Departure

Well, for those of you who have not yet heard, I have my plane tickets. I will be leaving on Thursday, December 6. Knowing my departure date has created mixed feelings. I am excited about going and seeing what all God has in store for the year and I am excited to know when this adventure will officially start, but having a date also makes this real and the feelings I have about leaving home are slowly coming to the surface.

Now that I know when I am leaving, the good byes have started. Before, leaving was a day in the future that I could, in a sense, forget about and pretend it may not happen, but now that I have that date, I start to think about all the people I need and want to say goodbye to. Goodbyes are never easy, but knowing (or not knowing) what the future holds for the next year makes saying goodbye even harder in many ways. There are so many people I want to say goodbye to and there are some that I won't be able to, at least not in person.

My first goodbye happened while I was in Washington visiting Harlan and Josie. Mom, Dad, and I flew out to visit Harlan and Josie to see where they are living, where they are working, and meet some of the people they have come to know. It was so much fun to be able to see them again. Not only did we get to do the things I mentioned above, but we were able to do some "touristy" things like go the beach (although it was cold and the seagulls wanted to eat our food), walk through the Olympic Rainforest (which was incredibly beautiful), go to the Future of Flight (the Boeing factory where they make the Boeing 700 serie planes), and just spend time with Harlan and Josie. Overall, we had a great week and when it was time to go, it was hard saying goodbye even though we all know that what we are doing is what God wants us to be doing.