October 2011
September 2011
Once upon a time, I am spending my very last night in Portland for an ENTIRE year. No day trips to the beach or the daily view of multiple mountains. No 2am trips to VooDoo Donuts or karaoke at the Ambassador. Tanzania is a few flights and a three day bus ride away after 14 years of dreaming about Africa. I’m not sure whether I should be freaking out or utterly ecstatic, but I don’t think I know enough about what’s really in store for me to freak out and I’ve been saying my goodbyes for so long that I’m not quite ready to feel ecstatic either.

My family had a final Hello Goodbye barbecue on Monday since my cousin Matt (the one getting a bit frisky with our Gram) is visiting from Virginia. He’s also headed to Africa, though he’ll be in Djibouti heading up some engineering projects. Kinda funny that we’ll be closer in proximity while in Africa than we ever are in the United States.

I will be basically internet-less for a year (the living with no running water and electricity probably makes that obvious), but I’ve collected a year of stuff in queue so I didn’t bombard you with it all at once. May each of you have a year of adventure, challenge, and growth. I look forward to mine!
I may not completely dig the execution, but I love that somebody in the church is calling out the misogyny, lack of love, and homophobia in the church. Let’s at least get a conversation going.