It has been a long couple days of traveling.

We left Jerusalem at about 4:45am on Friday morning and drove up to Tel Aviv for our flight to Istanbul. For the record- waking up at 4am to drive at 4:45 is not the best morning ever but honestly, I think most of us were ready to be home by that point. We were all pretty exhausted from going 100mph for so many days.

After we landed in Istanbul, we said goodbye to our wonderful Joshua friends. Which got kinda awkward by the third time we saw them in line while we wandered the airport. They headed back to Los Angeles and we went off to our Chicago flight. It was really incredible to experience Israel with those wonderful humans. All of us really enjoyed getting to meet them and it really gave us a different perspective on our year, knowing other people were doing a similar thing.

After we got to Chicago we drove to Camp Stronghold for the night. Having been up about 27 hours by that point, we definitely needed sleep. Stronghold was so hospitable to us and it meant the world that they let us stay there. We drove home today and are now safely back at Heartland.

I think overall, the scripture that is going to stick with me from this trip is: “Peace be with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives.” John 14:27. We didn’t specifically study this one but we talked about the pausing of our lives while we were in these years of service and learning. We also talked a lot about the transition into our next step. Summer will be over before we know it. And this verse kept coming back to me. We have God’s peace about our Path’s. I mean, God got us to Israel! How would God not get us into the next step after that incredible trip?! So that is what I leave you with tonight. God’s Peace and the fact that we are safely home.

Thank you all for following us on this crazy journey. We are so blessed for your support and prayers.