Down to the Wire

As things begin to wind down stateside and I get ready to make the biggest move of my life across an entire ocean to a new continent... I can't help but feel a little strange.
I get nervous when I think about new things sometimes, and this is no different. I've been dreaming and planning and longing and praying about this for so long now that it seems like it may never actually come to fruition.
That's right... you heard correctly. In August I am planning to move, for at least a year, to Uganda, Africa. I will be working, at least to begin with, at Nightingale Clinic in Kibiito with a nurse midwife that I know there.
She is called Akiki. Though that is not actually her name. I have recently been educated on the significance of "pet names" in Tooro culture. My teacher informs me that there are about 12 pet names. There is also a 13th name, but it is reserved only for the tribal king to have and it necessarily trumps all the other pet names.
I pointed out that this is very difficult since more than one person in a household/family may have the same pet name, as families can not necessarily be limited to under 12 members. They say this doesn't matter and that it works regardless. I, naturally, find it very confusing however.
The first time I was there, they gave me the pet name Akiki as well. Partly, they said, because I am also a nurse and they think Akiki Snr. and I are similar and partly because of what the name means. I looked it up online. The simple version of Akiki meaning that I found in Swahili means "friend". Which is cute and somewhat fitting as I like to think of myself as a good friend. Especially a good friend, perhaps to the lovely people in Uganda, or more specifically to the ladies I will be serving in Kibiito. However, they tell me that there is a deeper meaning in Tooro culture for the pet name.
Its hard for me to decipher completely, but it also holds a bit of some promise of that person being a visionary, a proponent of new thoughts and ideas. Amooti, who was telling me about this, took this as a good sign. Perhaps a sign that I was supposed to be at the clinic, and that I would bring a new, fresh perspective to the work and expansion project. This scares me a little, but also is ridiculously encouraging.
Anyway, I bought the tickets a couple days ago, and have scarcely allowed myself time to think about it for fear that I will become overwhelmingly excited. I couldn't stop smiling all the first day after I bought them.
I priced luggage today as I am planning on taking another bag at least when I go. Hopefully my camera will keep working despite its water damage issues and I won't have to replace that before I go too. I do want to be able to adequately photo-document all my adventures on that side of the ocean though, for this blog and for everyone that I can't be with back here in the States.
Let me just say that I am super excited to be doing this finally. It's been a long time coming and I am pretty stoked to see where God is going to lead in these next few coming months and over this coming year.
In His time and for His glory.