Well, it's 10 AM of our last day here. We're really going to try to pack it in! We're headed over to the orphanages soon (yesterday's plans changed and we went to the OTHER O--the ocean!) where we'll spend a little more time with Pea. Then we have to pick up the Liberian dress I had tailored for myself. In the early afternoon, we'll head off for the airport and Firestone Hospital (they're close to each other). Dr. Sherman will meet us there and give us a tour. We'll meet Pence, but just as AOH staff, not as those who desire to adopt him. This seems wise from many angles. We'll also have the privilege of showing the nurses updated photos of some of the caustic ingestion kids who were cared for in their ward. I am so full of every emotion, I cannot even put words to it.

Despite all that's happening today, I also keep thinking about our next steps--seeing Punk, finalizing the packing, saying a few more goodbyes (and meaning it this time), leaving Boise behind, arriving at "home" on the farm, diving headlong into work there... This morning I was reflecting on how little prepared I feel. This job is pretty humongous and I know very little of all it entails. And, it's not just starting a new job. It's starting a new life. It's almost too much to contemplate. I'm pretty much a person of the moment, not dwelling in the past or really trying to figure of the future. I think now more than ever that perspective will serve me. There's plenty to do each day without borrowing from the past or future.

Well, friends, I'll have much more to share when I get back stateside!