Wake Forest/Raleigh Bound!

We are looking forward to our first weekend away since we moved to Cullowhee, NC.  The university we are working with has fall break this Thursday to Tuesday of next week, so we are packing up our suitcases and going to the Wake Forest/Raleigh area for a mini-vacation!  This place is special to us because it is where we both lived for a little while (Zach for 3 years, me for only 1 year).  It's also where we met and were married.  So, it holds a special place in our hearts.  We're ready to do some relaxing and see some of our friends there.  Hopefully when we get back I'll have some fun pictures to share with you!  Happy fall break!

The building with the black awning on the far left of this picture is where we had our wedding.

The Awesomeness that is Travel

Travel has always been a big part of my life.  Spending my childhood as a third-culture kid in Ecuador, I was exposed to the world at a young age.  After living in the U.S. for all of my teenage and college years, I spent six weeks in East Asia where I got my first taste of travel as an adult.  It was exhilarating.  I was on sensory overload with all the new smells, sights, sounds, tastes.  It was the same when I moved to North Africa for two years.  Of course, traveling came with its challenges.  I was stretched endlessly, taken out of my comfort zone, and had to find my identity as a person being in a cross-cultural context.  However, my heart for travel has been ignited and I will venture to say it is a passion that will never die.

Sometimes I feel like I was born to travel.  I don’t mind airports and time changes.  Feeling out of place is pretty normal for me.  I can make do with minimal hygiene and be flexible when I find myself in less than preferable circumstances (a hole in the ground to pee in or when the water goes out for several days at a time).  I can deal with getting lost in a city as long as I have a map or a language dictionary to help me direct a taxi.  As much as I love the thrill of being in a new place, travel has brought a lot of richness to my life. 

o   Travel has broadened my view of the world.  I am daily aware of the reality of the bigger world we live in.  From traveling I know that the way America lives is not the way most of the world lives.  I understand that there is hunger, pain, beauty, lostness, creativity all over.  My context for living has changed. 

o   Travel has stretched my ability to live simply.  Going beyond the lines of what was comfortable for me has helped me to adapt to a simpler way of living.  I have learned that I really don’t need much in this life, that satisfaction and joy are found in Christ and in loving and serving others and not in luxury. 

o    Travel has allowed me to see my True Home.  I have lived many places in my life thus far.  In the past 4 years alone I have lived in 4 different countries.  In the midst of all this moving and traveling, there were times I got weary and longed to be ‘settled’ somewhere.  Through traveling the Lord has continually reminded me that we are sojourners on this earth and our True Home is with Him in heaven and He is the home of our heart.  This world is not our home and we are on a journey.  There is something about travel that reminds us of this truth.

o   Travel has deepened my wonder of the Gospel.  Travel reveals a world that God created.  Lands he created. People he created and loves.  Nations who worship in darkness and desperately need the hope of the Gospel.  In my travels, my eyes have been opened to the fact that there are so many in our world who have NEVER heard the Gospel story.  Travel has also gloriously allowed me to see how God is moving all over the world.  Believers from all different cultures and backgrounds worshipping and claiming the name of Christ.  God is at work redeeming the world to Himself!  There is still much work to be done though and He calls his children to GO! and be a part of his wondrous work.  Travel has deepened my belief and knowledge that the Gospel is for ALL people, all nations. 

Fall Reading

I love, love books!  I love the smell of the pages and the feel of the covers.  One of my favorite Saturday afternoon activities is to just curl up with a quality cup of coffee and a good book in my hands for a few hours.  My husband loves to read too.  He often likes to tote a book around when he's going somewhere just in case there is an opportunity to read.  As kids we both grew up enjoying reading alot and I hope it is something we can encourage in our future children one day. 
Now, I'm the kind of reader who goes through "reading spurts".  While I always have the page(s) of some book(s) dog-eared, sometimes it can take me months to finish a book.  Other times, I get the reading itch and I can sit and fly through a book within a few days (I'm rarely the type of reader who can finish a whole book in a day).  Well, I dont' know if it's the cooler fall weather that's approaching, bringing along with it the lovely thought of hot chocolate, scarves, and bonfire season.... but I  have got the reading itch!  Yay!  I have many a books that have been sitting in my "to be read pile" for quite some time and my goal is to actually get some of those read this fall.  So, I wanted to share with you all my Fall Reading List that I put together, hopefully to inspire you to read more this fall, but if for nothing else to keep me on track with my plan. :-)  Here's my list:

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck (I'm over half-way through with this one already)
Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears (this is one that Zach and I are reading together)
Life of Pi by Yann Martell
Radical by David Platt
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Sacred Influence: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands by Gary Thomas
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (I'll start reading this one around the beginning of December)

7 books.  I don't think that is too lofty of a goal.  Especially with the free time I have right now, I need to take advantage of it!  I tried to get a good mix of fiction and non-fiction in there.  We'll see how I stick to it.  Most importantly though, I just want to have fun reading and learning in the process!  Okay, I'm off to read some more now!