You're doing what?!


"You're doing what?!"

These are the words that Perry and I have heard maybe a million times over the last several months. From family, from friends, from co-workers, from random strangers...sometimes these words have come with excitement and enthusiasm...and sometimes the opposite...i
t's honestly something that we've even looked at each other and said. With this mindset of "Whoa. Wait a second. Is this really what we're doing?"
But it is. We are packing up our current lives to head out on an adventure that we have thought about, prayed about and dreamed about for a very long time.

If you know Perry and I, you know that we're planners, and we tend to enjoy the rhythms and routines of life. But if you know us, you also know that we love to travel. We love to explore and see the world. And this time, the desire to travel and have a "you only live once" mindset won out on the predictability and security of life.

Some of you have asked how we ended up doing this and pulling the trigger. It's funny because I think at some level, we're not even sure ourselves how we ended up committing and diving in feet first.

For the last several years, it's something that we've talked about doing, but we never really knew if it was doable. But as we started researching and dreaming, we realized that there are so many people out there already doing this that have provided a plethora of information about how to pull it off.

And slowly the dream began to take form...

We started talking about it with our church small group and getting their feedback and council. We wondered if it was something selfish and unwise. We wondered if it was just something we desired to get away from commitments and responsibility. But as we wondered and sought wisdom, the members of our small group responded almost immediately, "Do it. I don't think it's something you'll regret." They started praying about it with us, and we started to wonder if this was something that the Lord was actually leading us to for some unknown reason.

And slowly the dream continued to take form...

For several months we sat on the idea wondering what we should do, praying for wisdom and discernment. I told the girls in our small group one night that I wanted clear, distinct direction from the Lord about what to do. He has always seemed to give that to me because I'm way too indecisive. We kind of laughed about it and decided that sometimes that clarity is given and sometimes it's not, but I continued to ask for it.

And slowly the dream continued to take form...

Then one Saturday night last September as Perry and I were getting ready for bed, I remember walking into our bedroom and looking at him frustrated and saying, "What are we going to do? We want to do this so badly. We haven't made a decision, and we need to either commit to going or let it go and move on with life." He agreed, and we went to bed that night praying that the Lord would help us make a clear decision soon.

We got up the next morning and went to church like usual. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary for the church service until one of our teaching pastors, Lloyd, stood up to begin his sermon with, "Today we're going to talk about indecision and what to do if you feel like the Lord may be leading you but you're not sure which way to go." Perry nudged me immediately in disbelief. Our church goes through the Bible verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, book-by-book, and during that time, we were studying the book of Ecclesiastes. That day, we were studying Ecclesiastes 10, and as Lloyd began to break down the chapter, it slowly became clear that this was the clarity and direction we had been looking for: we were supposed to go. Lloyd hit on every worry, excuse and reason that we had to not go. From the question of why now when we could do this when we retire one day to we have successful careers right now, should we really leave them? to trusting the Lord to provide for us along the way. He even said, "We never say this in church because it's not a very 'churchy' thing to say, but Ecclesiastes 10:9 basically says 'Carpe diem. You only live once. Seize the moment, and trust and follow the Lord's plans for your life.'"

We walked out to our car with my eyes puffy and red from crying tears of amazement at the Lord's kindness to us. Perry looked at me in the parking lot and said with a hint of shock "So, uh, what'd you think of that?" And I responded with, "I think we're supposed to go. I don't know why, but I don't think it could be any more clear."

And slowly the dream took form...

From there, we started telling family and friends and co-workers. We started planning this wonderful adventure that will take us to over 30 different countries on 6 continents (all of them except for Antartica) over the next 11 months.

And now here we are: leaving Sunday, July 28th to set out for Paris and live out this dream that has been building and taking shape for what seems like forever. We don't know exactly what awaits us, but we're excited to find out. We know that this is something that we are clearly supposed to do. Why? We haven't quite figured that part out yet, but we're excited to see what the Lord has planned and thankful that He is giving us this opportunity to set out on this wonderful road.

We would love for you all to follow along with us whether through this blog, which I will *hopefully* be updating regularly with stories and pictures from this adventure, or through our Instagram account where we will post pictures: @wonderfulroad

Overall, we pray that you would be inspired to live out your dreams and make them a reality. May you be filled with hope that the Lord has big plans for your life. And may you walk each day along the wonderful road that is set before you...


***If you're looking for my old blog with posts from my time in China and India then it's moved to: onawonderfulroad.blogspot.com 

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