"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are."  John Pierpont Morgan

The first step towards getting to Africa was to make the decision to grow my hair long enough for a pony tail.  For those of you who have lived through growing out bangs and multi-layered, short-ish hair, this is no small step.  This is a commitment.  This was the first commitment toward Obedience.

As I have shared some of my victories and challenges on this road to Niger, Africa, a friend challenged me to document it all in a blog.  I thought I would record simple, funny little posts about things like Yellow Fever vaccines and super expensive Anti Malarial pills (Who knew my heart medication would be contraindicated with the cheaper pills?).  It's turning out to be a bit more complicated than that.

As crazy as it sounds, it really did start with the decision to grow my hair.  Around this same time, my principal approached me about taking on a leadership position in my school.  I have been a teacher for 27 years.  Up until that time, it had never occured to me to take on any leadership roles.  I was perfectly content being the Queen of my classroom.  For the most part, my students loved me, and I'd been doing my job long enough that I knew what I was doing.  In other words, I was in control and it wasn't very hard/challenging anymore.  The request to lead was humbling and scary.  I felt incapable and unqualified. 

But, I had committed to trying to be Obedient, so rather than saying, "NO," immediately, I asked for a little time and really focused on listening for God's leading.  I'll keep telling you, I did not hear words, but I felt a message.  All of a sudden, I knew the very specific reason I was being offered this challenging opportunity.  My first-born, Jacob, was graduating from high school.  He was only moving about 5 miles away, but I knew life would change, there would be some empty space in my life.  God was presenting this opportunity to fill that space.  That's all I knew at that moment, but I knew Obedience meant accepting the challenge.

So, I became the Reading Curriculum Leader.  That probably doesn't sound big, but it was huge. I gobbled up knowledge about my subject area, like I was starving.  Where had all of this "new stuff" been?  Why hadn't I been updating my content knowledge beyond what I needed for my classroom?

 I learned some very humbling lessons about leading adults.  Guess what?  They didn't all love me, I didn't always know what I was doing, I wasn't always in control, and it was very hard and challenging.  But, I knew I was being Obedient, and I was on the road to.....somewhere.