2008 ~ A Year of New Things

My friend Eldrid told me last New Year's that 2008 signified a year of 'new things'.
The year has come and gone and I wondered if I experienced this newness now that I'm home from my travels . . . 

West Coast Tour & Returning to Colorado

After staying in Colorado with Mark and Janelle until mid-January, I took a big trip out to the West Coast using the final segments of my Around the World Ticket . . .

Welcome Home! Dec 14, 2007

When I got home, my brother Craig surprised me at the Lafayette train station (I flew from London to Chicago, O'Hare; and then took Amtrak down to IN) with friends and posters and flowers and sprinklers and my favorite Twix candy bar!  When I saw him and my friends, I started to make excited loud noises of delight (screaming?) and gave a flurry of hugs . . .

Summary of The Trip & Ps 84

Summary of the BIG TRIP... AROUND THE WORLD with JESUS

Stats & Summaries below: 

Post 99... Last Full Day of My BIG TRIP

Thursday, Dec 13, 2007... 12noon... Last full day before flying home tomorrow.
Wow. Here we are. I'm in London, at an Internet cafe, getting ready to . . .

Greece Pics in Patmos w/ Mom

Mom and I rode a super-fast ferry from Kos Island north to Patmos.  We could see the shoreline of Turkey as we zoomed by.  Amazing to think we were on this side of the globe!  Our faces made lots of G-force expressions... skin flattened on our cheeks, our lips flubbering in the wind, eyes drying out, bodies almost being blown back unless we held on to the guardrail.  It was funny!!  The weather was beautiful.  We got off at the island of Patmos; it was hilly with lots of trees and houses on it, and there was a cross high up on the hill.  Mom and I read the beginning of the book of Revelation (the last book of the Christian Bible) to get ready for our visit.  Patmos was the island that John (follower of Jesus, one of Jesus' closest disciples) was imprisoned on for his faith and testimony about Jesus.  While there, God gave him a Revelation, that he was told to write down...

Greece w/ Mom (Corinth, Athens, Kos)

Mom and I had a great time in Greece!  We both flew into Athens, and met at the airport in a flurry of excited cries, hugs and kisses.  I hadn't seen her since I left home in January, ten months ago, and she came to travel with me on her Thanksgiving Break.  


While waiting for her flight to arrive, I looked in my Europe Lonely Planet Guide (purchased for $5 from another traveler in Italy) and found a hotel in Athens we could stay at. Using the Guide, I felt like I was cheating, by not directly trusting God for a place to stay. But I figured it would be OK, and my Mom would appreciate the plans. One hotel boasted of a nice rooftop patio with a great view of the Parthenon and complimentary breakfast, so I called and made a reservation.  


After Mom arrived, we picked up her luggage and headed across the skyway to the train/metro and bought two tickets to downtown Athens. The last time Mom saw me, I wasn't so travel savvy and I had fun demonstrating my newly acquired skills. On the train, we chatted about flights, mom's last week of school, and my time in Italy. We laughed like old friends, and I remembered how much I like having someone around who really knows me.

Happy Thanksgiving from Greece!

Happy Thanksgiving from Greece!!!It has been a HUGE blessing from God to have my mom here this week with me.
He has blessed us with AMAZING weather - blue skies and sunshine, when there could easily not be. Also, He has directed each step of our journey w/ out us even being aware...

Athens, Greece

From an email to my dad... from Athens, Greece & the discovery of LEGOS:

Mom and i are here at an internet cafe, waiting out a rain storm that just came in!


we came out of the the National Archaeological Museum and bam! dark clouds swirling, thunder, and we tried to head to the metro, but saw an internet cafe, so ducked in, just before the rain came down! its clearing up a bit now, but its good to take a break.
thanks for your email; mom says hi!

"Quick" Updates; Spain, Switzerland, & Italy

Hi dear friends and family!

I am in Rome tonight... heading to Athens tomorrow morning to meet my MOM for a mother/daughter Greek week!! 
She's coming to spend Thanksgiving with me, and i think we're going to check out the cool stuff around Athens (like the pillars and buildings from a LONG time ago, and maybe visit some places like Corinth and Thessalonika, and maybe the Island of Patmos.

Pics: Switzerland L'Abri Adventures

L'Abri (Pronounced: La'Bree) was where I found myself for a few days in Switzerland.  I was so thankful to be able to stay there.  It was a large chalet, with about 20 young adults (mostly from the U.S.) living there for 1-2 semesters, taking a break from life to investigate their Christian beliefs.  

Pics: Switzerland, Autumn Walk

I took the train from Barcelona to Switzerland; my first overnight train in Europe!  It was FUN!  At first the conductor put me in the wrong room, with guys, but then he realized his mistake, so I got to move down with a girl from Japan.  In the middle of the night, as we were going through France, the train stopped at the border and police got on.  They asked us all for our passports (which I found out was standard procedure traveling through Europe); they took them, checked them, and brought them back.  This was a little difficult for me to do at first, because I heard that I should NEVER NEVER let anyone else have my passport.  But I gave it to them anyway.  And it came back fine.  One of the girls next to us was taken off the train and questioned.

Into the Home Stretch...

Its hard to believe, but I only have a month and a little left to this amazing trip.

I remember thinking when 1 month for a vacation would have seemed L--ONG to me.

But now that i´ve been traveling for 9 1/2 months (i just had to stop and count on my fingers... Feb, March, April...), it is merely the final chapter in a long book.

How do you write a final chapter?

Pics: Barcelona, Spain

Pictures of Meeting Eric Johnson and his wife Gina, in Barcelona!

Going out to eat with them, visiting cathedrals; learning to use the Metro system for the first time on my whole trip - Thank you, Eric, for teaching me!!  Great conversations with them about traveling (they are avid world travelers as well) and about God.  Gina's family invited us over for dinner, and it was so nice to spend time with a local family.  Gina's mom is an amazing artist.

