Vlog? Did you say VLOG????

Hey minions, hoardes and my Mom.

Grab a warm beverage and let's visit.

3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!

3 weeks and counting!!
And before anyone thinks "Ooooohhh, brag much?"
The only travelling I do is mission trips to Bolivia. And hockey weekends where I sleep in a room with an open hockey bag. Cough gag cough. 

The mission trips to the Andes are exhausting and all about giving until I am cross eyed and wasted. Oh, and sick. Spent. Sun burnt and weary in my heart. But I love it!! To walk the footsteps of heaven? Glorious.To share Jesus with the Quechua? A joy like none other.



But Mom and I have talked about this trips for years. It's our Epic Adventure. She let me choose where we'd go. But not the South Pacific, that's a bit too far. 
So, the Mediterranean???  How awesome is that???

So, in three weeks, my mom and I will be getting ready to go here:

Yup. Rome. The Eternal City. The Colosseum. In which I will take probably 400 pictures and make Gwen Gage a photo album for her book.

The Colosseum is the Number One place on my bucket list. To stand where the martyr's stood?? Where so much history was made? Holy smokes!!

And here:

Santorini, Greece. The second item on the bucket list. Simply for the pure beauty of it.

We're also going to Naples, Athens, Ephesus, Corinth, and we sail out of Barcelona.

Which is in Spain.

So? Enough about me??

Where do you want to go?

My big brother.

This is me and my brother Kevin.

Isn't he adorable?

                               That's him a year or two ago.

Isn't he adorable?

Anyone who is on Facebook with me has seen us pick on each other. ALOT. 

With GREAT intensity.

But I can promise you, if someone else, other than a few select folks, tried to talk to me the way Kevin does when we're in tease mode? 

Get some good health insurance.

Really good. 

Wheelchair good.

When we were little, Kevin was my guardian, my protector and my buddy.

When we got older, he hit a rough patch. It hurt to watch.

But it's all good now.

When our first son was born, his middle name belonged to Daddy.  But when #2 son came along, his middle name belonged to Uncle Kevin.

2 summers ago, I spent a week with my brother and his supermodel wife, who is the sun in his morning and the stars in his night. She is a dream. I love her to pieces.

Kevin and I planned on having a few Scrabble games. We played 16. And he's SO GOOD!!!!

How good is he? He won three whole games.

3.

Sucker.

He's the best brother I could ask for. He is funny and smarter than almost anyone I know.

He makes me laugh so hard I cry. 

Kevin, I miss you more than words.

I love you.

*unless we'replaying Scrabble, then I will smite you into the ground and laugh while you're gasping for air and begging for mercy.

NOT Hawaii 5-0. More like, The Big 5-0.

Today, I turn The Big 5-0.

This is moi at the party thrown for me on Saturday. My friend Merry-Lynne hung photos of my life from helium balloons.

If I had known at 40 what the next ten years would bring? I'd have been stunned.