Email instructions and travel updates!

EMAILING BLOGGER

Here are the instructions for emailing straight to your blog. Thank you Denise for sharing this with me.

Go to your blogger dashboard and click on Settings. Click on email and choose the option that says email to blogger. Pick something to put in the blank and then that whole address is your "blog's email address." Just use your regular email to send your blog an email...the subject line will be the title of your post, upload pix by attaching them (they will show up first then your text) and the text is what you type in the body of your email. Just FYI, every time I tried from my yahoo email, I got this annoying yahoo tag line at the end of the post but this did not happen if I emailed from my google account. You can go in later and edit your post just like always. If anyone knows how to get rid of that yahoo tag line, let me know because I like my yahoo mail much better than gmail.

TRAVEL UPDATES

So on to travel updates. Plane tickets have been booked and confirmed. There was a small panic attack when our seat assignments said we were in seats A & C, meaning that we were separated (NO NO NO NO!!!) but Susan Parr assures me that on this plane there are no B seats, so Dad and I are together next to the window (perfect!!). Hopefully I will have the courage to actually look out the window!

There is a slight problem with the spelling of my daughter's name, just got the middle initial wrong--the travel agent assures me this is no problem but I'm checking with CHI tomorrow because I was told they had to be an exact match. Unfortunately, the travel agent says the only way to fix it is to cancel and re-issue the tickets but since there is a waiting list for tickets, I would automatically lose my seats as soon as we cancelled. So I may have to change this in the airport after we get to Addis.

We are on the same flight with the Kikstras and Denise and Troy. Check out their blogs so you know who we are traveling with; they are from a different agency so I don't know if we will see each other in Addis but it is nice to have flying companions. It doesn't look like the Reese's will be going with me...I am extremely sad about this because we have looked forward to travelling together since our referrals. Our daughters were in the orphanage together and we wanted to share this. Unfortunately a paperwork glitch may hold them up a week (still waiting on definite) but we may still overlap our trips. At least I'll get to meet the twins!

Flights....we leave Monday, December 31st at 8:30 pm from Dulles on Flight 501 and we will land in Addis at 7:40 pm (11:40 am our time) on January 1st. Returning....Tuesday, January 8th at 10:15 pm (2:15 pm our time) on flight 500 and will land in Dulles at 7:20 am on Wednesday. The flights are roughly 16-17 hours and we have a short landing in Rome but will not be getting off the plane.

Hotel....we are staying at the Hilton. Tsegay (CHI's Ethiopia Director) is making the arrangements in-country and is getting a great rate! Much better than trying to do it from here.

Packing....packing is well underway. Amari is packed (I think!) as are my donations and food. Now I just have to pack me. I still have the entire house to clean, the animals to get ready for the separation, and lots of errands to run. I tried to knock out a bunch of errands today but kept hitting roadblocks...the pharmacy did not have the malaria meds until tomorrow and they refused to give me Amari's antibiotic in powder form (I mix them multiple times a shift at work but they didn't care) so I have to call the pediatrician to see if they have a sample bottle (if you reconstitute it, it only lasts 10 days). I needed another passport photo and the photo place's machine was out of paper, so when I went back for them, they said it would be another hour (this happened last time I needed passport photos). So I have to re-do half my errands from today. Ugh! Add in the bank, the post office, a different pharmacy for Sam cat's med, dropping off a check at daycare to hold my spot...and I guess I'll be stopping at the gas station somewhere in there!

Wow, this is a long post. A lot happening! My last day of work is Saturday, so I'll really get down to business next week. Christmas is Tuesday (duh!) and I am ready. I'm taking the car seat to Mom & Dad's and my brother is going to help me install it!!! Check out the new blog for my niece Madison. Also keep in mind that my Dad is going with me to Ethiopia, so be sure to keep up with his blog too.

Okay, I'm sure there is more but my mind is all gobbly-gook! I'll write more soon!