Happiest News.

I'm going to be an aunt again.
Sad, because I'll be gone in April when he or she arrives.
But wonderful, because my niece and nephew are my greatest joy and I'm so excited to meet this next one when I get off the plane.
And I have pretty high expectations--look at his or her older sister Laney saying her animal noises.
You'd be pretty attached too, wouldn't you?

The things that make me come alive.

Highlights of answering phone calls for 11 hours today:

Seeing a rainbow outside at 7:45 am, lovely way to start the day.

Practicing a bit of my dormant Kiswahili with a Congolese couple who came in for an appointment this afternoon.

Knowing that I'm going to leave in a few minutes to put some warmer clothes on and meet my dear friend Sara downtown.

My Loves.

The two top reasons it's going
to be harder
than ever to leave.

faithfulness. i'm working on it.

So, I haven't been that faithful with that updating thing. I promise, it's on my list of things to work on. (That list keeps getting longer. It's right next to Love wholeheartedly and Be holy.)

The good news is that I'm getting very close to my fundraising goal and I was just approved for a grant that matches donations up to $1000! The catch is that it all has to happen by September 15. Here is the link if you're interested:

http://www.globalgiving.com/dy/registry/vfpserv.html?regid=1571&cmd=prevfund

Besides this,

life has been a bit hectic lately, as I'm sure many of you can relate to. Trying to work as many hours as possible to get money in the bank while also trying to fit in the other details of leaving the country soon and attempting to sell as many necklaces as possible before I leave tends to fill ones schedule.

besides these silly details, I've realized that friends' phone calls are going unreturned. I don't want to be that friend that doesn't call back. I'm looking forward to being done at ICCF in the next few weeks and having a little more freedom to connect with the people I love. And then, so quickly, I'll be getting on a plane again.

Hard to imagine right now, but I have glimpses of being back in Uganda between the hectic phone calls and clients coming through the door. I think of reuniting with girls from my dorm at Uganda Christian University. I imagine going back to the university and seeing how much has changed in the short time I've been gone. I can't wait to see Divine again. I'm excited to roll into Gulu for the first time and set foot on the place that has long been a very significant part of me.