Home... again!

I'm home... again! After arriving back in MN on Wednesday, I was able to spend some fun time with family and of course, hang out with David again. Then on Thursday I had a few hours to sleep in, run some errands, check on my storage unit (it's all still okay!), stop by church, then see David again, do laundry and repack for Seattle. This is the weekend where there was a training session for the Africa mission trip and it was held in Seattle.

The session wasn't mandatory but encouraged, but I knew that I didn't want to miss out. It's a great way to meet some of my teammates and start doing some team-building, and I also just wanted to be part of the whole conversation. Since I had a free ticket and family that I also wanted to see, it made for a really fun weekend! I love the Seattle area!

I flew out on Friday, and June was kind enough to get me from the airport. We went home and got Joel, and we were also able to meet up with Merrily for dinner (Erick was out of town). Here we are enjoying a wonderful salmon dinner in Mukilteo, at "The Tin Fish". Yummy!!! My mouth started watering at the word "salmon" and I realized I hadn't had a good salmon dinner since I lived in WA last year.




We were able to sit outside and enjoy a beautiful evening, and check out our view! The sun setting over Puget Sound is one of my favorite things, and after spending a week driving around the Olympic Peninsula, I feel a little like the Olympics are my mountains!


On Saturday, I had such fun getting to meet some of the others on our team, and most of those that weren't able to be there in person were able to join us via conference call. There will be 19 going all together, and it's so amazing how God is knitting together just the right team! We have a great variety of experiences, gifts, talents, and personalities and it's easy to see that God's hand has been involved in bringing us all together. It was so good to hear more about some of the specifics of what we'll be doing, and then also get an idea of some of the practical side of things regarding travel, packing, etc.

I didn't get any pictures of our team (it was a 1/2 team in person anyway) because I actually FORGOT my camera back in MN! Can you believe it? I had taken it out to snap pics of David, and it forgot to wander back into my pocket. It's usually permanently attached there, so I'm not sure what happened.... So, June was kind enough to loan me hers, and then I didn't even use it during the session. Oh well, then when you do see pictures, it'll be of the complete team!

After the training session was done, it was back to June and Joel's for a Fun Family Fling. That's the name I just gave it now, we should've been calling it that! The pictures I snapped during dinner didn't turn out the best. I had been avoiding having everyone interrupt their meal to pose for me, but in doing that I ended up not getting good pictures. So, you'll just have to imagine how fun it was to hang out together, enjoying a wonderful evening in the backyard, eating delicious steaks off the grill, and playing badminton in the (almost) dark. We even had a stray kitty chasing the flying bugs, and some "stray" bats chasing the flying badminton birdie!

My flight out this morning was at 9am, so it really ended up being a quick weekend. I had a GREAT time, and THANK YOU to June and Joel for hosting me once again. You guys are so great! My only regret for the weekend is that there wasn't time to see all of the other wonderful people that live in Washington. It would've been so fun to get up to Marysville, or over to Gig Harbor, or even to hang out a bit at Pike Place. I really wondered how it might work out, but I was in the state such few hours that it just wasn't possible. Please know I was thinking of you and wishing I could see you!

I landed in MN this afternoon, was able to spend some fun time with my parents and Ebenezer friends, and now I'll move to Mankato in the morning. It'll be good to get settled in there!