Survivor? Nope, just another Calvary mission trip

The General would have
won had it been a game
of survivor

Put 13 people in a strange place with physical tasks laid before them, and you have a season of Survivor. However, if the 13 people are brothers and sisters in Christ and the strange location is Hattiesburg, Mississippi, you have how we spent the last week. Ah yes, a 14 hour car ride home is the perfect time to look back on everything that we have accomplished and learned this week. However, most of the time was spend napping and socializing. Hey, you can’t win them all.

Our journey back home began with a wonderful breakfast consisting of variations of egg, bacon, bagels, and sausage biscuits. As we packed the last of our things and got all of our General Quackingtons in a row, we were blessed with a visit from Knox, his wife Deborah, and their happy go lucky German shepherd Sampson. We were given gifts of antique orange t shirts, beautiful parting words/prayer, and best of all, a slobbery tennis ball (well, it was a rental).

When we finally got on the road (a tad later than we would have liked), We enjoyed some Worship music provided by DJ Green Megs ‘n Ham as we took some time to ourselves. The car ride was scattered with high activity, like when we made the poor decision to pass Ashley the bag of leftover pound cake and she promptly ate it all,  or when Nathan saw the word “Hilbish” and couldn’t contain his laughter for a minute (reminiscent of a similar incident that happened in Chattanooga last year). With a couple of stops for bathroom, leg room, and less room in our bellies, it was a very smooth car ride home. At a Chickfila we stopped at, we ran into another mission team that was on their way to Panama to work with kids in Drama. Nathan and Ashley were later found hiding in the trunk of their car, never wanting to miss a call from the spotlight.

Everybody enjoyed dinner

For dinner, we stopped at a small, old establishment called What-A-Burger. Despite their menu being as confusing as the word Hibbenspank, the staff was incredibly nice (and gave us a discount!) and the food was delicious. We opted to take our final group picture right there on the patio.

The rest of the car ride was filled with discussion, music, and blogging. All of us are very excited to be back home and see our families, feel our beds, and in certain cases, bite our brothers. It has been another successful Calvary Missions trip, and all the Glory goes to God. We hope you’ve enjoyed following along with our week.

Signing out,

Blogs McGee

(Check back here for an official date for the team report!  We can't wait to tell you in person of everything that God has done this past week!)

Blood and Sweat, but No Tears!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Well, probably somewhere in the middle. For our last work day in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, we had a maximum overdrive roofing extravaganza to get the job finished and give the wonderful, lovely Miss Carrie a sturdy roof over her and her children's heads. We had fine help in the form of our new friends, Ben, Brad (who plays football and is going to be a US Marshall, so watch out), and the fearless leader of Hope for Hattiesburg, Knox. On the docket for the day was to finish shingling, cut shingles to be used at the peaks, trim the sides of the roof, and do more work on Mr. Price's porch.

However, God in his infinite wisdom decided to throw a curve ball at us this morning.  When we arrived at the work site we found a wet roof with several strips of tar paper rolled up by the wind. It was discouraging to say the least, but this isn't a team that stays down for long. After a couple minutes of planning we got right up there and took care of business (virtual high five!). Fortunately, the cool of the morning and shade from the tree overhanging the roof made the morning work bearable. Knowing that the sun would made one side of the roof much hotter when we got back from lunch, Gwen had the genius idea to focus most of our workers onto that side, so later we would just have to work on the shady side after lunch.

At Mr. Price's house, the team (Mike L, Mike J, and Lisa) was able to finish the porch!  His house now has a completed porch with steps, and he can't wait for the day when he can 'sit on his porch and yell at people in the streets.'  First Pres will be working on the house more in October during their annual week of Hope for Hattiesburg work.

So...many...shingles

After a short lunch break back at First Pres. (Where Nathan finally agreed to have a second sandwich, justifying it by saying "Treat yo self!"), we got back to work for the final stretch. We couldn't have done it without such a great, cohesive team, always willing to take on a new task and working together to create efficient methods of getting everything we needed done. Ashley was bouncing around everywhere, Gwen was hammering nails like a pro (roofing nails and fingernails), Ginger and Megan were cutting shingles until their hands went numb, and Ron was all over the place making sure everything was being done properly. The Lord was good and kept a storm that was headed our way from becoming an obstacle, and around 6:30 we were finally finished. After pictures on the roof and with Mrs. Carson, we headed back to the church for hearty feast.

