The countdown is truly on now. We have less than two weeks left before we take off, and we are starting to feel it. (we take off on October 29) 

We repack our bags every few days as we are constantly trying to play Tetris to get all our favourite things into our limited number of bags. I am trying to imagine us actually one day unpacking these very bags in our boat, putting some of these things away. It seems like a long ways away right now, but I know this time will go by quickly.

I have long since stopped having good quality sleep. It has nothing to do with our accommodations. I have slept well here for the past two weeks, but something has twigged in my brain and now I toss and turn for hours before I eventually fall asleep. It feels like hard work and I do dread it sometimes. I am exhausted during the day and am happy to crawl into bed early, at the kids bedtime, but I just don't fall asleep. So I read, sometimes watch a show on my phone, listen to a story or eventually just have to try and calm my own thoughts down. I don't feel stressed out, but I think that is what I shall attribute this lack of sleep to: stress.

We've also started our first "lasts". Last time at church, last time seeing these friends, last time seeing those friends, last this, last that. It's odd.

I mean, I know we aren't leaving the planet, never to return, but it still feels monumental. The emotional weight is starting to get to me, too, I think. We have lots of people cheering us on, but soon, we will have to wave goodbye and as it turns out, that part is hard. We've planned a good send-off with our family's right before we go, and that feels right.

Lots of deep breathing happening.

So for now, we are trying our hardest to use up the food we have on our shelf and in the fridge, we are trying to keep up with the laundry (as we all only have limited fall clothes - poor Piper only has one pair of pants somehow!) and try to not lose our marbles all over the place. Matt is working hard on figuring out the shipping of his tools and some of our bigger things and I am trying to get all the appointments done before our take-off date (here we go to the dentist!).

We're really excited to get this party started. We just want to get there, but first we gotta climb these last few mountains before we start.

Thank you all for cheering us on, for your thoughts and prayers. We need them all, and keep them coming :)