10 Hours and 55 Minutes to Departure

I begin typing this at midnight and our plane leaves at 10:55 in the morning. It's been a crazy couple of days as we've tried to get everything ready. As you can see, we're still up. We probably have a couple of hours ahead of us since we haven't started packing yet but we'll get there. Besides, staying up all night should put us on our way to adjusting to the 10 hour time change.

We did take a bit of a break yesterday for fun to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Spencer and I LOVED it. Dean and Christian thought it was okay. Based on that review, I'm not sure what to tell you. As we watched it, I actually recognized a Russian word here or there in the dialogue. Not so sure that the ones I recognized are going to be all that helpful to me in Russia but it's a start.

Well, I must run. But I thought I would share a few pictures of what we are currently sorting through and trying to pack. This is going to be a challenge. This could take longer that I think.

These are all the documents that we must carry on the plane. Let's hope we don't have far to go between terminals because these are going to be heavy. I think we have the equivalent of a tree in paper.

And this is what we still have to pack. Notice there are no clothes for Dean or myself in this pile.

One last note before I leave you to pack, I said goodnight to my kids tonight. Sidney and Spencer of course gave me extra long hugs. Christian said goodnight and headed to his room (he's not feeling too well). I asked Christian if I could get a hug. He turned around and actually gave me a real hug, not a token "Can we get this over with" hug. I think he may miss me after all when I'm away.

And the blogging begins...

Okay, I've been thinking about doing this for a while. Goodness knows I do my share of lurking on other people's blogs. I guess it took the motivation of traveling to a far away place and wanting an easy way to update family and friends to make the jump to the blog.

So a quick update on the happenings in the Shupe family. For the last several years, we have been a family of five with a dog, two cats, a snake and a gecko. But, the Lord seems to have ways of saying that we are getting too content and it's time for a challenge. After all, that's how we grow, right? About a year and a half ago, we decided our family had room for one more. "Another pet?" you ask. Are you kidding?! "A new baby?" Do you know how old we are? No, we will be adding a beautiful 11 year old girl, Kristina. And so, Monday, Dean and I are off to Russia to FINALLY bring her home. This has been a long tedious process and we are so glad that we are finally on our way. I am hoping to be able to keep this blog updated from Russia and keeping you all up to date at home as we finish this long journey.

So come along with me. The best is yet to be (or some such quote like that).