8 Days...

The stats: 

• 8 days away from leaving for India now
• 9 days away from being in India
•  2 1/2 days left at work for me
• 1 major holiday Thursday where we'll see all of my mom's family
• Aprox. 1 million things left to do

Yup, that about sums it up.

The natural worrier inside of me has apparently consumed any part of me that could have ever been described as "laid back."  My efforts both at home and at work have tripled because I want to leave no loose ends when we're away.   Even sitting here now typing, I hear that little voice saying, "You should be typing that math quiz." 

A meeting has been arranged tomorrow with my sub to go over everything that's been done for the next month - lesson plans, curriculum movement, classroom management, tempo of the room, and anything else I can think to tell her at that point.  I have a tough group this year (whom I love), and will pray for her as she tackles a field trip, a classroom party, crafts, and a major holiday in my absence...oh yeah, and she's supposed to be teaching too.

On the homefront, Harris and I have just packed a big box of things to ship over ahead of us in hopes that we won't have to pack that extra suitcase.  According to my research on the UPS website, if we ship tomorrow and use the cheapest speed (because we need to pinch pennies where we can since we'll be parents next year, right?), the box will arrive about the time we're leaving the USA on the 30th of next week. 

I have assigned Harris the job of writing the "How To Run Our House While We're Away" manual.  That's going to contain all of our personal information, contact information for us in India, names and numbers of people to go to with emergencies for the house/cats/insurance/banking/anything else we can think of, for the two people watching over things while we're gone.  We're leaving some blank checks, have notified the vet and set up a billing arrangement with them in the event of a problem, and have added our loan officer to our "circle of trust" (as Harris has named it) so that she can watch over our accounts and be on call if we are swindled or locked out of our accounts overseas. 

This week and weekend, we'll visit family to say goodbye in a covert way.  I am telling my other teaching partners on Monday and I'll say goodbye to them.  I'll hug my kids at school and tell them goodbye on Tuesday, then send home a note to the parents on Wednesday.  I've said goodbye to the world's best girlfriends who also are members of the infertility family!  It's an amazing adventure we're getting ready to go on, my girlfriends keep saying.  They're right!