Mark and Peggy

Our good friends Mark and Peggy are about to embark on a 10 month trip.  5 months of the trip will be spent traveling and 5 months will be spent volunteering in Sierra Leone as physicians on the Africa Mercy, a charity hospital ship.  Africa Mercy is run by Mercy Ships, a Christian charity that has been sending hospital ships throughout Africa and the Caribbean since 1978.  Crew members on board the Africa Mercy are required to raise money for fees to cover room, board, flights, medical and surgical supplies, and insurance.  Contributions support the work of the entire ship and the orphanages, health clinics, and land-based outreaches it makes.  Please consider supporting Mark and Peggy in their work on the Africa Mercy.

Busy as Bees in Salt Lake

We’ve been keeping busy in Salt Lake getting settled in, checking out the Salt Lake Bees (AAA team for the Angels), and seeing our friends Summer and Adam (and their kids Abigail and Eli!) who live about 30 minutes south of Salt Lake. We’ve had the pleasure of watching two Bees games with Kristen’s sister Katie whose husband, Marc, is a relief pitcher for the team.  We haven’t seen him in a game yet though … maybe next time.

 

Salt Lake City!

We’ve been in Utah almost 2 weeks now- and we’re pretty close to emptying our boxes and discovering what we still own 9 months after putting it into storage. Who knew that we could fit all of our belongings in 2 6′x7′x8′ cubes? Thanks to Michelle and Jeremy and Dave for the tip to use Relocube.

Here are a couple of photos showing what our new place looks like from the street and from the garage.

 

All 50?

One long time goal of ours has been to visit all 50 states (and to go to more countries than states). My number of states has once again surpassed the number of countries. 35 Countries, 36 states (I don’t count D.C. as a state). Seems like I’m still missing a bit of the middle and the bottom.

create your own visited country map

The MidWest

This weekend we made our first trip to Indiana.  For me it was also my first trip to Missouri and for Damon it was also his first trip to Illinois (we flew in and out of St Louis and drove across southern Illinois to New Harmony).  It was a great weekend with Meg’s uncle serving up BBQ Saturday afternoon (if you’re near any of his City Barbecue locations in Ohio, I highly recommend their brisket!), a beautiful outdoor ceremony, dinner, dancing, and a mini-reunion of some college friends.