Normally I like to apply a bit more spit-and-polish to my writing, but for the sake of just getting something down, today I'm going to have to come straight to the point: it's been a very busy summer for me here in Boston, with lots of time (probably too much) at the hospital and two big transitions (a new role at work and a new home in JP). And two days from now, I'm departing my lovely new home - which is just now really starting to feel like home - for my next four weeks at Tenwek. 

It's been about sixteen months since I was last there, and I've dragged my feet intentionally, to some extent. I felt the need to be more present here in Boston, and I needed a bit of a break from the pace of work that is mandated by dropping everything and leaving for a month - but I also knew that furlough was approaching for Tenwek's long-term pediatrician and his family, and it felt right to postpone my next trip until they were away. But the feet-dragging is over, and in spite of the chaos in which I currently find my life here immersed, I'm getting on a plane and leaving. I am not ready, in almost any sense of the word, but I also anticipate being grateful for the jarring removal from my patterns of life here. Being at Tenwek is often both incredibly busy and exhausting, but it's exhaustion of a different kind, and I usually have dramatically more time for contemplation while I'm there. Once I get my power point lectures prepared, anyway. (Ugh.)

At any rate, it's my intention to write regularly. It helps me process, but it also helps me feel connected to friends at home. I'd appreciate prayers over the next few days for rest, focus (on the aforementioned lectures), joyful farewells with friends, and safety in travels.

I'll write again from the other side of the ocean.