Countdown to Feb 23rd

We have a departure date!! We leave O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to Fly to Freetown, Sierra Leone the evening of February 23rd!

It is all every exciting, yet scary at the same time and very surreal that something that we have been praying, planning, and support raising for for almost 2 1/2 years now is finally becoming reality.

Now for the packing adventure. Needless to say since I have been down for the count with a nasty upper respiratory infection since Jan 27th (the day after we landed back home from India) I really have not done ANY packing. This week will be my turn around week. I have so many plans and visions of what I want to do this week in terms of preparing to pack and actual packing that my head is spinning. I must realize that God has provided thus far, and pray that he just miraculously multiplies the hours in my days. And all this while Jeneson is working his last week of work and taking care of three children!

People often ask us if we are going to ship anything over. It really is quite costly to ship items overseas between the actual shipping cost and then port and custom/duty fees once it arrives in country. You also have to take into account that it takes about 50 days and it would only go as far as Freetown and we are about a 7 hour drive outside of Freetown.

We will limit ourselves to what we are allowed to pack in suitcases on the plane, which may not sound like a lot, but when you have 5 ticketed passengers on an international flight can really add up. We will be allowed to take 200kg worth of luggage (that's 440 pounds!); that is A LOT of luggage. We plan on getting much of our household supplies in Freetown so the biggest weight component of our luggage will be books, both our medical books and homeschooling books for the kids.

How do you pack to move overseas for a couple of years with three children? I'll try to keep you updated as much as I can during these next 17 days (YIKES!!!!!!).