Goodbye Mama, Hello Washington

I'm currently writing you from a house! not a hotel room, a house. And not just any house, a house in Washington State. And not even just any house in Washington State, my friend Nathan's parents' house.

It is a lovely house. A lovely garden. A lovely landscape. I think I'm in love. :)

But before we get to all that, let's figure out where I left you all last night. I was in Missoula, MT exhausted. I went to bed. Then I woke up. That's about as abrupt as it felt too. It was my turn to drive.

Our plan the entire trip was for each of us to drive in every state. We knew Idaho would be tricky because we were in it such a short time. We didn't really have time to stop either because we were running on such a tight time frame.

So I began driving through Montana. It is gorgeous. Sadly, it was raining. I don't know if I'll be able to share many pictures with you because of the rain. But trust me, beautiful. Mom and I could not believe how lovely the trees and mountains were. Keep in mind, I have seen a LOT of mountains.

Due to the rain, though, I was driving even slower (65 vs 75) which was eating away our time. As we neared Idaho, Mom reminded me that I had driven through Idaho briefly as we went from Wyoming to Montana. With that reminder, I pulled over for gas and a driver switch.

As we entered Idaho, the beauty intensified. I had always thought Idaho = potatoes. Then I thought potatoes = Irish. Thus Idaho = Ireland. However, I also thought Idaho was brown and boring. (Caution: never try to keep up with my thoughts.) Turns out that (whatever "that" actually is) is Southern Idaho. We were in mountainous, beautiful, overwhelming Northern Idaho. I even changed my facebook status to say "is in love with Idaho." Never thought I'd say that.

As I gaped out the window, Mom drove. She drove through rain, fog, and even sunshine. She is a superstar, for real. She was a lady on a mission. And that mission was to make her 1:20pm flight out of Spokane. Thankfully, we went into the Pacific Time Zone right before we hit Washington.

We made the airport in perfect time. She was there by noon. "Bye, Mama! I love you! Thanks for the past 4 days!" I knew we could do it! 8 states in 4 days! ha!

I, then, continued to Deer Park. Sure, I got lost a bit and had to consult the Garmin. Sure, I hadn't told me friend that I was almost here until I was in Deer Park. And sure, I even got so mixed at one point all I could do was take a picture of a horse, put my car in reverse, and try it again. However, that doesn't matter. I'm here!

Since I've been here, I've picked apples, harvested HUGE carrots, plucked green beans, and snuck a grape or two off the vine. I've also watched some Planet Earth and napped. what a relaxing afternoon! I cannot put into words how much I love it here.

This evening I went to Nathan's small group, or as they say, "cell group". There was a lot of really great stuff going on there. I could write a huge blog just on it. I won't. fear not. However, I will say the tacos were delicious. I will also say that it felt like home. The people were everything I've been missing. They were welcoming and interested/interesting. It was everything I've ever known the church to be but haven't see in a year.

They are currently studying a Shane Claibourne book. Again, the theme of living fearless and out of the comfort zone came up. "God, is that you? Where is out of my comfort zone? Chicago?!? Do you what me to stay there?" Also there was a big discussion about tearing away the things that make us feel "cool." They compared it to Eustace in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader as he tore off his dragon skin become a boy again. It was painful but made him who he really was. I've been wondering what my cool thing is. And I think my cool thing is being the girl who does crazy things. I feel like if I'm the girl who is adventurous that will make me cool. So here I am in an adventure. Does that make me cool? maybe. But I need to remember that the goal of this adventure is not to be cool. It's not to write this blog. It's to get to the heart of what God needs to tell me. "Thank you God for this small group!" Tonight was a much, much needed refresher.

Now I'm headed up to my Sleep Number bed. I will tell you all new tales tomorrow. Tales that may included Thai Food. Goodnight friends. Thank you for praying for this journey. Mom is officially safe again in Indiana. And I feel like things are sorting to sort out. Please keep it going though. Thank you.

-the nomad