We just returned from a fun trip to Pawley’s Island, South Carolina! Our sweet friends there set us up with a missions booth at their church, a lunch meeting with their missions director and a small group meeting. In between our meetings we had some fun at the beach together! It wasn’t super warm, in fact, our Midwest boys were the only ones in the water, but we thoroughly enjoyed our time.

Our friend, Garth, has an old Jeep and it’s a manual. I’ve never learned to drive a stick shift and in Burundi we will most likely have a stick shift. Garth taught me to drive on their beat up Jeep named Margo. It was a blast!

We had some really sweet fellowship with family and friends along our route too. We stopped in Asheville, NC, Charlotte, NC, Boone, NC, and Lexington, KY seeing family and friends that are like family! Such a sweet blessing to have time with each of them before we depart. I only remembered to take a photo 1 time with all the people we saw, so here’s my cousin Claire with us at breakfast!

Another thing we love about traveling together is we just continue our homeschooling, it looks a little different on the road, but it’s actually my favorite times. Before this trip we read books about the civil war in America, the South and the North. We read about the Underground Railroad and how where we live in the state of Indiana was free and helped those in slavery. We read about what life was like in the south and even into the 1900’s what life was like for those of color in the southern states. We read a book called Ron’s Big Mission about Ron McNair as a child in Lake City, South Carolina and then we stopped on the way to Pawley’s Island to visit the memorial they have of Ronald McNair who was one of the astronauts on the space shuttle Challenger. We also read about the loggerhead and leatherback turtles that come to Pawley’s Island every spring and make nests. We also learned about dolphins in the Atlantic. It was exciting to see these creatures in person after learning about them. We also stopped to learn about metal working and see Mr. Laurence in action making a sword! We had some fun times!!

There have certainly been a lot of changes and plenty of challenges along the way. Things aren’t perfect so don’t get the impression that they are or that we have it all together. We have trying times, we have moments where everyone is tired and frustrated at each other, we have family arguments like every other family does. We’re also really enjoying the freedom we have right now as a family, we’re enjoying pressing into the Lord as we adventure together. We’re on a new journey to Africa together and it has ups and downs and all arounds, but we’re clinging to Jesus every step and He’s holding this family of 5 together as we enjoy this holy adventure!