Walkabout...

I woke up earlier than the others again - so I got ready for our hike and then explored the Blue Mountains YHA. They offer supplies to make breakfast for a pretty cheap price - but I already have oatmeal with me so that's what I made.

We drove over to the very accessible visitor center at the Three Sisters and took some pics and then started down the 800 steps of the Giant Stairway to the valley floor and were completely surround by about 20 other people heading down and up. It was a little overwhelming...the people that is. The views were as well. WOW. I understand why there are so many people here. Once we got about a quarter of the way down though - most of the people were heading back up. We only passed about 6 others that went all the way down or around. It is such a beautiful area and the air is crisp and their are birds calling all around us. We watched the Katoomba waterfall for awhile and then continued down the trail over to the worlds steepest Scenic Railway. Which I would have loved to pass up BUT Candis and AJ made me ride it up. It wasn't actually too bad. I am glad that we rode it up and not down. It was crazy steep. No really...it was quick too. So it was like a rollercoaster ride but just up.

There were some gentlemen from Japan that wanted Candis and me to get into a picture with them...so we did and they were on the railway in front of us - laughing and taking lots of pics. It was fun to watch.

Then we grabbed lunch at a cafe at the top and decided to drive about 40 kilometers over to the Jenolan Caves. We got there right after 3:00 p.m. so we were only able to join the 4:00 p.m. tour of the Temple of Baal Cave. We got some drinks and waited...there were these beautiful birds - that you can tell get fed a lot by people because of how comfortable they were with us right there - that I played with and chased.

Then the caves. This particular cave was found in 1904 and it has two chambers...our guide told us that two of the first people to tour the cave were Methodist Ministers. Most of the names of each of the formations had some sort of biblical reference. It was gorgeous. Our guide, Barry, has lived in the area for the past 40 years and truly loves what he does. He asked if any of us sing when we were in the larger chamber and no one stepped up to sing. So after everyone started leaving to go back to the first chamber - I waited behind(I was pretty nervous for some reason) and sang the first few lines of "Think of Me" from Phantom. It is so cool to sing in that kind of space. Barry wanted me to sing again later - but I didn't. He was pretty funny -
Candis took a pic of us. She will be posting those in a couple of days.

From there we drove back to Katoomba and ate dinner at a Thai restaurant. Both Candis and I are craving Thai Beef salad...so we had hoped to have it there. But they didn't have it.

I spent most of the evening trying to work on details of my trip to New Zealand. It's crazy how different it is from what I originally thought it would be. I am planning on sticking with the YHA - Hostels in New Zealand. They keep an eye on you and have lots of good and cheap info about what to do in the area.

Heading back to Sydney tomorrow! AJ will hang around Sydney and Candis will be going back to Memphis on Saturday. And I will head to New Zealand! I am super excited! And a little nervous to be on my own. But I am ready to process and pray and walk and see.

...like a concord grape exploding...

Wednesday, October 14th

So I woke up today super determined to have a better day than yesterday. Our goal today is to explore the Northern Hunter Valley Wine region. Lots of small but very nice vineyards. I guess I should point out that I am not a wine drinker- I don't like it. It's so...dry! It's kind of like olives- I will try them but I never like them. Ick.

But, I like to go to vineyards- try some, meet the people...so we are heading a little west before we continue south to find 3 of the vineyards on the route.

The first one had a gorgeous front lawn with a gentle hill right above a lake with ducks. Well, I just HAD to roll down the hill. So I did. Listen, if you want the whole story then ask me someyime...cause I haven't laughed so hard in long time. I was crying...so much fun!

We tried some wine and then drove to the next one...all in all I found one wine that I could drink. Eh. What was more interesting to me is that at 2 of the vineyards the people that served us the samples admitted to not really liking wine either when I told them I didn't!
Ha!

We got back on the road after an okay meal at a pub in Denman...and man, the closer we got to the Blue Mountains the more the scenery changed! We are on the mountains- I love it.

