Hogar Dulce Hogar

We're home! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind - 5 States, 1 bus ride, 2,700 miles in the car, 1 wedding, 2 Universities, and lots of friends, family, food, and FUN! 

We seriously had a blast in the states but we are happy to be 'home' and to get back to business. Especially now that we know we will be heading back to Seattle in July(!), our time here is quickly coming to an end. One of the blessing of going back to the States but being able to step back from our work, remember why we are there, and get re-jazzed to work harder. 

We're so thankful that we had the opportunity to make the trip, made possible by the help of friends and family and the unexpected money that showed up in our account from Gregg's Boeing bonus (crazy).  Because of this we were able to see Gregg's friends and family, my Mom (thanks for making the trip down to Austin Mom, it was a blessing to have you there for sure), and attend Chris & Nia's wedding - so beautiful and fun.  We are blessed with a great support system of friends and family and we want to say a specific THANK YOU to:

Joel & Amber Pinkston & the Pinkston parents for giving us a ride to KC, letting us stay in their house and letting Gregg eat all their M&Ms/chewy chips a'hoy :)

Chris & Nia Pycior (yay) for letting Gregg crash their wedding despite the late notice, a really awesome homemade groomsmen gift for Gregg, and a super fun wedding

Our Parents Janice and Billy, Carol and Murray for spending time with us on the trip, helping us feel comfortable about our upcoming decision, lending us a car, and putting us up in awesome hotels

Aunt Jill & Uncle Chad for letting us spend the night at their place

All of You for praying for us and for our decision

As for that decision, man it was a tough one. Honestly we really wanted to go back to Seattle, but I guess God has at least one more adventure for us in the meantime. Before we left we were praying and praying that God would make it obviously clear which school/city we were supposed to choose. Unfortunately that didn't exactly happen as we really liked both. Yikes! Once we got home it was spreadsheet time (Gregg's specialty), where we determined every category that is important to us and ranked which city was better. Of course, they were practically even. In terms of the school, Chicago definitely is a better fit, has more opportunities and resources, and had a better feel overall. As far as a city however, we really liked them both but like Austin more than Chicago. It has a feel like Seattle, tons of great outdoorsy stuff, and the weather - don't even get me started on how much better than Chicago that is. So now we really had a dilemma on our hands. Fortunately we talked to a few very wise friends, prayed some more, and decided...

on CHICAGO! 

Whew! Thank goodness that is over! Although we are bummed we won't be living in Austin we decided on Chicago because the school was better and really, that is the reason we are moving in the first place. Plus, Chicago is awesome as well and we are excited to experience life in the big city! It's also a great place for visitors...hint hint. So thats that. Now we just have to figure out how to plan a cross-country move from another country...geesh

Decisions Decisions

As most of you know we have been waiting and waiting and waiting to figure out exactly where Gregg and I will be living once we come home in August. Well, this week I finally heard from University of Washington and unfortunately I wasn't accepted. Definitely a bummer but honestly when I heard I felt more relief than anything. Ever since I decided to go back to school, Gregg and I have been praying that God would make it painfully clear where it is that He wants us to go. And what better way to to be both painful and obvious than with a rejection right? Seriously though, we would have loved to move back to Seattle in August but we truly feel that God has a very different plan for us. Of course only He knows what that is right now but we are excited to have faith and enjoy the ride.

A great example of God preparing the way is our trip that we are going on tomorrow. Three weeks ago we had no plans to return to the states during our time here but one thing led to another and pretty soon we had a two-week, four state trip planned! Its pretty cool how God goes ahead of us to plans things we don't even know we need. So now that we are down to the two schools, we are really praying that God again makes it painfully obvious which of the schools is THE school. If you think about us in the next few weeks, we would really appreciate your prayers!

In preparation for our trip I did a bit of baking today. Since we are poor (or cheap, or both), we really don't like buying expensive, yucky airport food if we don't have to. So, I braved the challenge that is baking in Guatemala and made these delicious goodies...

"Convenience foods" are so hard to find in the stores here I decided to try to replicate some of our favorites. More specifically;  Blueberry muffins, Granola bars, and Cheez-it crackers! Actually the Cheez-its recipe is actually for Goldfish Crackers but since there is not a huge market in Guate for fish cookie cutters I had to make due with boring circles. Everything turned out pretty delicious but I am exciting to try them again in the future when I have an oven that actually tells me where 350 degrees is...another of the joys of baking here.

ummm..where is 350 degrees?

And since it has been a while since I put a photo of us on here...here we are. Yes Gregg's hair IS out of control. He's really let himself go...

I'm Accepted!

HERE

and HERE!

Now I'm just waiting to hear from these slow pokes...

Seattle Friends: Start praying NOW!

(if you want us to move home that is...I suppose I shouldn't assume)

oh and Gregg wanted me to remind you that we've all been accepted here...

AMEN