Packing

Our house is a mess! It was piled high with supplies before but now all those piles are strewn across our living room, kitchen, and bedrooms. We are now playing the packing game.

Here's how it works. We get 6 bags total that weigh 50 pounds each. Typically we each take one suitcase and use it as our own to hold our clothes and personal items and then add supplies to them. The other three bags are for supplies that we bring along. We also each get one carry-on. We pack a few changes of clothes, some snacks for the plane, medications, and any other important items that we can't live without (such as the camera).

We pack pretty much everything into ziploc bags because it protects our stuff from...well our stuff. One year my mom's bag was inspected and the guy didn't close one of her shampoo bottles all the way so it leaked all over everything. Luckily she packed everything in ziploc bags and the only mess to clean was to wipe off the outside of the bags.

So that's our life right now. Packing, packing, and more packing.

It's a tough balance because we might get one bag packed to it's limit in size but it's nowhere near where it should be in weight (it's either over or under). Or we meet the weight limit and there's still tons of room left. So we end up packing, weighing, shifting things around, packing again, and weighing again and again and again until finally all bags are at the limit for weight and size and everything is packed.

We still have one more day to get everything done, and there sure is lots to do. Both the great and scary part is, if it doesn't get done then it really doesn't matter because in another day it won't matter anymore.

We're trying to enjoy every single moment of this trip and its preparation. But I think I speak for us all when I say that this is the most stressful part. We go nonstop, we're trying to make sure we have everything, and we're staying awake late and are up early. But on Tuesday when we pass through security at the airport it's like suddenly the weight is lifted, and all that's left is the work that God has set before us.

And for that, we couldn't be more excited!

- Aly