Five Weeks From Today

We leave in five weeks.

Five. Weeks.

I woke up last night at 2 a.m. and after getting reeled in to reality TV for two hours (Cupcakes Wars! Jerseylicious! House Hunters International! Ice and Coco! ...Man, I love reality TV) I started stressing out. At 4a.m. I started thinking how crazy it is to move across the world where I know no one. I do not know a soul. Never been to Asia. And doing it with a toddler? Have I lost my mind?

I know it was just a temporary case of cold feet-- I am feeling much better about it today--but the reality of it all hit me really hard last night. I have turned down overseas job offers for the past ten years. I have had offers in Shanghai, Togo, London, Sao Paulo, Malaysia, Jordan and other interesting cities but each time I turned them down. Too far. Too dangerous. Too expensive. No men to date. Or whatever. In retrospect, none of the reasons were really very good and I have regretted it ever since, so here I am actually planning on doing it this time. I'm going to live out my dream. But this time I have a child and this time I own a home. And my child is adopted. Those factors make this so much more complicated!

Let's run down the things I still need to accomplish, shall we?

1. finish her readoption
2. pack up my classroom
3. tie up administrative loose ends at work
4. find a renter
5. hire a management company
6. get passport photos
7. doctor's appts. (one more for her, three more for me)
8. get my hair colored
9. pack up my house
10.hold another yard sale
11. cut off my utilities
12. set up automatic bill pay
13. hire movers
14. get our passports authenticated
15. get things fixed around the house for the renter (leaking fridge, broken faucet, etc.)

That's enough. You get the idea and it's making me have shortness of breath. So stressful!!! Thankfully, Friday is my last day of work. I will have lots of time to focus while Almi is in daycare all day. In fact, her last day is the day before we leave. Yes, I need every. single. day.

Down to the home stretch. This is very, very real now. I can't believe it! It's so hard to imagine that in six weeks I will be living in a new home and working at a new job (I start 5 days after I arrive!). The blog at that point will probably become private or come to an end. We are about to start a new chapter in our lives: our lives as foreigners, ex-pats, world travellers. I may start a new blog this fall but I haven't decided. But either way, if you are interested in following along, please let me know who you are and how to contact you in the comments on this post.

OK, gotta run.

Oh, and if you have time, can you vote for me at Circle of Moms as having a great adoption blog? I'm in like 40th place. You have to be in the top 25 to win. That's a lot of voting needed!!!! Honestly, I am not even sure of what I'll win but it would be really cool to be considered to have one of the best adoption blogs out there. I am at a disadvantage because I registered five days after the voting started so I need your help! All you have to do is click on this link, scroll down to find my blog and click on the thumb. The number will go up by one if your vote got recorded. You can vote once every 24 hours until June 21st. You don't have to give them any personal information or register or anything. Just click on the thumb. It's so easy! Thanks for your support!