best vacation ever

Thank God for vacations! It's smooth sailing from here - work Monday... to the beach for a few days... work the weekend... one week off... to the mountains for a week... home for a week... to Africa for 3 months. I can't think of any better way to spend the next 4 months of my life.
My aunt and uncle are awesome - they have invited me to Myrtle Beach to share part of their vacation. I get to spend a few days with them, which is such a pleasure every time. I get to hang with my cousin Jackie, getting to know her as a newly married woman, and spend some real time with her husband and their boys. And I LOVE Myrtle Beach.
One last weekend of work at Duke, probably the best place I have ever worked - I'll be sad to leave that place for sure. Then a week off in Raleigh, just like a vacation really. It will be therapeutic, packing everything up, preparing for a long trip away from home. Saying goodbye to the place that for a year I have called home - I'm still getting used to the idea of leaving, and I'm looking forward to coming back here in November.
Six days in a cabin with my mother - Pray for my sanity! Just kidding, mom. I think it will be great, continuing our new tradition of mother/daughter trips together. I have been blessed with two already: first the Outer Banks (during a hurricane actually!) and then Charleston. Now the Smoky Mountains... This part of the country is so beautiful, and I'm glad for the opportunity to share the experiencewith my mom. I'm thinking cabin with a great view, mountain hikes, waterfalls, Pancake Pantry (Suzanne and David's favorite place), and quality time with mom. Good, very good.
Back home in Indiana... my checklist of friends to see, including baby Avery who will soon be not a baby anymore. My brother Adam, who is definitely not a baby anymore, soon to start college, a day that I will regretfully miss. My dad, who is still not on board with the idea of my trip to Ghana... but hopefully will come to understand why I need to go. And my reunion with Anne, the one person who shares with me a passion for mission work, a passion for travel, and the person whom I have sat next to on an countless number of flights. Anne, I can't wait to do it again!
Wow, thanks God for this priceless opportunity to spend the next month with my loved ones. I am greateful for this time of preparation, of both physical and mental rest. Again, I give thanks for the opportunity before me, to travel to yet another new place to serve a whole new group of people. I'll say it again, LIFE IS GOOD!