16 Days!

That's how many days are left until we board the plane for Vietnam, Lord willing. Things have really been popping this week! Sheila received our visas on Monday. (That was FAST!) Then Tuesday we had an adoption date set...November 10! We have our itinerary and plane tickets purchased. I've notified my credit card company of my travel plans, as well as the State Dept. Travel insurance, purchased. Packing list, finalized. Last minute purchases, made. Carry on bag, mostly packed. It's hard to believe, after all of these MANY months of waiting, that the time is just around the corner now!

The girls are having one last "hurrah" before Sheila becomes a mother. Heather and Allison came down to spend the weekend with Sheila, and they, with Jessica and Stacey, have been enjoying their time together. We plan to head over to HC for services tomorrow to see the girls. I also need to pick up my visa and passport from Sheila and get them packed. Sheila and I have been texting back and forth constantly all week. SO many things to talk about and plans to make!

Other than travel plans, I spent 3 days taking folks to doctor visits. I took my Aunt Coez to FW on Monday. We had lunch together and then, on our way home, we dropped off to visit Daddy and Bobbie. It was Coez's first time to see their home at Brookdale. Then Thursday and Friday, Daddy had his Mohs surgery on his nose and skin graft. Both went well, and he goes back in 2 weeks to get his stitches out. We go back to the kidney specialist on Tuesday to find out the results of the tests that he had done. I'm really interested in finding out what he has to tell us.

I also got some baking done this week. I made snickerdoodles and a pecan pie for our upcoming meeting (next weekend!). I also made a batch of oatmeal cookies to keep in the freezer for grandson visits. My granny ALWAYS kept a stash in her freezer when we were growing up. I plan to uphold the tradition!

I have a couple of CASA visits to do next week (along with Daddy's doctor's appointment), then the rest of my time will be spent getting things ready for the meeting, which starts Friday night. I need to get the house cleaned, groceries bought and my food prepped and ready to cook.

Dennis hunted 2 or 3 days this past week and ended up bagging a nice fat young buck. I'm hoping we can wait until AFTER the meeting before we butcher it, but I doubt that happens. Dennis is planning a trip to East Texas as soon as our meeting is over, so he'll probably want to have that chore out of the way early. I'm thankful for the freezer that we bought from Daddy, because for the first time in our 40 years of marriage, I DIDN'T have to defrost the freezer before hunting season!

Another first for our 40 years of marriage, we won't be able to spend our anniversary together this year. Since I'll be in Vietnam from the 6th through the 23rd of November, and our anniversary is the 19th, we will have to celebrate either very early or a bit late. (We did have our Grand Canyon trip though!) We are also having to cancel our annual Thanksgiving celebration. We are supposed to return home on Thanksgiving Day, and the first few weeks will be spent helping Nam adjust to his new home...not a good time for introducing him to the whole family. Hopefully when he gets used to things here, we can get the family together for a quiet celebration.

Well, that's enough exciting news for this week! I hope to see some of you next weekend!