Last but not least

Before I caught the bus to DC (via NYC) this morning, we were able to squeeze in one more visit with our friends, Nathan, Brea, and their new daughter, Aurora, for a few minutes yesterday afternoon. Aren't they beautiful? 

And to all of our wonderful friends in the Boston area we weren't able to see this weekend, we'll be back soon and hope to catch up then! 

Last day in Boston

Well, we've had a great time resting, working, laughing and exploring with our old and dear friends all around Boston over the past week! Tomorrow, I'll hop on the bus and make the 8-hour trip down to Washington, D.C. to work for a week out of our office down there.  I'll come back on the overnight bus Thursday night and then hop on a 2-leg flight from Boston to San Jose Friday afternoon with B.  (No fear, my Boston friends, I'll be back again June 27 - 29 to teach a half-day course at BU!).  We fly back *for good* from San Jose to Boston on July 31, but where we go from there is still a mystery...

"Rainy Day" (Columbus Avene, Boston), Childe Hassam (1859-1935)

It's a rainy, cozy day here in Beantown, and I've been curled up all morning with blankets, good music, and a cup of hazelnut coffee just catching up on life and listening to the rain on the roof. I realized last night that this is the first Saturday I've had to myself in 6 WEEKS! After a two-week trip to Thailand for work, my sister visiting (SO fun!), a wedding in MO (beautiful Ozark country!), and a conference on humanitarian aid at Tufts, it's no wonder I've been craving some quiet, rest time this weekend. It's.been.great. And it's made my heart long more for this city, our church, our community than I ever have before. But we will continue to wait and trust the Lord's direction in our lives...


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11



Augustana, "Boston"

Catching up on life

I'm not even sure where to start trying to catch up on life here, so I'm going to give you a little photo essay of our lives over the past month or so.


We have been so blessed to spend time with so many wonderful friends over the past month in Thailand, Costa Rica, Missouri and now Boston! After a year away from so many of you, it was SUCH a treat to get to say hello again! We miss you all...


EDIT:: Forget to mention our lovely friends (Brian, Rebecca, and Miranda M. and Tyson, Kelly, and Baby P.) who we got to visit with as well but forgot to take a picture! Love you guys!

Last day in Bangkok after a two-week trip
there with my job.

Cheers! On the 24-hour flight (3 different flights) back from Bangkok to San Jose,
we got to enjoy the Continental Lounge for the first time. A girl could get used to this!

And we won the "travelers' lottery" and got bumped up to first class for one leg of the flight -
thank you, Continental OnePass miles! (Did you know you actually get to eat on CHINA
up in first class?)

Flying through LAX with a brief layover = visiting with Sister #3. La yu!

Sister #4 came for a visit the following week and we had an AMAZING time
roadtripping around Costa Rica together.  (Right, Sparky?) This is her room,
24-hours after arriving. La YU!

Road trip = awesome.
Costa Rican road signs (like this one) and no GPS  = "quality time" in the car with my sis.

Sister #4 left and we headed north for a wedding of my college friend, Liz, in Missouri
and a conference at Tufts University.  Bonus: visiting with all of our wonderful friends, including this
sweet little girl and her parents!

Super model!

DB was so dedicated to his grilling; he was standing outside checking the weather forecast
and grilling while tornadoes rolled into Massachusetts!

...but the results were delicious.

We got to have pizza at Santarpio's with Brian's brother (don't they look alike?)
and his beautiful girlfriend...

(Don't mind the random waiter sitting next to me!)

  

...and caught up with our wonderful former neighbors, Maruja and her daughter, Elena.

Then we had ice cream with our friends the Shiroguchis...

...and finished up with raw oysters at the Union Oyster House.  Yum!

You Tarzan, me Jane

CostaRicaTreeHouse.com

CostaRicaTreeHouse.com

CostaRicaTreeHouse.com

We are taking advantage of our last two-ish months here - and a visit from my youngest sister! - to check out a "tree house hotel" on the Atlantic coast near Limon.  Even though rainy season has started here in San Jose, we're going to keep our fingers crossed and see if we can try some snorkeling tomorrow afternoon in the ocean too.  The last time I was snorkeling was on a trip with my mom to Puerto Rico; it was tons of fun!

We'll be heading out tomorrow for the road trip, San Jose style (read: curvy roads, no road signs, vague directions from everyone you speak with, and an estimated travel time of double what anyone tells you!) and hope to get there by Sunday afternoon. Buen viaje!

Be still my beating heart

No, I'm not talking about the spider again. Although that did almost give me a heart attack. I'm talking about the fact that last night, watching House with B, I discovered that the woman-turned-con-artist starring in the show was actually none other than Megan Follows. (Can you spot her in this trailer for the episode?)


Warning: I'm about to gush here.  You may want to stop reading this if you've never watched Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, or Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story. (Yes, they could've been a bit more creative with the names, but these movies practically defined my childhood!).

Courtesy: DePagina.es

So, happy Monday for me when I got to see Megan Follows back on screen and then, poking around on the Internet, discovered that she's also been a spokesperson for World Vision in Canada. Heart stop. Twice. Love her! Kindred spirits unite!

Bangkok breaks and banana spiders

After 24 hours of traveling, 3 different planes, and a nearly 13-hour time difference, we made it back home yesterday to find a few "welcome home" presents in our house, including two dead cockroaches and a GIANT SPIDER.


It.was.disgusting. 


And when I mean disgusting, I mean I heard a sound come out of my husband's mouth when he discovered it waiting for us in the bathroom that I never heard before.  Triple ick. Brian said he could "hear the spider walking around in the bathroom." We think it was a brown banana spider or a wolf spider. Arachnophobia anyone?





"Eight legs. Two fangs. And an attitude." - Arachnophobia


My husband, the hero of the day, killed it with a combination of Windex (my idea) and a flip-flop (his idea).  Needless to say, if he wasn't around to kill it, I would have moved out of our apartment permanently!  We'll return to your regularly scheduled blog updates soon, but in the meantime, here's a glimpse of what we discovered yesterday when we came home.  (Captions courtesy of my witty husband).

Nothing to see here, right? Just our bathroom floor. But look closer...

... closer still...

It was probably the biggest spider I've ever seen in person. And it was terrifying.

  

BOOM. In this picture, it's contemplating the many ways it could kill me.

May 5, 2007

May 5, 2007. May 5, 2011. Happy Thai-iversary, husband! (For a stroll down memory lane, check out our wedding photos here).