Our Way Big Adventure has officially come to an end…but not without a mountain of amazing memories of people, places, and experiences that we will treasure for a long, long time.
Photo Credit: Always Photography
For now it feels great to sleep in our own beds, do business in our home town, and send the kids to school. I am back in the “routine,” of packing lunches, running kids to and from school and track practice, Scott is spending 1/2 hour each morning with the guys at the coffee shop before work, and the kids are so happy to spend time with their friends…I have made a couple trips to Petoskey, a drive I’ve taken thousands of times…and that drive, along the lake, has left me breathless each time. I guess you don’t actually need to travel far to see God’s handiwork. We have plenty of it right here in Northern Michigan. Lake Michigan has shades of blue and turquoise as beautiful as any of those in the Caribbean and beaches as beautiful as any in California…and, unlike many rivers and waterways in this country, we can swim here – no salt, no sharks!
We know that this adventure will give us something to talk about for a long, long time…and with time our children will come to appreciate it even more. We have traveled with three kids and 1 cat for 6 months, through 28 states. We hit three of the four corners of this country, but the northeast is something we will have to explore on another adventure. If you have been traveling with us, and have not signed our Guest Book, please do…just a name is fine. 
Amber came home from school on her first day back and said, “Mom, the day was just dragging on and on…and then I realized it was still first hour!”
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So with this, my friends, I will leave you with one final thought; something to ponder, some words of wisdom that have traveled with us all over the country, and now hang on the wall just inside our front door…and words I hope our children will never, ever, forget.
You see, this trip was less about the country than it was about each other. It was less about places than it was about family and friends who live in places that no longer seem so far away. It was less about seeing the sights, than it was about realizing that the world is not such an enormous place. It was less about dreaming dreams, and more about taking the first step, then the second, and then the third to make those dreams a reality, and just like in life, it was less about where you’ve been, and more about what you’ve learned along the way…
People are often unreasonable, illogical, & self-centered;
Forgive them any way.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends, and some true enemies; Be successful anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
Give the world the best you have, & it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
-Handwritten message on Mother Teresa’s wall
Our WAY Big Adventure 