White Sands & Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

This part of our trip to New Mexico deserved its own post because the photos were just.that.amazing. Enough of me - take a look!

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico












White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Where We've Been...and Where We're Going

Ok, a quick review of the summer in photos:

May - Edward and Kim Casey's wedding in Atlanta.



June - I started (and finished!) my public health certificate program at BU.



Yes, I take pictures of our first days at school still (See my post from last September for Brian's photo!)

End of June - Dragonboat Festival on the Charles River with my neighbors, the fabulous mother-and-daughter team, Maruja and Elena





Elena and Maruja





July - My sister, Christy, visited us in Boston for 4th of July weekend.





Fireworks on the Charles River



Exploring Boston's Little Italy, the North End

August - Marshall and Ellen Cool's wedding in New Mexico...





Brian did a great job as the "unofficial" photographer - I think we've found his hidden talent!



...and Ryan and Lisa Lakey's wedding in New Jersey!





Up next: Brian has started his 3rd semester of the pre-med program and is studying organic chemistry and biology this fall, I am doing a bit of back-and-forth to D.C. for work in the next few months, our friends, Melissa and Odoi, are going to get married October 11 (we can't wait!)...and we have tickets to the U2 concert next week! Life is sweet.

A Summer of Weddings, Work, and Wisdom

In case you've wondered why I've been missing, ahem, a few months of blogging, let me fill you in on our C-R-A-Z-Y summer:

May 30: Flew to Pennsylvania for wedding #1.



June: I took off a month from work to take an 8-credit grad school certificate program through BU's School of Public Health - "Managing Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies." It was fantastic - and incredibly time-consuming! - but I loved being back in school.

June 26: Flew to Atlanta for wedding #2.

July 14 - 30: Traveled to Miami and then on to Haiti for work.

July 31 - Aug 2: Home to Ohio for sister's bridal shower and Oma's 90th birthday party.



Aug 5 - 11: Flying to New Mexico for wedding #3.

Aug 15 - 19: Bus to NYC for wedding #4 and work in the city.

Aug 20: BREATHE again!

As much as I love traveling - I love being home, too. I can't wait for a few minutes of quiet time at home! And there are so many things I want to do in Boston before the summer ends...More photos and stories from this summer's travels to come soon.

Jon and Kate: More Than Just A Sad Story

I've been thinking a lot about TLC's show "Jon and Kate Plus 8" and all of the controversy that's been surrounding the couple and their children over the past several months.

I used to love to watch the show; I was so curious to see how a family pulled off raising 8 young children! And they had some fun adventures in the early seasons.

But slowly, that has changed. I've started to feel like a voyeur watching the show or reading the tabloid covers at the grocery story. What is our fascination with watching a marriage fall apart? Why are we enamored with the lives of 8 small children as they live most of their waking moments in front of a camera? What kind of childhood are they living?

Recently, I've read through a few articles that have convinced me of two things:
1) We need to be praying for the Gosselins. Whether or not all of the rumors are true or not, there is no doubt that some serious healing needs to happen in their marriage - the kind only the Lord can provide. And that takes more than just an act of will to make it happen.

2) We need to stop. paying. attention. Stop reading her books, stop watching the show, stop buying the magazines, stop reading about it online. This is not a made-for-tv-drama. It's a real family with real kids and a real marriage that is in some serious trouble.

Here are the two recent articles that I've read that have helped me think through this:

"The Gospel and the Gosselins," Christianity Today

"Learning My Lines"

And here is a link to a 30-day prayer calendar for the family.

There's no question that there have been some missteps along the way with the Gosselins. But, regardless of what they've done or not done to bring themselves to this point, it is our prayers - and not our judgement - that are the most precious gift we could give. I hope - if I was ever in a similar position - that my friends, family, and even complete strangers would be willing to pray for me, too.

Oh To Be A Student Again!

This month, I've been living the life of a student again. Every day, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., I'm in class with 13 other graduate students in a program through Boston University's School of Public Health's Summer Institute Program.

The course is a one-month certificate in "Managing Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies." My classmates are from around the U.S. - and one even came from Ethiopia just for the course! They are all interested in relief and development work on an international scale - and the course has been fantastic. Most of the students have international experience - the Peace Corps in Asia, teaching English in East Africa, doing health surveys in Kenya, working with an NGO in Paris, and more.

The program has taken us an inch deep and a mile wide through the wide world of humanitarian work - landmines, mental health, UNHCR, water/sanitation, nutrition, communicable diseases, field management, donors, and on and on. We just have one week left before I head to work, and I've learned so much in just three weeks! I'm looking forward to starting to use some of the knowledge when I return to my job - and it's also made me continue to think about the possibility of returning to school in the near future.

Zach Morris Interview On Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

For those of you SBTB fans out there - Jimmy Fallon is working on getting together a "class reunion" on the show!

Here's a little preview with a special guest appearance by Zach Morris -

Boston Marathon Weekend - Better Late Than Never!

This April marked the 113th Boston Marathon - and our first here in Boston. In my mind, nothing can top that first Sunday in November when 37,000 people run the New York City Marathon, but this was a close second!



Our friend Tim and his girlfriend Stephanie came up to Boston - and Tim even brought his own homemade pasta sauce so we could all carb load together two nights before the race. Not sure I needed to eat more carbs than the guy running 26.2 miles that weekend - but yummmmm.



Tim's famous secret sauce, er, I mean, "gravy" for all you New York Italians



The Team World Vision folks and I grabbed a nice warm cup of coffee and arrived at the finish line around 7 a.m. to get a good spot to watch Ryan Hall compete. He was the top American heading into the race - and he loves World Vision, too! He and his wife, Sara, are awesome.







Watching the elite runners out on the course before the came to us at Mile 26. Ryan ended up finishing 3rd - great job!