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Well, the countdown is really on. Tonight is our final night "alone" with Brit – just Heather, myself and the girls. Tomorrow night a friend of Brit’s will be here. Friday night, she’s going to say goodbye to some friends. And then Saturday, we head to Montreal. She flies out very early on Sunday morning (we need to be at the airport at 4 AM).

It’s getting more and more emotional. Yesterday, I met Heather for lunch so that we could pick up a few things for Brit. We sat and ate and Heath started to get all teary-eyed. So, I did what any husband would do … I joined her. We laughed as we both fought back the tears.

Brit’s blog post yesterday was interesting, so tonight at supper, I brought it up. I shared with her how proud I am of her. That while Heath and I are struggling with the idea that she will be gone for a year, we are both so excited for her and want nothing but for her to have the time of her life. So, Brit and Heath started to cry at that (Christina joined in just cause everyone else was crying!). I encouraged Brit to never think that our tears or my jokes about her not going were an indication that we were not happy with this decision to go away. Far from it.

You see, I was raised by a single mom (for the most part). We never had any money to do anything. The first time I ever went to any country other than Canada or the U.S. was last year when we took a vacation to the Dominican Republic. In other words, it took me 40 years to leave North America! The idea that Brit is doing it in her 15th year is so thrilling for me (and Heath).

And yet, it is scary as hell. I wont be able to hold her, smell her, tickle her for an entire year. Yikes!

Today I stood before over 100 women (at a lady’s church service) and shared about Brit leaving. I asked all those moms and grandmothers to pray for her (and us) during this upcoming year. I have no doubt that many will do just that.

Okay … back to getting things ready for the big day!