Stuff

One of the questions we get asked most about moving to Africa is, "So, what are you going to do with all of your STUFF?" Frankly it's a question we're asking ourselves a lot these days.
It's a bit overwhelming to think that in the next six months we have the task of going through our stuff and putting it into one of three categories:

• Worthy to go into one of our 6, fifty pound bags to North Africa
• Meaningful enough to store in one of the four bins we will keep at our parents for 4 years
• It was fun while it lasted. See ya!: Goodwill, friends, family, BC...Happy Birthday to YOU!

Aside from the stuff you think of when you think of getting rid of stuff, there's the huge bucket of cds to be downloaded and disposed, non-digital pictures to be scanned (and make albums?), sentimental things like notes, old dance and bridesmaid dresses, cards, journals, etc. It's amazing to me that even as a family that has been intentional about not accumulating we have a ginormous amount of STUFF!

Dan has us on a tight schedule (lucky me ;)) with different rooms of the house slotted to be purged, packed and painted each month. January is almost over, but we have a long way to go in emptying our bedroom...we're talking closets and under the bed people!!! On a successful note, we have officially packed our first items: ornaments, nativity and Advent calendar...a whopping 9.4 pounds of stuff! At this point I'm not sure if that seems like a lot or a little as I think of narrowing our stuff down to 300 pounds...what I do know is that this daily weighing myself with stuff might actually motivate me to lose the extra stuff I still have from pregnancy...

It's surreal to think that the next time we see these things, God willing, we will be an ocean away. Until then, we press on loosening the chains of our stuff and experiencing a bit of freedom with each item that makes its way out so we can let God's beloved of Africa in...

Can't Sleep...

The end of the school year is here and what a surprise, I cannot SleEp. There are so many things that run through my MiNd this time of year. There's the normal StUfF that seems to plague me most when things at work get HeCtiC, and there's the EnD of the year StUfF that must be held in a delicate balance...you can't do too much too soon because school isn't over, but you can't wait until the last hour because you want to be OuT the door AsaP. I keep saying I need to make a BiG FaT list and just go at it...if nothing else maybe it will just help to get it all out there...

• Start and finish AvErAginG grades.
• HoUnD those notorious ones who still have MiSsInG WoRk
• Make a LiSt of all of the BrIlLiaNt ideas I've had throughout the course of the year. The conversation in my mind usually sounds like this, "Well that was a BiG, FaT FloP...next year I'll do this instead". I have to write them down to avoid repeating said FloPs.
• Do DiShEs...we have no clean SiLvErwArE...YiKeS!
• Make AwArDs for the FiFth GrAdE Spelling Bee, Track Meet, Brainiacs, and Art Show.
• Write a LeTteR to my kids' parents thanking them for sharing their TeRrIfiC kids with me this year.
• OrGaNiZe my files so teaching the same grade level next year will be to my GreAtEsT benefit.
• Somehow get my kids from the 1920s to the end of WWII in 10.5 days...without them DeSpiSinG me for it!
• Figure out an end of the year GiFt for my kids and MaKe it.
• R.S.V.P. for the EnD of the YeAr PaRtY...do I want ChIcKeN or PorK?
• Sit down with Dan to plan our AnNiVeRsArY.
• Somehow figure out where we can have a GaRdEn without getting EleCtrIcUteD upon digging.
• Write NoTeS to my kids.
• Make those DoCtoR appointments I've been putting off for a few years now...Seriously another summer cannot pass without me taking care of some silly things.
• Make a SliDeShOw so all of the pictures I take throughout the year can be put to good use.
• EnJoY my last few days with them in the midst of the ChAoS...SaVoR how truly DeLiGhtfuL my group of 27 is this year.
• Try to SlEeP so I can end the year a KiNd and PaTieNt teacher, wife, friend, and person.

With that, I'm done for now...Just thinking about all of it is making me TiReD :) Who knows maybe I should have been doing the above mentioned things instead of just writing about them, but it's too LaTe for that...I'm off to BeD!