I'm on a mission...

It's 1:36am. In less than twelve hours, I will be on an airplane to Chicago. And then London. And then Africa. 

And I officially can't sleep.

I've been think about this since April. That's about 10 months of thinking, praying, preparing. And now it's here, and I feel ready. But then really not ready. But then a little ready again...

One thing I new from the very beginning was that I would learn a ton through this trip, and that it would grow me more than anything I've ever experienced before. What I really didn't expect was that so much of this learning and growing would happen before I even set foot on a plane.

I have learned that my family is incredible. I know that if they could choose, they definitely wouldn't put me on a plane half way around the world. They probably wish that I didn't want to do this. But they know how badly I do, and I'm floored by how supportive they are.

I have learned that conditioner is harder to get into the little travel squeeze bottles than shampoo. It sticks to the sides.

I have learned that my friends are amazing. I already knew that, but seriously...the stuff they put up with from me. Just the fact that they care so much and that they would really do anything for me...

I have learned that I should really be more picky about who does my eyebrows. I mean, if you think about it, they have the power to make me look surprised all the time, or mad, or they could give me the Jack Nicholson one eyebrow arch...it's my face. I should know the person who is shaping the natural expression of it.

I have learned that a church family can really be a family. For the first time ever, I feel like the church is a home away from home and that the people in it are like a second family. I feel safe, I feel comfortable, and it's really nice knowing that there are people who care about what I do and how I am. And they really have no idea what they've got me through.

So, thanks.

When I went to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, I came across this written prayer. And I've come back across it in preparing for this trip. It was a daily prayer of Mother Theresa:

dear Lord, help me spread Your fragrance wherever i go. flood my soul with your spirit and life. penetrate me, possess my whole being so utterly all my life may only be a radiance of Yours. shine through me and be so in me that every soul i come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul. let them look up and see no longer me, but only You, o Lord! let me preach without preaching. not by words, but by my example; by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what i do; the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

I am really going to try to update this as often as I can, but the internet in Uganda is dial-up and not very reliable. I'll do what I can, and if it happens that this blog isn't going to work from Africa, I'll probably just send an email or two and then update when I get back.

Alrighty then. That's all I've got. 

Love you.

The Woes of Being a Woman

Boy do I have a topic to talk about. And I think it's okay for me to talk about it because it indirectly relates to the missions trip.

Rachel and I got our eyebrows waxed tonight.

I do this on a very regular basis because if I didn't, well, let's just say...Bert from Sesame Street. Thanks dad. Anyway, we've been putting it off until right before we leave because 3 weeks without a wax is pushing it. But we had to go to a different place than we usually go, which is my fault. Which is how it relates to the trip...I got my hair cut because I wanted something shorter for the trip. So I got it cut at the salon where I usually get everything, including eyebrows, done. She did an awesome job and layered it really cool and everything. But then my friend Jenn came to my apartment...and I asked her to cut it even shorter. So I would feel really bad if the girl that originally cut my hair saw me now, because she worked so hard. So we went somewhere new.

Big mistake.

First of all, and this should have been my first clue to take my monstrous brows elsewhere, they led me to this little room where you have to lay down. It's just my face, can't I sit in a chair? But no.

THEN-

Normally, they put the wax on, put the sheet on, then rip it off and immediately put their finger over it so it doesn't hurt as bad. That's nice. This chick did not. That's not so nice.

So I'm LAYING there, trying not to cry from pain and then she says she's done. 

I think not. 

She didn't even do the underneath part, which clearly is the part that needs some love. So I show her on one eyebrow where she needs to fix it, and she gets all huffy and does it...to the one brow. Seriously? I actually have to tell her that what she does to one, she needs to do to the other? 

Plus, as I'm sitting here typing, I'm realizing that one side of my head must weigh more than the other because it's in the same position as if I were about to bite into a taco. They are still THAT uneven.

So after 15 minutes of torture I get up from my laying down position (really?) and pay (really?). Then Rachel goes in and comes out 2 minutes later and in the car tells me her story: she pretty much got her forehead waxed. Which makes sense because everything from her eyes up is bright red. Yes, I am actually laughing right now as I type that. Ridiculous. 

So I'm going to let them remain anonymous, but if you're thinking about getting your eyebrows waxed, don't go the JCPenney at Oakview. And if you're already there, don't let anyone with the same name as the only female character in Peter Pan touch your face.

I guess I'll go pluck now...

grr.

-------------------------------------

On a note more related to the missions trip...I actually had to say some goodbyes today. Kinda sad. But I'm PUMPED for this trip. SO excited!!

Oh yea, and the aforementioned (is that one word?) $2000...it really is mine. HOW did that happen? I'm just saying...

hmm...

I have a story.

About a month and a half ago, I wrote a check to Sherry, the lady who is leading the missions trip. It was a large check. And because the church hadn't deposited all of my support money into my account, a kept a pretty close eye online to make sure I was okay not to short myself. But the check didn't clear...didn't clear...

Eventually, I emailed Sherry and asked her about it and she said she had cashed it. So she had the cash in her figurative pocket and it still hadn't come out of my account. Strange. So I started to get concerned that the bank might have made an error and taken it out of someone else's account. So I researched online trying to figure out the check number and asked Sherry to let me know what date she cashed it so that I could call the bank with all of the information.

