And so it begins...

This weekend was a wonderful weekend for both of us.

 I had to say goodbye to my middle school kiddos on Friday, which broke my heart and some of theirs. I'm going to miss them. On the other hand, I think some of them were excited I was leaving for so long. In fact, when I told my classes "Today is my last day," I heard a few "yessssssss...". I love them.

I spent the entire weekend (no exaggeration, every minute) with my friends. I can't remember the last time we laughed so hard and stayed up so late. I had a volleyball tournament yesterday and had to say goodbye to my little girls. They gave me a giant group hug. It was so sweet. After the tournament, I went straight to sushi with more friends. Finally, I got to be home with my husband, but as soon as he got home, I crashed. There was no way I could stay awake laying on our super comfy couch to watch the movie I picked. I'm not sure what I was thinking.

Taylor had Friday off, but went to work Saturday. They threw him a party at work before he left which he said was a lot of fun. Sunday he went to church (I'm assuming.. I had to go to volleyball..) then he went to play paintball. I'm glad he went. I think that's something he'll definitely miss while we're away. He came home and said he had a blast, but that's all I could get out of him before I fell asleep. I'll have to bug him to hear more later.

After a long, crazy weekend for both of us, it's time to get down to business. We have a list of things to buy, which includes our own peanut butter, a new, diamondless ring for me, some serious bug repellent, surge protectors (so I can keep up with this blog!), transformers, water purification packets.... all sorts of stuff! I keep thinking of new things, maybe I should go make another list.

Saturday night got a bit emotional for me. I was hanging out with my neighbor and a friend of ours and texting someone else about sushi on Sunday night. Taylor calls and asks if a friend of his can take us out to dinner on Sunday night. I tell him that I was planning on getting sushi with the girls. He wants to try to figure out a night he can, but I'm acting all hesitant on it because making plans means I can't spur of the moment see my friends if I want to. Cue emotions. I'm running out of days before the trip and starting to feel it. I have all these things I want to do and not enough time to do them. I want to say yes to everything but I can't. I'm going on this awesome trip that I'm SO excited for, but I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of things here. It's hard for me to be there when people are making plans for next week or next month because I won't be around. I wasn't expecting to get upset about that because, hello, I'm going to Africa. I just want everyone else's lives to pause until I'm back. Can you make that happen?

These are probably dumb things to be feeling. It's not like nine weeks is that long. I'll be home before I know it. In fact, I'll probably be feeling the same things again before I leave Congo with the people I meet there. Sometimes, like right now, I realize what I'm saying and I get excited all over again. I'm going to Africa to live life for a while. A whole new continent. I have butterflies because of how excited I am. This is going to be an awesome, impacting trip. I can't wait. This time next week, we'll be in Africa.

 It's bittersweet, but mostly sweet.