Think You Can Hold Up?: To Do Lists

There are things to do.

In my mind (and in the myriad of notebooks where I am making lists), I have separated the list of things to do into various categories. There's the "at school" category, the "end of school year for the boys" category, and the "we are about to travel to the other side of the world to get Mary" category.

Details:

At School:
After much prayer and discussion at my house, Joe and I have decided that I will take a one year leave of absence from school. This will give me a WHOLE YEAR to help our family adjust to our "new normal" and help Mary with any transition, attachment, and medical issues that may come up. Although I LOVE teaching school, I am thrilled to take this little "sabbatical" to focus on my family. BUT, in preparation for being out for a year, I find myself approaching these last three weeks with an unusual sense of panic. Not only is there all of the usual "I only have three weeks left with this group of kids and there's still so much I want to tell them!", there's NOW the added pressure of prepping my room (and myself) for a year off. To-do list items on THIS list include such glamorous things as completing final assessments, cleaning the room, gobs of paperwork, and final summer check-out procedures. More fun to-do items include finalizing plans for our Publishing Party and creating the class DVD for the year. And all this needs to happen by the end of this month. Yes.

End of School Year for the Boys:
With the end of a school year brings MANY events and projects and happenings for the boys. We've already enjoyed Max's piano recital (he ROCKED "The Red Convertible") , Jack's Honors Night (Honor Roll and one of the Outstanding Strings Students Awards), Max's "mixer" with the kids from the neighboring school as they all prepare to enter middle school together, and Max's children's choir musical at church (his last one! Boo!). We have also completed the infamous 5th grade suitcase project, Jack's career shadowing assignment, AND the 8th grade castle project. (I MIGHT have a couple of these for sale to the highest bidder!!!) The next few weeks will bring a flurry of orchestra concerts for Jack, Max's 5th grade graduation, and last day of school-type events. And all of THIS will be done in exactly three weeks. Halleluyer.

We Are About to Travel to the Other Side of the World to Get Mary:
Now that we have received our Immigration approval, we have entered the next little phase: something about emailing to get a PDF so that our Visa application for Mary can be cabled to China so our Article 5 can be dropped off and picked up again two weeks later so we can start waiting for travel approval. Since I really am SO very confused about ALL of that.... I decided to handle to-do items on the adoption list that I DO understand. Here are a few of those things: 1) finish Mary's room, 2) call about travel immunizations, 3) prepare gifts for orphanage workers/guides , 4) obtain pretty much an entire pharmacy to take with us when we travel, 5) figure out what "compression socks" are cause apparently I need them, 6) find some big luggage to borrow, 7) get Mary some toys so she doesn't have to play with Star Wars figures and Nerf guns, 8) figure out what a VPN is and how it works and 9) continue obsessing over travel dates.

Yes. There are things to do.

So. What do you do when there are so many things to do that you can't possibly get them all done?
Well, in MY world, you pick the "FUNNEST" one and get to it.

So, the following are pictures of what we did today. It was fun. It is finished. And I feel REALLY happy. All that other stuff? We'll get it done......

I present to you: MARY'S ROOM......