Let the (more) regular blogging begin!

Hello blog-reading friends!

I have finally reached the point in the summer where I can turn my attention toward preparing for my journey to Liberia and taking care of all the details and tasks that come with that, including updating this blog a bit more frequently!

I am finally back home in Florida, and have spent the last day and a half doing absolutely nothing except sleep and sit in front of the TV using fewer brain waves than sleep requires :) So now it's time to get some things done, although I still plan on having a few days of excess sleep thrown in the mix!

The Liberia preparation is going well at this point, I would say. I am up to about $2250 on the fund raising front, which is AWESOME - almost enough for our $2400 plane ticket which we will be booking sometime this week (aaahhhh!!!). I sent off for my Visa last week (I can't tell you how nerve-wracking it is to have to stick my Passport in the mail...), have already had all my shots except one, have my Malaria meds on hand, and am constantly making lists and sending emails trying to make sure everything is taken care of before we make the trek across the Atlantic.

Over the next few weeks, I'll try to share with you some of the fascinating history of Liberia and the Ricks Institute so you know a little bit about where I will be going. A few books I am currently working on that I would highly recommend for you as well:

"The House at Sugar Beach" by Helene Cooper (story of a NY Times journalist growing up in Liberia, and what her life and family were like before and after the war)

"This Child Will be Great" by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (autobiography of Liberia's president, who is the first female elected head of an African Nation and whom I heard speak at Furman back in April

"A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah (story of a boy soldier... OK, so this one is about Sierra Leone, but that's next to Liberia, and I have a feeling I will meet some Sierra Leonians during my journey... and it's a fabulous book)

Those should keep you occupied until my next post :) I'm still working on getting through all of them myself!