Wow. November. Time seems to have hurried up, especially now that we have an approximate target date for our return to China: January-ish. It’s still a little indefinite because of Chinese New Year, which begins on the 23rd of January. During the entire season, travel is next to impossible as the entire country is migrating, and then all business basically stops for a month. So we could rush to get there and be without a phone or internet for a month or so, for example. And we’ll need to have some time to find an apartment and get our things (now in storage in the south) moved across the country to our new home.

We’re hoping everything comes together quickly so we can book our flights and be out of here long before that, but we’re also trying to be realistic and not set ourselves up for disappointment.

This may cause me to adjust my goals somewhat for the upcoming months, but here’s how I’m doing on November’s goals so far:

1. Get my personal schedule on track. I’m doing better, but definitely not all the way. Most mornings, I’ve been up and had my devotional time, but definitely not as early as I need to. I’ve been about a half an hour late getting up each morning, and no, I’ve not exercised yet. Not even once.
2. Begin moving preparations. I’m a list-maker. So that has been my starting point with this move. I’ve begun making lists: things to assemble before we leave, mostly things we need to purchase such as spices that are unavailable in China, lists of numbers of suitcases (we use lightweight bins, like Rubbermaid but less weight), and what should go in them. I’m trying to look around at all we have and figure out how I can condense it. You just don’t realize how much stuff you have until you start to pack it all up to fit in 10 suitcases. Think about how much room five people’s shoes take up, for example! Next step: buy more bins and start getting a visual on things.
3. Pull off a successful birthday celebration for Sweetpea, and have a blast on our trip. All of this is yet to come. Sweetpea’s birthday is today, so she enjoyed a gift from Grandma on Saturday (video to come tomorrow), the official birthday party is on the weekend. Shhh! Don’t tell, Grandma & Grandpa and cousins are coming. She doesn’t know.  And our trip is still a surprise, and has yet to be unveiled. The unveil will happen next week. I’m already getting excited!