The first 5 months of 2010

I was flipping through my planner the other day and noticing how full it is...until the end of May, and then it is empty! Why? Because on May 25th, we move to Senegal! (and I have no idea what our life will look like after that day...)

A few of the things that have been keeping us busy and will keep us busy up until that day...

1. School...yes, we're still in school. I sometimes feel like my life as a student will never end...

2. Vacation...the wonderful thing about school! We recently had a week off and were able to visit Wayne's cousin and his family in Prague. It was a beautiful city and a very refreshing time with family. The dads and kids had just gone sledding in this picture...mom is smart, she just took pictures!

3. Sleepovers...Addie has now spent the night at her friend Emma's house twice and Emma was able to come stay with us one night. We are so thankful to Anne-Sophie and Olivier for having Addie over and giving us a night off once in a while!

4. Anniversary...for our 5th anniversary this year, Wayne and I will be taking a quick weekend trip to Rome while grandma and grandpa Denny spend some time with Addie! Looks like it's a win-win situation.

5. Packing...we haven't quite started yet, but it sure is on our minds. It gets a little complicated when you have things going from France to Senegal, France to US to Senegal, US to Senegal with someone else, and US to Senegal in our suitcases. Pray for my sanity please.

6. Presentations...we presented our goals and plans probably 50 times in the States before we left, but we get the chance to do it one more time next week in French! We are excited to share with our church our plans for Senegal so that our friends can keep up with us and pray for us.

7. Paris...yes we do manage to sneak in a day in Paris every once in a while. You can't live in Paris for over a year without having seen at least a few of the great museums and going up the Eiffel Tower!

8. Reading...Wayne and I are both reading through the Bible in 90 days with some friends of ours here at church (although it will be about 110 days for me...whoops, where did those 2 weeks go?). We are enjoying spending this time going fairly quickly though the word and getting a bigger picture of who God is and what He has done and is doing.

9. Traveling...we will be heading back the States on April 24th (just in time to celebrate my dad's birthday at Giordanos in Chicago!) and will be there for one fast and furious month. We will each be in 3 different states during that time, but at slightly different times...I'm not even sure I'm going to be able to keep up with us!

10. Seeing family...in about 2 months, we will have both been able to see all of our immediate families! I can't tell you how excited I am about that as it has been over a year since I have seen my siblings, and about 10 months since I have seen my parents.

11. Eating...I can't lie, the food in France is incredible, but we also miss the food in the States. Which means we'll just be eating a lot in the next few months. We still have to try a few things here (I'm sure there are at least 300 types of cheese we haven't yet tried, no joke, and I've been told we can't leave without trying fois gras), and we've got our tour of foods we've been missing and want to eat while we're back (Chicago pizza, mexican food, Red Robins hamburger, Buffalo Wild Wings, and of course, Snuffers cheese fries).

12. I guess that means exercising should be next on the list! Wayne is still very involved with his basketball team and has a few more games left. I'm going to start running again when it gets warmer - maybe....

So...on y va! (that's "here we go", I haven't figured out how to say "bring it on!" in French yet)