Time is running short...

Today (well to be fair, starting last night at 8) felt like a train wreck of 24 hours.  We've been in MI for the past week and a half visiting family.  My sister and her family are visiting from Oregon and we go at full speed for two weeks with all seven kids in tow.  A has been up since Friday evening after work, which has been GREAT!  We were chatting yesterday about things we need to get done before we leave for Doha and A mentioned that he'd gotten an e-mail reminding us that we needed to get an international driver's license before arriving.  This was news to us because we'd gotten an e-mail previously saying that we didn't need one.  We started researching getting one yesterday and realized that it could take weeks to send the application and receive it back (we've got a month...).  We also need our current driver's license to get the international one...  We just changed our address to my dad's house because he is taking care of our personal business while we're gone.  This means that our IN driving license is now not our current address...

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Here's the best part...  I went to the MI Secretary of State website and realized we needed ALL of the following to get our MI driver's licenses:  current driver's license, social security card, passport, birth certificate, and two pieces of mail (with the new address).  ALL of those (except the current license) were in INDIANA.  A has to leave tomorrow for work on Thursday and the next time he comes back, we'll have just two weeks until take off.  It had to be done today.  We realized all of this last night at about 8:30.  In Michigan.  2.5 hours from the documents.  See the fun about to happen???

So, at 9:00pm, my sister-in-law (bless her for insisting she ride with me for the 5 hour trip) and I buckled into the minivan headed to Ft. Wayne to pick up our file of documents.  We talked, had snacks, stopped for gas...  It was uneventful.  We got to our house and I realized that the realtor who had shown the house a few days before had left lights on (like a lamp with thin paper shade left on), curtains open etc.. Not cool. 

I grabbed the documents, fed the fish, and we were back on the road.  At 3:00 this morning, we pulled back into the driveway extremely tired and ready for sleep.  Of course, the kids were up nice and early.  I got up and called AAA about coming into their office to get the international licenses.  Apparently, the office that was close to us didn't provide the "travel services" that we needed, so we had to drive 45 minutes in the opposite direction to get the international driving licenses...  We started driving this morning at 10am.  We had to get passport photos taken for our licenses, drive 45 minutes, get the international licenses (which took like 3 minutes), drive 45 minutes back to the MI secretary of state office to get our MI licenses...  we squeezed in a trip to a children's museum, lunch, and another trip to the farm. 

24 hours later, I feel like I've been hit by a bus.  I need to sleep.


We'll be in Qatar one month from today. 
A new home.
A new adventure.
No more packing.
No more "to do before we leave list!"