FUNDRAISING UPDATE
CURRENT: $5356, GOAL: $6350

Cool things keep happening to expedite my trip to Uganda-sometimes I'm reduced to simply shaking my head, sort of dazed at how things seem to fall into place.

Thank you Pam, Josh, Jenn (Wes and Charlotte too), Carson, John (from LA) and Dad. Your donations,of all sorts, are greatly appreciated.

I went to Los Angeles for the holidays and visited my old neighbor John, his wife Lorena and their son Odin. A neat family, it's always nice to catch up with them in LA. John's done some traveling and we got to talking about minimal gear, what to bring, etc... before I know it, John has busted out this beautiful travelling backpack, says it doesn't fit him right and would I like to use it. Of course I would...I had recently started thinking about what I would need to take and wondered how I was going to cart my stuff around. And...it's my favorite colors.

Benevolent Universe...I think so.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE
CURRENT: $4830, GOAL: $6350

This is amazing. Thank you Susan, Sandy, Elizabeth, Sara, Dr. and Mrs. Burnsed and Peter and Lynley. I am currently $1520 away from my goal and it feels wonderful! I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving-I hope your holiday is filled with love, friends, good food and lots and lots of laughter.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE
CURRENT: $4180, GOAL: $6350

Preparing to go to Africa has been it's own adventure. It feels like an experiment in faith. For the first couple of months, I would get nervous when donations stopped coming in and rejection letters from different organizations I approached,landed in my mailbox. It is awesome to be aware of my own faith growing through this process. Money has not been coming in and I received another rejection letter from National Geographic-kind of saw that one coming but figured it was worth a try. But I have not been stressing out about it-I haven't felt worried or stopped being convinced that I would be flying to Uganda on January 26th. I think the Universe will take care of me. So far, it seems that the Universe is conspiring to get me to Uganda.

This weekend something wild happened to take me a step closer to Uganda and I wasn't even that surprised-it's just another memo in a series of memos from the Universe saying 'get going, have fun, help people, learn alot.' I spent the weekend in Yosemite with a group of friends on a retreat titled 'Serenity in Yosemite.' It was pretty incredible. They held a raffle on Saturday night and a bunch of my friends bought tickets. My friend Pam asked me to hold some of her tickets and check the numbers-turns out she won a flat screen tv. Crazy, I know. I went up to claim the prize ticket, then walked with Pam to the pick up area. On the way Pam pulled me aside and told me that she wanted me to take the tv, sell it and use the money to get to Africa. Pam is rad, my faith grows.

What is faith anyways? What do I have faith in? I'm not convinced that whatever I ask for or want, it will be granted to me. It is not a faith based on "ask and ye shall receive". It's not a faith based on the idea that a man sits up in the clouds and directs things from above. My experience tells me that fighting the natural flow of the Universe is truly painful and pointless. That while I might not always like what happens, I am always supported and loved through it-and able to grow from it if I choose to. I look back on my life and things happened that I hated at the time, didn't seem to make sense and I fought against them. From my vantage point now, I feel grateful for where those experiences took me. Lessons learned, people met, courage gained...those were the fruits of those experiences. So my faith is in a Universe that continues to teach me. It's also faith in myself that I will walk through whatever comes my way-probably not gracefully or without bruises, scars and maybe even some permanent injuries but I will walk through it. And I will learn.

So what did I learn from Saturday night's experience? It certainly supported my belief that Pam is a special woman that I'm lucky to have in my life. What else... Right now what I'm thinking is that I am stoked to be a part of this human race. That I'm down for the thrills, spills, surprises, heartaches, adventures-all of the things this life has to offer. That I am so INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL to be awake, alive, aware, wide-eyed and finally paying attention.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE
CURRENT: $4180, GOAL: $6350

Thank you Bob, Tammy, Mike, Niels and Barbara. Only $2170 left to go. I purchased my ticket and it just arrived-it's excitingto look at it and let my mind dwell on the fact that I'm actually moving to AFRICA!!!! Today after school I'm headed off to the clinic to see about getting my laundry list of vaccinations taken care of. I'm going to be a pincushion for a couple of weeks. I've been in contact with the organization I'm working with and apparently I'm now going to Naggalame-a different village in the same district. It sounds as if my assignment is basically the same except that Naggalame has an orphanage and I get to work with the kids there. How awesome is that. I spent some time with my friend Steve, his wife Sonia and their four kids this weekend (Cole, Boone, Rio and Holla). It reminded me how much I like being around little kids, how easy it is to forget my little plots, plans and manipulations when you have little people vying for your attention. I seem to forget about hurrying when I'm around them...I spend less time focused on getting somewhere and begin to practice just being there-present in the moment. For a moment this weekend, the most important thing in my life was helping Rio and Holla learn a dance routine. Today it still seems like possibly the most important thing I've done in awhile.
For some reason, when I am around elderly people or young people, it is easier to be my best self. A speaker I listened to recently spoke about being asked to be our best selves again and again. She said that left to her own devices, she would live well below her own capabilities. She believes that if we pay attention, life keeps asking us to be our best self.

Being our best self....I can understand what that means in big, theoretical terms...living a good life, working at a job that challenges and hopefully positively impacts the world, donating to good causes, etc... but what does 'being my best self' mean on a daily basis. What does it mean today?

I'm familiar with this prayer that was written by St.Francis and it says (i'm paraphrasing) that we can seek to comfort, love and understand as opposed to seeking comfort, loving and understanding-that it is by giving that we ultimately receive. Today has been one of those days when I really believed the world needed to be comforting, loving and understanding to me and guess what I got instead...people in my life seeking out my love, comfort and understanding. So I went with it and it turns out that I was being called to be my best self today.

It's ironic, this journey to get to Africa is highlighting for me how important it is to be of service right now, right here, everyday. I've been dreaming of Africa for so long-thinking that finally I would be somewhere where people needed me. It turns out that I can be anywhere in the world and affect change through my daily behavior and example. Understanding this is adding a richness to my life here in Sacramento. Funny how life works.