Now, we still have 8 whole days until we actually leave, but because I've made it my goal to be completely packed by Friday afternoon, my time is getting short. This coming weekend there is a Ladies' Retreat being held. I have never, ever been to a Ladies' Retreat here in Ukarumpa before. Primarily because I have either been in the village, or had a small, nursing baby when one was held, I've just never gone. But this time, I was really feeling like I would love to go. And so, since I'll actually be here (granted, just days before leaving for the village) and despite the fact that I do have a young, nursing baby, I'm going to attempt to go.
But that means I need to get lots done before then.
As I was at my computer this morning trying to write some important emails, I looked at my desk and thought, "This is a great picture of what life feels like while packing and transitioning." Cluttered. Messy. Disorganized. Too many piles of "To Do's", and just not enough time to get them all done.
There are kid's papers to sort. Kid's toys and books they've brought to me for some reason or other and that need to be put back in their proper place. The list of "Thank You's" to catch up on. The things I need to pack, or sort, or just throw away and just haven't managed to get around to it yet. My random sticky notes of "Things To Not Forget" and the list of kid's books to check out from the library.
And it feels like my "To Do" list just keeps getting longer. There are meetings with the kid's teachers to go over their schoolwork for the village. I need to get to the school library to check out 60 books for the kids to take with them. (I'm so excited that as a Kindergartener this year Justin gets a 20 book allotment as well.....my kids would read their previous 40 library books in like the first 2 weeks of our stay!). I need to keep checking back with the store to see if they have any of the staples they've been out of for weeks, so that we can get those for the village (crackers for our daily lunches, Tulip meat (think SPAM) that we use (sparingly... it's pretty nasty stuff!) since we don't have much in the way of meat/protein, etc. So there will probably be a last-minute scramble to try to find other foods as substitutes for those gaps in our menu.
Sometimes it feels rather overwhelming when I look at the big picture. So I will just try to take it one thing at a time. Like getting that load of laundry hung up, and then I'll move on to the next thing.
So with that, I'm off to get the baby who just woke up from his nap, and get that laundry hung while there's actually some sun!
And this weekend, when I'm relaxing and enjoying my time with good friends, I'll be thankful that I pushed and got it all done a few days early!
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