PODCAST!!!

We have some really exciting news today!!!

Over the summer, we had the chance to do an interview with Adam Brooks of Guerrilla Bio podcast. We shared about the Road Trip and how it is changing our lives. It was a really fun conversation to have. Adam is really great to talk to and made us feel so at ease. We already have plans to meet him along the way. :)

Without further delay, our announcement is...

WE ARE ON THIS WEEK'S EPISODE!!! :) 

Check it out at: Guerrilla Bio

8 Months: A Big Announcement!!

Today is an exciting today! 8 months from now, Alyssa and I will be hitting the road for the start of The Road Trip!! EIGHT MONTHS. That is definitely single digits!! Wow!

However, we have a huge need for funding to make this trip possible! SO this day, the 8th of September in the year 2014, we are introducing our online fundraising page!!

Our fundraising page is: http://www.gofundme.com/theroadtrip50states

Not For the Faint of Heart

(Timing is a bit off because I actually drafted it last week!)

Planning a 50-state road trip is not for the faint of heart.

Let me make that more general: living a life of faith is not for the faint of heart.

Yet there is such irony in that statement! Why? Because it is exactly in the moments when we feel MOST faint in heart that God reveals His presence to us. 

Still. Living a life of faith is an all-consuming adventure filled with near-breakdown moments and times of excitement, but most importantly an overwhelming understanding of God's work in our lives. 

The Road Trip has consumed my life. My time. My thoughts. My actions. My priorities. My money. I think about it when I wake up and when I sleep. Almost every plan/decision I make is weighed against the trip.

This week, that reality was breaking me. My health has not been very good this week. I've been tired and in pain for most of the week. Yet I had so many things on my plate, so I kept pushing through. Yesterday I hit my lowest point. Tears streamed down my face as I lay alone waiting for the acupuncture procedure to finish. I called out to God. As I called out to my Savior, I realized that I didn't need anything in my situation to change...I needed HIM. I cannot do this trip without His presence with me. 

And you know what? Today I feel more at peace than I have for a week. 

All I could think of before was how this journey was taking so much energy and questioning whether it was worth it. Now I realize that it was exactly my "faintness" that drew me into the Presence of the One who called me on this journey in the first place.

Would I really want to live an "easier" life without this calling? No. Life would still be difficult. The only thing I'd be missing was the peace that came from Christ. Hmm. Not worth it!

As you look at your life's challenges and question if you should be where you are, remember that God provides peace far greater than any circumstance I experience. If you are where God has called you, then keep looking to Him for guidance. And if you know God is challenging you to go somewhere that makes you feel "faint of heart," remember that God likely is exactly where God wants you. He will meet you there.

A Crazy Weekend!

The weekend of the garage sale was crazy. I knew it would be hard work, but it far exceeded my expectations on just how much effort it would take.

To start off with I was sick. I've been struggling with various health issues for the past three weeks. By Friday I was exhausted...and ended up in urgent care for a migraine. After the doctor gave me some medicine to at least function, Alyssa and I continued the prep for the garage sale that had been going on all week. (She liked to joke that it looked like we had become horders because everything was piled all over the apartment!) We lugged boxes down the stairs to the car then drove our friend's house where we were having the garage sale. Then we had to unload everything. Alyssa and my friend had an interesting experience with picking up the tables too. Let's just say it took a lot of rope to get them to her house. We were up until midnight.

Our alarms went off at 4:30am the next morning. I felt horrible, so I rested while Alyssa carried the rest of the stuff to the car. I took the first load over while Alyssa went to put up the signs! It was a crazy morning, but the companionship of friends made it worth it!

The morning people didn't buy much. And by 12:30pm we were convinced that nobody else would come, but we decided to pray and wait. We prayed that certain items would be bought and that God would bring people. Less than an hour later we had two customers who both bought quite a few items! People kept trickling in. The items we had prayed to bought disappeared one by one...

Again it slowed down, so we went inside the house to eat some food. Then we decided to it was time to clean up. We walked outside to find people there! And more of the prayed for items disappeared...

We were amazed...and waited a bit. Nobody came, so I started carrying boxes of stuff to the car. One of my friend's neighbors pulled up. She asked how it went. I told her it went pretty well, and to my great surprise, she made a bee-line to the table! What?! As it turned out, she had been eyeing the baseball gear we had. After some browsing, she ended up buying most of the baseball stuff, a puzzle, and a set of drawers!

