25th Day Check-In

25 days down; 10 days to go. (Only 10?? Really?!) ...That's 71% of our trip done. It's gone crazy fast.

Current location: Olympia, Washington.
Up next: Seattle, Washington.

I don't know why, but when I haven't had time to blog in awhile, I often feel compelled to share my thoughts in some sort of list-form. Here's another bullet point check-in with how I'm doing on this crazy five week road trip adventure.

Things I'm still loving:

• People. Day in and day out, it's been so fun to connect with people from every stage of our lives, apart and together. It's amazing the network of relationships and people we've been blessed with.
• Good surprises. --Like an unexpectedly great connection with someone, or gifts for our kids, or finding out that a drive is much shorter than we thought it would be (very rare),  or Annabel staying perfectly self-entertained while we're leading a 2-hour worship service.
• Experiencing God's provision. This doesn't only include the encouragement of people letting us know they want to support us. It's also little things like discovering that someone snuck $60 into my purse during a church service, or finding the last hotel vacancy in the last town for 200 miles (even if it was the Clown Motel), or having our tire go flat 10 miles from a Walmart Tire Center (instead of in the middle of the Nevada desert - which totally could have happened).
• The adventure of it all. We wake up every morning wondering what that day will bring. So many unknowns, but in a mostly fun way.
• Intentionality. We're not on the road for 5 weeks just for the heck of it. We've been forced to be super-intentional with every day of this trip, and there's something really fulfilling in making the most of our time that way. 
• Car conversations. Time and again Nate and I have found that we have our best conversations in two contexts: road trips and dates. So even though we would LOVE to have a date right about now, those quality car convos are keeping us going. 

Things I miss:

• Garage sales. The garage sale season in Minnesota will basically be over by the time we get home, and I'm definitely grieving this. I did not get my fill yet! (My stash of 0-3 month boy clothes is painfully scarce!)
• Sewing. Sewing, sewing, sewing. And crafting of all kinds. Blogging and Pinterest are a blessing and a curse because while I can keep my creative juices flowing on the road, it only serves to remind me how many projects (especially baby projects!) I want to be working on right now but can't be.
• My own bed. This is a no-brainer. Though, I will say we have been blessed with some unexpectedly comfortable beds so far.
• Fresh produce. I cringe when I think about my diet for the past month.
• Time alone. What is that again?
• Our own bedroom. There have been unforeseen blessings in sharing our room with Annabel for the past month (like consistently witnessing her stinking-adorable sleeping face), but man, are we ready to have our own space again.
• Closed-toe shoes. Why did I pack only sandals for this trip?!
• Dates. Our Florida trip feels SO far away right now. Can't wait to get back to free baby-sitting (aka my parents' house)!
• Minnesota relationships. Most notably, my new niece in Duluth that I haven't even met yet! Definitely excited to get back to friends and family in my home-state.

So when I look at these two lists and compare them, the list of things I'm missing are mostly comfort and enjoyment (though not entirely), while the list of things I'm still loving seem much more significant and growth-inducing. So, all in all, I'm still content to be on the road. I'm not ready to be home yet. I'm excited for the people and surprises that we've still to encounter in our last ten days. 

Now, to keep that perspective, instead of obsessing over all the Pinterest projects I'm dying to get started...