. . .

Tomorrow I go.

Post 101

Well, I now have 4 full days left in the U.S. Crazy. Unfortunately, the whole future experience has yet to become real to me. I'm not sure why, but it seems in my mind like I'm only going back to the Cities.

I think that's because I've had to help my parents move (that's right. My entire last week at home is spent packing box after box, then moving box after box.), so I haven't had a chance to think about my own experiences very much.

But one week from this moment, I'll be spending my second night in Africa.

I think another reason for my inability to accept the fact that my life is moving more than 6,000 miles away is that I haven't talked a whole lot about what my life will be like once I'm there. To people who know what it's like, that is.

(Side note: I just left the computer midpost - completely forgetting what I was doing. For 2 hours!)

Well, I suppose that's about all for now. Sorry that this post is a little . . . whiny.

Five Postcards from a Summer at Camp

1. Leonid smoke trails
Bring my heart
To praise

2. What rain!
That falls in
Tree-obscuring lines
Of happy grey

3. In one hour a person
Can go from acquaintance
To firm friend

4. More feathers than before
More memories, too.

5. Last this,
Last that.
The best last is
Last cabin picture.

A Weekend in Chicago?

This weekend I had the privilege of seeing two amazing people get married to each other. I don't know that I've looked forward to a wedding so much since my sister's wedding. The purity and love in both Kyle and Julie was amazing to see, and to watch their faces throughout the ceremony was beautiful. All in all, one of the best weddings I've ever been to. That was the highlight of the weekend. And here's the not-quite-highlight:

The wedding was in Yorkville, Illinois, which is supposedly an hour from Chicago. We got to Yorkville on Friday morning (at 1 am) and so we had all day Friday to spend in downtown Chicago, which I'd never done before. We left the hotel at 10:20am to try to catch a train into town, but by the time we got to the train station (10:50), we found out that the last morning train left at 10:20. Hooray.

The train being a non-option, we decided to drive to the closest L station and take that in. By the time we got to that station, it was just as fast and less expensive to drive all the way to Navy Pier (our lunch destination). So we did.

After driving down State Street (absolutely beautiful, by the way!) we finally found a parking place for Navy Pier at about 1:30. That's right. What should have taken us 1 hour took us 3. We had time for lunch on Navy Pier (and not even good lunch. I got bad Chinese followed by some Ben & Jerry's, thereby breaking one of my 2009 goals unintentionally) and then we had to head back for the wedding rehearsal. So my weekend in Chicago was really more of a quick lunch in Chicago.

Other than that experience, I had a great weekend and the road trip was actually quite fun. And I got to see my friends get married!

Prayer, Please?

So I have been looking for my passport to go to Nigeria, and I've not been able to find it yet. I tore apart my home in Two Harbors looking for it and I've come to the conclusion that it's not there, or if it is, it's not going to be found there.

That leaves me with four options:

a) Find the passport. (Not too many places left to look)

b) Get a new passport.

c) Fake a passport.

d) Don't go.


Obviously, the first would be the best, but I'm guessing it will probably be the second. The third is out of the question and the fourth would be the hardest.

Here is what I need prayer for: that I would find my passport in one of the few remaining locations, or that the new passport I get would be received quickly so that I can send it in for a Nigerian visa. Kind of important.

In other news, it's my last week at camp, possibly ever. But it doesn't feel that way because of all this other business.