All done!

Let me break down this hearty feast for you. We had vegetarian lasagna, we had beef lasagna, we had special cheese lasagna. In case that wasn't enough (which it was, but roll with me here), we had two kinds of salad, our usual ensemble of beverages. an apple bundt cake that this blogger isn't sure how to describe because they didn't try it. The icing on the cake was the power play of bread waiting for us in the dining room, varying from plain, to buttered, to garlicky and buttery bread (which we ravaged like a pack of wolves). Dinner somewhat resembled the seven dwarves sharing a meal after a long day in the mines, but in this case, everybody was either Sleepy or Grumpy.

Following dinner, Nathan and Ginger played a double header to complete their 7 games series.  Game 1, Ginger hits several in a row, and almost completes a sweep, but Nathan tries to pull a comeback to no avail.   Series tied, and it comes down to game 7!  Who would it be?  The showboater or the sharpshooter?  Game 7, the crowd waited with anticipation as Nathan hits the first shot. Ginger falls behind by 1, but then swishes her next shots in!  Nathan pushes for a comeback, but can he pull it out?  No!  Ginger definitively swishes in her signature shot, the Udder-Destroyer, and Nathan collapses to the ground as his attempt at the shot rims off with a sharp clang!  The sharpshooter wins the series, and the bragging rights to go with it!  Maybe next time, Nathan, maybe next time...

Toolbox is all packed!

After the game, everybody got a much deserved shower, and then we packed up our stuff to load the vans.  The plan is to leave early tomorrow, to hopefully arrive back in Raleigh around 10 pm.  God has done amazing things this week, and we are so blessed to have been allowed to take part in it.  Please be praying that God will continue to be working in this community, that he will give the Hope for Hattiesburg and First Pres leaders guidance, that he will do a mighty work through First Pres and Ebeneezer Baptist's partnership, and that he will give our team a safe trip home.  We look forward to seeing family and friends when we return, and we can't wait to tell you more about our week at our annual post-mission trip report at a date soon to be determined.

(General Quackington was glad to have upped his game, yesterday.  Can you find him one more time?)

Hurry Up and Wait

Teamwork makes the dream work!

Bright and early this morning, when we arrived at the worksite to start the final stage of roofing (shingling) we went over our inventory. Able bodies? Check. Barrels of water? Sure thing. Death ray to enslave the human race? In progress. Shingles? Not so much.  Fourty-five minutes past the expected arrival time, a big diesel truck rolled up with 17 'squares' of shingles (or 57 bundles of 70lb packs of shingles) on 2 pallets. All of the men (and Ashley in disguise, who was quickly discovered and sent back off the roof) created a human conveyor belt to distribute the shingles across the roof. We were blessed in having the pallet of shingles lifted up to us, instead of having to haul them up the ladder. We then got to work capturing the vision of how to shingle the roof and preparing to do so, and then sitting around while we waited for nail guns (and nails). We had great help today in the form  of Ben, a Hattiesburg born 'n raised who also went to Duke (or as we like to put it, didn't go to Carolina). Teams of two or three started shingling all the sides of the roof, and by the end of the day we had gotten about a fourth of the way done. With all day to work tomorrow (and hopefully less delays), we should have a roof ready to spread it wings sometime in the mid-afternoon.

At Mr. Price's house, the team worked on roof supports from the porch.  Due to Hattiesburg 'code', if you repair a house, it doesn't have the same updated requirements as starting from scratch.  Therefore, they are working on this house piece by piece.  First the roof was done, and they have been having to jack it up and support it before setting it back down on the parts of the house that they redo, one piece at a time.  Now that the porch is completed, they are working on putting in permanent supports.

