The Last Supper

There's nothing like a holiday to remind you of all the things you've missed about your family and friends, or, in my case, WILL miss. Until this point, moving off to Kenya hasn't really hit home. And even now, because I've got no framework for what this experience will be like, its reality is a bit illusive. But yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, I was reminded several times how I was going off for "a whole year!" We took family pictures because it would be the "last time we have all the girls together for a while," and Mom and I both said we were thankful plans for Africa were finally working out, and Grandma wants to make sure I have the right kind of clothes... And now it's about to snow up at cabin; clearly the last time I will see snow for a while. It is nice to have that "Last Supper" when you can say everything you've been meaning to, and do everything you love one last time (like eat..?), but I must admit it's melancholy. I realize now that I WILL be homesick and WILL, at points think, "What in the world am I doing here?!". However, I as much as I realize that, I also recognize that standing on the brink of an adventure always makes it look inestimably huge, and by next Christmas I'll be thinking how short a time I was in Africa.

News Flash

It's official! Leaving on a jetplane for New York on December 7th! A two day orientation at AIM USA headquarters and then on to Nairobi on December 9th. I think I will arrive around December 11 due to lay-overs and the time difference. Pray for logistics to work out and a soft landing.

New Perspectives

It's better than finding $20 in your jacket pocket, or realizing you have un-cashed checks in the back of your wallet, or discovering that Starbucks gift card has a larger value than expected. Oh yes. I'm speaking of unearthing hundreds of MGs of Doxycycl in my bathroom cupboard. While often used as an antibiotic, it's also one of the most common forms of antimalarial medications. As I'll be arriving in a malaria prone country in a month, these pills have an inestimable value to me. They'll help keep my body free of a very nasty parasite and allow me to run around in short sleeves without worry of mosquito bites. So, it was quite lucky to find that one of my sisters had had this drug on automatic refill.

I've found recently, in preparing to go off to Africa, that very different things get me excited now. Stories from people about their own experiences on that continent, encouraging words and prayers, pictures, Meryl Streep playing Karen Blixen... I'm valuing the little things in the back of my bathroom closet, and I believe that's really how it should be.