Miles and miles...

Are we really halfway through February already?!?
I'm still writing '10 on things...

Anyway, January can be described in one word for us--TRAVELING!  We left at the beginning of the month to make a 4 day road trip (are we insane?!) to spend a week with Dave's mom in a "nearby" country  =) before launching into a continuing education seminar that was there as well.  The road trip was quite an adventure!  We got to see alot, have alot of "family time"  =) and learned alot about how to be flexible in unexpected situations... The trip itinerary involved:

Day 1: driving to the bigger city
Day 2: driving almost to the first border
Day 3: driving across the first border and across the country
Day 4: riding a ferry across a river, crossing the border into the next country, and then driving part-way across that country to our final destination

Days 1, 2, and 3 went as planned, but Day 4 we hit a snag when we tried to leave that country and cross the river.  They said they had a new law (passed within the last week) that we had to have a passport for our car, which we did not have of course, since we didn't know about the new law.  So...  after many hours spent trying in many ways to get permission to take our car across on the ferry (which has been done many times by many other people in the past!), we paid a guest house to let us park our car there for 2 weeks, carried our essential luggage down the hill to the river (leaving the rest in our van and asking Dad all the while to protect it all while we were away!), rode across in a motorized canoe, crossed over into the other country, went through customs, and got on the last mini-bus out to ride 6 hours to our final destination. 

Needless to say, though we were sad to leave our car, we were glad to arrive safely and begin our time with Dave's mom, whom we hadn't seen since Emily's birth 2 years ago.  We all got lots of quality time with her and treasured our time there!


Our week of continuing education was helpful and encouraging, and Dave's mom got to be there with us through that week as well.   I had a very special birthday there too, and have now entered a more "mature"-sounding age (which will remain nameless!).  We started into our 4 day return adventure with renewed vision, refreshed and thankful for our sustaining Father who gives us both the desire and the ability to do all that he has planned for us.

The trip home was smooth--and our car was just as we'd left it!  We were glad to see home again, if only for a few days... just long enough to do some laundry, rest a bit, and re-pack for a week at a brother's village to celebrate Spring Festival with him and his family.

But we'll save that for the next post...  =)