The Countdown is On

We're now counting down the days and soon the hours until our trip to India. We leave on Saturday the 25th at o'dark thirty. My brother, Jeff, is the lucky one to drive us to the airport at such an awful early hour. Our plane leaves at 6:30 so that means I will be up by about 3:30 and we will leave probably around 4:30. Yuck!

I spent some time packing yesterday. We're taking 2 suitcases with stuff for my parents and 2 suitcases with our stuff. The suitcases for my parents are pretty full already. I'm sure the security people at the airports are going to be scratching their heads when they see those suitcases. We're taking along a stick vac, wire baskets with suction cups (for their bathrooms), food and various odd things that most people probably don't normally travel with. Stephen and I will pack our suitcases when departure day draws nearer as I will have to do a lot of laundry before then. I will also have to pack for the kids because they will be staying with Stephen's parents the entire time we will be gone.

Part of me just wants Saturday to get here so that we can leave and I won't have to worry any more about preparations for the trip. I also won't have any more sleepless nights (thanks Mom for the insomniac gene) worrying about the upcoming trip. The other part of me doesn't want Saturday to arrive because I don't want to leave the kids. That will be the hardest part of the whole trip for me. Don't get me wrong--going door-to-door sharing the Gospel with people I don't know is hard enough. But, leaving my kids behind is the hardest part for me. We are going to take them to my in-laws' house on Friday night since we are leaving so early on Saturday morning. Leaving their house that night without the kids is going to be so hard. Not being able to tuck them into their own beds that night will be hard. Not seeing them in the morning before we leave will be harder. I get kind of emotional every time I think about it. I've left them twice before when we went to Cuba but I know this will be a little different because we will be gone 2 weeks this time (the longest we were away before was 9 days) and India is on the other side of the world. Not exactly a quick trip home if something were to happen. I can't think like that though. I have to remember that they are in God's hands.

I am very excited about the trip though. I have wanted to go to India for almost 6 years. This has been my first opportunity to go though because I have always either been pregnant or nursing a baby when my dad has led teams there. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us there. I'm curious to see what my family's living arrangements are like. I really want to meet all of the people that I have heard so many things about over the years. I'm sure it will be an awesome experience.

I will try to post more this week about the preparations if I have time and we are taking our laptop with us so I might even post from India. I know Stephen plans on posting to his blog while we are gone, so even if I don't you can keep up to date with our adventures from his perspective.