Wait...

  I don't know about you, but God sure seems to have a favorite word for me. Wait. So many times when I have prayed about something...asked Him why, asked Him to change things, or get me out of situations He says 'wait.' That's all. Just 'wait.'

  Recently I was super fed up with God for continuing to use this word. I wanted something new. I was sick of waiting! However He didn't change what He was saying. So I decided to do some research. I love finding out the meaning behind words. Going back to the basics. Wait - to remain until something expected happens; to be ready; to await. I dug deeper still. Await - to be in store for. Ready - prepared to act or be used immediately; willing; available at once.
   So maybe, just maybe, God was trying to tell me that I was not ready. I was not prepared to act or be used immediately if He called me somewhere new. If He called me in a new direction. Maybe, just maybe, there was a reason behind the wait. I taken much time to seek God and ask Him what I still have yet to learn. I want to be ready for the next step. I think it's working. :) I have more direction as to what God is calling me in to right now because I took that step to find out why I am waiting. Instead of continuing to be stubborn and refusing to learn, I chose to learn. Finally. It only took boo koohs of times of God telling me wait. What's His favorite word for you? What is He trying to teach you today?

"I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

WAIT for the Lord;

be strong and take heart

and WAIT for the Lord."

-Psalm 27:13-14

Life is a Highway....New York

"Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long...."  

  I traveled again. This time to New York. Road trip with my mom. My favorite! Being a road trip this means that we drove through a teeny bit of Kansas, all of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and parts of Pennsylvania and finally New York. I have my goal of going to every state in the US and I got to mark 3 new states off of my list. It was wonderful! :) I am now over halfway there!
 We went to New York to visit family (my parents grew up there) and attend my cousin Matthew's wedding. It was a nice time with family that I haven't seen in a long time. Here are some pictures from the trip...

The 1st of many bridges I captured on camera. ;)

We stopped at the St. Louis Zoo for a quick visit because it's free!

They have water fans to keep the visitors cool. Clever, clever.

Mom and I    ;)

They have a fun seal exhibit.

The penguins were also super cute.

I stopped to capturing a piece of the beauty of God.

Welcome to Ohio!! New State!!

A Christian coffee shop in Columbus has this mural outside the shop.

I just thought the streets full of houses looked really cool. I liked the neighborhood.

Random stop - Niles, Ohio. My parents lived here when my brother was born....30 some odd years ago. ;)

The church that planted the seed for my parents to get saved!!

President McKinley was born in Niles, Ohio. We visited his memorial.

My 1st time in Pennsylvania!! :) Amish country.

They have lots and lots of farms along side the highway.

The church the wedding was held at - very beautiful!

The happy couple - Tessie and Matthew

My adorable second-cousin Leah. :)

My grandparents. :)

I am fascinated by iron bridges.

New York knows how to do weddings right.

The view from where the reception was held.

Do we look like twins? My mom thinks so. :) My uncle Ernie.

My second cousins Colin and James. They are all sooo cute. And they liked me. ;)

A retired bridge down the road from my grandparents house.

Random stop - Amish country in New York. Warning...buggies on the road.

We found one!!

 Erie, Pennsylvania has a very beautiful peninsula that we took a drive on. If you are in the city, stop by.

It is right by an amusement park where the roller coaster went over the road.

We stayed the night in Indianapolis. Cool downtown.

 

:) - Jesus' incredible artwork.

 Did you know that a suburb of St. Louis hold's the world's largest Catsup bottle? We discovered this on our trip. It was on the map, so I decided to check it out. ;)

It's pretty big. The things we find on a map....

Of course we drove by the arch. We were in St. Louis. :)

 There was this super fun downtown street that we found that is full of shops. And cool apartments. And fountains.

No road trip is complete without a trip to a cupcake store. The Cup in downtown St. Louis is worth the stop if you are in the area.

Peach Cobbler - Yum!

 Also, did you know that St. Louis is home to the World's Largest Chess Piece? We discovered that as well...

To end my road trip - another bridge! :)

 Thank you for taking this journey with me across the country. I hope you enjoyed it. :)

Life is a Highway....Colorado

  "Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long. If you're going my way, I wanna drive it all night long. Through all these cities and all these towns. It's in my blood...." - Rascal Flatts

  I couldn't have said it better myself. I love this journey of life I am on. It really is a journey. I love traveling. It's in my blood. I just want to go places. I don't like sitting still. That means traveling, and living my life where I am at. The past month was really hard for me because I wasn't sure where God was leading me. I took the step to follow Him back to Topeka. However, after that my plans got all messed up. Because they were my plans, not God's. :) That's a whole different story. The good news is, I now know why I am in Topeka and I am SOOOOOO excited for this next season of life.
  So, the past few weeks have been crazy for me. I went back to Colorado for a friend's wedding. I came home for two days. Then I packed up and took a rode trip to New York with my mom. That means, a LOT of driving happened. Over 3500 miles in 2 weeks. Such fun! Although, I am quite content to stay where I am at for a bit now. I just wanted to share some pictures with you of my fun journeys.

Kaci came with me to Colorado for my friend's wedding. I'd been wanting to go to the top of Pikes Peak all year but hadn't. So that's what Kaci and I did on our trip.

It was pretty chillllly!!

On our way up!!

Jesus is just glorious. His creation blows me away. It's kind of. No, Definitely Super Crazy Beautiful!

 

We'll be friends for a long long time. :)

We made it to the top! It was freezing....

The railway car we took. 1st time on it. :)

 The whole reason I came to Colorado for the weekend.....Chad and Gabby are such an incredible couple who both love Jesus and are serving Him with everything they have. Their relationship is an example of what a healthy God-fearing couple looks like. I truly admire and respect them.

Ah, the World Prayer Center. I've missed this place a bit. But, God is calling Topeka to be a city of prayer. Yesssss!!!

 The writings on the wall. One of my favorite things....

One of our friends was moving out of the WPC so he gave Marisela his extra food. She was happy! :)

Yobel Market in Old Colorado City.

Shilo joined our journey once we entered Colorado. So blessed by her!

Roadtrip buddies!!

  Life is an adventure...I like to stop in random places. Kaci loves sunflowers. So we stopped on the side of the road and took our picture with some. 

Life is a highway and I'm going to drive it all and experience it to the fullest. What about you?