Sparkles

Here is a post written last winter but not yet shared. Incidentally, I was recently watching a video from Francis Chan that had pictures of stars and such, and from a great distance, it looks like outer-space is filled with glitter. I knew God made glitter too!

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My newest vein of contemplation on the life of a missionary:

By no stretch of the imagination would I be considered a super girly-girl. I have a "uniform" that I wear 90% of the time consisting of jeans, hiking boots, and a sweatshirt. My getting ready routine consists of showering, getting dressed, brushing my teeth, deodorant, and [sometimes] brushing my hair (and to tell you the truth, sometimes I feel I'm doing the world a favor with that).

However, there are definitely times I love to get dressed up. When you've just had one of those long, draining weeks, it's fun to escape the mundane routine. I think sparkles, glitter, and shimmer are three of God's greatest blessings. They just make me feel...happy. I have to smile. I always tell Josh that someday we should have a truck, and that I don't care what color he picks, I just want it to have that glitter finish that speedboats often have. He either rolls his eyes or says something about it being hick-ish. Hello? You married a woman who grew up on a game refuge and has familial roots in Kentucky. It wasn't like I was trying to hide it. Anyway, I digress...

We are only allowed to take approximately 6 pieces of luggage (2 of them carry-on) for everything we need for a year- 6 pieces! Now, I have done Royal Servants and can pack luggage with the best of them, but I must reiterate- 6 pieces! As in less than 7 and more than 5 (crazy, huh?). We must include (for both of us) clothes, medicine, shoes, toiletries, books, pictures and tokens from home, linens, etc. If you think this is easy, consider all the things you use in a year- could you pack them in 6 bags (oh, and they have to weigh less than 50 lbs each). If we want it, we have to pack it. We will dress VERY casually in Namibia for two reasons- first, since our clothing will be limited, it must wear well; second, we don't want to make people with very little feel worse by flashing fancy possessions. Our equivalent to dressing up will probably be wearing shoes (that's not quite true; since there are scorpions, I will be positively vigilant about wearing shoes, but you get the idea).

It is only when it is taken away that I a grateful for the freedom I have to wear dresses or high heels or nail polish. I mean, I can probably stick an eyeliner or bottle of nail polish in the bag, but platform sandals are definitely out. Besides, when you are changing diapers or wiping noses or playing in the dirt with kids all day, a manicure seems a bit superfluous.