Blessings...

My first post on my first blog ever!  Expect more to come.  I am in Clarkston, GA right now.  Will be flying out of ATL tomorrow for Houston, then Dubai, then Nairobi, Kenya.  The prep work for these six days in Kenya began to stress me out a few days ago.  I have everything I need though and am thankful for God's grace in getting me through the last week of school before Spring Break with peace, energy, and patience for the most part.  I'm so thankful for friends to pray with and talk to about things. Spent time with Steve and Becca last night on their back porch imagining what the Kenyan mountains looked like compared to the hazy Blue Ridge hills.  Couple of small blessings to report on this crazy day.  I expected to leave by 5 pm today, but as always it was two hours later when I finally hit the road, but here is the way God works...

1) In foreign countries, such as Kenya, that take US dollars, they want you to give them crisp new bills, something we Americans don't always have readily available.  Well, I meant to go to the bank before Wal-Mart today, but my arms turned the car into Wal-Mart first and I didn't think about the crisp 20s until the bank was already closed.  Just one more detail that I now had to navigate.  I prayed as I left the Wal-Mart parking lot that God would provide the pretty money I needed.  I knew my only option now was for the ATM to be friendly and pop out some new money.  God gave me peace and I pulled up waited for a couple of cars, put my card in, pressed the amount and waited just hoping.... and out came some brand spankin' new money just right for Kenyan visa officers!  So in all my hectic running around and forgetting things I needed in the car about 2-3 times, God is faithful and good, even in the little things. 

2) The Father also gave me an idea from nowhere to make a small photo album for Umuro, the friend I'm going to visit.  So I was able to print out some pictures for about $4.  I did some shopping for a few minutes while I waited for the Wal-Mart guy to fix my order which had gone bad... the little receipt wouldn't register so I could get my pics.  As I looked for a 3 oz bottle (small enough to get through TSA checkpoints in the airport) of bug spray with deet, I very nice employee there went through the trouble of going all the way to the sporting goods section to find 4 samples of bug spray for me to look at.  She didn't have to do all that but it was just one more act of love from God who is somehow calm in our busyness.  Need to sleep now, so I'll try to update once I get in Nairobi.  Maybe I'll have some pics up pretty soon.