Hakuna Matata

I am a planner. A big time planner. I schedule every minute of every day, and I am rarely late or behind. It also drives me crazy to be idle. In the spirit of my New Year's Resolution, I have been pleasantly surprised at how easy it has been for me to just breathe, and take everything in. It is now the end of our first full day in Kenya. We landed last night--after 25 hours of travel time, spent an hour at the airport getting Visa's and locating all 24 of our bags (which miraculously all arrived!), and then another hour driving to our destination for the night.

Today we spent the day acclimating to the 9 hour time zone difference, gathering supplies, and doing a lot of waiting. I mean A LOT of waiting. Apparently, in Kenya, the locals really like to celebrate Christmas and New Years Day. I saw one sign that said, "Our shop will reopen on February 1st." Wow! Really? February 1st?

Anyway, while we were waiting for some very important supplies, it was nice to just sit and take in the local culture and surroundings. There was no stress, no need to be anywhere, no deadlines, and best of all, no internet! I literally spent an hour watching a Kenyan man "mow" a small patch of grass with some sort of primitive hoe that looked more like a golf putter, than anything else. It was surprisingly relaxing for this "make the most of every moment" type A girl from Texas!

In the past 36 hours, alone, I have eaten lamb stew filled with bone shards (well, I tried to eat it, but finally stopped when I decided a cracked tooth might hinder the rest of the trip). I have made the mistake of drinking a big 'ol glass of local water (ironically, so I could wash down the anti-malarial meds). I was nailed square in the forehead by a piece of plastic from the shower head that shot off like a bullet when I turned the shower on this morning. And that doesn't even take into account the shock I received from the exposed electrical wires on top of the small instant-heat shower head when I tried to reattach, said plastic projectile. So, you can see it has been quite a series of interesting events.

Kenyan's have a popular Swahili phrase that really encompasses my state of mind right now. For those of you with children, you will probably recognize the phrase from the movie "The Lion King". Hakuna Matata. Loosely translated to English it means "no worries".

I have been living the hakuna matata life now for 3 days. I have to tell you, it is awesome! Yep, even the almost-electrocution in the shower this morning was just a small blip on my radar, and now just fodder for a funny story I will get to tell for the rest of my life.

Before we left Amarillo, other people were stressing for me--it's supposed to snow on New Year's Eve, what if your flight gets cancelled? What if your equipment doesn't make it? What if you get eaten by lions? What if, what if, what if?

I'll just tell you, in my mind, I have been kind of strangely excited about the "what if's" (well, maybe not the getting eaten by a lion part). What if our plans change? What if God has something even cooler than examining thousands of eyes? What if me being obedient has the potential to forever impact someone's life? What if I meet someone that has an eternal impact on my life? Cool. I say, bring it on, what if!!

I have no idea what the next 10 days has in store for me or our team. What I do know is that I serve a very big God. I mean, this is the dude that created the entire universe in 6 days! He's also the same dude that took the 7th day to chill. I'm pretty sure God always lives the hakuna matata life. Of course, He has that whole omnicient thing going for Him, but I'm fairly certain that He has "no worries".

I'm excited for what lies ahead, encouraged by what the past 3 days have revealed, and looking forward to reacting with laughter at the ever-changing course of events in life.

Now I am off in an attempt to locate a wifi connection so that those of you who are interested, may read about our fun adventures. Hakuna matata, everyone. If you are reading this, then all went well. If not, no worries!