On The Border . . . Thursday Day 9

So, we stayed two days in Grandbury, got to have some more great memories with the Logozzo's before we left including a little worship music time and just goofing around. Tati and I left their house this morning at 2am so that we could meet Marconi, our guide through Mexico, at the border.

We met him and his crew of three other guys, all related to him actually, and altogether our caravan will consist of a yellow school bus towing a jeep cherokee, a big ford church van towing an astro van, and another big ford church van towing Tati's car. Tati and I will be learning how to not only drive through Mexico, but also learning how to tow a car . . . . not exactly ideal for this setting, but we can't complain. Not at THIS point! We are staying at a hostel-like place on the border and actually leaving to cross the border tomorrow morning! PLEASE pray for protection and hiddenness as we travel as quickly as we can to Belize!

  notice the change in scenery! 

A mama dog just scavenging around . . . sad to say I couldn't find any puppies!!

  the guys hooking up tati's car to the Van to tow it

 that whole leaving at 2am caught up with Tati

My parents asked me to buy a baseball cap, to look more manly - here's my proof guys :)



So, knowing that tomorrow we are going to start this whole driving through Mexico thing - I do realize it is a big deal. Of course many people have expressed their fears, shared facts and asked me to reconsider - and I want to thank everyone so kindly for all the care and love and protective hearts. Please keep us in your prayers. It is likely that I will not be able to blog for the next 2-3 days until we get to Belize.    Psalm 91

Day 7 - Grandbury Send Off (Tuesday)

I think I found a new Psychiatrist . . . this is Jessie, the Wilson's sweet dog, and my running partner for the day

So, today we said goodbye to the Wilsons, attended the Convergence Ministry School, and then met the Lagozzo Family in Grandbury! Another amazing family, and we are FINALLY getting ready for our send off. The Convergence school was so refreshing, and we got to be prayed and prophesied over, and they even took up an offering for us which was so unexpected, but blessed us greatly!

Ok, so I woke up this morning and told Tati about how I had this dream that was really weird . . . among other weirdness that I don't remember all of, the end of my dream was me and another person sitting at this table, and we had two bananas in front of us. We had no choice but to eat them, and one was the banana of life, and the other was the banana of death. I ate one, then woke up . . . . hahaha, SO on our way to the Convergence school, I was feeling kinda down on myself and low for some reason, and we stopped at a Racetrac gas station to get coffee, and I bought a banana . . . and I said, "Tati, I will choose to eat the banana of life." . .  so.... Something hilarious that happened, is that when we were being prayed over by this school of young and older people, Matt, the president of the school, gave me a word and told me in front of everyone that the Lord had given him a picture of a banana! And something about how the Lord wants to peel back old layers and . . . basically Tati and I started laughing so hard that I barely heard the rest of his word for me . . . anyway, it was slightly embarrassing to share my dream with the whole school from the night before, but I did!! hahahaha

Matt and Sonya, the presidents of the Convergence School of Ministry

So, we got to see Steve and Marci Fish, the Pastor and pastor's wife of Convergence, our friend Danielle, Sonya, and Amber, people we had had meetings with earlier in the week, which was awesome! We then came here to Grandbury, and I realized very quickly that the familiar faces and places (my cousin Natalie who I stayed with 2 nights, the Wilsons who we stayed with 2 nights, and the Convergence people who we saw throughout the past week) were now transitioning out, and a new pre-Mexico chapter is beginning. . . time to not trick myself into getting comfortable for long is the reoccurring theme I am encountering.

Me, Danielle Martin, Tati, and Amber White!

Tonight we went out to eat with Angie and her son Cade, and on our way to Walmart, she got a call about a house fire of a friend of their family's. Terrible! We stopped by the house, and it was quite an unexpected scene to be coming up on for the night. Definitely will be praying for this family!

Tonight I got to talk to Brad Kinney on the phone for a good while, about his driving travels through Mexico to Belize, on the same route we are taking, but he went all the way through to Costa Rica. It was very informative, and helpful! Thanks Brad!! -Right now it looks like we will be leaving at the butt-crack of dawn on Thursday morning, and meeting our squad of caravaners at the border and begin the drive down through Mexico! The most dangerous spots will be closest to the American/Mexican border and the first Mexican state. We will be trying to get through the country as fast as possible - definitely no messing around!

