Nothing Crazy… Yet

Suh dudes. Grace and Noah coming to you live from the airport! Thankfully the day has been pretty uneventful, starting with a great sendoff full of long hugs and lots of excitement. On the way down, the energy we had was poured into our Taylor Swift jam session, and then contributed to our new ways to keep “Little Lion Man” family friendly. After a quick stop at the Oasis to fuel up, we continued the bus ride, a little less energetic than the first leg (probably due to mini food comas). Upon arrival, our squad took to the check-in and thankfully the airline let everyone keep their carry-ons! We quickly made our way through security and have set to making friendship bracelets, playing euchre, taking walks (moving walkways are very entertaining), and solving Rubik’s Cubes (Andrew just beat his 4X4 record by 2 seconds!). The general feel is excitement, with a little spread of uncertainty, as we step onto the plane and into an entirely different culture. Please keep us in your prayers as we are met with a long day of travel and an introduction to Romania. Pray for safety, strength, energy, and for a sense of peace during travel that can often feel chaotic and unnerving. Thanks for reading and tracking what we are up to! Keep checking for more updates as we continue on this journey, and man, the journey is long.

And now to Kirstin, for a haiku.

Ode to the moving walkway at the bottom of the ORD:

Neon-lit gliding
If they didn’t yet know we’re
kids, they sure do now

SHOUTOUTS!
To Mama P: Don’t worry mom, I’m making sure to blog!
To Ray and Franny: SING WITH ME NOW!
To Jo: Hope you’re finding cool ways to keep yourself occupied without me to read you Harry Potter picture books.
To Movie Soulmate: Your Horcrux lives.
To Katrina: The string is being put to good use!

Thanks for reading!
– Grace and Noah

13 thoughts on “Nothing Crazy… Yet

  1. I appreciate the horcrux preservation. It’s the equivalent of Tom Riddle’s diary so please take good care of it.

    P.S. To anyone who was on Colorado Backpacking 2017–Please refrain from singing the journey is long. Thanks.

  2. Thanks for the update…excited for all of you and praying for carefree travel and great new adventures.

  3. Sounds like the trip is off to a great start! So excited for you guys, and can’t wait for more updates! 🙂 Praying for safe travels the rest of the way!

  4. Yay! Everyone made it on board;
    The full and complete Blackhawk hoard.
    Airline pillows in place
    (In Euchre, lead your ace)
    Romania is where you’re heading toward.

    Safe travels to the team as you go.
    When in doubt, take a breath and go slow.
    Get some sleep on the plane
    So when you land you’ll act sane.
    Keep blogging to keep all of us in the know!

  5. Alright so this is going to need a little prep by the leaders before presenting to the team. A short, multi-person skit.

    Starring:
    Person 1: someone who knows the shiggy challenge (Leif or Jimmy perhaps? If it’s Leif I would highly recommend Ryan Seacrest’s version)
    Person 2: someone who can sing “In My Feelings” (I’m getting Mel vibes for this, but since I’m not there to direct, I will trust your judgement on casting)
    Person 3: someone who can refrain from laughing (Larry?)
    Persons 4 and 5: Person 1’s hype squad (Pat for sure)

    Setting: an office staff meeting, approximately 11 am and the boss lady has stepped out. Persons 1, 4 and 5 are on stage.

    Person 2: (off stage) [starts singing “In My Feelings]

    Person 1: [starts dancing/attempts shiggy challenge]

    Person 3: [runs on stage to see what’s going on but has a blank face the entire time]

    Persons 4&5: [hype up person 1]

    Person 1: [while dancing, try and get person 3 to dance with you]

    Person 3: [don’t dance. Don’t smile. Just stare.]

    The end

  6. Hopefully travel day is going well so far – and that you guys have been able to catch up on mediocre movies and got some sleep on your flight. Noah and Grace, well done on getting your blog posts in early. It’s good to know you guys made it safe and sound to Chicago… even though Noah kind of looks like a lizard in that picture (you might want to get that checked out).

    Say hi to my friends for me, and just enjoy being in Romania. Take it all in and keep leaning on God and sharing Jesus’s love with everyone you encounter. I so wish I could be there with you all, but I know camp will be in good hands with you guys.

    Love you all!

  7. Aah love you all! I’m so glad things are off to a good start. It’s funny how airport terminals make you get creative about entertainment… loved the haiku! Safe travels! (I can already hear Mel’s voice reading this aloud in my head😉)

  8. Ahhh by the time you get this, you will be in Romania (at least I think)!! I’m so dang excited for you guys 😁 ! I will now have the privilege of commenting on this blog with many emojis (hopefully Mel is reading these, because her emoji faces are on point👌🏼🙊😉). I’m so glad to hear that you guys held on to your carry-ons for dear life. Good choice my friends… A shoutout on the first blog post, wow I am honored. I’m also glad to hear that the string is getting good use already, I hope they let the pink sparkly scissors through security. Abby, I really hope your compressions socks worked and that you are kankle free! One quick word of advice, something that needs to be said: always be on the watch for puntables in Craiova. They may look cute, but do not trust them (refer to Noah Pollard if you are not sure what a puntable is). Prayers for open hearts and well rested bodies are coming your way! Someone please say hi to Daniel and Dana and the girls for me(oh and Igor). I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for this team. God is so good!

  9. Yay for a great first half day of travels! Hoping your layover is good and by the time you read this you will all be happily in Romania!

    Luke…. Dells update… G’ma Pat WON the 1st annual Dells Open tourney! She came from the bottom of the leader board to the top and won the cup! She even kissed it! 😉 AND… Taylor robbed me of the euchre tourney championship! We tied with 35 but she had ONE. STINKIN’. LONER. Ridiculous.

    We miss you already but are very excited to see what God has in store for you and the whole team.

    Now, as is a tradition with the Stevens’ fam when a kid goes to Romania for the first time…. we need someone (and by someone I mean absolutely everyone) give Luke a big, long awkward hug and tell him we love him! Go GET HIM! Now, what are you waiting for?

    Praying for you all! Thanks to you awesome leaders for being there for all of our offspring! 😉

  10. So good to know that your travels are going smoothly. Love the pics. We miss our resident creative writer! (I see you are processing life through poetry – hang in there, kid.) Here’s one back at you:

    Whose garbage is this?!
    Why is this fur on my chair!
    Frost on windowpane.

    Love ya!

  11. I hope Cade sang along to every single Taylor Swift Song – because he definitely can. In fact, you don’t even need the music just have him sing. every. single. song. Looks live your trip is going well! Miss you!

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