I wanted to share with you all something amazing that is happening in my life and to update you all on a few things.

I am blessed. I have a blessed life and God has blessed me more than I could of ever imagined. I have a wonderful family, a wife that is my iron lug of support (couldn’t do anything without her), 2 healthy and beautiful kids, a wonderful and fun agency filled with the most amazing workers that could be huge assets to any company and clients that I absolutely adore (non more than Mobil 1 - we all know that!).

I had a family friend challenge me recently to step outside of my comfort zone and step back and look at how much I have to be thankful for. He then went on to challenge me to work hard to find ways to give back and to make a bigger impact that what I would do through work etc. He wanted to see me make an impact on the world and take part in something that would change my life and how I view it.

I am active in my community. I love to give and love to see people smile. He told me all of that was good, but he wanted to see me make a greater impact and more than that - wanted my life to be impacted.

I am at a time in my life where this intrigued me. Like I said, I have a wonderful life and am blessed. So instead of treating this conversation like I have in the past (basically in one ear and out the other) I decided to stop and listen and take it to heart. He proceeded to tell me about this mission over in Nairobi, Kenya Africa where there is a group of people that are over there serving and working in what they call the Slums of Nairobi - helping people just live their lives and to help get them on track to be stable and healthy. This is one of the worst places on earth when it comes down to children that are left to live without their parents or families due to severe amounts of the AIDS virus killing them off on a daily basis.

The living conditions are worst than horrible. I will never see anything this poor or bad here in the U.S. The medical condition as you can imagine is below the poverty line. Food is rare and often times fought over by 6 year old kids just to survive.

As I sat there and watched some videos and listened to this whole thing, my heart was broken and I was moved. I met with Michelle, my wife, about it later that evening and she came to me with “You need to go over there and help them.” I was amazed she would encourage me to leave her with 2 kids and get out there and do this. My heart was tugging on me and I knew that it was time to get out of my comfort zone and to do something that would encourage and help people that really need it and in return make a very large impact on my life personally.

I would have the opportunity to work with orphan kids that have lost their parents to serious deaths. I will have the opportunity to work in a small school to help kids and to help make their accommodations better than they have. I will have the opportunity to work in this medical facility to help the locals and people and tribes that are in dire need of help. I will have the opportunity to also work with some small business over there. There is a great need for business to grow so they can create jobs for locals and help bring in capital and infrastructure to this city and region. I am going to have time to teach them what I have learned and basic practices in working with people and employees and cash flow etc.

So, last Sunday night I decided to work and see if I can get a ticket to fly over there. Thursday morning I found one and accommodations and took it.

So, I am taking the plunge. I leave tomorrow (Wednesday) night and will come back on Wednesday Jan 21.