Of packing and surprises

My sister and I successfully surprised our parents with bringing her and baby Joseph for a visit before I leave. There's lots to the story, but I'll tell it in brief. Hehe.

The setup: I told my parents that I needed to catch up with a friend after a meeting on Wednesday night. "You know how things go with Kami... it'll probably be late," I said. I did go catch up with Kami. I picked up a carseat from her, visited for a little while, then headed for the airport at 10:30 PM.

Arriving at the airport about 1 AM, I met my sister and nephew, situated them in the car, and proceeded to drive through incredibly dense fog all the way home. Joseph alternated between sleeping (post-feeding) and wailing (any time he was returned to the carseat while awake). It was during one of those stops that I posted this status update :

 We arrived home at 5:15 AM, and Joseph was asleep. So we parked, brought things inside, and situated R and J in the boys' room upstairs. Papa heard us come up, but thought it was just me making all that noise. Haha, riiight.

That produced this update.

As it turns out, my parents are surprisingly trusting people. Neither the early morning return, nor the status updates, nor the box of diapers in the garage gave them pause enough to consider they might have surprise "guests". They didn't discover their grandson in the house until several hours later when he came out to play. It's been a really good visit. I've gotten lots of 10 week-old snuggles and play time, mixed in with packing and goodbyes.

In other news, my packing is pretty well complete.  I have a guitar, two duffel bags, and  a small backpack.  See?

 If all my luggage arrives in good shape, I'll be delighted!

In the next day I'll be saying a couple more goodbyes, collecting baby snuggles, doing a few last errands, and soaking in the gorgeous Autumn weather.

This week I'll be traveling.
 --> Tuesday I fly to Georgia for checkout with AltLink
--> Thursday I board my first flight of 3 international ones.
--> Saturday (home time) I'll arrive in the islands
--> Sunday (home time) I'll take a boat to Clove Island.

The following week my team and I will be having island orientation, then it's on to language learning! 

Do pr@y that all of the traveling goes week, that transitions occur smoothly, that luggage arrives safely (and on time!), and for all the details that still need to be dealt with.

Until later,
~Abby