When we got back to the church for lunch, it was discussed between Ginger and Nathan that they might not have many opportunities to play HORSE (a game where players try to mimic each other's shots, and when failing to do so get the next letter in the word horse). So, they had an impromptu game 5. It was during this game that Nathan found out Ginger is made of a mixture water, bleach, and lemon scented disinfectant, because he MOPPED THE FLOOR WITH HER, WINNING WITHOUT A SINGLE LETTER. To be fair, Nathan had gotten a chance to warm up beforehand, and it's rather obvious who worked harder at the worksite that morning and wore herself out before the game. Game 6 is scheduled for tomorrow, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

The kids arrived at their scheduled 2:30 arrival time, and with two days of a fun activities (funtivities!) to cram, they got busy right away. The kitchen with the boys was a great balancing act (with 3 of the 4 present cutting themselves whilst chopping potatoes), and with the girls was just a frantic mess trying to prepare 10 casseroles to be taken home that day.  Sewing went wonderfully as all of the girls finished their projects and the pouches were a perfect size to fit the sewing kit that we gave them. The boys had 3 more bikes to work on, where they fixed flats, oiled chains, and fixed gears.

One of the neat blessings of the week has been the opportunity to lead the kids in small, one-on-one or one-on-two, Bible study groups after the life-skills groups.  Many of the kids have opened up as the week has gone on, and it's great to see how inquisitive they are about life and how God should be apart of it.  Please continue to pray for these kids, that they would be able to build relationships with Christians in their community.  Also, pray for Jack's (the guy who works with these kids) ministry, and that God would continue to bless his (and other members of First Pres) hard work and dedication to the community.

Tomorrow is a full day of work, and the plan is to finish the roof, and put in stairs on Mr. Price's porch.  Please be praying that God will multiply our time, minimize delays, provide a nice breeze, and allow us to finish both projects in a timely matter!

(General Quackington felt that the game was too easy, and hid pretty hard today.  Make sure to step up your game!)

If you give a mouse a cookie...

Ashley modeling how to anchor tar paper

It was a bright and early start for work this morning, as we stumbled out of our beds earlier than usual to continue work on Miss Carrie's house. An unnamed team member's phone was a half hour ahead, so he woke up his son Nathan telling him that he had overslept and needed to hurry and get ready. When the smoke cleared, Nathan was left unamused. The cool of the early morning was a delightful reward for the early start, but it only lasted for a short while when the heat and humidity rose with the sun.  Shirts soaked, legs bruised, and pants filled with extra holes, the team continued to work hard on removing shingles, nails, and tar paper.  By midmorning, Mike and Ron had finished placing extra trusses in a soft spot under the roof, so half of the team sauntered over to

Ebeneezer Missionary Baptist Church to use their facilities.  It was at this point that disaster

That's a pretty big hole...

struck,

unbeknownst to the rest of the team!  Evidently, sometime after some of the team left, part of the drywall ceiling above Miss Carrie's bedroom gave way leaving drywall, insulation, and debris littering her living quarters.  This was the location of where the new trusses had been hammered into the frame above the drywall.  The vibrations of the hammering must have been the straw that broke the camel's back, causing the rotten drywall to collapse.  After much discussion, the decision was made that Hope for Hattiesburg will call in a drywall specialist to repair her ceiling, and we will not work on fixing that issue this week.  With the aid of a shop vac, we began cleaning up the debris in her house.  However, the filter on the shop vac was non-existent, so as insulation and drywall were sucked in, dust and little bits of insulation blew out the top like a confetti party.  We then resorted to a simple broom and dustpan to complete the job.  She has been

advised to sleep on the couch until the issue has been fixed, due to potential, unappreciated midnight awakenings to more rotten drywall deciding to let loose.  Near lunch time, Knox (our fearless Hattiesburg leader) decided that we would come back to work on the roof in the afternoon instead of working with the kids.  Though it was a tough decision to make, we were able to finish laying tar paper on the roof to prevent any other leakages from unexpected summer storms.  Also, shingles will be delivered bright and early in the morning!  Due to the extra half-a-day of work, we are now ready to begin with the shingling in the morning!

At Mr. Price's house, the decking on the porch was set.  Thanks to the experience of Lisa, she helped make sure the men got their boards flushed, and kept the porch in line!

Worship at the end of the day

At dinner, a third of the team tried pecan pie for the first time. It was homemade, and it peCAN'T get better than that! Afterwards, Ginger and Nathan (or would it be Nathan and Ginger?) played Game 4 of their fight-to-the-death game of HORSE. Ginger matched Nathan's behind the backboard shot with finesse, Nathan finally broke his cold streak and sunk a 3-pointer (to which Ginger responded with a perfect swish), and it was a classic battle of big man versus sharpshooter. As it came down to the last letter, Nathan won as Ginger failed to match his free throw in true N.C. State fashion. The series is tied 2-2. Get your popcorn, locate your children, and paint your face, Game 5 is tomorrow.

