"Tiny"

We are in the middle of packing up our apartment. We leave a week from yesterday, and we don't want to wait until the last moment to pack. We're sending some stuff on Amtrak, and just fitting the rest in our car.

Last night I was going through one of our closets and I found a box of clothes. It was a box Amy had sent me when we were pregnant last Fall. It was full of some maternity clothes, a book about pregnancy, and our first and only piece of baby clothing we received while we were pregnant. It was a little 6-12 months Onesie, yellow, and it said "Tiny" on the front. It was so cute. I was thinking about the fact that it was a piece of clothing intended for a specific person (our baby), and it sort of hit me. We never had an ultrasound (until we went to the ER), and so this little yellow outfit is the most tangible evidence I have that we were pregnant at one point.

I got sad. I started to cry. Michael walked in while I was holding it up. He hugged me. He wiped my tears. He understands my heartache, and shares in it.

This whole Waiting-Until-We-Have-The-Next-Phase-Of-Life-Figured-Out is difficult at times like this, when I am reminded of not only our loss, but the Uncertainty of our future. As always, I am just waiting upon the Lord (or trying to) and learning to trust in His timing.

Washington DC trip

Yesterday we headed south for Washington D.C. It took less than three hours. We had a fun day, meeting with my uncle at USAID, as well as seeing a few of the sites. We only had a few short hours in the afternoon, so we didn't see a ton, partly because we spent over two hours in the Holocaust Museum. It was an intense experience, although Michael and I agreed that going to Dachau near Munich, Germany was even more intense. But I recommend this museum to anyone, especially if you've never had the chance to go to Europe.

The great thing about all the tourist sites in Washington D.C. is that everything is free. You need tickets, but it's pretty much all free. If we had wanted to, we could have spent just a couple dollars in advance to reserve tickets. It would be a great family vacation, the biggest cost would be getting there! And, it's educational!

US AID (Agency for International Development)



Stickin' it to The Man (IRS building)



World War II Memorial. This was new since I had been here in early high school.



Another view of the WWII memorial.



The whole monument is surrounded by pillars with the name of all the States and territories. (53 total) We found Oregon...



...and California right next door.



In front of the Lincoln Memorial





In front of the White House. I'm not looking at the camera because there was a huge flock of geese flying right over our heads and I was afraid they were going to leave a present on my head.



My Great-Uncle George. He works for USAID and the main reason we went to DC was to see him. He set up a few meetings with some people who are very familiar with the country we will most likely be going to in December.



Washington Monument



View from the top of the Washington Monument. This is the view onto the Lincoln Memorial.



View of the White House



When I was born my mom worked in DC on H Street, so I took this picture for her. Enjoy mom!

NYC

This last weekend we went up to visit Nick and Lindsay. They just moved to a town about an hour and a half north of NYC so Lindsay can go to grad school. On the way to their apartment I noticed they lived really close to Hyde Park, NY, where FDR was born and is buried, and had a home. So of course we had to go visit. We also went to see the Vanderbilt Mansion, which was huge. Both houses are on the Hudson River, with beautiful views.

On Sunday we went to NYC. We did everything you could think of to do in one day: Ferry to Statue of Liberty (we skipped Ellis Island so we could do everything else), Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Empire State Building, Times Square, World Trade Center (Ground Zero), and we even hit a few places we weren't planning: M & M world, Radio City Music Hall, Letterman's studio, and even the Apple Store. We walked all day but it was so fun to finally see "The City."

M & M World.



Ferry to Liberty Island



Vanderbilt Mansion. It was huge!



At FDR's house.

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The Bros and their wives

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Late Night with David Letterman



Rockefeller Center



Riding the subway

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Vanderbilt gardens
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Ground Zero (I had to take the picture through the fence.) It was crazy to see this place and realize it's already been almost 7 years since the attacks. You would almost think it was just a construction site if you didn't know any better, and if you didn't notice all the memorials around.



Tomorrow we head to Washington D.C. Yes, we are trying to fit in as much as possible before we leave, one week from Wednesday.

Goodbye East Coast

I haven't had much time lately to blog, I barely have time to check my email these days. Every night when I get home from work we have something to do, including trying to pack up our apartment. Next week is my last week of being a nanny. We already started selling our furniture on craigslist, and have been boxing up stuff we know we won't need until after we return from overseas.

We started saying our goodbyes last week to most of our friends here, and that's been sad. I have always been terrible at saying goodbye. When I was little, my grandma used to come visit from New York, and so did our friend Kim, and whenever either one of them left I would ball my eyes out. And that sense I get when saying goodbye has never left. So, these goodbyes have been sad, but they also signal the end of another chapter, and the beginning of each of our next adventures. Uganda, India, Sierra Leone, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, possibly Liberia, Rwanda, and Tanzania...these are all places someone from the program will be working in. And the work and passion of these people will do great things, I have no doubt.

We have a place to live while we're in Oregon! Our close friends Luke and April have offered us a room in their apartment while we're back in the northwest. This is an answer to prayer, as we weren't sure what we were going to do, and they offered this to us out of the blue. We lived with them in Alaska as well, and couldn't be more excited about reconnecting with our friends who are like family to us.

This weekend we're heading up to New York to see Nick and Lindsay (Michael's brother and wife) who just recently moved out here as we are heading back west. We are going to go into "The City" which I'm excited about. I'm hoping to see some tourist things, like the Statue of Liberty.

I promised pictures

A couple weekends ago we went to Baltimore with my aunt and uncle. I drove their big boat for a while. And, Domino Sugar is headquartered on the harbor, and of all the sites in Baltimore, this is what we took a picture of.





Last week I took the train to Buffalo, via NYC. I had a two hour stop-over and decided to walk around "The City" for a little bit, since I've never been there before. I saw the Empire State Building (and went to the Starbucks underneath it) as well as Times Square.









Niagara Falls




I have a few more pictures plus some video to post of me on a couple crazy amusement park rides. Coming soon...

The countdown for OR begins...

I got home Sunday night from a visit to upstate New York, near Buffalo. My mom flew in from Oregon (she was born and raised in NY) and we got to visit with many friends and family. I also attended a family reunion and saw many great-aunts and uncles whom I haven't seen since I was very young, as well as cousins and grandparents. Because I grew up on the west coast it's not too often I get to see this side of my family, but have always felt a solid connection to many of them. I will post pictures soon, as we got to do some fun things, like visit Niagara Falls and go to an amusement park.

Tonight is my last night working at the restaurant! It's been almost a whole year since I started, and I'm glad to be done. We still have a couple weeks left here, since I am still nannying, but Michael is done with his classes at the school on Wednesday (he still has two online classes through December). The next few weeks will fly by as we continue to prepare to head back to Oregon, as well as get ready for an overseas internship. We will probably be in Oregon for a couple of months, which is a little longer than we orignally thought, and are working on the details of where to stay and what to do (work, raising support, etc.) while we are there.

Please pray that we can continue to discern where God is leading us and for how long.