I've worked there off and on throughout the summer, filling in when workers were sick and giving my dad a break for supper. I also got to spend some time with my nieces and nephew. Here's a pic from one of the days I was there and they were outside playing with their new squirt guns! Note I was safely inside the porch so I didn't get wet!!! =:) We also got to go to Adventureland for a day and I went with them to the County Fair, got to see Chaise's dance recital and piano recital...all things I missed my two years in Cape Town! I'll be back in Dec to go with the whole fam to Disney World for a week! Should be big fun!!!
I also got to meet up with a couple of past volunteers and our Centre Director (now the National Director for SA) from Cape Town, Rolf in Tennessee. He was here for a camp but we got to spend a couple days with him. It was a great reunion and I look forward to seeing Rolf again in Cape Town!
Another fun reunion was when my friend, Isabel, came to visit. We met down in Cape Town; she was a vol from Germany and we happened to have the same birthday! So last year we met in Zambia and saw Victoria Falls together for our birthday. This year she and her husband came to the US to see his sister in Oklahoma and to do some site-seeing in the Seattle area. But she came and visited me the weekend of our birthday and we had a great time together. We toured the Capitol, Governor's mansion, went to the farmer's market, an I-Cubs game, drove around Amish areas and went to the Wash. Co Fair! And of course we got in some karaoke on our birthday and had some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory!!! Yum! Isabel is now a fan as well!!!
Finally, in August I went back to Kearney with my mom since my cousin, Bryan, was getting married and most of my uncles, aunts and cousins would be back! I hadn't seen any of them in three years! It was lots of fun. The pic above is of my mom and all her brothers and sister but one! It was a great time of visiting with family and doing some reminiscing with mom. We drove around Kearney and took pics of memorable places, like the farm where mom grew up, the country school she attended, her first apt, where she and my dad first lived after they got married, the hospital where I was born and we visited the cemetery to pay respects and to get more genealogical info.Through all of this, I was also taking a certification course for teaching English. It was more difficult than I imagined. I haven't had to think about nouns, verbs, gerunds, etc in a long time! I'm excited to be going to Mozambique to teach English and also a little nervous! Please pray for me!
Its been a great summer, but I'm sad that I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to. I didn't get out to visit my buddies in Lincoln and I didn't get down to Kansas City to see my buddy, Mary. I miss you guys and promise I'll make it work out next time I'm back!! Love you all!
