china part one- kind of anxious, very excited

so for the past few days that i have been back home, i have been wanting to blog about my trip to china. but i couldn't decide on how to do it. because so much went on, i almost decided to just putt up my pictures.

then my mom suggested i just do a few pictures at a time and tell about them. so that's what i'm going to do. it will be kinda like a series, i guess.

now i realize that if you are friends with me on facebook, you have already seen my pictures.

oh well.

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the morning of the july 13th came very early. we had to be at church at 3:45 for a quick meeting, so we could get our passports and clean money. i got to church and found my good friend Wes. we got there just in time for the meeting to start.

"are you excited?" i asked him.

"i'm really excited. what about you?"

i told him that i was excited, a little anxious, and that i couldn't believe we were actually getting ready to go out of the country. that was something i had never done before. but all the same i was really, really excited.

we made it to the airport around 5 or 5:30 am. we got our luggage checked and headed to the waiting area. i had a friend take a picture of my mom and myself before we left. during this entire time, what kept going through my mind was 'i can't believe i am about to go out of the country. i can't believe that i'm about to go to china.'

i was getting kind of nervous. when i get nervous about stuff, i usually want to back out last minute. but then i remember that i can't back out, and then i begin to calm down again. now i was getting really excited about this new adventure.

i was proud of myself when it came to saying goodbye to my mom. ever since my dad passed away, we have been attached at the hip. so whenever the time comes for one of us to go away for a few days, saying goodbye can be difficult.

also, i had never been away from home longer then five or 6 days. i had never gone out of the country. i could tell that this would be God's way of testing me. i think this was His way to see how well i could rely on Him and only Him.

we took a team picture, said our goodbyes, and made our way through security and to our gate. i was proud at how brave i was when saying goodbye to my mom. tears welled up a little bit in my eyes, but no extreme water works. score.

we made our way through security and on to the tiny plane that would carry us to Newark International Airport (i think that's what it was called). once we landed there, we would meet up with another part of our team and fly 13 hours around the world to......CHINA........

to be continued................