We drove on a road called Putty Road and after we passed the first "town" with not even one building on the road that we saw - Candis noticed that we were getting low on gas. So I told her how far away Putty wad and we hoped they would have gas/petrol. Um...so Putty had
a town hall that we drove 4k's to see. No petrol. Now we are sweating it. The mountains eat up our gas quicker than nothing else! Will we make it to Colo and will Colo have petrol? We drive for another 30 minutes and we see a sign for food coming up. We don't want food! But it does give us hope...we round a corner going into Colo and....they have Petrol! Thank goodness.

It takes another hour or so to get to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. When we stepped out of the car - the temperature was much colder.

You should have seen Candis move! She ran from the car to the building and then when she came back to the car - she actually put her jeans on IN the car before going into the hostel!!! :)

We are staying for two nights at the Blue Mountain YHA- which is a fantastic hostel in a great location!

We bundled up and braved the cold and shrieking wind tonight to get our first glimpse of the Three Sisters. Amazing.

I can't wait to hike around in this area tomorrow!

Blech.

Tuesday, October 13th

Woke up to a gorgeous day. We had the best brekkie at a place called Caffiends. Hot Ginger Drink & veggie omelet with sour dough toast. Yum!

Then we wandered thru the town, checked out the University and of course stopped by McDonalds so I could use their free wi-fi.

One of the longest waterfalls and gorges on the area is about 40 km east of Armidale- so we drove over. We thought that maybe there wouldn't be a waterfall because of the drought...but there was!

Again, it is hard to describe the diversity of this land...you see farms and rolling hills and then the land opens up and there is a massive gorge with two waterfalls. I can see the farms on the otherside at the top. So crazy.

Then back through Armidale to head further south to see the Big Golden Guitar complex. Couldn't miss it. Right on the New England Highway. They are big celebrators of the country music in this area. Haha.

We then went to the adorable town of Scone...but made the bad mistake of going to Hogs Breath Cafe. NEVER go to chain restaurants. So gross. Seriously. And I am not feeling well today. So that didn't help.

We were going to stay in Muswellbrook(pronounced Muscle-brook) but we really wanted to see a movie and they didn't have a cinema. So we decided to drive the 40 kilometers to the bigger town of Singleton...where they had a cinema. So I am driving out of Muswellbrook and am passing from a 60k an 80k per hour...and I see a cop to the left pointing a hair dryer at me but I am fine cause I know that I am not speeding at all.

I guess I should point out that the Aussies are very, very strict about speeding. There is a sign posted about every 15 minutes or so- "how fast are you going now?" or "speeding-no one thinks very big of you". They also have a camera pretty often to catch you speeding.

But they do normally give you 3 warning signs before the speed camera. They don't want you to speed. Got it.

So I am driving the correct speed but as I get closer to the cop car- I realize that one cop is out in the street motioning me to pull over. So guess who has a ticket for speeding? I was already over 60k before I passed the 80k sign.

The best part of this story is that the cop asked me how much longer I was going to be in Australia... I said 2 more weeks. So he said with a laugh- "well, if you pay this ticket that is up to you, but you can also not pay it because there isn't much we can do about it.". Then he shrugged and walked off.

Oh. I'm paying it. I'd like to come back here one day.

We went to see Couples Retreat that night. It's funny but it would be a better rental.

Going to some vineyards tomorow and then to the Blue Mountains for 2 nights!!!!

Give me eyes to see...

Monday, October 12th

I wake up early. No matter what. Earlier than the others with me, so I usually wait for awhile before I start getting ready for the day. I was going to run this morning but I decided not to because we are hiking in the Bald Mountain National Park...which should be a 3 hour hike total.

My left foot is still giving me problems - but the pain is on the top of my foot. This has happened before but it normall goes away eventually. Not now. After today's hike, I might take it easy for a couple of days and see what happens.

We ate breakfast at a mom & pop bakery - we all had meat pies with something different on top. Mine had tomatoes, cheese and bacon - not too bad!

