A General Introduction...

Here You have it folks, the first post. Obviously, I have not yet left for Israel. That day is still about 19 days away. I'll try to keep this updated pretty regularly once my adventure begins, but for now, I will not say much. Those of you that are reading this are part of a select few so to speak. As this will often be an outlet for me as much as an info boost for you I just ask that you use your best judgment in who you share this with or ask me if you're really that worried. It is really no big deal to me, but I like to know who my audience is as it may occasionally change the content of my chronicles.
As you already know (I think), I will be spending about 3.5 months in Israel with the Israel Bible Extension program (IBEX) which is a semester study abroad program hosted/run by The Master's College in CA. There are about 40 of us crazies going, two others from Corban I believe. We get to live in the Holy Land, take some really cool (and I'm guessing super-challenging) classes and have the experience of a lifetime. There is only a little more that could be said, so I will save my breath and tell you all about it once I get there.
In the way of a general and quick overview of what is coming up. I leave January 17th at 7:30 am from PDX, fly to Newark NJ, and then to Tel Aviv. When I get there they pick us up and then the truly unknown begins. Here's a fun fact: I won't know who my roommate(s) is/are until I get there, fun huh? (prayers appreciated in that area). So between now and then I have a sweet young lady to visit, a week of work to accomplish, packing to do, people to catch up with, time to spend with the family, and even some homework to do in preparation.
That pretty much wraps it up for now, I appreciate your prayers in the meantime...