In a few days I will take off for a wonderful 13th birthday trip with my oldest daughter Lauren. We are going to take New York City by storm and spend some much needed one on one time together celebrating her big 13! I am so excited to surprise her with this trip and I know it will be a memory the two of us will have for a lifetime.

The day before her actual birthday we will part ways and she will fly home to Illinois alone and I will fly solo to Washington D.C. I will spend the night alone anticipating my trip to Malawi. As with all of my 5 adventures that I have taken this trip is one taken with great faith. Faith that I will be fine, faith that I am doing the right thing, faith that I will find what Im looking for and faith I will come home knowing I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I always seem to forget that as a trip draws near my emotions and nerves get a work out. It is never easy to leave the comfort of my life and my family and travel so far away. Through these trips though I have learned an important lesson, do what you feel is right and in the end you can never lose.

I am excited to seek out new projects for my groups to take on and can’t wait to see what and who I will find.

I have been reassured by several that when I am presented with the project I am traveling to find I will know it. It will take no time to decide if its right or not, I will know. I take great comfort in believing this is true. With all that is happening in the world it is my hope that the work I do will bring joy and comfort to someone and will somehow make a difference not only to me, but to those who I am lucky enough to come in contact with.

The song always comes to mind as I pack my suitcase and get ready for that long 22 hours of travel “I’m leaving on a jet plane…don’t know when I’ll be back again…so kiss me and smile for me tell me that you’ll wait for me” ahhh you all know how it goes 🙂

Until we meet again friends I hope to keep you updated on my awesome adventure here. Please feel free to post comments because when I sit in Malawi ticking away at the keyboard in the early morning hours its so nice to know there are people actually reading what I write.

My family knows how very much I love them and hopefully my friends do too. I will say a special goodbye to Ellen…I’m sad you can’t join me again on this journey, but I will keep you close as I navigate all that Malawi will offer me this time around.

I’m off to continue to pack that bear of a bag and finalize the details of my trip to NYC with Lauren!!!