my last few days in the states...

Thought I'd throw up a few pictures on here -- a picture story of my last few days in the states... I tried to cram in as much as possible... as you can probably tell.

My old brother (Kevin) and sister-in-law (Larissa) came in from Kansas for my going away party. that was cool. mom made us all pose for pictures. Clearly my favorite part of family gatherings. (Gag.)















You might be able to tell Kev was not so happy I took a picture of him eating... especially a picture in which it looked like he and Riss have two kids. They're definitely not theirs. Trust me.














My dad is kind of goofy. But I love him anyway.














Anthony and I went on a fake date. Best date I've had in years. They're so few and far between, it wasn't hard. Plus, it was fake. And we got to dress up. So that just made it great. Because the date was fake, I figured I didn't need to put a real picture up here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
















My good friend Angie (in the middle there) just got home from a year in East Asia the other day. We had just a half day to spend with each other before I took off to two years. So, quite naturally, we spent it at Wrigley. Lauren (aka: my pledge kid, The Cubs Fan), also quite naturally, came with us. Joy, the fourth in the Logo Glass quadrivium, couldn't make it. Something about having to work. Pfft.





After my commissioning service at Oglesby Union on Sunday -- it was really, really awesome -- I was able to spend some time with folks from another church close to my heart, Faith Assembly of God, at their church picnic. It was good times. I'm not in this picture. I'm pretty happy about that.








This is Holly and I. We spent Tuesday afternoon ringing a huge bell. You might think this is strange, but it has significance, I swear. Here, I'm ringing a huge bell... on her head. For some reason, this makes me laugh uncontrollably.
















It was pretty hard to say goodbye to Mark, since he became one of my best friends at home. I'm hoping to find some equally great person to play toss with in Sudan. (I doubt this will be easy.)
















The Antrims -- folks who I met in Decatur and who let me ride their horses -- drove all the way up to Oglesby (two hours!) on Tuesday just to eat lunch with me for 45 minutes or so. I felt really special. For some reason, the picture of us won't post, so you're getting me and Shadow, the dog. They brought him with them to see me. Unfortunately, they couldn't fit the horses in their car.




Well, that certainly isn't all-inclusive. But you get the idea. :)

Pearl River

Hey gang. It's been a while since I've posted on here. I can use only a lack of time as my excuse—I certainly have had a lot to share.

I'm finally in Pearl River, NY, at the Africa Inland Mission U.S. headquarters. I had a funny time getting here--I had a two-hour delay in Chicago, my luggage popped open on the plane and I had one of those horrible seats that doesn't recline!--but I'm so happy to finally be on my way.

A few things of note...
- My roommate and teammate Jen packed WAY more than me, so I'm feeling pretty darn good about my bags that are 10 pounds under weight and not bulging open. (Happy dance.)
- I finally got to meet another one of my teammates, Kim, and she seems ultra cool. Couple that with my recent fun conversations with The Aussie (aka: Craig), and any fears I had about being with all stodgy Christians have been squelched.
- Leaving hasn’t really sunk in yet, but tonight at lunch I had a “Wow, I’m really a missionary” thought, so perhaps reality will eventually come upon me. I can’t tell if this is God is keeping me calm or me just being too tired to think/feel/function properly. (I haven’t had much sleep at all in the last few days… or weeks.)

Perhaps I’ll update more later. Thanks for your prayers!

Itching to leave.

Today I got mildly uncomfortable in my house, so I cranked up the air conditioning.

Uh huh… and I’m moving to Africa.

Proof once again that God doesn’t bother staying within the bounds of our comfort zones.

Speaking of comfort, I’m feeling a lot better this week. And since I quit working fulltime, it’s kind of a strange situation, not having to live nocturnally and read silly amounts of sporting news.

Since I’ve been itching less, I’ve had to find other things to do with my hands—one of those being opening all the packages for the silly gadgets I bought for Africa. Can we talk about all that plastic packaging? I had to break out my sweet Leatherman do-it-all… thing (another Africa purchase) and cut and saw away at things. It’s ridiculous. You’d think the packaging people were afraid my CompactFlash drive was going to spoil. Or grow legs and escape. I contemplated buying some dynamite and blowing the suckers open. It was that bad.

Clearly, it’s a conspiracy.

But, whatever, I got to use my sweet Leatherman do-it-all… thing (yes, that’s the technical name for it), which makes me happy. It’s funny how these Africa purchases keep coming in handy. Like my headlamp… thing (also technical name)? I’ve totally used that to read in bed.

Go ahead, get that great mental picture of me with an awkward light source on my head, pouring over my latest John Piper book or my Bible. You laughing? I hope so.

Good news from my stateside teammates -- they're all fully supported, too! Wow. I can't even fathom it. A few weeks ago, Kim was sitting at like 15% or so. That's just nuts. Nuts. God's really good. Just as good as he'd be if he didn't bring all the support. But, still, really, really good.

