Brag-on-Mom Time:

Everyone check out http://www.ncnnews.com/nphweb/html/ncn/article.jsp?sid=10000013&id=10005249 for her latest accomplishment!  This is quite an honor, and we are all very proud of her :)

Here’s a shout-out to all Indiana and Kansas City folks: I’m flying into Indy for a wedding in Ft. Wayne this weekend (from the 21^st-24^th) and leaving Sunday for KC.  I’ll be in KC until July 5^th before flying back to Seattle.  Anyone out there going to be around?  Shoot me an email if y’all can squeeze me into your schedules J.

Where in the world...?

Um, so I suppose it’s officially been a LONG TIME since I last posted on xanga, and to all my avid readers (who I’m sure are much less avid these days), I apologize.  Just to reassure you, I am alive and well, and I have no good excuse for my web-absence these many months….

I could take you through the detailed journey of these past 8 months; however, I think I’d hold your attention much better if I just started with today…I am currently in Geneva, Switzerland taking a month-long course called the International Diploma for Humanitarian Assistance. It’s been an amazing course—incredibly challenging and very rich in the experience presented in and among the participants as well as the presenters. Many UN organizations have been represented (e.g. OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNFP, etc), as well as the International Federation of the Red Cross and other organizations.

What does this mean for my future? I have no idea, except that it’s exciting me to get back out into the field of international humanitarian assistance.  We’ll see what that time frame looks like and where my heart is by the time I get back to Tacoma.

Here are a few pictures from this last week: The first is my view every morning from the breakfast table…yes, that is Lake Geneva, and yes, those are the Alps!  Life is tough. The second is me and three of my new friends standing in front of the UN branch in Geneva.

P.S. I know I've said this before, but I'm REALLY going to try to keep up this site a little better in the weeks to come...  Thanks for reading!! :)

I'm a foster mom!

Here's the latest addition to our family here on South 17th Street, Tacoma:

This is Pepper!  She's a lab/chow mix and is the most amazing puppy ever--so sweet natured and teachable!  Unfortunately she's not our dog, but a friend who needed a home with a yard asked us to house her.  It's great because we get to train her and love her like our own, but we don't have to pay for food or shots.  The bad news, though, is that eventually the dad is going to take her away from us....We're scheming to find a way to keep her...:)

I Made It!

Sorry for the delay…I know you all are waiting on the edge of your seats to hear if Crystal and I and the UHaul actually made it to Tacoma (or if we just decided to hang out in the National Forests of Oregon forever—which isn’t far from the truth!). 

Rather than boring you with all the details of the trip in words, I thought I’d post a slideshow of sorts for y’all, now that I can with all the perks of Xanga Premium (they need to pay me for this advertising!)

Our home on the road.

Kim and I somewhere near Denver...we hiked among these amazing red rocks that are shooting up from the ground!

Yeah, we're dorks.  Who knew we all had the same Chacos?!  I guess we owe them some advertising too!

Crazy to find snow in June--when hiking in sandals and shorts.  This was in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO. It wasn't even cold (until evening when we were still out and about...trying to find the path through the snow!).

I guess roaches like ketchup....

I decided to forego that piece of bread and eat my hotdog plain! 

Ah, the joys of camping :)

At one point we found ourselves stalled behind this herd of cattle--for about 40 minutes!!  Good thing we had nowhere to go....We just popped out some trail mix and considered this our entertainment for the day!

We experienced the most amazing sunset across the beautiful Wyoming terrain while on the road.  This picture only captures one milli-second of about 45 minutes worth of spectacular changing color and beauty.

This is where we hung out in Oregon while passing through--breathtaking.  We pretty much owned the camp (no one else was within probably a 15 mile radius!) and slept right next to this raging river.  Crystal and I nearly had the search and rescue teams on the lookout for us--each independently of the other. We lost each other on the hike! And after hours of searching, we were both in a panic...until, by the grace of God, we were found...by each other.  We both had let our minds get carried away thinking the other had gotten injured or fallen into the water or frozen in the cold night air.  We celebrated life that night with a roaring fire, some wine, and corn and beans ;)

While in southeastern Washington, we decided to visit some wineries.  My brother and sister-in-law had been up here just weeks before.  So we decided to follow in their footsteps, covering ground through the Columbia River Valley from Walla Walla to Yakima. 

We couldn't make it all this way without the car breaking down at least once...but we had our night in shining armor (er, a middle-aged farmer with a red pick-up...) come and rescue us.  He proved even more resourceful than a 'battery-cable-cleaner': he knew the owner of the cherry tree farm across the street and let us go and pick fresh cherries!  Not a bad ending to a day of wine tasting and car troubles!

We finally did arrive to Tacoma, where we have been hanging out with friends, kayaking, cooking out, and making it home.  Crystal and I took a little jaunts up to Seattle to visit her nursing friends (here on the Sound).  It's great to have connections with sailors ;)

Crystal flew back to Atlanta last night, and I'm here furthering my job searches and continuing to couch hop--I'm waiting in complete trust for the details to fall into place.  In the meantime, I'm loving the outdoors, spending time with Michelle and her friends here, and beginning the healing process ;)  God is good.

I would just like to add that if any of you are at all considering a road trip, I would strongly think about adding a 1,700 lb. trailer to the backside of your sedan—especially if you plan to coast through the mountains…it makes for an extra-special adventure ;)