Goodnight Springfield Good morning Airport

Today I have done last minute things here and there. packed my carry ons. Went to see the little one I watch on fridays. Then Will and I went to dinner at Touch. I had got a gift card from the Hensler's ( people I babysit for on Fridays) for christmas. Great restaurant. We had a nice relaxing dinner.
One thing that keeps crossing my mind is will I go back to Mali next year. I'm not sacred to go. Which I don't know if that is a good or bad thing right now.  Everyone I have ever talked to has been scared or worried before leaving the country. I'm just not. I am a little excited but have settled down a little. Just not sure what emotion to have at this point.
But bright and early I will be up in the morning getting off to the air port. Then it is Chicago and DC. Then GO BYE USA. hello Brussels and Africa!

last date night for a while. He even dressed up!

So this is it until I get back.
Good Bye Everyone and Happy New Years!

Only days way

Looking back to may when I got the information about Africa still not sure that I was going or not it's so fun to see how go works. I remember being in the car by the post office in raytown and reading the email. i was with my mom and i said WOW I am going to need to get a really good job this summer, she looked at me like I was crazy/ I proceeded to tell her I was think about going on a mission trip to Africa. Well she didn't think I needed to go and yes I would need a good job. It is awesome how God has provided money wise and just everything with this trip. Between family member saying I wasn't going to having troubles getting shots and what not. I can tell satin really was working at me but I wasn't going to give up.
It still feels unreal that I am going. I am excited and a little scared at the same time. Just scared that when I get back that my family will still not understand why I had to go or my dads said is just going to completely say for get it with me.

Here are a few pictures from todays:
This is from the church commission us to go.  It was awesome to see the whole church come togetehr and pray.

and the journey begains

Last night was our last team meeting! So we packed up all of all stuff and all of the food and supplies that we will be taking with us. Then we did a lesson on prayer and just spent some time in pray as we get ready to go!
here is what packing looks like with all of us.

This would be all of our food

packing the food

our bins that we are finishing packing . just to let you know there are about 20bins in this area.

Africa here we come

All packed and ready to go! Well maybe! I still need a few little things that got lost in the mail and will meet me back in KC for Christmas. But 17 days worth of packing I didn't do to bad. Now to tackle the carry on packing. that will be done the night before I leave. 15 days before we leave!

Horse drawn carriage ride and ice skating!

Saturday night was Will's and I's Christmas date night!
We decided to hit down town up. I had done a little research before.
So we went Ice Skating for about 45min. Which was about all we could handle. It was free night at the rank. Then we went up to the square to do a horse drawn carriage ride. Which I had called and got a reservation ahead of time but this week they were free. I did not know that! After that we stooped in and garbed a coffee at one of the shops to head home to dinner. Earlier in the day I had deboned a turkey (best way to do it, it cooks in about 2 hours), sweet potato, stuffing, green beans with bacon, and a caramel apple pie.  Am I making you hungry yet! So when we got home all I had to do is take out the turkey and heat everything up while making gravy from turkey juices. Took all of five mins. Then it was time to watch elf!
All in all a $5 dollar date night! Can't beat that!
Here are some pics:

our dinner

Ice skating

us on the horse ride

SCHOOL IS OUT!

YES I am DONE with school for a little over a month!! I am so excited!
Now packing starts for AFRICA! I am so excited! I am sure I will be a little nervous a couple of days before but right now I just can't wait! I can't wait to see what God is going to do and everything he has in store. I pretty sure the way I feel is like a little kid in a candy store! Still a little surreal to me I would have never thought this time last year I would be going to Africa! God can move in amazing ways that is for sure.

Well I wanted to recap a little bit of this last weekend.
                                               WINTER RETREAT 2011
Top 5 things about WRT
*24 hours with crazy kids
* Camp Food
*Cold Showers
*No Sleep
*Worship

Lets just say pretty sure Baptist hill was not ready for all of US!
We had so many kids this year that we had all the buses maxed and cars were full! How exciting is that! Friday night Hosea spoke and we did worship with Sean Lea! You could just feel God in the place! On Saturday three of the students spoke, which was amazing! I think it is good for other students to hear from student their age instead of adults at times. That way they know there is someone else out there that has probably been in the position they have been in! It was so cool to watch the students on Saturday just let go and worship. So many times students are worried about how they will look when worshiping. I believe that God did great things on this weekend!