I started a DVD today called Amazing Grace. It's a four-hour film about the history and theology of Calvinism. Are you drooling yet? It's pretty sweet. Mark and I only got through a little bit of it, but I'm anxious to watch the rest. I want to see what these crazy Calvinists are all about. ;)

"O God, command what you wouldst, and grant what thou dost command." -- Augustine

The Shingles Shuffle.

I really need to pound out a post here. So much has been going on.

This week has been hard, hard, hard. I knew I was going too fast, doing too much. I even knew I had to slow down or I'd go nuts/get sick. As it turns out, I just didn't act on that knowledge fast enough.

So, I've got shingles. As in, an unwelcome, miserable encore to the chickenpox. I guess the deal is that the chickenpox... thing... holes up in a nerve in your body and sometimes -- in general, when your immune system is compromised -- rears its ugly head in the form of itchy welts/blisters. It's really an old person thing. Or its also common in cancer and AIDS patients. But, no, I got it. On my face, eyes and scalp, no less! I think I compromised my immune system by letting myself get ridiculously stressed out. So, yeah, I've pretty much been in misery this last week, scratching and listening to not just one, not just two, but THREE doctors tell me I had shingles. (I was in denial for some time.) And naturally my first question was, "What does this mean for Africa?"

(Are you getting the feeling I should have posted about this before and sent out a mass prayer request? Yeah, me, too. Anyway...)

My fear was that I'd be contagious still when I was in Africa -- they say shingles lasts four to five weeks -- and that if I were to go, I'd start some horrible chickenpox epidemic, so AIM would keep me home. After a five days of fretting and itching and moping and all that, I think I got the answer to that tonight. And it's the answer I wanted!

Dr. Schuler (Mark's cool dad) tells me I shouldn't be contagious. That I'm likely already past that stage. At worst, I'll be uncomfortable. Yaaaaay!

(Don't worry, for those of you who have seen me in the last week -- if you've had chickenpox already, you're fine. For all the wee children who haven't had it... I'm sorry. But, take heart, shingles is no where near as contagious as chickenpox. I'm praying I didn't pass it on.)

God has been teaching me through all of this. First, he showed me that, though I once held this trip with an open hand, I had, as my departure grew closer, tightened that grip. I did not want God to "take this away from me." So praise Him for divine humbling and a right view of what I will do -- if the Lord wills, I will live and do this (go to Africa) or that (minister to Sudanese women). And, second, I need to slow down. That's pretty straight forward.

So, that was The Drama. Sorry I didn't let anyone in sooner; things were really uncertain. But it was awesome to see the Lord answer the prayers of the people who were by my side.

That's all I've got time for. I have a church appointment far, far away tomorrow morning and I'll already be skimping on sleep. My last presentation -- praise the Lord!

Dog days.

Ever get the feeling dogs know when you're going on vacation?

You know, when they do that cute/depressing thing where they sit and stare at your suitcases while you're trying to pack. Or that uber-cute/depressing thing where they go ahead and just get in the suitcases.

Right. So. I think my dog has got that going on, just it's not vacation, it's two years in Africa. And it's not just an afternoon he's looking pathetic by my suitcases; it's more of his identity right now. The poor guy trails my every move, waits up until I come from work, snuggles in bed with me. And he's always giving me these really sad, sad eyes. He's downright sullen. Talk about cute/depressing.

I haven't posted in a while -- and with good reason. I've been busy. Busy going to weddings, rafting down rivers, enjoying lovely picnics, watching subpar movies, playing Uno in kiddie pools, eating waaaaay too much at cookouts ... and, of course, doing all things Africa.

I looked at my planner today and realized I'm quickly filling up every minute of every day until I leave, with stuff. Doing stuff, seeing stuff, getting stuff. Stuffing my schedule full, you might say. I'm not at all surprised, really. That's how I work. But be prepared to see me frazzled quite a bit, especially on the weekends. (I only have four left!) It seems I'm going two or three places each weekend. For example, this weekend: Chicago and Champaign. The next weekend: Decatur, Springfield and Albany. Please pray for safe travels. And pray even harder for discernment. I seem to be doing the trying-to-be-everything-to-everyone thing again. Such a weakness.

Africa is still Africa and I long to be there more than here. I'm a little anxious because the support deadline has come and gone. No word yet on who made the cut and who didn't. I know my teammates weren't really to a place, support-wise, where they could be cleared financially. So keep them in your prayers, too.

Lots of prayin' I'm asking of you. Geesh.

25 days until I leave and it doesn't seem real yet. I'm not sure when it will. Or even if it will.

I find myself trying in every way to be "ready" -- buying the right things, getting the right paperwork, arranging for the right things. But I'm not preparing as much as I should emotionally and -- moreover -- spiritually. This is a dangerous, dangerous road to travel.

I really don't have much to say. Just a quick post before I hit the hay and start my whirlwind weekend.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."
:)