Staying cool and hydrating!

Tomorrow morning will be an even earlier start, as the men of the team need to be at Miss Carrie's house by 7 to arrange the packs of shingles on the roof when they arrive.  Please be praying for rest for all team members, safety on the worksites, and for the life-skills lessons to go well tomorrow.  It has been wonderful how the kids have opened up and have asked for advice on life matters such as relationships and mentorship from adults!

Hi-Ho, It's off to work we go!

Ah, what a morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and everyone awoke to the smell of fresh apple fritters. Well, that would have been true, if we weren't waking up at 6:00 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Instead, it was a dim morning where in place of big smiles and "Howdy dos!" we communicated with various grunting sounds. This morning, we took our de-roofing to the next level, focusing on pulling nails and fixing some sections of the roof, while a handful of people finished taking off the tiling. We also sent any misfits (which would be all of us, but two at a time) down to move tiles from next to the house to behind the house. I mean, it's not like we could have just been throwing tiles into the back yard this whole time. That would be a little TOO efficient. Along with music, courtesy of DJ Gingah Snapz and DJ Hard-Boiled-Megs, we were accompanied by the soothing sound of crying baby. We tried putting a paper bag over Ashley's head, but to no avail.

Ebeneezer Baptist was kind enough to bring us roofing shovels, which combined with the rolling magnet, helped us get around a third of the nails pulled. Unfortunately, one third of three thousand still leaves us with two thousand nails (guesstamation based on square footage and nail proximity).

The work has resembled the legend of Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill, only for it to roll back down and leave him with more work to do. You pull a layer of shingles, and there are two more underneath, with a plethora of nails accompanying them. Hopefully, with the help of some extra time put in, we will be finished by the end of the week. Prayers appreciated!

Meanwhile, at Mr. Price's house, the few workers set more foundation posts and began attaching joists.  We should be able to begin decking tomorrow!

When we finally got back to home base, we were greeted by hearty table of cold-cut fixin's. The aroma of bacon, roast beef, and ham took our nasal cavities captive. With bellies full and good spirits revived, we prepared for the gaggle of children that were about to enter our realm. We attempted to play knockout, which was a bit like being a zookeeper when the penguins get loose. After that adventure, we tackled the exciting world of cuts and scrapes. To our better judgement, we decided to pass on using ketchup.

Teaching the girls about cooking went a bit differently than it did with the guys. If the guys were a blind lamprey, that would make the girls a well choreographed school of fish. They didn't quite get Nathan's jokes, which left him questioning his future as a stand-up comedian. They seemed to enjoy the lesson however, and produced some delicious Crunchy Peters.

The boys spent the afternoon learning about bike maintenance and repairs.  This was an area where they had a little more skill, as compared to cooking yesterday, but Jay, Mike, and Ron still had to work hard to captivate the short attention span of the energetic boys, about like herding cats.  They fixed up 2 bikes by filling tires with air, fixing breaks and gears, and oiling chains.

Thanks to the wonderful ice cream fairy, the team enjoyed delicious Sonic shakes, blasts, sundaes, splits, limeades, and slushies.  It was a perfect way to end another hot, humid Mississippi work day!

When the team returned to First Presbyterian Church, tragedy struck. Our beloved superstar Nathan G. was defeated in a heartbreaking, nail biter, game 3 of HORSE. It came down to the last letter, and Ginger CRUSHED Nathan with her signature shot, the Udder Destroyer (cow pun intended). Will Nathan come back to tie the series? Will he ever make his behind the backboard shot? Will Ginger's momentum be too much to overcome? Game 4 can viewed on a facetime near you (per request, pray per view) tomorrow evening.

Rainbow after the evening t-storm

As the day wistfully winds down, we reflect on everything we've learned today. Tarps previously used to carry shingles and nails don't make a great rain fly. Overly energetic, aggressive boys and silent, unassertive girls don't make a great game of knockout. And most of all, God is always calling the shots from the throne.

