3 days

... till we are on the ground in Haiti!! and only about 60 hours till we board our flight out of LAX. crazy! our countdown is ticking away!

lucas and i (alicia) are already almost packed. i only have one shift left of work. but there still seems like a lot to do! today as lucas works, i am going to work on a few dances that i want to teach the kids. i have a couple awesome songs. #1 "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield #2 "For the Lord id Good" by All Together Separate. #3 is going to be a song/artist i found on line yesterday: "Freedom" Nicole C. Mullen. check her out on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaMVow85gC8 (its a little shaky and blurry at first... but hang on it gets good!)

so we went over to the Kruse's last night. the house was so lively! loni came out to greet us, and then Darin, and then Carolyn. they were extemely overjoyed that we had brought not two, but four empty suitcases and two duffle bags. (thanks mom and dad) the kruse's have been accumulating everything from peanut butter to heavy duty construction lights and duct tapping then together for protection!! the camp for the kids is "camp in a box" cause we are bringing EVERYTHING that we need! our suitcases would help them pack donations, spagetti, team t-shirts, shampoo, etc. if it fits... stick it in!! but wait. what is its weight? each suitcase can only be 50 pounds. so there was quite a production being conducted when we arrived. some bags had left with other team mates the day before, others were sitting by the door ready to go, two were open on the kitchen floor (AND... there was suzette too!! on her knees helping pack up! so excited to see her!!), and now there were several more to fill.

we jumped right in. lucas was jumping on the scale weighing suitcases, and i was the "historian," noting what was in each suitcase after it had reached its correct weight. it was decided that suzette could be smuggled into haiti in one of our oversized suitcases. haha. loni fit in one too! i didnt try. darin came out with a megaphone and was duct tapping lanyards together and passing it like a baton to me. we even breaked for 2 minutes to eat ice cream sandwiches. yum. finally we celebrated when we had numbered our 17th bag at it's correct wieght! and then lucas and i we off with three excelently and maticulously packed suitcases.

tonight we are spraying our clothes that we will be packing with mosquito repelant, and choosing pictures to print out to show the kids our family, friends, and wedding. im also cutting lucas' hair! :) tomorrow i think we will be all packed and still have a whole day to wait!!

alicia