T-minus 6 Days and Counting

Today was crazy.  But Awesome.

• Work, lots of work, feeling the intensity of being gone for my leave on short notice is going to do...starting to wish I was a little less important at work.
• Got my nails done.  Very girly thing, but for whatever reason having shiny toes makes me smile.  Hopefully it entertains toddlers for about 30 hours straight. ;)
• Took Dane to dinner at the Ethiopian restaurant in town, Queen of Sheba.  The gal who owns it was extremely gracious and we talked about things I should buy and bring back for the little man.  She is from Awassa, which is a little further out than the orphanage Isaac was at.  She was surprised and happy to hear of the orphanage in this area!
• Got the Chicco Stoller in the mail and tried it out.  Yes, in fact, this is the best stroller I have ever and/or will ever touch.  A must have for those who are traveling with toddlers.
• Called Delta because they were supposed to issue paper tickets for Isaac and I don't have them.  Well, as it turns out, they can't issue one way paper tickets in the US for international travel TO the US for a person traveling on a non-US Passport unless I pay for roundtrip tickets (fun fact that I am sure I will use every day from here forward, lol!).  Then when I get home and he gets a US Birth Certificate, we get a refund for more than the difference of the ticket prices.  Go figure.  As a result, they are upgrading me and we are saving more than $300.  Yeah, I could stand to do this again.  My only "cost" is needing to arrive to the airport 15 minutes early to be sure I have time to pay for the tickets and the time I spent on the phone.
• Found out the Seattle airport has a storage company that will hold baggage for a small fee.  For whatever reason, it was $400 cheaper for me to fly from Spokane to Seattle on Thursday and Seattle to Addis on Friday/Saturday.  So, I have to check my luggage out and then back in.  This was very time intensive in Amsterdam last time, so this way, I pickup my luggage, pay ~$15, pick it up in the AM and check it back in.  This will allow me to take the train to my brother and his girlfriend's apartment in Seattle and not have to "lug" all of that luggage around.  Most of it is return supplies for Isaac and donations for the orphanage and foster home, so I won't need it while I am there anyhow.
• Beginnings of packing...So last time I had wanted to be very meticulous about what was packed where, etc. etc.  But it ended up Kevin did most of that packing, so it was all put in the bag, but not very organized.  I took the time to pack Isaac's items and to get the donation items together.  Let's just say I am very happy with the Rick Steve's travel cubes. :)
• And then there was the list of items that need to be purchased.  Thank heavens it is much shorter this time!  Well that list is now ready to roll, and I'm just waiting to take action!  Dane and I have a shopping date early tomorrow AM.
• Kevin prepared for the class he is giving the x-ray techs at work tomorrow AM.  It's something they only trust him to do and it saves the company money.  I'm a little bummed that one of the three times a year fell on our last Saturday as a family of 3, but I'll get some Dane time, so it'll be good!
• Add to that spending quality time with the boys, and today is pretty well AWESOME!