Please be praying for the children we are working with, that the love of God will shine through us, and that we will be a light to them!  Please also be praying for Miss Carrie, as we had some rain this evening that leaked into her house through the tarps.  Finally, as always, we appreciate prayers for the health and safety of each of the team members as we serve down here in Hattiesburg!

(How's the search going for General Quackington?  As a hint, he loved getting to help with the life-skills class today!)

Wasps, roofing, and CPR, Oh My!

Today was the first day of work, and we began the day setting out to our two worksites.  A team of 9 began removing shingles at Miss Carrie’s house, while the other 4 team members set off to Mr. Price’s house to begin work on the front porch (not deck-as corrected by Dr. Mike). 

The work on Miss Carrie’s house began with removing asphalt tiles from the roof, which were melted together from years in the hot Mississippi sun.  A wasp’s nest was uncovered at one edge of the roof, but Ron saved the day by pushing the nest off of the roof.  Thankfully, no one was stung!  We almost finished removing all of the tiles from the biggest part of the house, and we will finish that part of the job first thing in the morning.  Only 3 places of rotten wood were found, so far, and just a couple of soft spots where the joists underneath were placed too far apart.  The men will begin determining how to fix these spots in the morning.

The team that went to work on Mr. Price’s porch had to do some planning and sketching before beginning work on the porch.  The roof over the porch was held up by posts anchored on the porch floor, so one wrong move and they’d be crushed! They came up with two ideas, neither of which worked, the third plan, however did work. They put in wood planks that were put near the roof and were also put in the ground at a slanted level. The posts that held up the roof were suspended on cinder blocks as we tore out the old porch flooring and picked up the trash beneath it. Luckily and thankfully, no one was smashed by the suspended roof!

After lunch, 15 kids arrived (between the ages of 8 and 18) for our life-skills tutoring sessions.  We began with first aid, where Lisa taught the kids how to help someone who is choking and how to perform compression CPR.  The men in the group were graciously volunteered to play dead while the kids were taught how to appropriately perform compression CPR, just without applying as much pressure as they would in a real circumstance.  After the first aid lesson, the boys went to learn how to cook from Head Chef Jeff and his Sous chefs Jeanne Marie, and Nate.  The girls were sent off to a sewing lesson lead by Madame Seamstress Gwen and her assistants Ashley, Megan, and Ginger.

Over in Iron Chef Hattiesburg, the boys tackled the basics of running a kitchen to produce delicious snack’ems.  They took a journey through the wonderful world of setting the dinner table, preheating ovens, and understanding nutrition, and produced some scrumptious (but perhaps a bit overseasoned) baked tortilla-garlic cream cheese-vegetable snacks. Perhaps we should call them tortgarcrables. Or maybe Crunchy Peters. What do you think? Sound off below!

The girls learned how to sew seams and hems today and practiced by sewing together a pouch, which they will finish on Thursday.  On that day, they will learn how to sew on a button and sew velcro to fasten their pouch.  We felt the girls had a lot of fun, and enjoyed learning how to put something together.

Supper tonight was once again amazing, and we all thoroughly stuffed ourselves with beef brisket, potato casserole, beans, fruit, more amazing rolls, and a delectable spice cake (this is not a mission trip to lose weight on…).  After supper, one of the elders, his wife, and a member of the Hope for Hattiesburg committee met with us to discuss how the organization got started and how they choose what projects to work on.

After supper, a Walmart run was made, and then Ginger beat the completely bumfuzzled Nate in game 2 of Horse with only an HO to her name.  Series tied 1-1, stay tuned for game 3…

Tomorrow, every team member will be working on Miss Carrie’s house to see if we can get all of the shingles off and begin work on the rotten spots on the roof.  Please continue to pray for team health and safety and that we will be hydrating well in the Mississippi heat and humidity!

(General Quackington will be able to be found in 1 picture each day unless stated otherwise in the blog.  Did you find him in yesterday's post?)

Should Have Packed a Canoe

(Note to the reader:  This is a group effort blog post, and the unique writing styles from several team members can be enjoyed...)

