"You can tell I'm from Africa..."

I'm sorry it's been forever. I've had some complaints (Hilary Green, this is your shout out) but I will try to be more consistent! :)

Life lately has been pretty good! I'm still babysitting all the time but I got to take a break from that and go with my family to Sedona for a week which was really fun. We did a bunch of hikes, took a day trip to the Grand Canyon, found a place called "Slide Rock" which is literally a slide from carved rocks covered in moss. It was a fun week and a nice time to get away from the chaos of life. I remember the first night there, I didn't have to set my alarm clock and it felt strange being able to sleep in. It was a great break.

Yesterday, I drove up to Santa Barbara to visit Lauren Klapp, a dear friend of mine from APU/South Africa. We spent hours just talking about life, friendships, still adjusting back to the States...everything. It was so good. Every time I hang out with her, I wish I could do it more often. The Lord has provided such a sweet friend in her and I'm so thankful.

And this weekend, my grandpa retired so the entire extended family came up to celebrate. It was a fun time to all be together and celebrate my grandpa, who normally does everything to get the attention off himself. He has such a servant's heart and it was nice to see him being so appreciated by our family and the church he worked for.

Funny story from this weekend: two of my cousins are adopted from Uganda, and they've been in our family for about 3 years now. They're 4 and 6 years old. When they came to our house, they walked into my room and Joseph (6) said, "Hey, it's Africa" referring to the picture Kalie painted for me hanging on the wall. Then Duane (4) saw my world map and pointed to Africa. I asked him if he had ever been there ;) and his response was priceless: "Yeah I was born there. You can tell I'm from Africa by the color of my skin!" I was dying laughing. So funny.

Well, I feel like my first post back should have some really important message or depth or something, but this is all I have for now. Hilary, I hope this satisfies you and gives you some reading material :)