off we go...

in just a few short hours, we will be boarding a plane to italy...wow. its hard to believe considering that still have SO much to do and i wanted to go to sleep 45 minutes ago. i should know by now that my plans dont typically work out. for some reason (?) the Lord usually sees it differently. hmm...

anyways, we are headed overseas. before i say anything else, let me make one request. please pray for us over the next few weeks. theres a lot in store for our hearts, eyes, and emotions...

we are spending a week in italy- a couple of days in rome, the we are renting a car and driving around tuscany. (should be interesting...) we are going to stop in pisa, lucca, florence, san gimignano, siena, assisi, orvieto, gubio, perugia, cortona, and who knows where else.

then we are leaving rome, stopping in addis ababa, ethiopia to pick up our friends barrett and rachel, then going to nairobi, kenya. i think we will be there a day to go see some of our friends in kibera. then from there we are going with another group (the persecution project) up to sudan for almost a week, i think. dont really know those details...sounds safe, doesnt it? we will be traveling with them to see some of their projects and then they will take us to see mocha club projects. dave raises money for mocha club (a part of african leadership) and they build wells, orphanages, homes for abused women, etc...so, we are excited about getting to see the things we've heard about and prayed for! it will be a pretty amazing experience, but not easy, im assuming.

from sudan, we are flying back through nairobi, then rachel will leave us :( and dave, barrett, and i are going to fly to cairo for a few days. we will spend a couple days there and then travel to alexandria, egypt for a couple days...you know, ride some camels, check out the pyramids, see the ancient tombs, and maybe swim in the nile (can you do that??) then from there we are headed back to nashville just in time for dave to play a show and then celebrate christmas! yay.

speaking of christmas...our thanksgiving was wonderful. we had a combined family thanksgiving and it couldnt have been more fun. we are so blessed to have 2 amazing families and it was just perfect to spend time with both at the same time :) we played a lot of nertz...and for those of you who know nertz, you know that nertz=fun.

so back to this trip. we leave in the morning. i have so many emotions going on right now...im so excited but at the same time, im freaking out. packing always sends me into a frenzy, and this trip is especially hard. 2 opposing seasons, 4 different countries, so many different environments...im going crazy. but we'll make it there. and hopefully ill make it home to tell you all about it :) (of course im kidding about the "hopefully" part...right?)

ok, love you guys!