It's the Final Countdown!

Hooray! My suitcase is packed. My second suitcase is filled with medical supplies (thanks to some amazingly generous friends and family, and random community members)! We have confirmed a safe and cozy place to stay that reportedly involves cute kids and WiFi, so I'm on board. Only a really long flight, with a layover in Amsterdam, separates me from Nairobi!

Now, I am free to think about the really important things:
1) I bought a pair of pants that zip into capris. I'm uncertain whether this is an acceptable fashion choice, even in Africa. Does the fact that they're super flattering change the debate any?
2) There is an extremely remote possibility that I might be kidnapped by Somali militants. If that should happen, please don't let my parents give the news an unattractive picture of me. If I make it out of captivity, I'll be seriously displeased to find an ugly picture of me plastered all over Seattle.
3) I didn't pack eyeliner. Can I really go to another continent without eyeliner? What if there's an eyeliner emergency?
4) When did I become so focused on appearances? Pretty sure I will benefit from the healthy dose of reality in Kenya! Fashion choices, bad pictures, and even eyeliner are really so peripheral to who and what I want to be. I want to encourage the hurting and to love the marginalized. I want to serve, and give, and be a force for good. Those things are a lot less apt to happen when I'm worried about how my pants look.

"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord." - Sir Frances Drake (via an amazing nurse I shadowed in my community health clinical rotation)