Happy Friday

Sipping my coffee




Stuffing my suitcase




Finding my strength

Thursday Flickr Favorites - Insight?

Thursday Flickr Favorites - Insight?, originally uploaded by KJBehavior.

Is it just me or is there an awful lot of negative space and melancholy moods in this grouping? Also a touch of decadence. Perhaps there is some insight found to my focus this week in this beautiful collection.

I just said goodbye to my sweet E for 2 weeks. The term basket case has reached a new definition as I balled my eyes out in the parking lot of Starbucks. I'm pretty sure there should be a law against driving and crying. I knew that would be the hardest part of the journey that for me starts on Saturday. Being away from my son with no guaranteed way to hear his voice for two weeks. My mind knows all the reasons it's going to be ok but my heart still hurts.

4 more sleeps!

With every sunrise my anticipation grows.




Packing, packing, shopping, packing... 4 days till Africa!

Namibia here I come...

Tomorrow morning I will be heading on an adventure like nothing I've embarked on before. I'll be boarding a plane with 13 members of my church family and taking the 2 day flight to Namibia. We've been praying, raising funds, praying, preparing, working, and praying for nearly a year and I can't believe the day is here!!! When the opportunity was first announced I thought to myself "trip of a lifetime" but didn't dwell seriously about it knowing it would be impossible to leave my son with anyone for that long and go that far away. When I mentioned to my mom how amazing I thought it would be to go she didn't bat an eye and offered to take care of E so I could. God made a way. Did I mention how AWESOME my folks are?

The purpose of this trip is to work and witness. We will be putting up a structure for several churches in the area to use as well as working with the local missionaries in childrens ministry. I completely expect to see lives changed, mine included. God's hand has been so visible and felt through all the efforts made to make this trip happen. There is no doubt that He has something beautiful planned and I am eager to be apart of it.

I won't lie... I started to freak out last week as the date I've anticipated drew closer and closer. This trip is scary for a few reasons; I've never been out of America except to Mexico and I spent most of that trip in a luxury resort, I am a girl that likes her comforts and I'm pretty sure there won't be a Starbucks in Okorosave, I don't like big bugs, and being away from my son for 2 weeks has my heart breaking. But last Sunday the congregation at church had a send-off service for us and in that God gave me the peace I needed. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Hebrews 13:5. Of course I am going to miss my loved ones like crazy, but the two weeks will fly by and what a story (and photos I hope) I will have to share when I return!

For all of you that pray, I ask that you do so for our group. Pray for safe travel and no illness or injuries and all of that...but mostly please pray that we don't let fear or discomfort stand in the way of His work. Pray that we are able to open our hearts to Him and the people of Namibia and have a truly divine experience. I'm not one to hide my faith but there's always the chance I'll turn someone off when I speak openly about it. I'm often afraid of being perceived as "preachy." I saw this on pinterest the other day and I just really couldn't put it better myself:





Be back in October!

9/11

Tide Pools

On our way out of Fort Bragg we pulled off a small vista point that Amy advised us about to hike down to some of the best tide pools I've ever seen. Huge anemones, hermit crabs, starfish, we even caught a glimpse of some seals and a red crab working on a clam shell (you can see him in my reflection photo.) It was the icing on the cake for this awesome trip.

I promise this is the last of my Fort Bragg photos. Thanks for enduring. :) Needless to say I love this place and we will be returning!


























Now I make no apologies for the insane number of posts coming about my trip to Africa which I leave for in ONE WEEK!

Glass Beach

Day 3 of the Fort Bragg trip we visited Glass Beach.

Pretty neat that years of trash has been turned into a treasure hunt.

We bagged up our treasures and headed back to camp for a walk along the beach. I'm so glad my boy is such an ocean lover like his mama. Did I mention that we were blessed to see whales in the distance from our campsite the entire weekend? Spotting whale tales and blowhole spray was beyond amazing!

We ended the day with a firewood band concert!!
(That is Asher's "rockstar" face in case you were wondering.)

Fort Bragg Day 2

After a yummy breakfast we hit the road into town and caught a classic car show, took the obligatory tattoo museum photo, and stocked up on some landshark. Highly appropriate find since we told all the kids that landsharks lived in Fort Bragg and like to feed on whinny children. Muahahaha!






(Thank you my love for pulling over on Highway One so I could snap this!)

Dancing to the sunset and roasting mallows

The sun set on our first day at Fort Bragg so we sat on the sand and watched it leave. Millie's long braid was making a perfect silhouette as she twirled and C-dawg showed us her running man skills. The temps dropped and we bundled up for campfire and roasting marshmallows. *sigh* I am ready to go back.