Things that will not be in Sudan

Last night I started reading a book Barb Alleman gave me a while back. It's called "Beyond Jungle Walls: Bringing Hope to the Forgotten Congo," and it's written by a woman who spent 42 years with her husband working in the deep jungle of the Congo. I got through about five chapters last night, and that was enough to make some decisions about things that aren't going to be in Sudan.

Here's my list.

• Cobras. Yup, no cobras. None. In fact, there will be no snakes whatsoever. Especially not slithering down my walls so I have to chop them in half with machettes (!!!) or cropping up in the only doorway between me and my new baby.
• Panthers. Zero big cats.
• Jungle rats. Especially of the variety I'm expected to eat.
• Angry monkeys. Happy monkeys, yes. Content monkeys, sure. Just not angry ones.
• Bugs. Certainly not the kind that would suddenly seep through the ceiling and walls when it begins to rain outside. Or the itty, bitty ones that would get into my flour and -- despite a bunch of sifting -- never entirely be removed.

I'd say that's enough for now. I'm sure I'll have more once I read more of this book. I picked this thing up because it was brought to my attention (thanks Pete) that I'm really focusing a ton on expanding my mind, but only at the expense of not cultivating my heart. And, since the former wasn't really going that well, I'm praying that doing the latter will benefit me both ways. I love it when people speak truths into your life and you're like... "Well, duh, why didn't I think of that?"

I heard from some more teammates today : Heinrich (28), Doris (29) and baby Salome (6 months). That's right -- a baby is coming with us! I got really excited about this 'cause I love kids. But then it came to mind that -- hello -- I'll be living in an African village. There won't be any shortage of childrenfolk. Clearly, I'm stupid. But, I'm still excited about the young'en. Salome's gifts include "smiling, attracting people" and she's interested in "Daddy's computer and mum's hair." (they are admittedly really structured/organized people, so they made a chart listing similar characterists about all of them. A couple after my own heart.)

Alright, back to work. I've got to prepare myself for the rapidly-approaching Illini game.