Newly Hitched

Well, our best friends are finally hitched! YEHAW~! We had a great time celebrating for several days with them, and now we are certainly exhausted.

We have some other best friends visiting, some on the way to visit, and plenty of things left to clean in the house. . .but most of that will have to wait practically until the day of the move! I refuse to vacuum fifty times. Our plan is to move from the back of the house to the front so that we can clean each room from the front to back. The floors will have to be cleaned before we leave. Everything else will be done this weekend! Thank goodness my husband is tall and can clean ceiling fans. ;)

We are super excited to set off on an adventure. . .three families/friends to visit on the way across the country. We have been advised to camp in Colorado. :) We will see what happens!@

Two Weeks Tomorrow

And the countdown continues. . .

2 weeks (from tomorrow) until we leave for Seattle!

Until the time comes, we will be here, spending time with friends, watching our best friends get married, and enjoying our last little bit of time here before we head out on our next adventure and chapter of life. It's been awhile since I figured out what chapter I was on. . .I guess I may have to revisit some more of my old posts to figure out where I am headed with my husband!

Currently, my husband and I are sitting with our soon to be hitched bff's using the wireless internet whilst watching a movie (on and off). The husband is taking one of the online courses required for his job out in Seattle. I had to take two myself and thus far I've only done one. Online classes you have to pass are kind of like a punishment. It takes me back to the days of grad school, I guess.

Our friends are discussing eateries that they'd like to partake of on their honeymoon. I'm just glad that they will be back to see us off. Otherwise, I'd be crying even worse on Saturday. The floodgates are going to open, I'm telling you.

Since I like lists, I am now going to make a list of the things that we are excited about once we get to Seattle. . .

1. Cultural diversity

2. Challenges

3. The opportunity to become much closer to my husband, as we will pretty much only know each other there for a bit. . .

4. Having fun visitors

5. New church

6. Gluten-free, healthy foods at Trader Joe's

7. Pike Place MArket . . .and it's produce. Can anyone say delish apples?

8. Fun stuff to do that is FREE

9. Parks and frolicking outside

10. Music possibilities

11. Making new friends and becoming snail mail pals with my current pals

12. Walking to work/the husband biking to work

13. Rain and fog and COOOOOOOOL weather

14. Pacific Ocean

15. Hills

16. Preschool

17. Thai & CHinese


In other news, one of my best friends from TAiwan is coming to visit us on July 13 and I am SOOOOOOOO excited to see her! What a great surprise!

God has blessed me so much . . .wonderful husband, wonderful adventures, wonderful friends to see us off, God's wonderful promises of more friends. . .I just love what God can do for His people.

How deep the Father's love for us. . . .how vast beyond all measure. . .!!

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Less than three weeks until the big move. . .

Our house is a disaster area, complete with a multitude of boxes. . .some ours, a few going to Goodwill, and some still not packed because let's face it--you have to wait until the last minute for some things.

That makes me crazy.

Today I'm off to get my hair trimmed and watch on of my bff's get her wedding 'do. Then home to meet up with another friend to plan for the Bachelorette fun that is to come tomorrow. This involves a spend the night party. :)

Fun times! We are winding down, spending time with people, and enjoying ourselves. . .except my boo still has to work. :( I miss him.

Soon we'll be trapped in a car together driving across the country. . .so I guess we will make up for it then! I just ordered a ginormous book of Madlibs--bound to keep us entertained for many hours!

I can't wait to see the USA!

Keeping the old. . .and the new

The expression "out with the old and in with the new" does not always have to apply. While in some cases, this is true (i.e. becoming a Christian--bye bye old self!!), it is not true in my personal opinion when it comes to friends.

Yes, some friends are only in your life for a season. They come in for a chapter or two but then they are gone--not because you "hate each other," but simply because life moves you in different directions.

I know that in moving, I do not feel like I am going to "lose" anything. In a technologically advanced society, it'd be really hard to "fall off the face of the planet." I have friends that I know are those friends that will be in my life "for the rest of my chapters."

If you are reading this as a friend, I'm not dipping out on people--just the location.

