Let the adventures begin...

Everyone keeps asking me how my flight was. Where did we fly into? How long was it? I'd like to take this time to clarify: I didn't fly down. We drove. :)

We left Friday morning around 9am. Plans were to leave around 4am, but let's face it. That's pretty darn early. We woke up around 5am, and started loading and carrying out bags and suitcases outside. (Backtrack: Let me clarify who "we" are). Myself, and three others (Clarissa, Alejandro, and Tania) met up together Thursday night to drive together. Tania and Alejandro are going to be volunteering for the year in Miami, and Clarissa and I will be two hours away from them in Immokalee.

Okay, so when we began bringing everything outside, it was still dark. By the time we were done, it was light out. We waited for Clarissa's mom to come, because she had Clarissa's car and vice versa. Her mom came, and we had to figure out how to pack all the luggage for four people into Clarissa's car. Clarissa and Alejandro had to make a WalMart run to get some rope-ish-like-thing to help keep the carrier on top of the car. Some of our stuff didn't make the cut--but thankfully Clarissa's mom is coming down in a week to bring the rest of the stuff. So as of now, this girl is livin' out of one small suitcase for a week. Hope I packed appropriately!

We got on the road around 9am, packed to the brim with luggage, blankets, snacks (both healthy AND unhealthy, haha) and four very anxious and excited 20-something year olds. We stopped at McDonalds, loaded up on McMuffins, McGriddles, Orange Juice, and hashbrowns and hit the road.

We drove for near to 15 hours on Friday. It was a long, long trip. We got to the Econo-Lodge around 11:30pm, in Georgia, and crashed. End of day one.

Saturday we left around 9am, and drove for about 8 hours. During this time, we had a very exciting adventure. It was storming as we began to near Miami, still about half-hour away though. First of all, I want to say how extrememly brave I was. I used to HATE thunderstorms. Hate hate hate. The whole time, though, it was raining cats & dogs (never really understood that phrase, but it seems to fit here), thundering and lightening so bad. I stayed so calm though and just kept saying "it's okay, we'll be fine". Where this peace and calmness came from, not so sure. But I'm diggin' it :)

Anyways, since we had the top carrier strapped on the car, with ropes tied through the door and top of the car. When it rained, we got it. Rain  started coming in and running down the rope and onto us. For the next 20 minutes, this continued on and we got DRENCHED. It was so cold, I was soaking wet, and all I could do was laugh. Living simply! (Sidenote: My laptop was in my suitcase on top of the car. I was so so worried it would be ruined. I opened it afterwards, and all my clothes in my suitcase were soaked. Thankfully, my laptop was at the very bottom, and was left unharmed. So thankful!).

We got to Miami, and helped Alejandro and Tania unpack and get settled into their new apartment. It's so nice! I'm excited for my new home, though! We made a Target run, got some Chinese food, and hung out the rest of the night.

Today is Sunday. We are still just relaxing in Miami for now. Clarissa and I will be leaving for Immokalee sometime between 3-5pm, meaning we will get to Immokalee around 5-7pm tonight. We've been in the car so, so much lately, we're enjoying the down time. Only two more hours away from my new home. My Immokalee.  So so excited to be there. Move in. Explore. Find my fit for where I'm going to be serving. So much to look forward too.

Keep me in your prayers :)