Our day began by attending the service at First Presbyterian Church of Meridian. A friendly thunderstorm joined us as we sprinted our way into the castle doors of the Medieval-looking church. The inspiring sermon was about how obedience to God is the best choice, even when it will bring us tribulations.  Pastor Payne used passages from Hebrews 11 and Exodus 2 to talk about Moses's decision to follow God.  After another sprint in the rain to our vehicles, (The Black Mamba and the Toolbox), we headed off on our journey to find a place to eat lunch, as the huge thunderstorm followed us. After many annoying phone alerts of flash flooding and severe thunderstorms, we managed to make it to a nearby Wendys. After our bellies were filled and our bodies were soaked from running through the rain, we made a b-line to Hattiesburg.

We arrived around 2, and used a good ‘ol assembly line to get the cars unloaded. After meeting with Pastor Knox, we got back in the vans (although a canoe might have been more efficient) to check out the worksites where we’ll be working.  Our two worksites include replacing a roof on a house and building a deck in front of a

Discussing work projects

house that the church will be doing extensive work on this coming fall.  We also took a detour to see the finished roof that we built two years ago. To our delight, the roof was looking even better than we left it (God is good!).  After we captured the vision, we got all settled in at First Pres and killed time until dinner. Nathan G. put on a dazzling performance in HORSE, beating the vastly inferior Ginger with only an HO to his name.

The completed roof!

The dinner that First Pres. put on for us was delicious. They had rolls that were seemingly baked by the dynamic duo of Betty Crocker and Jesus, and were the most coveted dish there (with homemade honey to use as a spread. Yum!)  After dinner, we headed over to the sanctuary to worship with the First Pres. Congregation and Ebenezer Baptist.

The evening worship service was informal and well attended. It was a joint worship service where members from both Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church and First Presbyterian Church were in attendance. Our team from Raleigh was warmly welcomed by members from both churches. We experienced music from both congregations before Pastor Carlos, from Ebenezer, light-heartedly challenged the white folk to jazz up our music a little bit and the black folks to learn to sing a full verse to a hymn, instead of repeating one phrase over and over.  Pastor Carlos’s sermon took a more serious note by looking at the life of Peter the apostle. He exhorted us that, when it comes to

Meeting members from First Pres

differences among people, we should not call something unclean that God has made clean. Jesus loves all of his people, regardless of their politics, color, wealth, education, etc.

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving for the worksites early in the morning and will then lead our life-skills tutoring lessons in the afternoon.  Please be praying for safety for team members and for God to be preparing the hearts of the children we will be working with this week!

(Don't forget to look for our Rubber Duck friend in the pictures, as we will be playing 'where's waldo' with General Quackington all week!  He has thoroughly enjoyed the wetter weather!)

Rubber ducky you're the one, and you make road trips lots of fun!

Meet Duck, Rubber Duck.  He joined our journey this morning when he was found as a stow-away in the rental van (aka Toolbox) and has been leading the way since we left Calvary at 8:30 this morning.  He’s excited to help us out this week and will be featured in a picture on the blog each day, so be looking out for him!

We have had an uneventful trip (thankfully!) with just a little bit of rain along the way.  After enjoying the 4th of July fireworks, we have settled into our hotel in Meridian, MS.  Tomorrow we will get back on the road after church and will have the opportunity to recon our worksites and prepare for our tutoring lessons.  We thank each of you for your prayers, and we can’t wait to tell you about how God is moving in Hattiesburg, tomorrow! 

(Thank you to our Sesame Street education for the blog title.  For you're own listening pleasure:  Ernie and His Rubber Duckie)

Headed to Hattiesburg!

It's that time of year again, and we are off on another adventure this Saturday!  God has led us to return to Hattiesburg, MS to help with some construction projects, as well as lead a 'life-skills' tutoring class for some of the kids in the area.  We will be leaving Saturday morning, spending the night in a hotel, and then finishing our journey after church on Sunday morning.  After visiting the work-sites on Sunday afternoon, we will share with you what our week is going to look like.

What can you do?
1) Pray!  Please be praying for our travel safety, attitudes of team members (after 15 hours in the car together :)), that God will be working in the hearts of those we will be serving this week, and for God's direction for the leaders of Hope for Hattiesburg.

2) Check back here every night!  We will be updating the blog every night, starting Saturday night.  We would love to hear from you in the comments section of each blog.  What you like about the blog, what else you would like to hear about, updates from life at home, and missionary jokes are always appreciated!

We can't wait to share how God is moving in Hattiesburg, MS, and we hope that you will embark on this journey with us!