Tomorrow is the big day.  I can’t believe the time is so close.

Fortunately, we’re very close to being ready.

More good news is that it looks like we’ll have plenty of room and plenty of weight to spare with all the stuff I want to take.

The children seem to be handling the idea of being away from us.  Laura is the most uneasy about it.  And Judah has no clue what’s coming.  But everyone else seems to understand and be ok.

Tonight we did our final shopping trip at Walmart.  In addition to the odds and ends on our list, we got several large bags of small wrapped candy.  We are planning to keep candies in our pockets to hand out to kids we meet.  One of our team members suggested carrying candy when we go to the markets so that we have something to hand to the street kids who are begging.   And the kids at the orphanage will enjoy raiding our pockets, no doubt.

We are really excited about this opportunity.  We are humbled by the folks who donated so generously to the expenses of our trip.  We received not only the amount required by the church group, but some additional monies to go towards our personal expenses.  We gave half of that extra money to Roy & Mary to help defray the cost of having our children with them for the week.  Then I used the other half of the money to buy kitchen tools and food supplies to take along.  We’ll donate the kitchen things to the orphanage, and the food will be for the group to share.

We are also humbled by the generosity of Roy and Mary to take our children for the eight days that we’ll be gone.  Their household population is going to explode tomorrow! But Michael and I are comforted in knowing that Roy and Mary will treat our children with the same love and consideration that they treat their own children.  I can’t wait to hear about their adventures while we were gone.

But despite all the excitement, tonight I am tired.  It’s been a long day, and I’m ready to crash.  Tomorrow I know I’ll wake up with the energy I need to complete the final list of things to do.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  The specific prayer request I have for tomorrow is that we will survive the night of traveling without too many side effects.   I don’t do well when I am sleep-deprived, and I am still feeling a little nauseous late at night. But it’s a price I’m willing to pay for this adventure.