Yay! Our visa's have arrived! We are getting ready now! Chris got a new cable thing to connect our video camera and computer. I guess tonight we will test it to see if we can figure out how to upload video. I don't even know how to work the dumb video camera...so that is all on him!
I CAN however do my part with the digital camera... I deleted a whole lot of pictures from it, so we should be able to take around 700 now! Plus, as you can see I figured out how to do a slideshow if I feel like it. I'll probably just post photos...but who knows?
I have about 13 more little miscellaneous items to purchase, and then I can start laying out clothes and packing other stuff. This weekend is certainly going to fly by! It's full of football and fall festivals! I hope to get a little more organized as well... Six more days until we leave for my sisters house.... Yikes!!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Testing
I'm testing my computer savvy-ness late at night... (naturally) Just want to see how I can create slide shows if I want to from our Russia photos....
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Lots to Do!
I just emailed Rachel, as she asked how I was holding up... okay I guess apart from the hair falling out that I attribute to stress. Seriously.
It's been a busy week already and I feel like I am behind the 8 ball. SO much to do! My dad comes for a quick visit today on his way out west to hunt. Last night, we found out that our air bed has a leak in it. Naturally. Our house is filled with tons of stuff waiting for a place to go... (like in our suitcases). It's all piled in various places, mainly the two worst....the dining room table and the kitchen counter!
I'm just behind in general....and need to get my act together! Just cleaning up the clutter and catching up on regular stuff like laundry and dishes will help me feel more organized. We have a super busy week with football and our fall festival at church....plus a picnic on Saturday for our Sunday school class!
I have a question for those of you who have traveled before.... how did you pack your stuff. I know that sounds silly, and I do know to divide our clothes so if a suitcase is lost we each have some clothes to wear. But what about food items? Where did you pack those? (Carry on? Checked luggage?) And Kim where/how did you pack those little creamers? I guess I'm looking for tips that worked for anyone else.....
We leave for my sisters in 8 days! With our busy schedule I'm feeling the crunch time....that's for sure!
It's been a busy week already and I feel like I am behind the 8 ball. SO much to do! My dad comes for a quick visit today on his way out west to hunt. Last night, we found out that our air bed has a leak in it. Naturally. Our house is filled with tons of stuff waiting for a place to go... (like in our suitcases). It's all piled in various places, mainly the two worst....the dining room table and the kitchen counter!
I'm just behind in general....and need to get my act together! Just cleaning up the clutter and catching up on regular stuff like laundry and dishes will help me feel more organized. We have a super busy week with football and our fall festival at church....plus a picnic on Saturday for our Sunday school class!
I have a question for those of you who have traveled before.... how did you pack your stuff. I know that sounds silly, and I do know to divide our clothes so if a suitcase is lost we each have some clothes to wear. But what about food items? Where did you pack those? (Carry on? Checked luggage?) And Kim where/how did you pack those little creamers? I guess I'm looking for tips that worked for anyone else.....
We leave for my sisters in 8 days! With our busy schedule I'm feeling the crunch time....that's for sure!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Quick Update
Just want everyone to know that we leave for my sister's in 10 days. Chris has 8 days of work left before our trip. As this week begins to take off with all our family's activities, I just want to let you know it's hit me....
It's HIT ME! As in, we are leaving for Russia very very soon! I have some butterflies and I am a bit nervous, and even with all my preparing I'm a bit stressed now! It's coming up quickly....
Yoga anyone? Oh, I don't do yoga.... maybe I should take it up? Breathe and count to 10.
It's HIT ME! As in, we are leaving for Russia very very soon! I have some butterflies and I am a bit nervous, and even with all my preparing I'm a bit stressed now! It's coming up quickly....
Yoga anyone? Oh, I don't do yoga.... maybe I should take it up? Breathe and count to 10.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
More Shopping with the Family
Chris and I have been two ships passing in the night, with his busy work schedule and our busy football schedule! So, last night we talked and talked. Just trying to catch up with life.... you know those chats. Not deep, soulful conversations, but quick bullet points... Ds2's birthday, packing lists, adapters for Russia, headphones for the trip, visas, passports etc etc etc. What came out of that talk was that we needed to go as a family to get some shopping done for our trip. That being decided we headed out this evening.
We shopped at Kohl's first. I could finally pick up my luggage for $60. American Tourister. It's a good carry-on and hopefully it will last me for awhile. Chris picked up a pair of slippers for the apartment we will be staying in.