:)

All in all, my husband and I have been very blessed with some amazing friends. Not only did all of our friends come together last Saturday to bid us goodbye and God be with you, but my friends from work surprised us last night. . .and many other friends have had us over for dinner, taken us out for dinner, or set aside some of their precious time to spend with us before we leave.

For this, I am so thankful and grateful.

Moving is emotional--we have deep, emotional, God-centered ties with friends here who have seen us through the years. We will not forget.

With the Lord in your heart, there is always more love to give. You can never reach a limit with love; you can never run out of love.

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We had such a great time last night. It was great seeing work friends outside of work. This morning I get to meet with my fav teacher people. It begin long ago as "Three Feisty Teachers" and now we've grown a bit larger. . .FIVE FEISTY TEACHERS! ;)

Cracker Barrel + turkey bacon + friends = a good time. MMMMMMM MMMMMMM.

Tomorrow we have showers and this upcoming week, more packing and more spending time with friends! How exciting! I am going to enjoy my last bit of summer here before the move.

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In other news, we've been approved for an apartment. Two-bedroom, vaulted ceilings, top floor. Super excited to see how all our furniture is going to get to the top floor. I guess all my protein bars will come in handy as the husband and I hoist our ginormous couch over our heads. That thing would never fit in an elevator. Except maybe the elevators at IKEA or Trader Joe's . . .but that isn't going to benefit us. We won't be living in a store.

PI-VOT! PI-VOT! I can see a reenactment of FRIENDS now. I'll give the quote to him though. ;)

That's all my news for now. . .! Off to look at some books. . .like we need more. . .

Last Day

So, it's my official LAST DAY of work here at the school. . . and when I say "work," I mean sitting around looking up stuff on the internet because I am done with everything!

Whew. There are only so many things I can research on the internet and read about. . .it might be time to pull out my book!

My husband and I woke up this morning to a scary sight in the kitchen through some not quite well-made areas. . ."ant invasion 2010." It was not a pretty sight; they were everywhere! We sprayed, squished, and killed lots of the sneaky creatures, and by the time they were all dead, we knew we were running behind schedule!

Crazy way to get going on the last day of work, but as long as they don't greet me when I get home, I'll be just fine and dandy!

Last night we had the blessing of eating out with some dear friends at Cracker Barrel--our cousins have informed us that once we move to the west, we will miss the Crack. The Crack has always been one of my favorite places to eat (even though it hurts my tummy so badly), so I know I'll miss it.

Who knew that I'd get to eat there twice in one week? But Friday's brunch will bring me turkey bacon and eggs, not veggies.

My husband is just the best. Last week, he bought me a movie I had been wanting to watch again after reading the book (Slumdog Millionaire), and inside the movie was a MASSAGE APPOINTMENT. Thus, until Thursday, I will be anxiously awaiting an hour long deep tissue massage. This is very wonderful news to my aching back!

By the way, once you've read the book S.M., you'll be very disappointed in how much the movie is TOTALLY NOT THE SAME as the book. The book is so much better and more intricate. . .and also much more thought-provoking.

I can't wait to go to India.

The children of the world in a multi-colored array are so beautiful to me. A rainbow of mixed ethnicities. . .awesome.

This morning I filled out the application for the awesome apartment we found-super excited to get out there and see it in person. Also super excited to see how our oversized furniture is getting up the stairs to the top floor where we will live. It's not heavy stuff. . .just bulky. But that is a challenge all in itself.

In other news, Trader Joe's is 3 miles from the new place, so my dietary needs will be met close to home. There is also a natural foods store right across the street. Yesterday while at "work" I managed to check out the full area and map out distances to everything we could possibly need. It's looking like it'll be easy to park the car and only use that baby when we road trip to CANADA, PORTLAND, AND CALI!

Before we hit Asia, it seems necessary to see all we can see. I think once we get there the chances of us being anywhere near motivated to return will be extremely slim.

Cambodia, Nepal, India, mainland China, Japan, the whole Asian rim--it's calling. I'm listening. . .hearing the sounds of the city, smelling the smells of the food, feeling the emotional lost burden of the people, and feeling at home whilst doing this.

Sounds good.

I know it's God.