The Bald Rock Mountain is supposedly the largest exposed granite monolith in the Southern hemisphere. We started our hike up with snacks and water. It was an easy hike up - mostly on a logging road. As we got to the top - we were hiking mostly on smoth granite rock. We again had a great view, there were lots of clouds but they just added to the beauty. We had hoped to see wildlife out here but all we saw were flies and a few birds.

Then. There are two ways to the summit.
1) long but easy (which we took up to the top)
2) short and harder - more of a rock climb

We tried to find the rock climb down. But honestly there were NO signs for it at the top. So Candis and AJ thought we could continue our hike dow the logging road - I mentioned that I wasn't comfortable with it but agreed to try. 45 minutes later we hadn't seen any signs - so I told them that I thought we should really turn around. I have been in this situation too many times before(you know, lost but you know exactly where you are) so we turned around. We were low on water and it was lunch time...Anyways, we got back fine, just hiked a lot longer than we planned.

I was super determined to not get discouraged - so my prayer the whole time was "give me eyes to see"...cause I can get so inward focused that I miss what's around me. (Still didn't see kangaroos though).

We washed our faces at a spigot near the carpark and then drove to a waterfall gorge - it was beautiful! There was also a HUGE dragon/lizard...pictures to come!

We spent the rest of the day driving south...we decided to go to the next town down for lunch - even though we were all pretty hungry - so around 3:30 in the small town of Deepwater...we stopped at a convenient store that served burgers and sandwiches. The owner is a delightful woman who has been in the area for about 4 years - her name is Sandra. She told us stories about her family and how she ended up in Deepwater. All I know is she makes a mean burger - it was possibly the best meal yet! We left stuffed.

In Glen Innes - there is a Celtic memorial to honor the Irish and how they helped Australia to become what it is today. They are standing stones...it is pretty cool. But weird because it isn't natural. And there are alllll sorts of amazing rocks standing all over the place. But we went and looked and enjoyed.

Further down the road as we passed through Glen Innes - we saw the Happy Strawberry. They make strawberry shakes, shortcake, jams and more. This place was recommended to us by Ulla. So we had to stop in! Candis and I split a shake and because I had asked about the Pavlova - the woman gave us a sample. It was a meringue with cream and strawberries. OH MY. I could have licked the plate! So good. No really. I want some more now.

Found out my hike in New Zealand was cancelled. So...I don't know what I am going to do in a couple of days. I think I am still heading to New Zealand but I don't know where I am going to hike. OH - and the weather in South Australia and New Zealand is cold enough to snow! hehe.

Tonight we are in a cabin at a YHA - in the town of Armidale. The home of the University of New England.

Rain & laundry...

Sunday, October 11

I woke up early and ran about 5 miles to the beach and back. Byron Bay is very much a tourist community with lots of typical shops & restaurants all over the town center AND this place is crowded. There are people everywhere!

Which is sad to me cause it seems kind if trashy because of all the tourists...but the beach & lighthouse are still beautiful.

We went up to the lighthouse after packing up the car. We walked up the last part to the lighthouse and we were surrounded by a contrast of views. The whole time I am trying so hard to stay in the moment as well as to suck in every view that I see. Again the contrast of rocks and beach and mountains and ocean... It's good. And today the sky is cloudy so it adds an anger to the beauty.

Breakfast was at a restaurant called Whynot. Mmmmmmm.... Great but simple. An egg, bacon, spinach, aioli on a roll. They also had the best wireless connection that I have used yet. So I was able to book my hike on the New Zealands northern island. Yea!!!! I will be over
there for about 8 days. Very excited!!

We started to Nimbin around 11:30 am bccause we walked through some of the stores in Byron Bay. As we walked through the stores in Nimbin, we quickly realized that they all had something to do with marijuana.

I guess you can actually smoke pot on the streets even though it is illegal in Australia. We went through the Nimbin museum- turns out that Nimbin had its own version of Woodstock in 1973 called Aquarius. And they havent really stopped celebrating or protesting since. Most of the buildings were painted in unique ways.

