FYI

I went to the doctor last week, and the end result of the visit was that she advised me to leave Bulgaria and travel back to the States sooner than we had planned... within a week to 10 days. Long story short, this Friday (10 days after the appointment) we will be traveling back to the States.

We'll be flying into Washington, D.C. and will be met at the airport by Jen's parents, Jim and Judy. From there we'll have a 2 hour car ride to their home in Richmond, VA. The rest of our travel plans (as far as getting back to Ohio) are tentatively the same as they had been, but we'll be discussing them with a doctor in the States as soon as we get the opportunity.

Needless to say, the last few days have been quite hectic. The sorting that I had done previously barely made a dent in all of the things we had to go through before beginning to pack! I'm happy to say, however, that we now have our 4 "checked" bags packed and zipped, though a few things will get added at the last minute. The carry-on bags are well on their way, but for now the packing is stalled until we're actually ready to head out on Friday morning.

The wallpaper in the room we stayed in (and heated with a wood stove) was old and brittle, and therefore warped and peeled off the walls over the winter, so we decided it was appropriate to paint it before we leave. (Since I can't be around paint fumes, it had to be a one-man job.) Lamar came over and helped take down the wallpaper and prepare the walls, but he hasn't had much time to come back and help with the actual painting. [On a side note... Lamar and Pat have a lot of work lined up to be done at their house and all of the contractors/workers decided to show up in the past few days, so they are really busy, too!]

I've been cleaning out the kitchen, washing linens that we are leaving here (like sheets and towels), vacuuming, inspecting for forgotten items, etc. I don't feel like I'm doing nearly as much as Joe, but he frequently reminds me that growing/storing a baby counts as work, too!

In the midst of all of the packing and cleaning, we've also been saying our goodbyes. We made a slideshow of our time in Bulgaria and played it for our friends here on Sunday. It's hard to leave the people that we've grown to love here! Today we went over our neighbors house and exchanged addresses so we'll be able to keep in touch even across the Atlantic.

Finally, for those of you who are more diligent than I about keeping track of our newsletter... you'll get one eventually! I think I need to do one for February/March, but I'm not even sure to be honest! With this recent turn of events I've been focused on the 'musts' to be done before we leave the country.

This will probably be my last post before leaving for the States, but I will try to update the blog on Saturday to let you know of any interesting travel stories we may have added to our inventory.

Much love to you all!