Robin Rosmanith.
That's who started all of this.
But to start this story off right I have to first mention my Tiger Lily – Rachel Ridings.
Rachel is on her race right now. I have known Rachel for about 3 or 4 years. Rachel is the reason that Justin and I know what The World Race is.
When she told me and Justin she was leaving on this amazing journey we were super excited for her. What an adventure! I think we mentioned once how we wished we could follow suit and never gave it a second thought.
Fast forward a few months later.
It's a typical Sunday morning at Journey Church. Justin is talking music with some friends and I'm futzing with shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
Enter Robin.
First I need to give you some background information on Mrs. Rosmanith. Partly because she's stinkin' amazing and partly because it pertains to the story.
Robin is the creator of the website Shop To Stop Slavery. She created this website to bring awareness about products created by slaves and provide awareness to consumers in hopes that they will make better choices and strive to purchase products that are created with fair trade ethics.
Around Thanksgiving Robin featured a company called Radiant Cosmetics on her blog.
Radiant Cosmetics was created by a young lady named Nicole Marrett. Nicole started Radiant after an experience she had in Thailand.
Why was she in Thailand you ask? Well she was on The World Race of course!
Robin researched The World Race – she wanted to go herself! Unfortunately she didn't meet any of the requirement. But, guess who came to her mind!
These completely crazy, insane, Jesus-loving, radical kids:
Now back to that typical (which actually became very life changing) Sunday at church.
Robin sees Justin talking to her husband and asks him if he has ever heard of The World Race. "Yeah! My good friend Rachel is actually on it right now!", he responds. Robin then tells Justin how she was researching it and they take married couples. She explains that she can't go because she doesn't meet the requirements but we came to her mind!
Of course this information piqued Justin's interested because he was born with adventure in his bones. He told Robin he would do it in a heartbeat but wasn't sure how I would feel about it. He asked Robin to share with me what she had just shared with me.
So she did.
When she was telling me that she thought Justin and I were perfect for The World Race I have to admit that I had a pretty unnatural response. It was unnatural because I'm usually a big fat chicken and avoid adventure. I like my comfort zone and live there 24/7. It's decorated nicely – why would I want to leave?
But, not this time.
My mind and my heart aligned and both said, "Ok. Let's go!"
It was like she asked me to go the grocery store and pick up some eggs.
No hesitation. No reserve. Just a simple, "Yes."
Fast forward again to the car ride home.
Justin and I finally have a chance to share what went through our minds when Robin dropped this bomb on us (or really God dropped a bomb on us via Robin).
Funny thing is – our responses were the exact same. We both said, "Yes."
I can't remember now if I turned to him or if he turned to me but one of us turned to the other and said,
"Looks like we're going on The World Race."
