Under Attack

Sitting in the Art Gallery today with not one visitor.  Perhaps the weather is too nice to enjoy fine art?  Or perhaps the empty soup bowl, roll of toilet paper on the desk (make-shift tissues!), and fuzzy hat on my head is steering people away as I sit here looking pretty pathetic.  Well, a mere five days before our departure for Kenya and I get slammed with a cold.  Awesome.  I’m not worried about the cold itself but instead am worried for the congestion on the plane, so I have big plans to fill my already small & stuffed bag with antihistamines and pain relievers.  Great use of space.  The devil knows that HUGE amazing things are about to happen in Nairobi, and I think he’s shakin’ in his boots (which he should be!).  So he’s attacking our team in funny yet annoying ways, trying to take our eyes off of the mission, trying to depress our spirits, and trying to distract our efforts during these last few days of preparation.  But we all remain excited, energetic, joyful, and full of hope for what is to come in Africa.  I can hardly believe that we’ll be there in less than a week.  I’ve one more project and then my studio closes for a much-needed breather.  I just made my personal packing list for the trip making sure to include things like my new “P-Style”, (given to me by a fellow female team member who guarantees it will come in handy when we girls have to try to pee in a hole- hilarious!), bandanas (which I heard Africans just LOVE!), and a fake wedding ring (sorry love, it’s just too risky to wear my ENORMOUS diamond to Africa). ;)  But seriously.  It’s not like I can run to the store if I forget something.  I keep thinking of what bag to take that will fit everything and remain small and lightweight.  It’s still not a reality and probably won’t be until my feet hit Kenyan soil, but I continue to prepare, to think-ahead, and to pray for our trip, our team, our hearts, our safety, and the people we are going to serve. I’m going to try to update on this blog, but if I can’t for some reason while in Kenya, make sure to check out www.npgenerosity.com for live updates from “God’s place”.  Kubarikiwa.  Be Blessed.

Hope is always here.

So far so good: on this second day of January I’d say things are off to a good start.  Less than two weeks until we embark on our grand adventure to Kenya and our calendars are full until then.  We just returned from a driving adventure across the eastern continental divide and through the mountains of the east and now here I sit in a coffee shop working on my to-do list to get things started this year.  But as I sit here I can’t help but reflect on this past year: where I was one year ago and where I was as the year came to a close.  And that brings me to the here and now: who I am today and who I want to be a year from now. My darlin’ and I listened to a great sermon while riding in the car through the fog of Connecticut, and we were encouraged to inspect our hearts and to ask questions umbrella-ed under the main idea, “how’s your heart?”.  I can’t stop thinking about that question and all that it entails.  How is my heart?  How are my relationships?  Am I harboring any guilt?  Any negativity?  What’s my perception of myself?  Where am I going?  Who do I belong to and for what and for whom do I live for?  I think I need to get a new journal, ‘cuz it’s going to take a lot of writing and prayer to come up with anything even close to an answer to those questions.  But I tell you what, I’m excited to discover more of myself this year.  I’m anxious to see where I go and what I will do.  Where will Flewtstrings go?  What will I create?  Where will my heart rest?  What will God teach me?  Welcome 2012 with hope today: it’s everywhere around us, and it’s our for the taking.  Don’t miss out.