Packing: lists, organization, change.....

November 10

 So this morning, to my dismay, I found that of the various copies of 'drafts' of our suitcase's contents, I some how saved an older version and not the one we finished on last week.

So I needed to go back, relist a lot of items and reweigh. 

Why do this...because the one trip we didn't our bags were delayed over a week and we needed to turn in the list of what they contained. Now I do it every trip.

The packing list includes a couple different colors of text. White is going items. Red includes items that can be removed the last minute if more important items need to find a space. Yellow is clothes, so can be located for our time in the capital before heading to Jembo. And to assure that each bag has a bit of clothing essentials. 

List to be printed once finalized so computer isn't needed to find things. 

Packing up 2/3 of Fritz's freshman year books and all of his 10th grade books is the biggest.

Because we use a literature-based curriculum, that means a lot of books, space, and weight in the checked bags.

Thankfully our tickets include two checked bags each and with second-hand clothing stores in Zambia whose proceeds support agricultural training for young people we don't need to pack much clothing...just things that bring joy. 

Thanks to a library card and now 14 partnering libraries around Michigan that we can borrow Kindle books from, we can save considerable space and weight. [Donation box weight of the books we can get electronicaly and a few others: 35  pounds]

This process included:   

1. Make a list of all the book titles
2. Cut and paste each one to the search list for the library [around 20 taps on the computer keys and pad.]
3. If found, write which library carries that book.
4. Remove from the list of books still being searched for. 
5. Repeat Steps 2-4 for the remaining books.
6. Remove the books available by Kindle from the packing pile. Place in box to be shared at church next week.
7. Spread remaining books among the 6 suitcases.
8. Pray that all suitcases arrive!