And We're Off

The day to leave for Ethiopia has finally arrived!  We have everything we need packed and ready to go ... At least I THINK we have everything we need .... Oh, I HOPE we packed everything we need.  Packing for a trip can be daunting (at least for me), but when you are packing for a child you haven't even met yet, it's downright nerve-racking! It was suggested by our agency that we distribute ours and Abbe's items evenly throughout the bags that we are taking. That way if a bag gets lost, we still have adequate clothing, toys, supplies, etc. to get by for the week.  I actually would have never thought to do that, but it sounds like a good idea to me.

We have the craziest itineray, so the chances of our bags getting lost are pretty good.  We fly from Spokane to Chicago, Chicago to Atlanta, Atlanta to Newark (NJ), Newark to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Ethiopia.  We had to tack on another travel day just to get there in time!  That is the downfall of booking flights with less than a few weeks notice.  And the cost of the airline tickets was UNBELIEVABLE (in a bad way).

Samir was a little freaked out by the thought of us leaving, so I stole the idea from someone else's blog and made gift bags for him for each day that we would be gone.  Right before we said goodbye I told him that I needed his help carrying some last minute items up from downstairs.  He was freaky deaky when he saw the gift bags and was told they were all for him - he could open one per day with the first being opened right after we left.  The bags had very small gifts insides with notes describing what we would be doing on that day.  He loved them and has kept all of the notes in his "treasure" drawer.  What a good idea - I wish I could remember whom I stole it from so I could give her proper credit!

Here we are finally at the airport and on our way.  Tony was loaded down like a pack animal with all of our carryons because he wouldn't let me carry anything.  Even though it was very nice of him, I was kinda feeling bad - the feeling went away after a while. :-)

Finally on the plane!  We look so tired already!