Trip!!

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for our trip! We really appreciate your prayers and are glad to report it was amazing!

We flew into Charlottesville on Friday and were able to celebrate my birthday a little early with my parents, and with Suzanne, Jeff, Evan, and Anna, who drove up to C'ville to surprise me. It was great having the whole family together and I was really touched that they thought of me and had been planning the whole thing for weeks.

On Saturday we drove to Harrisonburg to pick up Rob and Rebecca. After grabbing lunch at Jack Brown's, we piled into my mom's car and made our way to our hotel in Silver Spring, compliments of Suzanne. The hotel was lovely- we even had king beds in our rooms, which was a super fun surprise. It was close to the metro, so we were able to spend the evening in our nation's capital. We had an incredibly yummy dinner at Founding Farmers, a restaurant that uses fresh, local ingredients and is a favorite date spot for President and Mrs. Obama. I highly recommend it if you are ever in D.C.

After dinner we headed to what was supposed to be a free art show at House of Sweden (a.k.a. The Swedish embassy). Turns out it was not a free show at all, but an exclusive party with a list! What one could do for free was look at the picture display in the doorway, and gaze longingly inside at the swanky party. As tempting as that was, we decided to go make our fun elsewhere! We found a hip little cupcake and coffee bar called "baked and wired." I enjoyed an apple spice cupcake with cinnamon butter cream frosting. YUM! By the time we were done at baked and wired it was after 9:00 and we were cold from walking, so we made our way back to the hotel and spent some lovely time talking before bed.

Before meeting Dan on Sunday we went to visit my Granny. It had been almost two years since I had seen her, so some quality time was much overdue. We had brunch at the community where she lives and then went back to her apartment. I had not seen her new place, but was glad to see that it was decorated with many of the pictures and special touches I remember from childhood.

We left Granny's around 1:30 for our big meeting with Dan. We were all excited and a bit nervous- so much prayer, planning, and dreaming led up to this one day. We truly had a wonderful time with Dan! He did a great job guiding our time in a way that was comfortable and laid back, but purposeful. We spent at least two hours just all getting to know each other. He asked about what books and movies we like, how we met and got engaged to our spouses, and what God has been teaching us recently- and he also shared about all these things. We were able to be open with one another during this time, and prayed for each other afterwards. It felt like being with an old, dear friend.

We talked a bit about Camden Town, but it was getting close to dinner and we were all feeling a bit rushed. Dan solved this problem by graciously inviting us to a dinner at his in-laws' house where he would be sharing more with some people about Camden Town and what Lysan Church is doing there. We felt honored to be included in this time, and it was great to meet Somer's parents and some supporters of the Camden Team. The more we heard about Camden Town and the people there, the more excited we felt to be a part of what God is doing there. In so many ways it seems like a great fit for us and the Mussers, and we are ecstatic to continue to pursue this possibility. We are also glad to report that we heard from Dan a few days after our time together, and have all been invited to come to Camden Town for a field visit. We will likely be going mid-March and are so excited to see Camden Town in person and to meet the rest of the team!! I will give more details once I have them- just know that this is an important next step in the application process to be WHM missionaries.

Thanks again to all who have been praying for us. I really did feel God's hand in this trip, and his presence throughout, particularly in our time with Dan and the Mussers. We continue to be amazed at His goodness!