The next stop was Walmart. Not my favorite place to shop. Ours is not very fresh and clean looking, though I must admit two reasons for my stop this evening were one stop shopping and low prices. We knocked off quite a bit of our packing list! Chris needs to visit a Best Buy, Circuit City or Radio Shack for the electronic stuff we will need.
I still need to find one of those masks that you wear to sleep on the plane. Becky, you had a picture with one on you... where would I find that? Kim, you mentioned a blow up neck pillow to sleep on the plane, where would I find that? Kelly- I know we talked about international luggage locks, but I can't find that email. Where would I purchase those? Carey, I remember reading that you guys brought a lot of candy. lol! I can see that I will need to bring some for Chris as well. He is Mr. Snack and will be so much happier if he has his sugar fix. And I will need to bring my coffee, as I will be happier with my coffee fix. Definitely!
How many movies should we bring over? Books? I know we only get to visit the orphanage once a day, but we have two orphanages to visit. I imagine our "down time" might not be a lot. Like Becky and Carrie said, it will probably be in the car riding all day in Moscow traffic! I'll be sure to have my laptop ready to type!
That's all for now....
Jackie
We shopped at Kohl's first. I could finally pick up my luggage for $60. American Tourister. It's a good carry-on and hopefully it will last me for awhile. Chris picked up a pair of slippers for the apartment we will be staying in.
The next stop was Walmart. Not my favorite place to shop. Ours is not very fresh and clean looking, though I must admit two reasons for my stop this evening were one stop shopping and low prices. We knocked off quite a bit of our packing list! Chris needs to visit a Best Buy, Circuit City or Radio Shack for the electronic stuff we will need.
I still need to find one of those masks that you wear to sleep on the plane. Becky, you had a picture with one on you... where would I find that? Kim, you mentioned a blow up neck pillow to sleep on the plane, where would I find that? Kelly- I know we talked about international luggage locks, but I can't find that email. Where would I purchase those? Carey, I remember reading that you guys brought a lot of candy. lol! I can see that I will need to bring some for Chris as well. He is Mr. Snack and will be so much happier if he has his sugar fix. And I will need to bring my coffee, as I will be happier with my coffee fix. Definitely!
How many movies should we bring over? Books? I know we only get to visit the orphanage once a day, but we have two orphanages to visit. I imagine our "down time" might not be a lot. Like Becky and Carrie said, it will probably be in the car riding all day in Moscow traffic! I'll be sure to have my laptop ready to type!
That's all for now....
Jackie
Monday, October 20, 2008
Yay! More of you have landed here! I love it! There still are quite a few that have not made it over...probably due to the blogger error that is affecting invitations to private blogs. Thanks Carrie for that heads up.... like I said, naturally that would happen to me when I decide to go private. I'm a magnet for blogger bugs. :-)
Carey and Kim mentioned the all important backpacks. We definitely will be bringing these. We have one for our computer that will also hold additional items and I have an Eddie Bauer backpack diaper bag that I bought at the consignment sale. My friend Jennifer found it for me ($8 total), and convinced me that it would come in handy to be hands free. She was quite right it seems.... :-)
Kim sent me along a packing list via email, and it is awesome! Very detailed, it covers most anything. I re-worked it to fit the things we were bringing and combined it with the list from our agency. Now I have one all-inclusive list that I can keep checking things off of. I'm hoping to go purchase my carry-on luggage tomorrow.
There is still so much to be done. Someone at church last night mentioned I'd be packing for the boys, and then I remembered I not only had to pack us up...but I needed to pack for my two boys for the week! UGH! Getting Chris and I organized is hard enough....I'll just pack light for the boys. Thank goodness my sister does laundry everyday. (Unlike her laundry procrastinating sister!)
That's the update for now... I'm waiting on an email from our agency to clarify a few documents needed. I'll get working on more of my list tomorrow.
Carey and Kim mentioned the all important backpacks. We definitely will be bringing these. We have one for our computer that will also hold additional items and I have an Eddie Bauer backpack diaper bag that I bought at the consignment sale. My friend Jennifer found it for me ($8 total), and convinced me that it would come in handy to be hands free. She was quite right it seems.... :-)
Kim sent me along a packing list via email, and it is awesome! Very detailed, it covers most anything. I re-worked it to fit the things we were bringing and combined it with the list from our agency. Now I have one all-inclusive list that I can keep checking things off of. I'm hoping to go purchase my carry-on luggage tomorrow.
