Good Morning!

I am one who covets sleep. I am generally a great sleeper. When given the opportunity I typically fall asleep within less than 10 minutes of my head hitting the pillow. I try very hard to get 8 hours or more each night. Well, that all changed about 2 days ago. On Monday afternoon as we were making our way home from a visit with my sister, both Andy and I were checking our email intermittently... no, constantly. I had to scold him a few times when I caught him doing it while driving. By about noon we gave up on the email coming since China is 13 hours ahead of us. We figured if we hadn't gotten it by then, it wasn't coming that day.

We were wrong. Around 2:00 PM we got the email. We'll leave on the 26th of July. And then something immediately snapped in me. "This is really going to happen!"

I've been treating this trip like one of Andy's deployments. Because the first few were so amazingly hard, I have learned to practice denial. I've gotten pretty good at it. I typically just ignore the fact that an upcoming transition is coming. It is easier on my mind, my heart and my gut to be quite frank. But, this time I have doubt it will be working for me. 

Yesterday and this morning I woke up before 6:00 AM which is very out of the ordinary for me. I typically have to be dragged out of bed by my 3 year old at  7:30 (oops, I'm showing my laziness) Anyway, hoping to be productive today. There are many things to do and organize before we leave.  One thing that eases my mind a bit is the fact that all of our family and friends staying with Jack have graciously agreed to stay here at home with him so that he can be in the most familiar environment possible. That alone gives me a tiny chunk of peace in a whirlwind of chaos.

I will be attempting to update thru blogger while we are away, but I'm not sure how it will work. I also have spoken to my brother about posting for us, so regardless of the obstacles that may stand in our way, we'll get you pictures and stories about our sweet Effie, one way or another.

Here's to early rising from now until July 30th when that sweet little girl is in our arms forever!

Jack and his Cousin having a blast in the water...

... and exploring the neighborhood park.