After that we did pack up--and I went home to rest!!

ALL of the items we prayed for plus some we hadn't were sold! And we made $90. :) Not a bad days work!

The moral of the story: God provides even when the circumstances are less than ideal.

 I ended up being quite sick for a few more days. Yet I had enough energy for the garage sale. The sales didn't pour in at the start, but by the end our prayers had been answered. Not to mention we had AMAZING support from the two people who generously donated as well as from the friend who opened her house for an entire day. I call this a success!

Light in the Darkness

Last night I intended to post this morning...with a different post. And then, well, today happened. Instead of posting the original one I had planned, I decided to write a new one about what is on my heart.

Do you ever look at something in your life and suddenly see it differently? Not because any circumstance had changed, but simply because your eyes shift for a second.

That happened to me at work today. I work in a speech and language clinic so I see kids with disabilities every day. It is not unusual to have to step around a child throwing a fit on the floor or to say hi to a child without a response. "Sensory needs," "low-functioning," and "behavioral lately" are phrases not uncommon to my ears. I see kids "stimming" (another common term around my workplace) off of various things on a regular basis. The kids vary greatly in appearance, not only because of racial differences, but also because of the various "disability looks." Yet I see the children. I love those kids with all of my heart! The moments of connection with child who has autism or a random hug from a child with Down's syndrome or the giggles of delight over bubbles makes the challenging times worth it.

Yet today, after nearly a year there, my heart became saddened by disability. Not because of the children or because of some judgmental reason, but because it's not the way it should be. (PLEASE don't take this the wrong way; I am well aware that these children are blessings and important!) A nearly 2-year-old should not be without any language. Nobody should be stuck repeating a phrase just because her brain won't move past that. No child should be stuck inside their mind with no way of telling us what is going on inside. I want to know these children without the restrictions of disability. There is more in there. There is SOMEONE in there. Someone I cannot fully free. My heart breaks to know that no matter how much love and therapy I can provide, some children will never fully have the ability to use language.

These thoughts come on top of hearing about the ebola outbreak in Liberia and genocide of people in Iraq and the suicide of Robin Williams. There are also a few personal things that scream to me of the brokenness of this world.

So what does this have to do with the Road Trip?

Everything!

This bleakness forces me to remember the WHY behind this trip. The why is because God calls us to be a Light to the darkness through HIS Spirit. If there wasn't darkness there wouldn't be a need for Light. Yet as the darkness thickens around me, I realize just how much I need the One who supplies Hope and Restoration. I am SEEN, LOVED, and HEARD by the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. How can I not share that incredible news with those facing dark times?!

So this is my why.

This is why I will give up having a home for a year and become nomadic.

This is why I continue to make sacrifices.

This is why I keep believing that God will provide all that is need for this trip.

I pray that the platform I am given through this trip will be an opportunity to bring awareness to things that would otherwise be unknown and hope to those who endure.

Darkness brings the opportunity to share the Hope and Light of Christ in a way that nothing else could.

Where, in the darkness of this world and perhaps your life, have you been given the opportunity to share the Light?

The Perfect Jar

Volunteering is something I've always wanted to do. But I always make excuses for why I can't do it. The Road Trip actually was born out of realizing that I need to make a time in my life to focus on serving. However, I continue to make excuses for volunteering now. So when I had time of in July, I decided it was time to stop making excuse...and actually commit to it!

So Alyssa and I signed up to stuff JoyJars at the JoyFactory of the Jessie Rees Foundation. If you are not familiar with this organization, you should check them out. Their focus is creating joy for children who are battling cancer. (This is a soft spot for me as I have followed many blogs of kids fighting this cruel disease.) Jessie created the concept during her 11-month struggle with brain cancer. She filled jars with fun toys--and made sure they had no air in them to get the maximum amount of joy.

The day we were to go to the JoyFactory, I became extremely nervous. New situations do that to me... I even considered not going. But that seemed silly. It wasn't about me anyway!

We got a little lost on the way there, so we cut the timing way closer than I would have liked. Yet as soon as we found our way to the entrance, we felt so welcomed. They made us feel like such an important part of the process! We watched a short video about the life of Jessie and learned the 'rules' for creating a JoyJar. Then we got to put into practice what we had learned. It's a lot harder than it sounds! No air. Don't show the boring side. Make it filled with love.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye as we filled jars for kids with various ages. I wish we had gotten a picture to share! It is some of the most fun I have ever had. We left feeling like we were on cloud 9...and are already figuring out the next time we can go. :)

A Logo!!!

