I Love A Good List

I am a Type-A, follow the rules, list making, black and white, lines are my friend, kind of girl and packing for a big trip makes my heart happy; especially when that trip involves an orphan. I've had my list made for about a week now. It's inside my "Russia Notebook" that I used throughout Artem's adoption. It has everything from my home study to-do list, to the directions to the apostille office, to the notes I was furiously scribbling when we were meeting with the orphanage director at Artem's baby home. And now that we are on round two, I put a sticky note on the edge of the page with "Second Adoption" sticking out the side as to make sure I don't venture into the "First Adoption" pages. Very catchy, I know, it took me weeks to come up with that label.

Today the big packing began and my trusty list was there on the bed helping me along. Each time I put something in the suitcase I crossed it off the list. If it wasn't in the suitcase, it wasn't marked off the list; nothing gets by without being crossed off. But to my defense, when you are packing to meet a child that you know absolutely nothing about in a country that does not share the same language or voltage as the United States, you have to be prepared, and being prepared means you have a lot of stuff. I'm lucky I am allowed 70 pounds per bag.

But for as good of a list maker as I am, I'm not the greatest packer. I can get it all in there and meet my weight limit, but it's not pretty and by the time it arrives to our destination, it's nothing short of a miracle that the contents are a) all in one piece, and b) still inside the suitcase. Now Randy on the other hand, he's the MacGyver of packing. You could give that man 3 pairs of jeans, 2 shirts, and a package of toothpicks and he'd figure out how to make it all fit into a gallon sized Ziplock bag. He's good, real good. And right about now, I could use my MacGyver because my list isn't all the way crossed off and I only have a few inches of space left and I refuse to bring less than five pairs of shoes thank.you.very.much, so those aren't going anywhere.

I'll get it all to fit, somehow, and by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning I will be on my way to the airport so I won't have a choice. The zipper will have to zip because there is nothing more embarrassing than claiming luggage off the carousel with duct tape around it; and yes we have had to do that but I refuse for it to be on my watch!

I'm bringing my laptop and will be blogging throughout the week, internet accessibility willing, and hope to have some good news on Monday evening.

Until then,
Do svidanya!
(Good bye)