Today I was looking online, because I had forgotten to write down the check number, and there it was: the check I had written supposedly cleared back on December 4. But I had checked super carefully, by check number, type of payment, and even the amount - (I don't usually write checks for $1940.00) - and it hadn't been there. So then I double checked my balance, and it was the same that it had been before. Nothing had changed.

Not knowing exactly what to think, I went back through all of my bank statements and sure enough, the numbers all added up perfectly. (When does that ever happen?). So now, I have this mysterious extra almost-$2000 in my bank account. And that is my story.

I am still going to call the bank. I'm paranoid.

Going Away Prayer Party-Type-Thing

Hi.

If you're reading this, then you're invited to a Going Away Prayer Party-Type-Thing.

It's on Friday at 7:30pm at Richard and Karolyn Milliken's house in Papillion. Email me if you want to come and I'll give you the address. (kt_bargs@hotmail.com). We'll be talking a bit about our trip and then we're going to pray together that everything goes well. It'll be good.

And if you're reading this thinking, "I don't really know Kaitlin or Rachel" or "They don't know I'm reading this" or "I don't know if she means me", well...get over yourself. The more people praying for us, the better off we'll be. So come, okay?

Sweet.

lasts...

And so it begins...

with less than a week to go, I have begun the inevitable "this is the last time I..." thoughts. The last time this happened was the week before I left for college.

Today was the last time I will be at church at my church until I get back. I haven't not gone to my church for that many consecutive weeks since I started going to church there. The most I've missed is a week at a time. I'll be missing 3.

A week from now I'll be on an airplane from London to Africa. Pretty stoked.

this just needs to be said...

I mentioned in my last post that I've been doing a lot of babysitting. Many of the parents of the kids I watch don't understand why I don't say how much I charge and kind of just stare at me when they hand me a check and I don't even look at it before I stick it in my pocket. Money just doesn't matter to me. But it's more than that. 

A lot of weeks for me are about 65 hours, plus homework. And when I'm not at work or school, I am thinking about what I need to do or where I need to go next. 

Kids have this funny little way of making things very simple. And when I'm hanging out with them, I don't have to think about anything but how I'm only 2 spaces away from climbing the really tall ladder in Chutes and Ladders, or that a cow says "moo". And really, if I'm responsible for putting the kids to sleep,  the time after they are asleep is really the only time I get to watch tv or read or just hang out and not think about how I shouldn't be hanging out because I have so much to do. And when one of them looks at me and says "I'm really glad you're our babysitter. Can you come back?" or asks me when I'm coming to babysit them next or sees me somewhere and flashes a huge smile and whispers to her friend, "that's Kaitlin, she's my babysitter." -- it's nice.

This is what keeps me from having a breakdown. I have been known to get so unable to handle life that I quit Creighton with no plan and nowhere else to go, or I get such a bad stomach ache that I have to have a tube shoved down my throat, or I try working out the stress and can't walk for 2 days afterward, or...want me to keep going? But that hasn't happened now since about August/September. I do believe that's around the same time a certain church pastor asked if I babysit as well as I house-sit, and also around the same a certain small group started. Hm, interesting phenomenon...

I understand feeling the need to pay someone to babysit. I get it. And I've decided I'm not going to argue if someone just needs a sitter for the night. But if it's for anything that has to do with church, you'd better believe that I'm not keeping a penny. I'll either find some way to give it back by buying your children ridiculous amounts of sugar, or leaving it under your windshield wipers, or leave it on your coffee table...

By letting me do this for you, you are blessing me beyond belief. Believe that.

Flat Stanley

I forgot that I had this. My bad.

Our flight info changed just a little bit. Getting into Omaha a little bit later on the way back, but that's all. I guess I never did post the Omaha-Chicago flights anyway. Here's the updated info:
January 19
-1pm depart Omaha, USA
-2:35pm arrive in Chicago, USA
-7:55pm depart Chicago, USA
January 20
-9:30am arrive London, England
-9:05pm depart London, England
January 21
-8:30am arrive Entebbe, Africa

aaaand...

February 4
-9:45am depart Entebbe, Africa
-3:55pm arrive London, England
overnight in London
February 5
-11:35am depart London, England
-2pm arrive Chicago, USA
-8:25pm depart Chicago, USA
-9:56pm arrive Omaha, USA

The flight schedule in two words: long layovers. That's a lot of down time. Which could be good if flights are delayed...let's not think about that.

My niece has this project at school where she had to give everyone a cutout of a guy that she colored. His name is Flat Stanley. We're supposed to take him places and take pictures of him doing stuff in the community that we're in. I'm taking him to Uganda with me. Rylee is going to be the coolest kid in school.

Support for the trip has more than covered the cost. And the non-financial support has been even better than that! Crazy cool.

And now that people in my church know that I babysit, I babysit all the time. ALL THE TIME. Which I enjoy. I think I could quit my job(s) and just babysit for a living. Which, in essence, is what I'm planning on doing anyway, but for some reason I think I need a degree. So does my bank account. But wow, nice people go to our church. And pretty darn cool kids.

"How it's going" on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the greatest (duh.)
Excited = 10
Nervous = 9
Stress = 6.390400218 (it's complicated)
Tired = 8
Work (Scooter's) = 6
Work (church) = 7
School = 5 (that's as high as it gets)
knee pain = 6, down from a recent 9
Happy = solid 8
Crabby = 5 (see "Tired" and "Stress")

Check out the weather in Africa.

That's all.

-KT