You've probably noticed that the look of the blog has changed! That is because we have a new LOGO!!! I love it. And it makes this all feel so official.

Yet the thing that I love best about this logo is that it is a blessing from God.

After a long exhausting day of hosting a garage sale (stay tuned for a post with more details!), I came home to check Facebook. I posted in the 30 Days of Hustle group about the outcome of the Road Trip as I knew they were interested. Then the idea crossed my mind, what if I asked about a logo? I have zero skills in that arena...and a very limited budget...but it would help pull the trip together. So on a whim I posted asking if anyone would be willing to help me with this task.

What happened next was COMPLETELY unexpected by me!

Someone asked what the trip was about. I replied--and gave the blog link.

Then some more people commented with general price ranges. All of which I would consider, but didn't really have a budget for within the Road Trip costs.

The next morning, the first person who commented asked about the trip's route. Of which I could only reply generally since it is still in progress!

Shortly there after I had a message. I opened it. And was greeted by a logo!! NO WAY!

I got super excited!!!! He had to tell me to calm down.

The logo was PERFECT. He had matched it to the blog colors and even started the road in SoCal where the journey shall begin. But the best part is, he did it for a price that I could readily afford.

When I reflect back on this journey, I will always remember Parker Waldrop and the gift he gave this trip.

All that to say...if you need a logo or any printing done, PLEASE check out his site!! He has been incredible to work with and did an amazing job. I have no hesitations in recommending him! *shameless plug*

The link to his page is: Waldrop Services

More About Us!

It occurred to me the other day that most of you only know us as 'the people of the Road Trip.' I thought I would take a post to share a bit more about each of us so you can get to know us a little better!

Nicole

I am typically the one behind the written posts or emails as that is my strength. :)

Greatest Passion/Career: I have loved getting mail and talking on the phone for as long as I can remember. Facebook and email have followed these in tow.  Because of this (and other passions), I am so excited at the opportunity to have to be a speech-language pathologist assistant with the plan and dream of becoming an speech-language pathology (drop the assistant part!) after this trip! I work at a clinic with kids who have various types and severities of disability--and love all of them.

Quirky Interests: Fish tanks--I love fish tanks! We currently have a 36-gallon fresh water tank with semi-aggressive fish. One day I would love to have multiple tanks so I can have a wider variety of fish.

Favorite Vegetable: Currently artichoke! I love dipping it in BBQ sauce.


Alyssa

Greatest Passion/Career: Alyssa loves helping people who have disabilities become more independent and stand up for themselves! She is currently working as a Community Advocate doing exactly that. :) For her long term career, she would also like to become a speech-language pathologist--and is working hard in that direction.

Quirky Interests: Games! She loves card and board games. We enjoy playing together too :) Some of our favorites are Castle Panic and Munchkin!

Favorite Vegetable: Asparagus. Oddly it makes a wonderful substitution for french fries!

How Did We Become Friends?

Alyssa and I met at Biola where we both attended college. We knew of each other for at least a year before we started talking more. It was actually through difficult situations going on in our lives that we developed a deeper bond. Through Christ, we both saw huge victories take place in our personal lives. Each struggle that led to a victory brought us closer together. As we talked more, we realized that we shared a passion for working with people who had disabilities as well as a desire to share about the freedom that Christ has given us. Over the course of time, Alyssa also began to share my love of exploration and travel! It is from these commonalities that the focus for the Road Trip was born!

Is there something that you would like to know in order to know more about us and the passion for the trip? Feel free to ask! If it is something that would fit well into a blog post, you may see it in a future post!

Crocheted Products for Sale!!

A couple months back I posted on 30 Days of Hustle Facebook group about this trip (my current 'hustle' or goal to everyone else ;) ). Megan Starbuck, an amazing woman with a desire to help serve missionaries and their visions, commented on the post and offered to help with fundraising. This was a huge gift that we had prayed for for months. So grateful for her serving, willing heart! Thank you, Megan, for your willingness to serve in a way that the Lord called you to :)

How, you ask, is she helping? By selling her crocheting work!! It is amazing!! If you are interested in purchasing something AND helping us fund this trip, check out her site:

Megan's Store

When you make an order, make sure to let Megan know that you want the donation portion to go towards The Road Trip!

