It Hasn't Quite Sunk In Yet

But I think it will very, very soon, that we leave in 51 hours and 20 minutes! Yesterday was my last day working in the NYC office and as a well wishes/send-off into mommyhood they organized a luncheon for me and another colleague who is expecting in June. They gave Ash some really adorable clothes and a colorful wood stacking toy that he's going to love playing with. They also pooled an extremely generous amount for us to bring with to Addis Ababa to purchase things for the orphanage. An amount that is going to go a really long way towards the purchase of cloth diapers, medicines, baby formula, clothing, and other high need items. We've been the grateful recipients of such gifts from quite a few friends and family and can't wait to bring everything over to the House of Hope. Several CHI families have sent us some much-needed boys clothing and several donations have come in the form of a monetary gift, so we will be able to purchase the items in Ethiopia which will help support the local economy. Thank you to everyone who has given. And thank you to our luggage manufacturers for creating large duffel bags with very strong zippers.

Our order from diapers.com arrived with Born Free bottles and sippy cups and about a one months supply of gDiapers. That completes the "necessities" on our list, which means that now we get to start thinking about how we're going to occupy ourselves on the 13 hour trip to Dubai and then the 4 hour flight to Addis. If the past few nights are any indication I highly doubt that sleeping will be an option (I've felt a bit like a first grade girl the night before her first day of school every day for about a week!) so we're gathering some reading selections and relying on Emirates Air movie selections to pass the time.

I'm currently reading What is the What by Dave Eggers (author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) which is a fictionalized memoir about a Sudanese refugee who makes his way through Ethiopian and Kenyan refugee camps, and then finds himself in America struggling to find fulfillment. I'm about half way through and imagine I'll finish this one in the first hour or two of the flight. And for a complete change of pace I also have The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert (Author of Eat, Pray, Love) which is the story of a man who lives in a tepee in the wilderness full-time by the time he is 30, and according to Publishers Weekly Gilbert "paints a complicated portrait of American maleness that is as original as it is surprising." Can't wait to read it.

OK the more I write the more it sinks in. And the more time passes - we're now down to 50 hours and 40 minutes!