Saying Goodbye

I'm trying to decide what YOU want to hear about my trip.
The food?
What the orphanages themselves were like?
The kids?
The orphanage directors?
Our schedule?
The weather?
Our accommodations?
I don't know, so I'm just going to jump in.

It was harder to leave home than I thought it was going to be.
Much harder.
Rick and I took the boys to school Monday morning and I walked them in... and I cried.
2 weeks without seeing their sweet faces, feeling their arms around my neck, sweaty boy hands in mine.
UGH! I wanted to go... I was excited to go... but OHHHHH I was going to miss them!

So it was just Rick and I headed towards the airport.
One of the fundraisers New Horizons does to help with interview trip costs is to offer to carry over care packages to UKR and LAT and deliver them to the host kids. For a fee- depending on the size of the care package, we'll get it to the right country, and in some cases (if it's an orphanage we're revisiting) we'll personally deliver it and take a picture.
There were only 2 of us receiving packages for Ukraine; myself and another team member in Colorado.
She got about 13 packages... I got close to 40... most of them gallon size Ziploc bags... many of them stuffed to the gills... some of them unbelievably heavy.

So packing was an issue.
I had to find suitcases that were 1. within the airline's size restrictions and 2. would hold as much as possible without going over the weight limit. I had over 120 lbs of care packages. Each suitcase could weigh no more than 50 lbs or there would be an extra fee  So at one point, to get everything under the weight limit I had 3 bags to check that consisted solely of care packages, 1 rolling carry on that had my stuff in it, and a backpack.  Of course, theres also an additional fee for checking more than one bag, so even thought I had them under the weight limit, I still had to pay for the 2 additional bags. Plus, I was going to have to pay to bring those bags back home.
I could just picture me in Kiev. Alone... not speaking the language.... wrestling with and controlling 4 suitcases and a backpack.
Yeah, I had to figure out something else.

The day before I left, we had a family day in Columbus. We went to the Power Show and the boys competed in a kiddie tractor pull. Joe placed in his age group and has been invited to pull at the 2013 NKTPA Grand Nationals.  But while we were on the way to Columbus, I checked Craigslist for a suitcase. If I was going to "lighten my load" so to speak, I needed a LARGE suitcase that would get me there, but also one that was cheap enough that I could leave it in UKR.
The Lord provided one for $15. It was barely within the size restrictions, the wheels worked, and it was right on our way home. YAY GOD!

So now I had all the care packages packed into 2 BIG suitcases. They were both over the weight limit (each close to 70 lbs) and I was going to have to pay excess baggage fees, but I'd reduced my number of suitcases by 1 AND the one we got off Craigslist, I could leave behind and not pay to bring it back.
PERFECT!
So the count now is 2 large/heavy rolling suitcases, 1 rolling carry on and a STUFFED backpack. Not ideal, but certainly more manageable.

So Rick got me to the airport, we got everything checked in, and then it was time to go through security.
Rick and I have been married for 10 years, and we've never been apart for more than a couple of days- and even that is a rarity.  He doesn't travel for work, I don't travel for work. If we travel somewhere, we do it as a family.

Saying goodbye to Rick was harder than saying goodbye to the boys.
I went through security... weeping.
I gathered up my stuff... still weeping.
I walked to my gate with the tears rolling down my cheeks.

I wanted to go... I was excited to go...
But OHHHHH how I was going to miss them!

Once I got settled at my gate and started focusing on other things, things started to dry up.
But I was surprised at how emotional I was about leaving.
Saying goodbye was much harder than what I'd expected.

I would hope that if I get to go again, the goodbyes will be easier... or at least less emotional.