Then we saw a laundrymat. Sooo...we spent the next 2 hours doing laundry. It was a need at this point for me...I was out of all of me clean clothes. So yea for clean clothing again!

We had planned to get a late lunch in Nimbin but it started raining. Pouring actually- which is good for the Aussies because much of this country has been in a drought for awhile. But rain is not what we want to explore in. So we left and continued our journey south to a small town called Tenterfield. A lot of restaurants and stores close on Sundays- especially in smaller town- so it's harder to find a place to eat. But we found a good ole McDonalds on our way to Tenterfield.

I can't believe I actually ate at a McDonalds in Australia. Haha.

Candis & AJ are hanging out with a lively group of men at the pub next door. I needed a night on my own so I drove around and spent most of the night catching up on my journalling. It's almost 10 pm here and 6 am in Pensacola- thinking and praying for you all this morning!

OH! and we saw our first wild kangaroo on the side of the road today.
Just hangin out. So cool!

And then there were three...

Saturday, October 10th

After another amazing breakfast from Ulla and crew at the Leatherwood Lodge, we are off. There is an overlook called Mt. Coot-tha. You can drive up to the top and can see almost the entire city of Brisbane.

I don't know if I mentioned this before but the weather has been really nice since we left Sydney - cool but sunny. So the view from the overlook is pretty cool. I love seeing the mountains and ocean in the distance.

Now we are on our way to the airprt to pick up one of Candis' friends from high school. He is stationed in Guam and he asked if he could join us on our drive down to Sydney.

AJ is with us. We decided to stop through a community on top of Mt. Tamborine. The women we met in Port Macquarie last week recommended it to us. We did a short hike down to a waterfall in a rainforest.

Yep. It's so flipping INCREDIBLE!

Then a stop in at a combination brewery & cheese factory and our journey continues south. We have heard of unique town called Nimbin that we want to stop in. It is a place where hippies & artists collect. So we are going to spend the night in Byron Bay and drive
through Nimbin tomorrow.

Ha. So trying to find a place to stay here in Byron Bay on a Saturday night was almost impossible. We stopped at about 10 hostel/hotels and they all had no vacancy. But we eventually found a cabin with 2 rooms for a decent price. Whew.

We drove up to the lighthouse after dinner and as soon as we got out of our car to look at the water below, we were greeted by really loud music and 2 couples who were hanging out up there. Tanker, dude who's name I keep forgetting, & two Amandas.

As soon as they heard our accent...they began to ask us questions and tell us stories about living in Queensland vs. New South Wales. I haven't laughed so hard in a long, long time. They were very entertaining and so friendly. We all enjoyed meeting them. And they
recommended the town of Nimbin as a must see. So tomorrow it is.

Night. Blessings.

Signs? We don't need no stinkin signs.

Thursday, October 8th

Awake at 3:26 a.m. We are going to hike up the famous Mt. Warning - our goal is to be at the top for the sunrise. We decided to stay in a basic cabin on the Mt. Warning National Park so we could get to the base of the hiking trail quickly. (no tent camping allowed on the mtn).

This is the 1st time Candis has ever hiked anything like this..so I was pretty. Excited to be out here with her. The elevation of the mtn is about 3793 feet. It's a 4 & 1/2 hour round trip hike - the climb is about 3 miles to the peak which includes a rock climb/scramble up
the last 500 yards- which is actually the remaining core & basalt plug for the one of the oldest extinct volcanos in the world. The aboriginal people call this mountain "Wollumbin" which means "fighting chief of the mountain". Many people come here to climb this mtn for spiritual reasons...which I would say is true for me as well.

