A Series of Lasts

We are checking things off the list of "to-do's" now as we prepare for travel. It is so surreal to think that we are going to be holding our daughter in 12 days! We've had our last day of work. I've said "goodbye" to coworkers and students until next fall. We've been visiting with friends and family for the last time before we take off. We have purchased our last gallon of milk for a few weeks. We did our last pre-travel geocaching over the weekend to boost our numbers (we got up to #249 so we could find our milestone #250 in China). Ron and Ella have had their last haircuts before Hope comes home. We'll go to church for the last time on Sunday as a couple. We are about to have our last weekend as "Beth & Ron," before we become known as "Hope's Mommy & Daddy." It is all just so incredible.

Here are a couple before and after photos of Ella. She is so pretty in full coat, but she is so much more comfortable with her summer cut. We're sure going to miss her while we're gone. She's not spoiled at all...I promise. :)

Saying "goodbye" to my fellow rock star terps at school this afternoon was emotional. It has been a pleasure this year ladies! ILY!

I'll try to post again this weekend sometime. We're going to be BUSY packing! We have our travel meeting tomorrow morning at the CR Edina office. We'll be filling out paperwork and writing our signatures until our hands ache I'm sure. And, I bet we'll have a little bit of last minute shopping to do. Hopefully everything will fall into place and we'll be on the plane with everything we need on Tuesday. Until next time everybody...