So far most of our preparations for returning to America have integrated into our regular everyday schedule. We have been shopping and packing side-by-side with prayer meetings and Bible reading groups. But I haven’t touched the dishes in a week, and the other housework even less. I’m fighting a cold right now and the list of things to accomplish before we fly to America is about 19 tasks long. This week we will need to focus full-time on America. And laundry and cleaning is not even on this To-Do list. I just put a load of laundry in, the first of what will probably be 10 loads before we leave the apartment to our friends. The pressure of having somebody stay in our apartment while we’re gone is good for me because otherwise I would be tempted to leave the cleaning undone, but imagine how disgusting that would be after two and a half months!
One Last Coffee Together
So if I were really disciplined I would say no to all of my friends that want to get together one-last-time before we leave. But what can I say, I’m a push-over. So we are going to Choir practice tonight, practicing for a concert we won’t be here to preform in. Tomorrow night we are invited to dinner with friends. Wednesday night we are having an English conversation club that will require some lesson planning on my part. Thursday night is CinéClub I might be able to skip that one. Friday is a prayer meeting with some young ladies. Friday night we are supposed to be having some friends over for appetizers, but haven’t invited them yet. Saturday we are having a picnic for all of the people that we missed, who want to see us before we leave. Sunday is “The Gathering” a worship service we do each week, but I might have to skip that too just to keep my sanity. Monday is Choir practice again, and Tuesday we fly.
I can’t send invitations to English conversation club, or the Saturday picnic, because our e-mail is down. And the phone service isn’t working today so we can’t call you in America.
So running low on energy with my cold, and having every house keeping chore well past the overdue state, and keeping a ministry schedule at about 90% this week, and adding 19 little last-minute tasks that need to be accomplished in the next seven days. I predict we are going to land in America very exhausted.