Prayer Team!

Prayer is the foundation of this trip. There is no other way it can actually happen. Because of this, I am posting 'sign ups' everywhere I can think of for joining the prayer team for this trip. :) if you are interested in receiving prayer requests and updates, please sign up here: Prayer Team Sign-Up

Vision

This trip is the perfect example of thinking that I know how God is going to work…and then realizing that God’s ways are far above mine! Six months ago, writing a post about the vision for The Road Trip would have been a relatively easy task. Yet God has been rocking my world, turning it upside, and challenging me to see my life differently. So, as I sit down to write out the vision for the trip, I am finding it difficult to find words. Does that mean that I am lacking vision? Absolutely not. In fact, I have spent hours thinking, praying, and talking about this. Somehow, putting it into words in a post isn't as easy as I expected.

If I were to boil all those hours of thoughts and prayers down to one sentence, I would say the vision of the road trip is to spend a year intentionally focused on serving others and seeing the country that God chose as "my" country. 

Missions overseas is extremely important. God is doing amazing things around the globe! Yet that's not where I feel called during this season of my life. I love THIS country, MY country. And I want to serve here first. I want to minister to the struggling and broken in my own "backyard." After that, I will see where God leads!

What will the trip look like?

A lot of this "intentional serving" will happen through different non-profit organizations:
 There are multiple week-long retreats that Joni and Friends runs for families with kids who have disabilities or for wounded warriors who need a healing time away with their families. I am passionate about the chance to give these hurting people a chance to refresh and refocus. Joni and Friends also has regional offices that I will contact to see if there are any churches or families that need help for a night. There is another organization that has monthly respite nights for family with children who have disabilities. If the timing works, I would love to help them out too! Jill's House in Washington DC offers overnight respite care. At a minimum, I would love to see the facility and the ministry in action. If they have needs, lending a hand is definitely a possibility. :)
Another organization I would love to serve with is Habitat for Humanity, especially in the hospitality sector of what the operation. My body likely could not hold up to the heavy construction, but I would love to help out in a way that is possible for me!
Ronald McDonald houses and crisis pregnancy centers are some other likely possibilities that I am exploring. 

But more than that I want to spend this time available to God, listening to His directions and obeying. Over the past few years God has shown me countless times that true service is not something that I can create or force, but rather something that the Lord guides. I've had the chance to help a woman pay for a hotel room for her and her kids. I've bought food for a hungry man outside a store...actually more than once.... I've seen God use me to encourage and bless. It's one of the reasons I love where I live. People think I stayed in California because I fell in love with the weather. But, while I do like the weather, it's actually the people who kept me here. The people I know, but even more so the people I encounter around me. Hardly a day goes by when I do not see someone who is homeless. It keeps poverty and brokenness on the forefront of my mind. These instances force me out of my selfish bubble on a regular basis and draw me closer to the God I love. 

And that same driving reason that kept me in California after my graduation is the reason that I am going to leave California for a year...and see who else God wants me to reach.

The vision of the trip is to have an interruptible plan. To allow God to use me wherever I may be: a Joni and Friends retreat, DisneyWorld, or a gas station in the middle of no where. What will that fully look like? I would be foolish to say I clearly know. Gods plan will be so much bigger than mine.

So, as I said at the beginning, do I have a vision? Absolutely. Reaching the broken. Helping families who have children with disabilities find refreshment. Ministering to those in homelessness or poverty. Giving hope to families whose children are diagnosed with cancer. Loving whoever God shows me to love. 
Is it entirely something I understand? Nope. 
Am I excited to find out and have you share in the adventure? 100% YES



(Please note: although I used first person in this account, Alyssa and I have the same heart and have had many discussions about this together.)

Come Join Us!

This trip is much bigger than us.

Much much bigger.

Alyssa and I reflect on that almost every single day. And each time we return to the fact that God is even bigger than the trip!

And when it is hard to remember that, God always brings someone to grab ahold of the vision and join us on the journey. I cannot even begin to express how valuable these people have been in the journey. There are people who have been on this journey with us since before it was even a formed idea...and each time I post on Facebook groups, someone new seems to jump on board! I love that.

This is about more than Alyssa. This is about more than me.

This is about God working through us to bless others.

And my prayer is that through this blog, all who read it will be encouraged and challenged. Yes, in the coming months I will be posting about fundraisers in order to make this trip financially possible, but I don't want that to deter people away. Our desire is to share this journey with all of you! There will be posts about Gods work in the preparations, but even more posts as we hit the road.

