Plane Tickets

This afternoon I reserved 6 spots on the August 13th MFI flight to Cap Haitien, Haiti out of Ft. Pierce, Florida.  That's eleven weeks from today.  It felt both joyful and overwhelming.  I am already guessing that when the time comes, "ready or not" will be leaning decidedly in the "not" direction - as far as the physical preparations go. 

We are excited to have August 13th as our date because it means we will be flying in with our friends Bud and Jane, missionaries who (among other things) are connected to the orphanage for which Caleb has been raising money.  They will be returning to Haiti after a couple of months stateside and it will be so nice for us to reconnect and to enter the country alongside seasoned veterans. 

Over tacos at the dinner table tonight we discussed how so many things are going to change once we leave for Haiti and that the summer is going to fly by, so we need to appreciate all the little things we'll get to enjoy in the next few months. "Stop and smell the roses" and all that.

Just as we started to clear away the dirty dishes, the power flickered off, then on, and then off again - to stay off for a couple of hours.  How fitting!  No TV, no video games - and the laptops had uncharged batteries.  I did some reading, the kids played outside, Melissa found a comfortable spot on the couch to pass out.

Can't blame her. After staying up past midnight last night preparing, she had a crazy day.  It wasn't quite the last day of school, but it was the best day to schedule her kindergarten "graduation" program:

Melissa and her TA, Mrs. Anderson, herding 26 cats before heading to the stage to begin the program...

The kids sang several songs and were in top form for cuteness throughout the program.

Directing

The Princess gets her diploma

Melissa took a few minutes to recognize the incredible parent volunteers who have helped out this year in so many ways.

The parents surprised her with a ceramic plate with all the kids' thumbprints and names.  She was impressed with the amount of forethought and effort put into the gift.

Anyway, she deserved a bit of time on the couch tonight.  When I got to her school 30 minutes before the program, Melissa hadn't even had a chance to eat lunch and the lack of food and sleep were getting to her.  But she managed to pull it off. 

 

While Melissa was napping this evening, I encouraged Hannah to write her introduction for the new blog the kids have started, and since the computers were off, she blogged the old fashioned way - with pencil and paper.

 

I typed it up for her after the power came back on, but the words are all hers.  If you want to check out their blog, it is at 4grosskids.blogspot.com.  You can just click HERE.

Eleven weeks ... Yikes!