Europe!

Ephraim smiling at his aunt Belle

Pedicure with Mom and Amy before I head out.

Trying out the backpack in my sister Amy's front yard.

So, I am heading off to Europe this summer to fulfill a few dreams, hike a few mountains, and spend some quality time with Jesus. For the most part I will be on my own, but I start out in London by meeting up with Ryan, Emily, and the track athletes who are on Juniors Abroad. In two days I will be in Paris! Crazy, huh?

I have been looking forward to this trip since before I started planning it. Ever since I returned from my Juniors Abroad trip, I have wanted to see and know more: more of England, more of Scotland, more mountains, more coastlines. Last year, while living with my incredible roommate Tori, we decided to populate our living room walls with maps from as many countries we could get our hands on. (She had just returned from Ireland and England and had the travel bug too.) So up in haphazard directions went Norway, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Romania, the United Kingdon, France, Italy, and Sweden.

My dreaming goes back farther than that, and those of you who have known me for a while can attest to that. I have longed to go to Romania since I was 15 years old, because of a combination of two things: 1) sitting in Miss T's health class listening to a couple of women talking about the conditions of orphanages in Romania, and 2)going to Mexico that spring break with the youth group and just knowing that I needed to keep missions as a part of my life. So in partial fulfillment of that dream, I will be heading to Romania at the end of my trip for 6 days helping out at Casa Josef, an orphanage First B in Jackson is affiliated with. Someday I hope I can go for longer, but I'm so excited and blessed to get to go now.

I hope I can upload pictures and keep everyone informed of what's going on with me for the 5 weeks that I am gone. Keep me in your prayers!

To the Lake Powell Gang: This is, obviously, a poor substitute for actually making it to Lake Powell this year, but I am thinking of all of you and missing you! Hopefully we can get together in Jackson later this summer. Love you!