Gratitude

We really are horrible people.  Not in every aspect, and hopefully not in many, but we failed in our attempt to get ready for this trip.  It has not been pretty in our house for the last week, and we are to blame.  We left way too much for the last minute and paid for it.  And that would have been fine if our friends and family hadn’t had to pay for it right alongside us.  My amazing mom spent her entire birthday helping us get ready to fly out.  One of my incredible friends Dean spent more time helping us than he did with his own family.  Countless other friends and family helped in a myriad of ways and there is absolutely no doubt that we wouldn’t have made it without them.  We are sorry.  We wish we could have had a last couple of relaxing days to hang out with everyone and enjoy our last moments in Bend, but like I mentioned before, we failed badly.

So to that amazing group of friends and family who so valiantly saved our keisters, and continue to, we are eternally grateful and forever sorry to have drug you that deeply into our chaos.

Because despite all of those things we didn’t do right, we did make it.  The house is empty, the storage is full, and we have achieved the ultimate goal that my good friend Andy kept reminding me of, and that’s “butt on plane”.

So, I am typing this as I sit on the first of four flights that will eventually land us in Brasilia sometime tomorrow.   I find myself absolutely exhausted, but incredibly excited, and because I can finally slow down enough to realize it, kind of emotional about the whole process.  We are leaving an amazing community we love so much, and we already miss everyone.  And we are moving to Brazil, for two years, with our family, to teach, to live, to adventure, for real, today.  Right now, for me, in this moment, it has just become as real as it has ever been.