There is still so much to be done. Someone at church last night mentioned I'd be packing for the boys, and then I remembered I not only had to pack us up...but I needed to pack for my two boys for the week! UGH! Getting Chris and I organized is hard enough....I'll just pack light for the boys. Thank goodness my sister does laundry everyday. (Unlike her laundry procrastinating sister!)
That's the update for now... I'm waiting on an email from our agency to clarify a few documents needed. I'll get working on more of my list tomorrow.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Background Changes
I loved the look of the black background with my photo....but the white font was just too hard on my eyes. So, I had to switch it to grey with a black font. Not as sharp, but you'll thank me when you don't have to squint at the screen. :-)
Travel Dates
Looks like many of you have found the new blog! Yay!! I still have about 1/2 that haven't navigated their way over... Hopefully they'll make it in the next day or so.
First let me say one thing... my "e" is sticking. So if you find somthing mispelled, that I didn't catch, and it's missing an "e"....that's why. And if anyone knows how to unstick an "e", let me know 'cause it's driving me nuts.
Okay, travel dates.... We are traveling... ready? November 8th-15th. I counted it out with my mom today and it's 2 weeks and 6 days. It certainly sounds a lot closer than 3 weeks. Just hearing that 2 weeks in front, motivates me to get moving, doing something, anything along th lines of gtting prepared. Tomorrow I'm getting all the paperwork ready. I have a few checklists that I'm working on and I'm going to try and tackle one section a day. I'm also going to put two open suitcases upstairs in the spare bedroom and add all the things that are ready. Plus, I'm going to hang the combined checklist on the wall in that room, so as I add things I can check them off....Pretty good plan? I think so.
I still need to order some things for our trip... My mom and dad loaned me two suitcases (not the brand new ones thank goodness as I would worry they would get ruined). Now I just need to purchase our carry-on suitcases. I'm also looking for a good pair of boots to bring. I'm feeling cold here in Tennessee, (fire is lit this evening) so I can't imagine how cold I'll be in Russia!
It's going to be a crazy busy week. Chris has huge deadlines at work, so I'll be handling a lot of things on my own. It figures as we get ready to travel, things pick up to a very brisk pace for him at work. I'm just going to have to take things one day at a time. Right? :-)
First let me say one thing... my "e" is sticking. So if you find somthing mispelled, that I didn't catch, and it's missing an "e"....that's why. And if anyone knows how to unstick an "e", let me know 'cause it's driving me nuts.
Okay, travel dates.... We are traveling... ready? November 8th-15th. I counted it out with my mom today and it's 2 weeks and 6 days. It certainly sounds a lot closer than 3 weeks. Just hearing that 2 weeks in front, motivates me to get moving, doing something, anything along th lines of gtting prepared. Tomorrow I'm getting all the paperwork ready. I have a few checklists that I'm working on and I'm going to try and tackle one section a day. I'm also going to put two open suitcases upstairs in the spare bedroom and add all the things that are ready. Plus, I'm going to hang the combined checklist on the wall in that room, so as I add things I can check them off....Pretty good plan? I think so.
I still need to order some things for our trip... My mom and dad loaned me two suitcases (not the brand new ones thank goodness as I would worry they would get ruined). Now I just need to purchase our carry-on suitcases. I'm also looking for a good pair of boots to bring. I'm feeling cold here in Tennessee, (fire is lit this evening) so I can't imagine how cold I'll be in Russia!
It's going to be a crazy busy week. Chris has huge deadlines at work, so I'll be handling a lot of things on my own. It figures as we get ready to travel, things pick up to a very brisk pace for him at work. I'm just going to have to take things one day at a time. Right? :-)
Travel Blog!
Hi Everyone! If you found yourself here, you have received a personal invitation to our travel blog! In an effort to keep our travel info. personal and private (as requested by our adoption agency) I have created a separate travel blog. This blog is mainly for family and friends that I know in real life. Plus a few close online friends who I have known for awhile and trust. I'll be able to share more details about our journey and you'll be able to follow along as we travel to Russia. I'll still keep my other blog going, though it will definitely be more general in nature.
As you leave......please leave a comment in the comment section so I know who made it here via my invitation. (Actually, I found out that I can track that via my settings, so it's your choice on the comment....)
Yay!! I'm looking forward to posting more info.!!
As you leave......please leave a comment in the comment section so I know who made it here via my invitation. (Actually, I found out that I can track that via my settings, so it's your choice on the comment....)
Yay!! I'm looking forward to posting more info.!!
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