| YES WE ARE STILL ACCEPTING DONATIONS FOR OUR TRIP. |
WE LEAVE FOR ZAMBIA IN 4 DAYS
And yes I do feel like that announcement/countdown needs to be in bold and all caps :)
We got back from our 5 week long trip to Tennessee almost 3 weeks ago and I've pretty much been packing on and off since then. In fact I literally unpacked into different suitcases and have been packing, weighing, listing, repacking, rethinking, repacking for weeks now.
We are flying with Emirates airlines this year and they have very different limits on luggage so I'm getting creative. Together we are taking 8 checked bags and 4 "personal bags" not to exceed 15lbs each. We intend to leave 99% of everything we bring for someone else to use in Zambia. I'm sure someone needs everything we own way more than we do, and we need empty luggage to bring back the items that the Zambian Vocal Group will sell at their concerts in order to raise money for the Zambian Vocal Group Academy. That means that I'm not just trying to pack enough for our family to be gone for 2 months, i'm trying to decide what to bring, that we no longer need to own, and make sure it will be what we need while we are there.
I'm to preoccupied with packing to worry to much about how the actual travel portion of the trip will go. That's what everyone asks... "how long is the flight?". Well, it will take us 3 days to get to Zambia... and yes with a 2 and a 5 year old with us, I'm reasonably sure that there will be a few "moments" along the way. Honestly I'm not to worried about it. I'm probably being rather naive but I'm sticking to it. We are flying straight out of DFW airport. Our first flight is 14.5 hours to Dubai. We will then have a 21 hour layover before we take the second flight of 7.5 hours into Zambia. Emirates airline has lots to keep the kids busy on the flight including Madison's favorite movie ever Frozen, and two movies that Brandon has spent months begging to watch. They are both pretty good little travelers so I'm sure we will be able to figure it out.
We have gotten a few more donations in and we are just under $1,500 short of our $12,000 fundraising goal. Plus, we have a few more people that still want to donate a bit. Our paypal account is still open if you want to donate as well. There is a link at the top of this page or you can email me for other ways to help.
Brandon is going to miss his Preschool Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday as we leave for Zambia on Monday afternoon. He goes to a Fantastic Preschool at Faithbridge Church in Frisco. We just love it! Brandon was a little sad about missing graduation because he remembered attending his cousin's graduation ceremony last year. His teacher and director set up a special time this morning during their Chapel time for Brandon to get a chance to sing songs with his class, wear a cap and gown, and walk across the stage and graduate. It was so sweet of them to invite us and do that for Brandon... but apparently we should have explained to him what a "gown" was. He thought for sure they were making him wear a dress and that his class would laugh at him. The entire time up on stage for his special day he was crying/pouting/looking sad. I'm hoping that someone got at least one good picture of him smiling. After the fact, he said he was super excited to graduate... go figure. We also has his kindergarten tour today so big things coming in his future.
We got back from our 5 week long trip to Tennessee almost 3 weeks ago and I've pretty much been packing on and off since then. In fact I literally unpacked into different suitcases and have been packing, weighing, listing, repacking, rethinking, repacking for weeks now.
We are flying with Emirates airlines this year and they have very different limits on luggage so I'm getting creative. Together we are taking 8 checked bags and 4 "personal bags" not to exceed 15lbs each. We intend to leave 99% of everything we bring for someone else to use in Zambia. I'm sure someone needs everything we own way more than we do, and we need empty luggage to bring back the items that the Zambian Vocal Group will sell at their concerts in order to raise money for the Zambian Vocal Group Academy. That means that I'm not just trying to pack enough for our family to be gone for 2 months, i'm trying to decide what to bring, that we no longer need to own, and make sure it will be what we need while we are there.
I'm to preoccupied with packing to worry to much about how the actual travel portion of the trip will go. That's what everyone asks... "how long is the flight?". Well, it will take us 3 days to get to Zambia... and yes with a 2 and a 5 year old with us, I'm reasonably sure that there will be a few "moments" along the way. Honestly I'm not to worried about it. I'm probably being rather naive but I'm sticking to it. We are flying straight out of DFW airport. Our first flight is 14.5 hours to Dubai. We will then have a 21 hour layover before we take the second flight of 7.5 hours into Zambia. Emirates airline has lots to keep the kids busy on the flight including Madison's favorite movie ever Frozen, and two movies that Brandon has spent months begging to watch. They are both pretty good little travelers so I'm sure we will be able to figure it out.
We have gotten a few more donations in and we are just under $1,500 short of our $12,000 fundraising goal. Plus, we have a few more people that still want to donate a bit. Our paypal account is still open if you want to donate as well. There is a link at the top of this page or you can email me for other ways to help.
Brandon is going to miss his Preschool Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday as we leave for Zambia on Monday afternoon. He goes to a Fantastic Preschool at Faithbridge Church in Frisco. We just love it! Brandon was a little sad about missing graduation because he remembered attending his cousin's graduation ceremony last year. His teacher and director set up a special time this morning during their Chapel time for Brandon to get a chance to sing songs with his class, wear a cap and gown, and walk across the stage and graduate. It was so sweet of them to invite us and do that for Brandon... but apparently we should have explained to him what a "gown" was. He thought for sure they were making him wear a dress and that his class would laugh at him. The entire time up on stage for his special day he was crying/pouting/looking sad. I'm hoping that someone got at least one good picture of him smiling. After the fact, he said he was super excited to graduate... go figure. We also has his kindergarten tour today so big things coming in his future.
I cant wait to BE in Zambia. This packing and prepping stuff is for the birds. I'm excited to see everyone, and to get to the school and start working. We will be there for 7 weeks this year which is a few weeks longer than we were able to stay last year. We are going to be able to go to the village that Sylvester's mother is from. It will be a long journey and will be very different than Lusaka. There is a traditional Kaonde festival going on in the village while we will be visiting. I bet the kids will just love it! I love that my kids are getting all these great experiences while they are young, even if they won't remember all of them.
Please pray for us as we continue to get ready for our trip. Once we arrive, I hope to be able to update this blog so you can follow along with us on our journey. If I can't get access to internet, I will be updating from our facebook page so keep an eye out both places.
Thank you all for the prayers, donations, luggage, encouragement, and support. We Love you all!
Please pray for us as we continue to get ready for our trip. Once we arrive, I hope to be able to update this blog so you can follow along with us on our journey. If I can't get access to internet, I will be updating from our facebook page so keep an eye out both places.
Thank you all for the prayers, donations, luggage, encouragement, and support. We Love you all!