and there you have it.

I've never been to Arizona, and I hear that Arizona in July is hot hot hot. The temperatures last week ranged from 107-111 degrees. But it's dry heat, Timmy tells me. It will be cozy, he says.

Of course, when I heard we were going to Arizona, I immediately insisted we plan on visiting the Grand Canyon. I think it is natural to assume that anywhere in Arizona is readily accessible to the Grand Canyon. I mean, that's why people go to Arizona, right? Nope, wrong. We're going to fly into Phoenix, which is inconveniently located four hours south of the Grand Canyon. Sedona is our final destination, which is a little bit north and a lot sideways from Phoenix, so we're still four hours away. I'm told Sedona has a very respectable canyon of it's own, but I'm afraid any canyon is a bit of a letdown compared to the Grand Canyon. *sigh* The question is this. Do we want to drive eight hours to see the Grand Canyon for two hours? Timmy says yes, I say I'm not sure...

Really, the entire reason for visiting Arizona is pretty fabulous. Timmy is speaking at a youth conference along with the pastor of our church. How's that for awesome?! Tim has been a guest speaker at several youth groups, but this is his first far-away-from-home conference. God has just blessed him over and over with an amazing ability to speak powerfully into the lives of fellow Christians. It's really exciting to be his wife and support him in his gifts and callings from the Lord!

Plus, the conference is at a Christian camp on the top of a mountain. I'm pretty excited to revisit my younger days of going to summer camp! Although I am a little nervous about maybe finding scorpions (eek!), I have done some research in preparation and know exactly what to do if I am stung. (You know, just in case those AZ natives have no idea what to do...)

Scorpion worries aside, the outlook is perfectly bright. My pink suitcase is finally packed. I'm leaving work early (yay!) to fly away on an adventure with Timmy. We pretty much rock at adventures, so who knows?! Maybe we will end up at the Grand Canyon after all...