Germany-bound to Study International Agriculture!

Today is a VERY busy day of errands and packing, packing, and some more packing.





I depart at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning for the trip of a lifetime- the McCloy Fellowship in Agriculture. I am honored and extremely grateful to have been awarded this opportunity through the American Farm Bureau Federation. I am also grateful that my family "out east" has agreed to take care of my children while I'm gone so that Jeremy can focus on harvest here on the Wilson Farm.




I will do my best to update my blog with my experiences abroad, but I'm not quite sure about the access I will have to the internet over there, so stay tuned.

I am also excited to get united with my "fellow Fellow's" from Kansas, Maryland and Connecticut! From what I've already gotten to know about these folks through phone, email, and Facebook convo's, they are stellar people, and we're going to have a great time!

Please say a little prayer for safe travels for myself and my girls, and for a safe and abundant harvest here on the farm.



Well, I'm off, toting the following:





2 children. (One of which has been asking me as soon as her eyes opened EVERY day for a week "where are we going tomorrow?", hoping for "on an airplane!" as my response. Today she got her wish!)





1 portable DVD player (so I can maintain my sanity on the flights with one wriggling 1 year old on my lap, and 1 uber-independent 3 year old in the seat next to me).





2 suitcases





1 diaper bag





1 backpack





1 double stroller (Freshly scrubbed to rid the corners of the seats from an accumulation of dismembered Teddy Grahams, and a small rock collection I found in one of the pockets).





2 car seats. (Didn't scrub them...whoops. It's okay, if we are struck by famine, we could live for a week off of the Goldfish wedged under the cushions.)

1 Lightning McQueen backpack. (We can't go anywhere without the Lightning McQueen backpack. Thanks Santa. GREAT idea Santa. Santa, you maybe should have thought of dragging that thing everywhere before you decided to leave it at our house.)

Oh, and let's not forget...1 partridge in a pear tree.



Here's what I will look like at the airport :)








We'll return in about 25 days, my children having had some quality time with family they don't often get to see and myself having filled my brain with all sorts of new knowledge about international agriculture and having made a gaggle of new friends.

What I will miss while I'm gone:
1. My beautiful girls and my sweet, hard-working husband, in no particular order.
2. My pickup and the general independence of being able to drive.
3. The prairie.

Auf wiedersehen! Uh, that's about all I know in German. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks :)