Back to the Old Country

Four weeks really do fly by.  I have been up north to visit family and friends.  I am been at home to clean and purge my room of things I no longer need.  I have been up to camp to check out the new buildings and to meet with friends.  I have been south to DC to finish up my paper work.  I am grateful that this trip didn't end up being as expensive as I was expecting.  People without medical insurance are given breaks and are helped out and the embassy people really can push things through fast if you need them to.

Now the only thing that stands in my way is getting my cat situated and ready for the trip and to pack up my house.  Packing up my house is my biggest stress right now.  I have a  week to do it in.  Then after that, its three weeks of relaxing and meeting up with as many people as possible and really just enjoying the Latvian summer.

God do I love summer in Latvia!

To those of you who I did get a chance to meet it was great to see you and to those that I didn't get to meet up with, no worries, I will be back for Christmas (which by the way is only 5 months away . .  better start shopping!).

Here are a few pictures of my summer here in the states (not in any specific order):

 Scout museum in MI.

 DC

 My God Son in deep thought.

 Around our back yard.

 The new dining hall at camp.

 My cousin all ready to pick up his dinner date.

Crossing fingers . . holding thumbs

And the waiting begins!

Dr visits  . . . Check!
Finger printing . . . Check!
Background check . . . . the eternal wait.  I really really hope this doesn't delay my trip back to Latvia.  I need to get packed up and moved out of the house by August 1st and if I am delayed there is no way its happening.

On a good note I found a cat carrier today and it should be arriving at my house early next week.  Also got a bunch of teaching supplies that I think I might need like name tags and birthday pencils and getting to know me posters.   The anticipation of getting everything ready and done is crazy.  But I am playing it cool as a cucumber because I am sure it will all work out.

A weekend with the family

Meeting up with family is always exciting.  For 4th of July weekend we all got in the car and drove 10 hours to Michigan.  My father grew up in Michigan and his entire side of the family still lives there.  I had not seen them for possibly 4 years, other than my grandmother who i quickly met up with when I was home for a wedding in September.

They are a bucket of laughs.  We sat around each evening drinking and talking and each evening someone thought of a new question to ask about my future plans in Kuwait.  I put all their nerves to rest by telling them that Kuwait is one of the quieter/safer places to be in that region.  My uncle questioned my desire to leave America:  the land of opportunity and great things! Who would want to leave?  I think my Kuwait placement will really tell me if I want to continue moving around or if finding a place to stay is what is next for me.  I have my reasoning for moving away from America but I will leave that for another post.

My family are the people that are the nearest and dearest to my heart.  No matter what they say or do.  You can choose your friends but the devil will give you your family.  I think the devil did a pretty good job with this group.