I have to be honest- I left my headlamp in Sydney so we were attempting to hike/climb this mountain with a very simple hand held flashlight that Candis brought. Not the best move I have made. But we climbed - we could hear birds scrambling away from us as we slowly & steadily climbed up the mountain. We kept laughing and listening and cautiously taking each step. We started the hike at 4:00 am surrounded by rain forest. By 5:30 we were able to see the horizon begin to change colors before the sign. Then it was time to climb rocks. We left my hiking poles by the side so we could get them on the way down. There is a chain installed to help you pull yourself up the rocks...which was helpful some of the time. This was the first time that morning that I needed to stop & rest on the way up - it's a hard vertical climb. I waited for Candis & then we made it to the top. We put on another layer of clothes and then took in the breathtaking views of the other mountains & valleys & the Pacific Ocean. I have never hiked a mountain where I could see an ocean from the summit. I love, love it! Because of the location of this mtn by the ocean...the summit gets to see the sunrise first in Australia. And it is an amazing sunrise.

We were joined by a couple about 15 minutes later and you could tell they were disappointed that we were there before them. Hehe.

Then we began our slow hike down- which included me sliding down the rock scramble on my rear end. It was pretty fun except my hands were so cold, it hurt to use them. (they warmed up pretty quickly)

What an incredible adventure -

The rest of the day we travelled, explored the very touristy Gold Coast(lots and lots and lots of highrises-a lot like Destin but much larger).

We have decided that Aussies don't like to use excess signage- because we can not go anywhere without turning around once. They NEVER use North, South, East or West.... Ever. Which means we have to guess.

But we are near Brisbane in a beautiful location that overlooks the mountains and we are resting.

On the left side of the road.

Wednesday, October 7th

Okay, today has been my favorite so far. I woke before 6 to head out for a run down by the water and found many other people already out walking/running. Imagine me- in a running skirt & green tank top...standing to the side of the path waiting for my Garmin to realize that we are not in Pensacola.

I stand there.

For a looooong time.

While Aussies walk by and mutter to my cheerful Good Morning, "dressed light, aren't we?". I don't think they could figure out why I was just standing there -in low 50 degree weather.

Anyways, I ran. Down the jetty, across two beach fronts, up lots of stairs to an overlook that literally took my breath away. The Pacific ocean - a deep green and turquoise, crashing against rocks, a variety of green trees, the sun rising while the moon is still in the sky.

Oh. The colors and the feelings. Have I mentioned how much I love to see the world we live in - on my feet? Running and hiking - doesn't get much better. (pictures coming at some point)

I took Candis to the overlook after breakfast and as we were heading back up the stairs to the car- we passed a group of women from the local Anglican church at a picnic table that is situated at an overlook. I took about 6 steps up the stairs & told Candis that I was going back. We walked up and explained we were on a holiday and just wanted to ask them some questions. Haha. They were delightful. We only talked for about 10 minutes -they have been mtg together for about 4 years and were connected thru the church. They gave us ideas
of places to visit and recommended that we both move to Port Macquarie.

Then. It was time for me to drive. I hated leaving Port Macquarie but I can now drive on the left side of the road. We continued up the coast to a town called Murwillbah to find a cabin in Mt. Warning National Park. We will be waking early tomorrow to hike to the top
before sunrise.

Ate salt & pepper calamari for lunch in Coffs Harbour.

Oi! Oi! Oi!

Tuesday, Oct 6

Sooooo...we have left Sydney & have begun our journey up the coast.
We took the train to the airport for our rental car and then hit the
road. Candis drove first- on the left side of the road... I realized
that we hadn't gotten me properly signed up to drive the rental, so
she was the driver. Round abouts are the hardest to figure out...only
one scary situation, otherwise she did great.

We made our way to Newcastle which has an observation deck and a great walkway out onto a jetty. Gorgeous! We have taken sooo many pics - of each other, of scenery and of our food. We ate at the oldest meat pie take-away hut....chicken pie covered in cheese sauce, mashed potatoes & gravy. Mmmmmm... Then we wandered and took in the sights.

Off to Port Macquarie for the night. We stayed at the Hotel Macquarie or "Macca" as we learned the locals call it. Got a double bed with community showers for a great price. Wandered on the water and watched the sun go down.

Settled in early - with plans for an early morning run to check out the walking path by the water.

