back to ecuador

well, i have been back to Ecuador for about 4 days now. the past 3 weeks were spent at my parent's house (not mine :)-thanks for clarifying dad) relaxing and seeing family and friends--with a few dentist and eye appointments between things. In a short amount of time, I was able to see ALL of my family members...which is a miracle to see all of them in 3 weeks because they are spread out from Indy, to St. Louis, to Seattle, WA. Some family even came over to Chicago for a change, which was really fun to take them around downtown and do the touristy things.
Here is a list of my favorite events that took place while I was home (in no particular order):
- buying my own christmas tree (4ft. tall) and walking it home
- decorating my house alone for christmas
- seeing my relatives from Eureka, MO
- eating a dessert shaped like a baseball
- having my grandparents and grandma nana at our house during break
- travelling to sellersburg, IN to watch my cousin play bball
- going to indy to hang out with NEWD
- spending new years eve in ft. wayne
- seeing the burtons
- driving in a vanilla pt cruiser :)
- going to seattle to visit a cool grad school on bainbridge island called ISLANDWOOD
- spending time with my seattle family
-watching my dog, "zilly" heal after a brutal 9 teeth extraction surgery (i was glad to see him breathing normally again)
- sleeping with my dogs
- eating a Kobe beef hamburger at Nine with my mom
- good wine
- good food
- the bakery
-seeing will and my parents (most of the time :))
-seeing friends and catching up!
- hearing some new music!

well, that is a longer list that i had originally thought, but oh well!

as many of you know, my break was also somewhat stressful because i needed to decide about what i was going to do this upcoming school year. with much prayer and thought and opened doors, i am not going to be returning to ecuador (for now anyways :)). i am pursuing and applying to the Islandwood grad school. the program is a 10 month residency in outdoor education...which i am very passionate about. i could finish the 2nd year of a masters program at the university of washington, or another school depending on what is going on with my life at that time. i have learned that i cant really plan for more than a year at a time right now. so i am praying for acceptance at islandwood for now. if it doesent work out, ill move on from there!

its good to be back in ecuador...even though its not glamourous.