Pics: Madrid, Spain

In Spain, I stayed with Molly, a friend of a friend, who graciously invited me in to her home.  She didn't know me at all, but is a missionary from Indiana, a little younger than me, teaching English in a Spain elementary school and working with a Missionary Alliance church in Madrid. A friend connected us.

When we visited her school, it was the day before Halloween, which I found out is an American holiday, and the Spanish teachers were teaching all about it to their students.  I thought, "Great.  What a wonderful holiday to spread."  But in one class, they did have an apple-dunking game that was really fun.  I taught the kids how to press the apple against the bottom of the bucket to hold it there while they bit into it. Maybe it was cheating. But it was funny to see my group come up with dripping faces and the apple every time!

Tiberius, Sea of Galilee, ISRAEL

Todd and Rose Horton (and their 3 beautiful children), with Touched By Grace Ministries, were my wonderful hosts in Tiberius.  (My friends from Indy, Natalie and Doug Crane, connected me with them!  Thank you!!!)  Tiberius is in northern Israel, right on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee - which really looks like a large lake!  It was so amazing to be there.  To walk where Jesus walked with his followers, to visit Caparnaum (where Peter, James, and John were from - on the northern shore of the Lake); to ride a modern-day boat that was designed to look like the fisher boats during Jesus' time; to imagine Jesus walking across the Lake; to imagine him saying to the winds and the waves, "Peace, be Still!"; to see the mountainside where Jesus may have taught the Beatitudes; to go to the Jordan River at the southern shore of the Lake and swim near where Jesus was baptized and the dove came out of heaven and said, "Behold, this is My Son, with him I am well pleased"; WOW.  I think that every person who loves Jesus should visit Israel and go up to the Galilee area where Jesus spent so much of his ministry time during the three years from his baptism to his death on the cross.  It is a beautiful land, with a lot of lush, green fields that grow citrus fruits, olives, grapes, etc.

Invitation - Come to Israel

Israel. I can't believe I'm here.                                                                        Flights to Tel Aviv

These are the deserts the Israelites walked through on their way to the Promised Land.

This is the wilderness that David fled through to escape the evil intentions of Saul.

This is the wilderness that Elijah prayed in and was fed by ravens.

Jesus walked through this land, bringing good news of salvation and announcing God's kingdom is near.

This is where he broke bread and fed 5,000. This is where he walked on water.

This is where he walked along the water front with his disciples and told them secrets of the Heavenly Father's heart. This is where he called the 12 disciples and sent them out to do the things he showed them, to set the captive free. This is the land where the Savior was died. This is where he rose again. This is where he will return.

This is the hill he prayed tears of blood, asking the cup to be taken from him, if it was possible.

This is where the famous kiss of betrayal was placed on his cheek.

This is where he told Peter to put away his sword and healed the bleeding ear of the one who came against him.

This is the place where God dwelt among his people, then removed his glory, but where his glory will return.

This is the place where the eyes of the LORD are.

This is the place where all nations will come to bring tribute to the King of Kings.

This is a chosen place. Set apart.

This is a place that invites you to come.

To see the heritage.

To enter the living story.

To have your faith renewed and your hope restored.

This is the place where you will connect with the God of the Universe

because his heart and his love are with man.

He delights to save us.

He loves to bring us salvation.

It cost him everything.

But for the joy of renewed relationships and eternal fellowship with his creation,

he determined the price was worth the cost.

Come to Israel.

Come see the glory of kings.

Come see the hope of the world.

Come see the nation that God reinstated in a day.

The nation where his favor forever rests.

Flights to Tel Aviv
(posted to blog: 12/23/09)
(archived as 10/17/07, to put in 
proper sequence order of blog, 
but actually written in 12/23/09)

JERUSALEM!

The City of God's Amazing History with His People...
To Bless All Nations...

I'm in Jerusalem now, staying w/ a great husband and wife who live in a "flat" (3 bedroom apt/condo/house) that overlooks a valley that leads up the hill to JERUSALEM!!! Over to our right (as you look out to the city) is the Mt. Olives, where Jesus went out to pray before he was captured and prosecuted and executed; and then where He was taken up to heaven after He rose from the dead and gave His last directions to His Followers/Believers... its RIGHT THERE!!!
I can't tell you what it was like to drive in the taxi and see part of the WALL of Jerusalem a couple hundred yards away... like this ancient wall, like in kings/queens england time; only BEFORE that... in JESUS' time.

In Israel

Dear Friends and Family,

Today i am in Eilat! Its in Southern Israel, right by where the Red Sea comes up and touches the Israel border... Like if you hold 2 fingers up (peace), I'm at the tip of the middle finger. (fingers being the Red Sea.)

Its really sunny and dry heat HOT here... they say its cool now but in the summer its hot. Ha! I did my laundry in a sink last night, hung it up to dry (didn't even wring it out too much), and BAM, its dry by 10 am the next morning. wow.

I'm staying at a guest house called the Shelter, its run by a couple, John and Judy Pex, who have been in Israel for about 30 years, and they are really great people. They love Jesus a lot. They also wrote a book about a "life time-out" they took walking the 600 mile Israel National trail (i guess like people do our Appalachian Trail)... that goes from the northern Lebanon border all the way south to Eilat, where we are now; its called, Walk the Land.

Birthday Adventures!

Happy Birthday to me!!! :)
My brothers always would laugh at me for announcing my
own birthday, but i'm celebrating!!!! yippeeee!!!!! :)


Today, Oct. 7, 2007 is my birthday!!!! yea!!!!!


It is a beautiful day in Sharma El Sheikh, Egypt...