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.