An Africa and Christmas state of mind

We have sent out our support letters- halleluiah! In one sense it is a huge relief. Hours and hours of stuffing envelopes, writing addresses and worrying about the long term effects of ingesting copious amounts of envelope glue is over! But then comes the hard part- trusting that God will provide through the generosity of others (but praise the Lord we have already had some donations in first few days of fundraising! Look at that bar to the right climbing).
We are now in the limbo/waiting stage. When people ask when we are returning to Cameroon, we have to caveat our answer and say, "January. IF we raise all of our support." This is a challenging time for me because it is out of my hands and let me tell you, I like to be in control!
So when I get all crazy eyes panicked about things I cannot control, I make lists- lists of things I can control, I mean do. I have recently started 2 lists: 1. The get my bum in gear and get these things done for Africa list and 2. My Christmas shopping list.
Let's start with #2 because I know for many of you just reading the words "Christmas shopping" has gotten YOU all crazy eyed panicky. Relax. It is barely September- you have plenty of time. But me, I feel like I have a ton of stuff to do between now and Christmas so I want to get a head start and get all of the "have to do" stuff out of the way so I can really enjoy the next few months. Also, the Wal-Mart near me just redid their toy department which meant they had a plethora of toys on sale. Add deeply discounted finds to the fact that Charlie started preschool a few weeks ago which meant I can actually look around a store without the constant mention of the injustice of childhood boredom and let's just say that all of the little kiddos in my life are covered for Christmas. Plus I got cheap birthday and Christmas gifts for Charlie for the next few years while we are in Africa. Score! Now if only all of the hard-to-buy-for men in my life would appreciate a "Doc McStuffins fix the boo boos" board game, I would really be in business!
List #1 is not as easy to complete and sadly involves less board games. My "Africa to do list" involves figuring out passport renewals, getting vaccine boosters, brushing up on my Fufulde language skills, taking tropical medicine courses online, buying water filters and mosquito nets, and so on. Although the list looks long (and keeps getting longer) and is a bit overwhelming, I love being in an African state of mind!  I am really getting excited to return to our other home!