Back where we started

So after three weeks we are back where we started.  What an incredible trip, and we haven’t really even left yet.  A couple nights ago we were rolling into Pittsburgh after surviving a downpour in the mountains in Virginia.  The bridges were all lit up and there was no one else on the road.  You know you’re loved when you show up on someone’s doorstep at three in the morning and are met with a hug and sent to a comfy bed.  We finished up the last of our business (cleaning our apartment), got coffee at our favorite coffee shop (Espresso A Mano in Lawrenceville – the coffee’s delicious, the baristas are awesome – ask for a pour over and tell them hi from Cameroon for us!), and then got back on the road.

So here we are back in the DC area with three days to go.  There have certainly been times in the last month when we’ve asked ourselves what we’re doing, and we probably are a little nuts; getting rid of most everything we owned, boxing up the rest, quitting our jobs to make a mad dash around the country before moving to Africa is not the typical next step after college, marriage, and good jobs.  But then as the miles of road disappear beneath our front bumper, and even more miles of road and ocean and who knows what else stretch out ahead, now and again we’ll catch each other’s eye and see the contentment of starting out on the next adventure and embracing the maxim we started our marriage adventure with: hold tight to each other’s hand and jump.  It’s always served us well and problems seem to show up only when we’re doing something else.  So as long as God will keep leading, we’ll keep jumping, and do our best to learn and love and encourage and serve wherever we land.