One day while pinning, I saw a great idea. Track your travels on a big map. So behold Our Destinations! With a map from National Geographic (great magazine), a cork board and some sewing pins, our trips and the world fit with a 3-by-2 rectangle.

On the board so far is a smattering of locations. But we decided to differentiate between travelers. Cole has blue pins, my are, you guessed it, purple, and our combined travels poke with yellow.

So far, we have 16 destinations together, and look forward to the many more pins we have to add. Granted, we can poke a pin everywhere we have been — there just isn't room for that. Instead, we chose the end destination or places we have stayed before. For instance, Cole has traveled to New York with his family. Blue dot. I landed at the airport and spent hours there. Twice. No dot. You actually have to experience a little bit of the actual town, city or countryside to count it on the map.

The fact that we are globing it up in our apartment really shouldn't be a surprise. First of all, I love to travel. Second, I was a geography major. So beyond Our Destinations map, we have more foreign artwork and a shower curtain embellished with a world map. Those images are another day, another blog.

Here's a closer look at our travels. The United States portion is kind of small, so they get crammed there, but that is okay. Just means we will eventually have to expand out more together. Cole stepped outside the United States for the first time this year, and followed it up by stepping out again within days on the cruise. Me, I like the world.

In the United States, you can see the various colors slowing filling in over here on the East Coast.

We live here! You can our trek to Washington D.C., and our hiking location.

Then the color narrows to purple if you pan out. But that will change someday. Here pokes my Spanish trip to Spain, France and England; a layover in Germany on the way south; and a summer abroad in Italy.

That south direction I took out of Germany led me to South Africa.

Right after the President visited Ghana in 2008, I arrived, too. Not quite the same reception, but great people with great hearts for God greeted me.

Stay tuned for more destination pins. And if you want to make your own, I recommend a National Geographic map. They are pretty awesome.