The Journey Home....

if you don't already know, i have left san diego and moved back to alabama. after much prayer i made the decision to move back home to try school one more time and to bring my long distance relationship with will to a close. leaving elevate = one of the hardest things i've done in my life so far. The Road Trip: brittany and i have been talking about a road trip since we were in middle school. we finally did it! brittany and haileywynn flew in on wednesday. haileywynn flew out saturday night. after elevate on sunday morning the road trip began! i must say that my heart was so full on sunday... i have been praying and praying that my dear friends would come back to elevate and THEY DID. my boss and the kids also came. not to mention we had a pretty full house! love love love. Road Trip Day 1: san diego - flagstaff, az i LOVE flagstaff. such a beautiful place. at an elevation of 7000 ft the stars are incredible! we spent the night with my friend trevor and his family. they are so sweet and definitely hospitable. Day 2: flagstaff - grand canyon - roswell, nm the grand canyon is hard to describe. if you haven't been, GO. we did a rim trail and climbed the watch tower to get a good view of the colorado. then back in the car for a lot more driving! we drove for hundreds of miles (at night) with out seeing a single creature, car, or road sign. finally arrived in roswell around 1 or 2 am. roswell is where all the ufo spottings were. very interesting. got 4 hours of sleep, breakfast vouchers for denny's and then we were off. Day 3: roswell, nm - san antonio, tx - austin, tx - elgin, tx texas was definitely my favorite. i think texas gets overlooked a lot. the alamo cafe was better than i remembered. the alamo was beautiful and the river walk was amazing too. 6th street in austin was a lot of fun. bird man, live music, and friendly people. then there's elgin.... Day 4: elgin, tx - ocean springs, ms woke up on day 4 with a flat tire. bummer. thankfully, we were next door to an o'reilly's. after much wasted time they inflated the tire and we were able to drive 1/2 mi down the road to a repair shop. they plugged the tire for $5 and we were on our way. we got a late start but let me tell you something... if that flat would have happened the night before we would have been in big trouble. we also contemplated driving to houston the night before and if we did that we would have been in trouble then too. all the glory goes to God for his protection over us. as we are figuring out that we have a flat my pastor's wife, susan, sent me a text telling me she is praying for us. love it! louisianan's can't drive. when we arrived in ocean springs we met my dad's friend asa and his wife, cindy at a seafood restaurant on the water. i never realized how much alike my dad and asa are. 2 peas in a pod. i felt right at home. asa and cindy are golden people and i'm glad they shared their home with us. asa even made us biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Day 5: ocean springs, ms - ohatchee, al last leg and reality hits a little. smooth sailing. good weather all the way across america. brittany was away from adam and rhett for 8 days. i am so thankful for the sacrifices she made to help me get across the country. janney furnace- it was only fitting that the sons of the confederates were setting up down the road from my parents for the civil war reenactment. can you say culture shock? haha. we got home around 3 and adam, rhett, and will showed up a little later. mom made a celebration dinner and we had a good time.