The last six weeks were lacking in international adventure, but full beautiful sights and time spent with friends and family.
We flew home from Quito in mid-April and spent time in the Phoenix Arizona area, St George Utah, Lindon Utah and Boise Idaho. This gave us the opportunity to spend time with our family members and friends. We hiked in the Arizona desert and Utah canyons before the blazing heat of summer and spend time with cousins that I had not seen for many years. We renewed friendships with our circle of Boise friends and newer friends from our time in Cambodia.
Along the way we attended a wedding and reception, a funeral, birthday parties, a baby shower and several church meetings with friends. It was great to see Nate and his family, Jenna and her family, Ridge and his girlfriend, and we will soon see Carine in Washington DC. Susie also fit in two extended craft weekends where she did some quilting and strengthened her connections with friends.
Two of the hardest things about our current nomadic existence is not having a home, and our disconnection from friends and family. Making a concerted effort to visit lots of people when back in the US helps keep those relationships alive. Our vacation rental in Santa Clara kind of serves as a home. It is close to my parents and brother and his wife, but we don’t otherwise have a connection to the local community since we aren’t ever there for long.
We have an owner’s closet in the vacation rental in St George and this is where we keep a stash of clothes and supplies for our travels. Each trip needs somewhat different clothes depending on weather and planned activities. Also we just get tired of wearing the same clothes over and over for two or three months.
Now that our time is winding down, we head to Washington DC tomorrow, followed by Amsterdam and then on to Romania, where we will spend some time helping to promote BYU Pathway and hopefully helping serve Ukrainian refugees.
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