Heading South

Moonlit sky bright
above

Curled up waves upon
the shore

Rolling in between my
feet

Calmness and a sense
of peace

Our First Stop

This was my first
night experienced in

Florida!

I have arrived, but much has happened before
this point.

On August 29^th,
my parents and I headed south with a few stops on the way.

Our first stop included visiting my sister
Stephanie at

Grace

College
where we went to lunch and visited a few buildings on campus.

We then headed down to a river near

Winona
Lake.

Right in the middle of this inlet next to the
river on the grass, the four of us sat down, held hands, and each prayed; we
prayed for safety, for my departure, for God to work in ways never seen before,
for unity, for my brother and sister while at school, for friends, for each of
to be impacting lives no matter where we’re at, but most of all that we would
all be in God’s will, that we would LIVE in His will this year each moment. It
was a powerful and unifying time for each of us.

Stephanie, and I have become
particularly close this past year and a half and it was hard to leave her, but
we hugged and hugged again for a long time, and blew our usual kisses
good-bye.

We ended with a great big, “I
LOVE YOU and I

WILL see you later!”

Indy Visit

In our little blue
convertible Audi, we headed towards Indy where we met up with my cousin Lori
and a few other friends at the

Old
Spaghetti Factory.

We had some good talk and some good food

J

!

It was so great to
see them again and say a few more ‘see you laters’ before leaving.

And as I said in my last posting, I have the
best friends ever!

On the way to Lori
and Ryan’s house (my cousin and her husband), Lori and I did some wonderful
catching up and got to talk about where we’re at in life – something we haven’t
had the chance to talk about in years.

I
really treasured that time with her.

We
stayed in their beautiful house for the night before leaving once again early
in the morning around 6

(for anyone who knows me, that is a tough one for me!).

(Left front to back: Christine, Chris, Me – Right f to b: Lindsay, Lori, Chris (my mom) and dad is taking the picture)

FL Arrival

And we were off for
a LONG day of driving down to FL.

Our
goal – midnight.

I ended only driving
about 3 -1/2 hours total with my dad driving the rest.

We made it safely down to

Melbourne,
FL
a little earlier than expected (woohoo!) where my cousin got us a

su-weet deal on a hotel room right along
the ocean front!

Here’s where the
beginning of my post comes into play.

WOW!!

I am SO thankful God is as
creative as He is.

At midnight, we had
the opportunity to walk along the ocean as the waves faithfully rolled in and
the big bright moon was reflecting off the ocean.

The soft sand sunk down between my toes and I
just walked peacefully – just me and God.

In that hour, God spoke so much truth into my life and revealed new
perspectives to me, things I had never thought before.

What an wonderful Creator we have who cares enough about me to take time and speak right to me!

The next day was
spent with my cousin Timothy around town, touring his college campus, viewing his house
for the year, meeting some of his house mates, and driving back to his parents’
house (my aunt and uncle’s).

FLYING

My cousin is an
aviation major and has his pilot’s license so every moment he gets, he takes
someone out for a fly.

My mom, dad,
Timothy, and I went out yesterday (Saturday) afternoon.

It was a great time had by all….well, almost
all.

Sadly my mom loves the view but
gets motion sickness so she wasn’t able to handle it very well, but it was
still a wonderful view from up above (did you know Florida is mostly swamp
area??

Well, I guess I knew that, but
forgot just how much of it is and can’t be built on!).

Thanks TIMOTHY for one last flight with you
before I leave!

Last minute packing

There have already
been last minute trips to the mall and Wal-mart for things needed.

I am now two steps closer to be “ready” for
this trip;

#1 I have hopefully
purchased everything needed and

#2 I
rolled my sleeping bag, sleeping pad and tent up all by myself tonight!

I know, it seems like a no-brainer, but I
haven’t actually had the time to do it myself until now.

Now I know I can do it (which is a bit of a relief to me).

I may have forgotten to mention that among my preparations back home, I obtained a new drivers license (before the dreaded big 2-5) and got my hair cut for easyier management while gone. There are still things to be done tomorrow,
but hopefully Tuesday will be a time of rest and enjoyment with my parents and
relatives before driving up to the base
on Wednesday where I will begin training.

Excitement

As the time nears and
as the trip becomes more of a reality than just talk, I get more excited.

Much time, thought, prayer, and MUCH more has been
put into the preparation of this trip.

I
can’t wait to see what God is going to do this year!!

Before there was much fear, and yes, fear and
nervousness of the unknown is a natural feeling, but that feeling no longer
overwhelms me and takes over, much more excitement has entered my heart and God
has given me such a peace about everything.

He has made this happen; He has put the pieces into place; He has surrounded me with tons of supporters and prayer; and He has
promised great things!

What more could I
ask for??