Let me share with you some of the crazy, amazing stuff God has done so far!

When I was wondering if this was supposed to be my focus for the month of February, I was praying and decided to visit a blog I only occasionally visit. At the bottom of the post I was reading there was a link to another article. In this article was a link to an organization that works with families with kids who have disabilities! I clicked on it...and the area that they serve fit like a puzzle piece into the area of the US that we had no contacts for! Wow. Confirmation!

After I decided that would be my focus for February, someone invited me to join a missions-focused Facebook group. Through there I found the encouragement to fight through my sense of overwhelmedness and actually map out a rough draft route! Through that group I have found courage and grace. (And the idea to do these blog posts...)

Then, when I was feeling discouraged about the huge amount of money that we would need to raise, God sent someone on Facebook who fully sees the vision--and wants to help! God had been stirring her heart to help people in missions for awhile. She chose us. Amazing.  More about that later :) stay tuned!

Not only have all of these things happened, but we also have the opportunity to meet with a missions pastor at our church to share with him our vision. This is something we have prayed about for months and months--and is finally happening! God is so good. And His timing is perfect.

Finally, the email this week in Jon Acoff's 30 Days of Hustle group that I have been a part of since January was about considering how others could benefit from your dream. Through this, I realized that I had had this on my heart for awhile, but never expressed it to those around me. (And I had a cancelation at work, so I had time to write this!)

God is a faithful God.

He has been at work.

Come and join us--and discover what else God has in store!

A Spark

A requirement. That’s what I saw it as. I tried so hard to want to attend all 8 of the Missions Conference requirements with a willing, joyful heart, but at the midpoint of a semester, the pressure of homework made it difficult for me to focus. Besides, missions wasn’t where God was calling me.

Or was I?

An impossible dream. All 50 states? A year away? Yeah right. Since childhood I’ve loved “sets” of things. When I see something that I says “Collect Them All” or has “Kit” in the title, I have always had to restrain myself from buying it. Seeing all the areas of the country fit into that same category. I had to deny myself this dream.

Or did I?

            One text changed my entire mindset. “You have to come to this talk tomorrow! A guy is talking about traveling around the US doing missions!”  Maybe God had something in this conference after all. Suddenly this dream stirring in my heart and this conference had a connection that only God could construct.

            I entered the session with a sense of expectancy. With surprise, I realized that I knew the man who was leading the talk! He had been in a few of my Bible classes in previous semesters. His view often differed from mine during class discussions. I hesitated. Should I have come? The pamphlet was about PREACHING around the country. Not my passion or feeling of calling. Slight panic hit me. Maybe I shouldn’t stay. Maybe this was a mistake. Yet I felt a need to stay.

            The opening prayer was…different…and I fought the desire to run of the room. I squirmed in my seat. Why did God bring me here?!

            Yet as he began to speak, a spark was lit. Preaching was still not for me (unless God completely changed my heart!). But I could serve people in a different way. THAT was something that filled me with excitement! Maybe, just maybe, my desire to travel around the country wasn’t just a selfish desire created by me. Perhaps GOD had put that desire into my heart…and it was time that I let Him have it. 

            At the time, all I knew was that God was about do something bigger than me. Little did I know just how big!

Update! February Edition

It has been awhile since I have posted here, but the plans and dreams for this trip have remained on my mind and heart. In the past month I have drafted a rough outline of the trip plan, created a rough budget, updated the blog title to better match the trip, and let more people in on this dream! In the midst of this I have fluctuated between feeling completely crazy to beyond excited to absolutely terrified to humbled at the work of God. Most importantly, God has continued to guide and shape this journey and my heart. He has revealed to me more about the way He desires service to be on this (post coming hopefully soon) and He has opened doors to serve here in the meantime. Prayers are definitely coveted during this time!

Prayer requests:

--As always, that God would be the Captain of this journey

--That we would not let being overwhelmed get in the way of trusting God

--That God would prepare the hearts of those we will contact re: this journey

Next Steps!

--Contacting some more people at church about this idea

--Editting and adapting both the budget and the route

--Beginning to prepare to fundraise

Recap of the Plan:

Starting mid-2015, my friend and I will be journeying around the US for 12-14 months, visiting all 50 states and serving in as many of those states as God opens the door for.