Surprise!

On Friday I headed out to the get together (planned months in advance), which I thought was a reunion for our outreach team from this past March, but actually turned out to be a surprise goodbye party for me! 

I walked into my friend's kitchen to see a counter full of food, a poster saying "We'll Miss You Erin!", and my friend's (who was not on our team) head sticking up from behind the counter before they all jumped out from hiding. :)  I was a little confused, but very surprised, and so so grateful to all of my amazing friends, both for organizing, and attending. I felt very loved :) 

And also for the book they made me, which is super cute, and full of cards and notes for me inside to say goodbye, which, I'm told, I don't get to have until the airport, as apparently people are still signing it. So that was so so nice and I was so grateful (and very excited to read the book, its super cute) :) 

Even though it was a goodbye party, and very sad to actually say goodbyes when people were leaving, it was so much fun, and I'm so glad I got to have that experience. We didn't take a ton of pictures, but here are a couple from that night :) 

Me and two of my best friends.. one I've known since we were three, and one is my "twin" :) (Carissa, on the left, is joining us for two months of our trip) <3 

Chatting :) 

Two great friends behind, and two great "sisters" in front (Megs is my real sister, and Ashley on the right, who I've known for all of her life, is practically a sister too <3)

It is now only 5 days before we leave.. this is our last Sunday in Canada for a very, very long time. There are going to be approximately 104 more Sundays before I'm back here; so crazy!!

Its been full of goodbyes lately, and just tonight we had three more goodbyes; a family gathering goodbye party (although we'll hopefully see most of them again at the airport for a final goodbye), goodbye to some new friends, and goodbye to some other friends, who just happen to own one of our favourite African restaurants ever. So it was a pretty sad night, and I'm pretty tired.. and also pretty excited to finally get going next week!! So despite how very sad it is to leave everyone behind, I'm also extremely excited to finally be back in the place I love.. Africa!! :)