Crazy sky picture before the big storm that hit the same night 

I am typing this pretty quickly, and have not forgotten about my huge need to write out all the info on this trip on that tab, in order to inform people who do not know or understand what this trip is about, and why we are going to Belize, why we are driving through Mexico, and what our purposes and intentions are, and the origin and story of this trip for Tati and me separately and together. I type pretty fast, so I can very easily type our a blog update, but I have been putting it off because for one, I don't really know if anyone is actually reading this blog, but also because I know I have to really be tactful and detailed about how I word it all. Nevertheless, it's something that there is no excuse for, why it is not already up. Regardless, I am not on vacation - I really am following through with what I believe the Lord has put in front of me. . . . more details soon!

Day 6 - brief update

So - it is Day 6, we are back spending the night in McKinney, TX, with our friends the Wilson Family, and since we left Athens we have been in Brownsboro, Arlington, Fort Worth, Grandberry and McKinney TX. We have met with lots of people, to talk about our trip, share about our lives, we have even met with a great couple who started an organization called Count Me In, which is a Christian youth camp for underprivileged kids, and we are bringing it to Belize in 2013! Tati and I have been able to visit Convergence Church in Forth Worth, which is the "mother church" of The Awakening, our house church/church plant in Athens, GA. It was so cool to see where Jessica and Travis (pastors) came from and to meet all of their amazing friends who miss and love them like crazy.

I am slowly building this blog, and I know as time progresses, it will be harder to not update, but I will do my best!

As of today, we have spoken with Marconi, the main contact we have in our caravan through Mexico, and we will be meeting him in Houston Wednesday night, and crossing the border Thursday. Please pray for us during the 3-4 day trip through Mexico to Belize.

It has been such a blessing to have almost a week of traveling under our belt, and preparation together before we actually cross the border. Tati and I could not be more of an unlikely couple! We are opposites in so many ways. She is a planner and organizer, whereas I am more go-with-the-flow, she is a way better multi-tasker, whereas I am many times focusing on one thing at a time; but it has been really good. There will be a lot of refining and sharpening happening throughout this WHOLE trip.

We have been blessed to have a family help us get work done on the car we are driving, as well as tint the windows, and help us buy the rest of the items we needed for this trip. It has been so cool to walk in the provision the Lord has had all along. We stayed with a family on a farm in Brownsboro, and the husband Roger, had a surprise rescheduling for a surgery, and if that hadn't have happened, we would not have had a place to stay on our way through TX. Also, Mrs. Susan Wilson had just dropped her daughter off at Seminary school, and was "jones-ing" for her daughter, and the fact that Tati and I were coming through was exactly what was able to bless her and fill that daughter void - which was so great for us. We have loved Susan, our spiritual mother these past few days.

We met with Matt and Sonya, a couple who are presidents of Convergence Church's ministry school, which we will be attending tomorrow (very exciting), and with some more of Jessica and Travis' very best friends Royce and Danielle Martin - awesome couple I wish we could've spent more time with.

I got to stay with my cousin Natalie, who is an Aerospace Engineer at Lockheed in Ft Worth, and she got to show me around the mile-long base, and I got to see the newest classified stealth fighter jet, the F-35. SO awesome - I wish I had pictures, but I would be in prison for life if I'd even tried. I also met a new cousin of mine on the Marcopulos side (mom's side) that I had never met, named Kathleen, who was SOOOO amazing. A very sweet addition to the family I've had but never knew about!!

I am registering with the State, letting the gov know I am traveling beyond borders, thanks to all the info and resources from my Aunt Deborah, who has the hookups. I will be free to talk/skype/chat/text etc from now until Wednesday night, so I will continue to love hearing from you guys and keeping in touch. I will definitely let everyone know when I get to Belize, and hopefully will blog again before Wednesday night.

Tati and I have had a lot of fun so far, this week just taking the dive, packing up, getting in the car, and going - and the times in Texas have been a blast - but also very strengthening and team building for us - SO much better than just going straight from Athens to Belize.

Though some still have fears and doubts and love to express their opinions about this trip- the trip will speak for itself and already is. I am learning about blogging, and I would be fine with a journal in my knapsack, but in no way is this blog a means for attention- it's necessary and wanted. . .and despite the craziness that this journey sounds like, there have been far crazier things done (for the Lord, and for man alone), but unless I truly knew, confirmation after confirmation, that I was supposed to come on this trip, it would not be happening. And I do. So here we are.


Hopefully this blog will be updated with pics, and descripts, and info within the next few days!!!
Love you guys.

Tati - trying to figure out which gps will be better!