Leavin On a Jet Plane.....

We are now moved into our new house and almost every area is unpacked and organized.  I finally hit a point where I had to stop concentrating on the "move in" and start thinking about our trip to Ethiopia!  I have spent the whole week making list after list and trying to get my to-do list whittled down to the things that can wait until we get back home.  At the beginning of the week, I wasn't so sure I was going to get it all done and had panic attacks over the "what ifs"!  We shopped and ran errands and packed and packed and unpacked and shopped and organized and....did I mention packed and shopped??!  ;)

Here are a few pics of the "finished product"......as you can see, I didn't do too bad....

Haylie's dog lillie kept trying to hide her little stuffed animal in our suitcases!  For all I know, she could be hiding it in there as I'm typing this  =)

For those of you who are interested...

Here is my packing list:

Clothing

*Clothing for Todd and I for 6-7 days...short sleeve shirts and long sleeve shirts to wear over them, 3-4 pairs of pants/jeans....I also included extras of everything

*2-3 pairs of shoes, flip flops for shower, dress shoes and hiking shoes

*sunglasses

*belts

*larger size bag/purse--packing it in suitcase--to use while in Ethiopia to carry our "daily" things

Basic Things

*Driver's license, flight tickets and itinerary, credit card

*passports....cash...immunization records

*adaptor to convert Ethiopia's electric to our voltage..need to charge batteries and for hair dryer etc.

*detergent and fabric softner...actually, I cheated and mixed them together!

*clothes line to hang things to dry in our room

*Amharic phrase book/printed out "most used words" translation

*Amharic learning audio on Mp3

*Camera/video camera...chargers and extra batteries...extra camera cards

*Sharpie marker

*duct tape....cut a small section of paper towel roll and wrapped some DT around it

*ALL KINDS of info printed out....from our agency, travel agency and things we wanted to remember

*list of phone numbers and email addresses

*laptop computer

*small notebook...to record thoughts, info, and sizes/observations about other AAI family's children as requested by them...a pen...list of children to take pics of for their soon to be new parents!

*books/magazines to read

*Ipods

*bubble wrap, in case we buy fragile things to bring back home

*flashlight...incase the power goes out

*extra garbage bags..dirty clothes etc.

*"Flite Mate" ear plugs....helps to reduce air pressure and prevent air travel nausea

*two 35 gal. tubs filled with stuff for our agency's care center...clothing, crafts and sports equipment

*various things to take to the care center when we go every day to do with the kids....nail polish, slime, tattoos, silly bands etc.

*things to do with our little one....special art notebook and paint pens, photo album/video of kids back home 

Meds/Toiletries

*allergy meds/asthma meds

*Ginko...helps with altitude and travel

*Pepto Bismol

*Immodium AD

*Melatonin...to take the first couple of nights to help us sleep

*Airborne...powder and tablets...to ward off sickness

*Tums

*Elderberry Syrup...immunity booster

*Advil

*Hydrocortisone cream

*Benedryl cream

*antibacterial cream

*Bandaids

*"Cell Power"...from the health food store....to help with altitude sickness

*Listerine....to swish with a couple times/day and swallow a bit to kill harmful bacteria

*vitamins

*No-Jet-Lag....Homeopathic med 

*Acidophilus...healthy digestion, protects against germs

*Dramamine.....for motion sickness

*T.P....many places in Ethiopia do not have it in their restrooms!

*travel size kleenex

*tweezers

*razors

*deodorant

*hair dryer

*barrette/hair ties etc.

*dental floss

*toothpaste

*extra toothbrushes...incase we forget to brush with bottled water and we need to throw our TBr away

*travel toothbrushes...for airplane, the kind with TPaste already on them

*make-up

*disposable face washing cloths

*clorox wipes to wipe EVERYTHING down, airline seats, hotel rooms, hands...

*hand sanitizer 

*shampoo/conditioner

*lotion

*brush

*feminine supplies

*Chapstick

*nail clippers

*Q-tips

Snacks

*lots of protein bars

*fruit trail mix

*fruit and nut trail mix

*life savor peppermints

*chewing gum

**We didn't pack a lot of snacks because we figured that food would pretty much be available wherever we may be

**We also didn't pack a lot of extra food like instant oatmeal, mac n cheese etc. like a lot of other families do because we are staying at a hotel and we don't feel that we will have a problem getting food to eat....we love Ethiopian food and there are also American type restaurants over there.

We are heading to the airport tomorrow morning, planning to arrive around 9 a.m. for our 1:00 p.m. flight.  Need to get there early to request bulkhead seats!  Need extra leg room for Todd, and really, just want to sit on the side of the plane next to the windows instead of in the row with 4 seats.

It's still unbelievable to me that after two years of waiting, we are finally getting on that plane and meeting our new daughter for the first time!  So very excited about this and also very excited to be going to Ethiopia!  Can't wait to immerse myself in the culture and learn/experience as much as I can while we are there.  

Leaving our little one won't be easy but we have been told that our agency has 3 embassy dates for next month.....the 1st, 15th and 29th.  It's pretty unlikely that we will make the first one because after passing court, a lot of paperwork has to be finished and submitted two weeks before your embassy appointment.  We may be able to make the 15th or the 29th, so we could be traveling back to get our little sweetie on one of those two dates.  Preferably, I would like to have a Dec. 29th embassy date.  If this would happen, we could be there to celebrate the Ethiopian Christmas holidays!  THAT would be amazing!  =)

Signing off for now.......next time I post, I will be posting about our trip.....and maybe sharing pics of our new little one!!!

Have a great week.....