Preparing for Africa

In the two weeks leading up to our overseas trip, preparation became a full-time experience! I spent easily 40+ hours each week ordering supplies, collecting supplies, figuring out how many I needed for each school and age level, sorting, pre-cutting, tying 600 bells on tiny ribbons--oh yes, I called in help! I could not do it all on my own! Thankfully Buck, my awesome neighbors, the newlyweds, and and trip-participant/our pastor's daughter all pitched in and helped get the prep accomplished.

Packing everything was another massive task! I had piles and outfits and ideas laid out at least five times. And then I would put them all back in a mound and try again another day (mostly because they were on the bed and we wanted to go to sleep :)

Eventually, I caught Brennen between work and hanging out with his friends. He presented me with this pile for packing about three minutes later . . . lol, for real!

Although the pups tried to be very helpful, packing their toys and nearly themselves, we did have to put up some blockades to keep the ever-present fur from adding weight to the suitcases :)

What a sigh of relief it was to zip up that last zipper and put that massive task off my mind and to-do list! Did we bring too much food? Oh 100%--we ate like kings the entire visit! Did we utilize every craft item we brought? I wish we had, but no. Our bags got delayed even longer than we did. However, we left suitcases full of supplies for the children at the schools, so I think it was worth the effort. I hope they make rainbow tambourines from the (well-marked and thoroughly explained, itemized in individual oversized plastic bags) example found in the supply kit. Can I imagine what kind of crazy chaos spending time in the schools would have been without all this careful preparation? Lol, no! I don't even want to try!! :)