So we are getting closer to Kenya. We just purchased our airline tickets. I am so excited one moment and then completely overwhelmed the next. I am anxious one moment and then find a great wave of peace wash over me. I am trying to keep it all together, but then find myself falling apart. One thing goes right and then a few things go wrong. It is exhausting planning for a trip of this magnitude. I know these things for sure. God has it all under his control. He has known our plan for Kenya long before it even became a thought in our minds. God will provide. He always has and he always will.
This isn't just true for me, but it is true for you too. God loves each and everyone of us.
I like to go back and remember five years ago when I went to Kenya the first time for 14 days. One of my favorite memories was actually at the airport. We were on our way to Nairobi after a long flight to London. I glanced down at my ticket. I noticed I was in seat 33B. I asked my husband what seat he was in and he said, "33 B." Then I looked at my father-in-laws ticket and it said 33 B.
Immediately I started to panic. I am not a fan of flying anyway and still had a lot of anxiety. I went into my anxious whining. "Phill, I cannot fly if I am not next to you. We need to get our tickets switched! Phill, I cannot sit by some stranger for 8 hours. I will have major anxiety. Phill..."
Phill tried to be patient, but I was worse than a four year old child at this moment. The three of us walked up to the flight attendant behind the desk. I was still having major anxiety at this time. The flight attendant took my ticket and started to look up seats on her computer. The flight attendant handed me my ticket first and told me I had been bumped up to first class.
Suddenly my anxiety subsided, and I looked at my husband and father-in-law and said, "See ya!" I was already talking toward the airplane. I didn't even look back to see where those two would be sitting. I was situated in my awesome first class seat which reclined. Then a few minutes later my husband and father-in-law came and took their seats next to me. They got bumped up to first class too! It was amazing. We got a hot towel, champagne, our own bathrooms, some fancy lobster dish, and the most comfortable bed where we could lay down and sleep the entire flight. It was so amazing. It certainly made the trip a lot easier. Although the way home was awful after we knew how great first class was!
When we got to Kenya, there were so many amazing things that happened. We met so many wonderful friends and got to visit and volunteer at Hopewell school in Barut, Kenya. We also got to visit an orphanage with 20 little kids under the age of two years old. That was a great experience. One day a bunch of the travelers and I got to hold babies and it must have been nap time, but each and everyone we were holding fell asleep in our arms. I looked around and it was so beautiful to see these babies feel so comfortable with us holding them, even though we were strangers.
Another one of my favorite memories was when a few of us were all working in the garden at Hopewell. The sun was so hot and we were tired by the afternoon. We rotated to spend time with the younger kids in the primary school. My father-in-law, Phill Sr. had a little boy on his lap. Phill Sr. started to nod off. He was awoken abruptly when the little boy pulled out a tiny handful of arm hair off Phill Sr.'s arm. The little boy was fascinated by the silver arm hair on his arm! I laughed so hard when I saw this!
We are going to have an amazing adventure ahead of us with lots of new memories. There is still so much to do before we leave. I have great peace in knowing that God has a plan and I just have to follow it.
