9th Time’s a Charm

I'm at Launch right now!! Reunited with my squad, in Washington D.C., preparing to leave the country. It's amazing to finally be here and starting this journey. I'm so excited that this is REALLY happening.
 
The past week leading up to launch stirred up a few emotions that I hadn't associated to race before. I was mostly just really excited to go. However, in preparing for the race a week before launch, I was very stressed at some points. One thing that I struggled with was packing for a year.
 
So, I had read a million blogs about packing before I began. I compiled a thorough list of "items to pack" and felt very confident about it. I gathered all the items, packed them into baggies and left them in my basement. Since launch was creeping up in less than a week, I decided to start packing, thinking that it would be a piece of cake since I had everything all "ready."
 

Then I tried to put it in my backpack. Literally less than half of my "items to pack" fit in my backpack! I was super freaked out and asked my team to pray for me and give me any tips. The BEST advice that I was given was by my squad leader, Joshua:
 

What you bring, you probably don't need and what you don't bring, you will live without.

 
This stuck in my head and I repeated it to myself serveral times before spending time praying for God to give me a heart to pack with this confidence and truth. Then, I began re-packing. And then re-packing again. Each time I eliminated more and more. It was my fourth time repacking that everything fit. I was so excited!…. until I weighed it! Not cool. I know I look super tough (jokes) but I really don't have much strength. 

So after my 7th time repacking, I left for D.C. yesterday with a heavy pack, but completely different from the original pack I packed the first time (or first 6 times). I wrote some encouraging verses on my airporter to remind me that God will give me strength, because there is NO way I can travel with my backpack comfortably. Not in my own strength. I NEED Him.

Once in D.C., my cousins John, Mary and Antonio helped me to eliminate even more and we got my backpack down to 44lbs! I am really happy about that, but I want it to be even lighter. I am totally going to re-pack a 9th time and see how light I can get it.

 
Each time that I take things out, I just think, I don't really need any of this. I wish that I could go all out and just bring my sleeping pad and my bible and call it good. I’m not there yet. But God is teaching me that "things" are just that. Only things. Things that I could live without and probably don't need. All I really need is God. And I’m excited to learn that more and more each day on the race.