We'll be in Ghana this week.

In 48 hours we will be on a plane headed to London, then Accra, Ghana.

In a never-before-seen feat of travel organization and planning ahead in this house, we have pretty much packed everything needed for our trip…two days ahead of time.

Never mind that we have made at least one trip to Walmart and/or Target every day for the last five days.

And, to add to the astonishment, we may actually replace the largest bag with a smaller one because really you can only fit so much in a piece of luggage without going over the 50 lb. weight limit. Since the trip’s costs are so steep to begin with, we definitely prefer not to pay the airlines an extra $50 for heavy bags.

I am now finished with my work at the State Fair of Texas. I think it was (and still is) a success, and I admit that people-watching at the fair is the best sort…far better than airport people-watching. However, I am glad to be done with the heat, humidity, and long drives back and forth to the fair.

And on one of those drives I was quite certain I should have run over a squirrel. I know better than to slam on my brakes in traffic for a squirrel because (sorry to say this for all you zealous animal-lovers out there) better a dead squirrel in the road than an injured me…or an auto insurance claim.

Miraculously, the squirrel must have escaped by the hairs on his bushy tail because the certain thump of animal under the tires never occurred. (I would, by the way, never intentionally run over a squirrel, no matter how much they remind of rats with pointy ears and bushy tails – I think that has something to do with diseases they must carry, the claws, and the long, sharp teeth).

I’ll bet there are no squirrels in Africa.

Just, you know, malaria-carrying mosquitoes (don’t worry, Mom, we have medicine for that), wild monkeys, and lions (doubt we’ll be seeing any of those personally).

I have learned that in order to be the least anxious as possible, I need to not dwell too much on a big trip. So, I wouldn't say I'm exactly excited right now. I'm taking one day at a time. Now, one hour at a time. Does it make sense to say I am absolutely sure I will be excited about the trip once we are on the trip and I will be enjoying every minute we have both with our friends in Ghana and with our Compassion tour group? Because I know I will.

It'll all start in 48 hours (minus a couple hours).