A Late-Night Post From Your Favorite Blogger

I finished watching The Hunger Games movie trailer, getting sidetracked onto a bunch of other random YouTube videos, and making a birthday card for my niece. I looked at the clock and realized that it's 1:06 am, and I'm not sleepy at all (the cappuccino seems to have kicked in). So I thought, 'hey! Why not write a blog post? I haven't written an 'about Janie' post in several days.'

So, what about Janie? Well...today, I found out about one of the coolest mission outreaches ever! It's called Mercy Ships, and basically, you volunteer to go an a several-month to several-year cruise, where you dock at a bunch of different places and provide medical help for needy people. Cool beans, right? I got on the website, and saw that they needed a photographer for a six-month Africa cruise, which starts in January. The wheels in my over-active mind began turning. 'You know, I could do that. I really, really could.' Actually, after looking into it some more, I've pretty much decided that I can't. There'd be no way I could get through all the training I should go to between now and January. So, I probably won't be taking off for Africa come January, but I'll definitely be excited if God decides to make this part of my future.

Speaking of my future, I got another mission opportunity thrown in my lap the other day. I've been thinking for a while that I might like to become a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) with the view of taking my skills overseas, where having that sort of training could be a real life-saver (literally) for a lot of people, as well as opening a lot of doors to sharing the Gospel. Anyway, I was Skyping with Dad the other day (he's working with Samaritan's Purse in Japan, just in case you didn't already know), and he started telling me about a guy he met. Turns out that this guy works with a mission organization in Mozambique, and when he heard about my recent mission trip to Moz., and the fact that I'm thinking about becoming a CPM, he basically told Dad, "If your daughter ever gets her certification and wants to use it on the mission field, tell her that my organization would be really happy to have her." Yeah! So many opportunities! So little money to make any of them happen.

Right now, I literally have NO money. Okay, well, I might have a couple of bucks in change, so I guess I could go buy some gum at Wal-Mart, if I got desperate.God told me to give all of my greenbacks away earlier today, because I was starting to get a little too attached to the filthy lucre inhabiting my wallet. No, I'm not worried. I told God awhile back that I didn't ever want to 'own' money again. Everything that's mine (and everything that isn't) is His, and He knows that I'm trusting Him to take care of me. So far, God's made sure that I always have the money I need when I need it, and I have every confidence that He'll continue to keep faith with me. I figure that's how I'll know when I've found the mission opportunity that God wants me to take. If enough money mysteriously comes in for me to take the opportunity, I'll realize 'yep! That must be it.'

I notice, upon re-reading, that this post makes me sound very complacent. Am I always as contented as I sound right now? Not by a long shot! I'm restless and curious by nature, and I don't think I'll ever be able to settle down in one place for too long. But right now, I am, for the most part, enjoying a little down time. One thing I've never enjoyed about globe-trotting is the fact that I'm not always here when my family needs me. Family is important to me. Uber important. It took a two-month trip to Moz., when I missed the death of my grandpa and the birth of a nephew for me to realize just how much everyone means to me. I knew, when I was in Moz., that I was right where God wanted me, and that He would take care of everything back home, but still, it was hard. I missed Warren's 'little baby' stage, and I still don't think I've finished saying 'goodbye' to Grandpa. I see something that belonged to Grandpa, and have a flashback to the time when he lived with us, or I'll catch myself listening for his voice. I look at Warren, and feel a little stab of regret that I missed the first examination, when everyone exclaimed over how much hair he did (or did not) have, or how much he looked like so-and-so at that age.

Regrets notwithstanding, I feel a pull toward mission work. I love exploring new places, observing different cultures, eating strange food...I'm flexible. I don't have to have electricity that always works (actually, I'm pretty sure I could do with no electricity at all, once I got used to it). I can live without hot water. Or a washing machine. I'm good with carrying toilet paper around in my purse so I can take bathroom breaks in the bush. Diarrhea and vomit don't bother me that much, and I could probably even get to the point where I could discuss intestinal worms without turning green. Long story short, I'm sitting here saying, "Hey God! Right here! Look at me! Yeah, me! I'll go anywhere. Seriously."

So what's next? I really do not know (just in case you hadn't caught on to that by now). But hey! Not knowing - that's the fun of it all!