It was January 7, 2018 on the Feast of the Epiphany that I gave my "Yes!" to God, to walk the Camino Frances to Santiago with two friends from St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church who have become so dear in this time of our preparation.  

We met last August as we gathered on Thursday nights as part of a larger group to learn about the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives through a teaching series by Franciscan Father Dave Pivonka.  

You can view them here at no charge:  

https://thewildgooseisloose.com/series-segments

Fr. Dave hiked the Camino, wrote a book about it, and preached retreats on it too.  This could have had a subliminal effect on us :D

And then there are our family members, neighbors, American Pilgrims on the Camino mentors meeting at the REI in Cary, and many many friends who have supported us with their knowledge, their prayers, their travel experiences, their hiking expertise, and their encouragement as we draw closer and closer to our departure date of June 17...Father's Day!

I took my pup Evie with me to camp and walk miles along the beach in February... and had so many wonderful experiences of beauty and goodness and joy... 

That I just can't help believing that God will be with us....all along the Way!

And because God is in the details, He watched when we were marking out our route to St. Jean Pied de Port, France where our Camino is to begin...and saw that due to timing constraints we could not begin with a visit to Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France or end with a trip to Fatima to visit Our Lady there....and so what did He do?

Through the generosity of the McKee family at our church, he arranged to have the traveling/pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima come to stay with us in Apex before we go!

May you too, be aware of all of "the way[s]" that God is blessing you!

In His Joy!

Ronda