Thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU!

Well it is officially 8 PM on June 18 and I have a flight to catch at 7:34 AM on June 19. LESS THAN 12 HOURS TIL TAKEOFF! Tonight we had a small group of friends over for dessert and a little prayer time before I leave. I was overwhelmed by the love, support, and well-wishes of everyone as we joined hands in an open prayer. I also finally took time to realize how important it was to ask God to come with me on this trip. I think tonight was His way of saying, "Hey aren't you forgetting something?!" because I was given a few Christian missionary books, a Psalms journal, and a list of suggested Bible readings for while I'm there. It was through faith that I was encouraged to pursue medicine, and I had forgotten that it is through faith that I will get through. So thank you so much to everyone who joined me tonight and helped me come to such an important realization.

And there are a few other people I need to thank for helping me be ready to leave in the morning:

Thank you Medics to Africa for having such an awesome program for students like me and an extended thank you to Joshua Omolo who is one of the program directors. He allowed me to change my leaving dates and has answered the million questions I've had for him.

Thank you to the Kappa Alpha Theta Foundation and all those who donate to the Jeanne Ross Miller Grant Fund for helping me ease the cost of this trip. Also, thank you to Julie Pittman and Julie Bolamperti (funny how many awesome people I know named Julie!) for writing me such wonderful recommendations to receive the grant.

Thank you to all my friends for your support. It's so crazy to me how many times I've heard, "I'm so excited for you!" or "I'm so proud of you!" and you have no idea how humbling it has been just to hear a few encouraging words from friends. Love you all!

And finally I can't thank my family enough. Thank you to my sisters Liz, Abby, and Haley for being my partners in adventure and making me feel invincible. And thank you to my parents for teaching me that there is more to life than what we can do for ourselves. My sister posted this quote on my facebook wall: "As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, and one for helping others" -Audrey Hepburn. I like to think that my parents taught my sisters and I that at a very young age, and it didn't take growing older to realize it. And, of course, thank you both for funding my adventures. I definitely couldn't have done this myself and I appreciate the sacrifices you make to help me have experiences like this.

So here I go-finally off to Kenya! (OK let's be real, it's gonna take about 24 hours on a plane, plus about an 8-10 hr drive from the airport to Migori, but you have to start somewhere!) Thanks again for all the support, and check back tomorrow for a post on how and what I packed that I plan on writing from the airport-wooooohooooooo.