Turn of events!

Right now, Alyssa is on hour 7/20 on the flight to Kenya, and I am still in Coppell.

We woke up to Charles' whining, got dressed, had our last meal at Chick-Fil-haaaaaay and set off for the airport. Everything was going well until I handed the check-in lady my passport. She typed a bunch of stuff into the computer, called a few people, frowned several times, and then finally told us what was wrong: Nairobi has a brand new law, stating that if your passport is within 6 months of expiration, you cannot get into the country.

My passport has 5 months and 2 weeks until expiration. I missed it by two weeks.

There was a long period of attempted negotiations by me, then my parents, then Alyssa's dad, then back to me, and so on. Eventually we came to the conclusion that I could pay to send my baggage with Alyssa, and then fly to London, but there was no guarantee that I would be able to continue on to Nairobi. The lady said they might let me through, but they also might not. My parents were not about to be anywhere near down for that. (Reasonably so.)

I know I can be really dramatic, but I'm serious when I say that I think one of the hardest things I've ever had to do is hug Alyssa at security, tears about to flood, not knowing whether or not I was going to be joining her. I knew we could get another flight, but I didn't know if we could afford the change fee, I didn't want her to be flying/dealing with the Nairobi airport alone, etc. I also had just seen what I thought was a completely solid plan fly right out from under my feet.

I spent a good portion of the ride home wondering if I was even supposed to go anymore. Half of me was certain that the Lord was saying to stay, and the other half of me was equally certain that Satan was trying to interfere with a trip that would further the Kingdom.

Then, after a whirlwind of phone conversations, tears, and prayers, we got the change fee down from $6,500 to $600! Literally, in a few hours, the price was all of a sudden $5,900 cheaper. Praise the Lamb!!!! I'm scheduled to leave Friday, June 1st!

I've already seen so much purpose and blessing from being home. I feel an incredible peace about the whole situation. My prayers went from "Lord, please put me on this plane" to "Thy will be done." I think today was the first time that I actually had a deeper revelation of what it means to feel small. I waltzed into that airport thinking that absolutely nothing was going to deter from how I'd imagined it. It feels so good to open my fists and let God become bigger! I also realized that I'd been putting more value on this trip than on God's sovereignty. I feel like the second I surrendered to the possibility of not going, the Lord swooped in and everything has been so different than how I thought, but so much better. His way truly is perfect. Fear means that I'm not trusting that Jesus has me. I was so worried for Alyssa's safety when really, the safest place she could be is on that plane because that's where Jesus wants her. (And I don't really know what I thought my presence would do for her safety, haha. If anything, I would probably get us in trouble before I would be a safety feature.)

This is all maybe 1/10th of what's actually been going on in my heart in the past 12 hours. Today has truly been a day of refinement, but Jesus has been so sweet! Little prayers and worries that I had have been answered in full. Even when He's correcting me, He is loving beyond what I can comprehend.

So that's it! I'm not going to say that I'm officially going to Kenya until I step onto Nairobi soil, haha. We shall see. Jesus is the best father who gives the best gifts. Where I am on the globe does not determine whether or not I receive them. He's so good to me.

Jambo for now!

And so it begins!

It is currently 6:38am. I am full of coffee (and the Word. haha.) And I'm almost ready!

My flight to Branson is in a few hours, and I'll stay with family and get to see my grandparents!

And then it's off to Kanakuk Staff Training week! I am shaking with excitement/coffee/the Word.

I don't think Charles realizes that I'm leaving. We're both going to have to learn some coping skills for the next month-ish. If you live in Coppell, come over and play with him while I'm gone. Nobody in the Walker family gives him the attention he deserves.

Tempted to shove him in the duffle. 

That's all for now! I'll post between Kamp and Kenya, in the 24 hours that I have at home. (with Alyssa Shoemaker. The legend. My best frond. It's a revelation I have to re-process every day. Haha.)

Be praying! Please. I'm gonna need it! I have been labeled a security threat the last few big flights that I've been on. Baha. I want to grow this week! I'm going in with zero expectations except that Jesus will provide in every way that I need and in some ways that I want. I'm so excited!

Thanks and sic 'em!

Once you go rat, you never go back.

I made it! Finals are OVER. Which means so many things. The sounds of "the zetas" (we knew nothing about them except their greek affiliation, thus the nickname) thumping around upstairs and the other various sounds of Rat Farm are now replaced with the pitter patter of Charlie's paws on the tile, and my dad's whistling.

I know this isn't about Kenya, but I wanted to take a second to honor Rat Farm. I think throw the term around a lot, and maybe haven't fully explained what, or rather "who," Rat Farm is. Warning, it's about to get real. And by real I mean cheesy.

This past year, I lived with Jeannie, Katie, and Melissa. We became best friends freshman year through Katie, and quickly decided to live together once we escaped the glorious dorm life. We are all four ridiculously different, and before college I would not have expected us to be best friends. Yet, it works. It works beautifully! This year was not easy, and some times were definitely harder than others, but boy will I remember and treasure it forever. I learned so much from them. To scratch the surface, here are a few things that immediately came to mind.

-Sometimes you just have to laugh at someone and get over it.
-God did not create us to walk alone.
-There will always always always be places that I lack as a roommate, and there's beauty in being vulnerable.
-There comes a time of night when only a true friend will be willing to go to Whataburger.
-Accepting other people's help is okay and do-able.
-Other people's quirks and idiosyncrasies are hilarious and should be celebrated.

One thing that I don't think I realized until I got home is that these girls always let me be. They never held expectations over my head, or let my value as a roommate depend on my consistency. I feel like the longer we lived together, the more we were able to celebrate each other well and develop a sort of "come as you are" mentality.

We've laughed (cackled), cried, experienced the "firsts" of freshman and sophomore year, attempted countless failed home-maintenance efforts, walked through boyfriend break-ups, watched RG3 win the Heisman, made an embarrassing amount of late-night Whataburger runs, and had so many more memories together that I am so grateful for!

We're splitting ways for next year, but I'm not worried. We'll have Rat Farm nights and be able to pick up right where we left off. Rat Farm was half of my college experience and I am so glad!!

These gems are going places in life. I cannot wait to see where they end up. I wish you knew them like I do!

(We found rat droppings in our apartment within a week of living there. Then got ahold of the song "Snake Farm". Hence the nickname. We know it's gross. Feel free to like us on facebook!)

And we started to make a song/video but we just ended up with this. I don't hate it.