. Meg and Curt turned in early (in FL, at an Airport Hotel) to catch their flight into Philadelphia in the morning. It will be real for them once they are off the ground. I hope they remembered everything! Even if they did not, they still have tomorrow to scramble.
Preparations continue here, as suitcases are packed, unpacked, repacked and finally (not really) stacked by the door for rollout to the car on Tuesday.
Three down, two to go…
Not including backpacks for all – kids and grown ups. The kids have pretty much nailed down their carry on stuff.
On the other hand, as Lisa and I packed:
“Why are you packing so many of those?”
“I think I need more of these.”
“Do you remember where we put the ____ “
“I though those were going into your backpack.”
“Why didn’t you put that on the list this morning?”
“You’re NOT taking that T-shirt, are you?”
“Maybe we can find room for these in one of the other suitcases.”
Throughout the day, our ONE list again became several lists on paper scraps, post-its and legal pads, both upstairs and down. As a matter of fact, the next thing on my list tonight, after posting this this to the blog, is to consolidate all of these various lists into one master list that we’ll attack in the morning.
I just finished packing Murphy’s bag for his extended stay at his Doggie DayCare / Boarding Home-away-from-Home. He’s good to go as of tomorrow morning.
Lisa re-checked all of our Adoption-related documents, so that everything goes smoothly this last time. The “stuff” we carry can mostly be easily replaced, but the documents, not so much. Throughout the journey, I will look in my backpack – as I usually lug the “magic” accordion folder – conservatively, 150 – 200 times, just to keep eyes on it. And also in response to Lisa’s requests: “Do you have the folder?” Here’s hoping we’ve got it all – we usually do.
It’s incredible to think that we’ve already gone through this same ritual (the packing and prep) five times. Province Destinations have been different each time, and are different yet again. Zachary was born in Hunan Province, while Kyle is from Jiangxi, Dylan is from Liaoning, Ashley is from Hubei, Ryan is from Guangdong, and Tyler is from Shanxi. We have been fortunate to have seen so much of their country, and to have given them a chance to see some of it as well. It’s an odd feeling knowing that if we make another trip to China (after this one) as a family, we won’t be bringing another little person with us. Our A-to-Z family will be complete with Zachary.
We’re ready for him. When we got our new kitchen table at Ikea a few years ago, never having thought our family would grow to EIGHT, we completely lucked out, since it is a 7-ft. table, and it came with TWO 18″ leaves. It’s a perfect fit for us…
Our last full day at home as a family of seven starts in a few hours. Lots to do…