Ecuador!

What a day! After traveling since 7am this morning, I have finally arrived in Ecuador! I am so excited to be here.

I flew through Panama City, Panama this morning and had quite a lengthy lay-over there. I met a woman in the airport from Ecuador who now lives in the states and was traveling to her daughter´s wedding in Quito. She helped me figure out how to get out of the airport in Panama for some fresh air--which was a pretty involved process of talking the customs officials into letting us leave and promising we would come back. She soon became my traveling companion--but she never told me her name and after spending several hours with her I felt awkward asking!

When I arrived in Quito after dark I was a little nervous about what my next move would be. I could 1) Wait 2 hours in the circus they call the airport in hopes of finding some of the guys from school who were on the next flight or 2) Brave the taxi on my own with my broken Spanish. And I chose neither because my nameless traveling angel companion offered me a ride to my hotel! It worked out perfect because I didn´t have to fight the airport crowd, and I didn´t have to worry about riding down dark alleys in a taxi on my own. Now, I just hope the guys can find their way to this place!

So, what a smooth trip so far! All my luggage also made it which is quite a miracle itself because I checked in 2 minutes before the cut-off time.

This is going to be quite the summer....

The Need for Validation

It is in all of us—some far much deeper than others. Some buried under years of harsh realities and hurtful, discouraging, scarring remarks.

We all need to feel valuable, worthwhile. We need to know that our aspirations are not indeed ridiculous and that our hard work is not in vain.

We all need validation.

I am feeling that need today….