September 23, 2013: As I was making some Kenyan tea on this chilly AM, I checked my email while waiting for it to steep. I see an email from my good friend Shana, and one line in particular rattled me: “If you’ve seen the pictures on the news & thought, ‘that looks familiar,’ it’s because it is.” 

This tea, that I’m comfortably sitting here drinking to start my day, came from a shelf 30 yards inside the doors of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi that’s been overtaken by cowardly terrorists, senselessly killing nearly 70, injuring nearly 200 and holding hostage people who don’t deserve it.

Going to sip my tea a little slower this AM, pray a little longer, and be more thankful today for the blessings I don’t deserve.