I have to say that at this point I am so thankful for this opportunity to be here. We are moving faster than I would like but that is so we can slow down on the way back. We are talking to locals and asking questions when we can.

I ask for your prayers about the 2nd two weeks that I will be here...there are a couple different things that I can do but i have to wait and see what comes through.

Good onya!

Good onya!

We wore ourselves out yesterday - Candis & I attempted to see as much of Sydney in one day as possible. I will have more time during the 2nd two weeks to play in this area but wanted to capture as much as we could while we are together.

Just so you know the weather right now is amazingly chilly as well as overcast & rainy. So travelling on trains & by foot for the day was interesting.

Jason recommended that we get an ALL day/ALL travel pass... That way we could rode trains, buses & ferry's. So we did. And as soon as we were in Sydney downtown we went straight to Circular Quay(pronounced key), and caught the ferry to Manly beach. The ferry ride was amazing. It takes right by the Opera House, the bridge and you get to see the landscape change. We sat in front of 2 gentlemen from Germany-I was eavesdropping-who took our picture for us. Love speaking in German!

Manly beach is gorgeous and so family & outdoor activity oriented.
Craggy rocks and surfers and palm trees and overlooks...

After walking around Manly beach, we managed to catch the ferry just as rain started to fall. So we sat outside but under a overhang...

Then lunch. Kangaroo pizza was what we wanted. Seriously. The Australian Hotel was recommended to us for unique pizzas...and it was sooo good!

I was pretty tired at this point but we caught a train to Darling Harbour... We walked through China Town-where I got a Taro bubble tea...yum! Then to Paddys markets- a flea market of sorts. Candis found a lot of souvenirs while I looked at didgeridoos as well as try to figure out who would want me to bring them a Kangaroo scrotum keychain. Yep.

We wandered through Darling Harbour...just amazed at the variety of people & families. And then- it poured. We ran, skirted buildings, found ourselves in a very expensive car park and then made it to the town hall train station. Dinner was Vietnamese one station down and
then home. Aaahhh...

Whooooooooooooooooo!!!

Okay - we have met some very, very friendly and very, very CRAZY people!

The flight from Los Angeles to Sydney was long but it really wasn't too bad - we each had our own screen and many movies and tv shows to watch. Didn't sleep much but I made it.

Customs didn't take long -but I will say that they are MUCH stricter here about what you can and cannot bring into their country. And we changed money over and then started the train ride to Jason and Amy's house... The public transportation is incredible here - you can get everywhere! We got on one wrong train but were able to change before it caused us any trouble.

Okay, the crazy people...today is the last day of Sydney's Rugby play-offs and there are many people dressed in yellow and blue...at least those are the only two colors that we have seen so far. Loud horns and lots of yellowing out of car windows. Candis and I asked two of the guys to take a picture with us - so you should see that soon.

We were also offered a room by a guy on the train - 28 years old, still in school and very unique...he couldn't sit still, kept dancing around a pole and didn't breathe while dispelling his new found ideology. He also told us that our trip was already complete because we had met him. So I said, "Than we are lucky, huh?" He said, very seriously, "You are."

Oh! I don't even have the time to describe all the birds and their songs...it's like a wildlife preserve just in the neighborhood!

We are off to church with Amy and Jason...they are the pastors of a church plant here in Sydney - through Every Nation.

Blessings.

Let's say that...

Let's say that...
I am currently sitting on delta flight...heading west-out over the
Pacific Ocean. Candis and I connected in Memphis and even though the
flight I am on now is longer, flying to LA took forever! Then we got
some iced coffees-hers for real, mine starbucks in a can. We both
heard that we should try to stay awake as long as possible on the
flight to Sydney. So we got caffeine to help.

I think I have been on this plane for 12 hours at this point. There
are many different kinds of people(though I would say the variety was
more obvious when the Nigerian team flew to Nigeria) on the plane and
a great variety of accents. I have really enjoyed watching everyone.
Ph and right this second, the sun rise is beginning to show itself.
There are no words to describe the combinations of colors and just how
vast it all is.

Couple of interesting conversations worth remembering:
I met a guy on the first flight named Mark, he is an anesthesialogist
at Sacred Heart and he doesn't believe in organized religion. Hehe.
We had a great discussion about who Jesus was/is and how I would
believe something so primitive, nevermind that it would be my job. He
was pretty open to hear what I shared and told me a lot of his
stories. I tell you it's these stories ya make life worth living.
Now Candis & I are sitting with a young guy from canada and he is
taking a month to backpack in Australia as well. But he doesn't
really know why yet... Not in school and figured it would be fun.

FYI- the sunrise is still revealing - mmm.

As Crowder says - "I'm so bored of little gods, while standing on the
edge of something so large. While standing here so close you You. We
could be consumed. What a glorious day!". I am so tired of seeing
this world through my perspective... I am ready to learn and receive
Gods grace for when I don't really see Him in others and in his
creations. I am ready for this month with my Father.

Australia - itinerary

It's Thursday and tomorrow is Friday. Friday just happens to be the day that I will board a plane which will take me to Memphis, where I will join Candis as we travel to Los Angeles and than all the way to Sydney, Australia. By the way, I will lose October 3rd completely because we will arrive in Sydney on Sunday, October 4th in the a.m. Candis will be with me until the 17th and then I will continue my travel on my own...

Just in case you are wondering where I will be for the next 30 days - here is what our itinerary is for right now:
Sunday, October 4th - Sydney
October 5th - Sydney
October 6th - Coffs Harbour
October 7th - Murwillumbah
October 8th - Brisbane
October 9th - Brisbane
October 10th - Brisbane
Sunday, October 11th - Surfers Paradise
October 12th - Tweed
October 13th - Byron Bay
October 14th - Newcastle
October 15th - Blue Mountains
October 16th - Sydney
October 17th - Candis heads to the US and I start the 2nd part of my adventure.

New Zealand!
Whew

Australia - for the love

So...I leave in little over a week. On another trip of a lifetime. Me.

Why? Cause two years ago while lying on a couch after foot surgery - I decided to ask our staff parish for permission to take a month off to hike. How did I know two years ago that I would need this month? I have been at THE "rockin" FUMC for almost five years as the Director of Youth Ministries...and honestly it has been such an incredible journey. But it has also been a hard journey. I lost a little of my center this year - my ability to KNOW that I am God's child. To hear his voice through the noises and distractions that I let in every single day.

I have been calling this trip my sabbatical. I looked up the definition for sabbatical and depending on which dictionary website I am on - I don't know if this word qualifies. BUT at dictionary.com - here is their definition for

Sabbatical

–adjective

1.	of or pertaining or appropriate to the Sabbath.

2.	of or pertaining to a sabbatical year.

3.	bringing a period of rest.

–noun

4.	SABBATICAL YEAR

5.	any extended period of leave from one's customary work, esp. for rest, to acquire new skills or training, etc.

So I'm taking a sabbatical - My month to travel and hike in Australia and New Zealand to play, be still, laugh and listen for God's voice.

I have learned that I hear God's voice most clearly as I am struggling up a mountain trail, with everything I need in my backpack, sucking down water as quickly as it is dripping off of me. No one else can help me in those moments...I have to take the steps myself...and when I stop to catch my breath - I look up. Look and listen and see. And I know. I know that I am so insignificant in so, so many ways. There is no way to feel significant when you are surrounded by trees and ridges that loom over. But God see me. He sees me...lost to human eyes...through the trees. He yearns for my heart. And I am filled.

I understand that I live in a culture where we celebrate progress and success and busyness. I don't know why we have to fight so hard to rest. To give ourselves permission to stop. It's like we are shamed when we admit that we are tired. Uh, people - we aren't made to go non-stop.

I am honored that my church is allowing me to rest. To take time for myself. I wish that this wasn't something we had to ask for.

Random interesting fact about Australia:
#1 ~ There is no place in Australia that has a distance of more than 1000 km(approximately 621 miles) from the sea.