Jurassic Park

Think I took a wrong turn out of the Walmart…🤔

Enlightening

Apparently even lizards need some shade now ‘n then😂😂.

South Florida

Well, I should’ve taken refreshing my Spanish a little more seriously… I am in the neighborhood where most everybody is predominantly Hispanic, and few people seem to know English. It surprised even me, but I am blissfully close to the airport, and everyone has been only kind! The pool and a good book won out over trying to find a beach, so here I am, along with my new friend…

I parked the car for the rest of the day, but before then I enjoyed a delicious lunch of guacamole, chips, and fajitas. I have fortunately plenty of guacamole left to go with my tuna pouch if I get hungry later this afternoon, which is doubtful. It was truly an art form in itself! Muy bonita! (I am assuming this pretty creation can be referred to in the feminine tense😂😂)

So onto the book… I was fortunate to find a Goodwill, and had four potential good reads in my hand when I realized I really only had room for two. So I put two back, but debated going back to grab them when I was next in line at the checkout. The best thing about buying books at Goodwill is that if it’s out of my typical genre, I don’t feel guilty just tossing them away if I don’t like them. The two I put back were definitely out of that genre, but both looked interesting and intriguing! I’m sorry now I just didn’t hang onto them. I’ll soak up some sun for a while, and then repack when I have returned to the room. I’ll head back to MIA (airport, not missing in action) in the wee hours of morning, or about 6:30😂😂. Hopefully, I will have Wi-Fi at times to blog from the Dominican, but I just won’t know until I get there. But regardless, I will be able to take plenty of pictures for when I can blog 💕.

Off on a Mission

For reals 🤗. FDI 2025 is taking us to the Dominican Republic to serve the large population of Haitian refugees. I am in the ‘early group’ and will arrive on April 28th. That gives me a day of downtime in Miami…my ‘positioning’ I like to call it. Flying anywhere from Missoula, Montana, tends to be a day long escapade, so in order to avoid the ’red eye’ flights and arriving in the wee hours of morning, I just try to be in the last departing U.S. city the day before. I am looking forward to the down day, and may find a quiet beach near the outskirts of Miami. But then again, I may just stay poolside with my book😂😂. Either way, I am looking forward to the upcoming reunion with some of (both) my Cambodian and Jamaican team members. Some of whom will be…

Dr. Scott! 👏👏👏

D’Lynn!🤗

RAY!!🤗

AMY😆!

Kim 💕🤗

Laurie & Jill nestled securely in the center 💕🤗, and…

Theresa and Riley! In here no doubt…our entire Cambodia team🤗

A wonderful reunion this will be🤗💕.

Gallivanting

…to the Florida Gulf Coast. St. George Island to be exact. A home right at the ocean’s edge. The ocean will forever be my place of respite. When I settled down as a young adult, the choice came down to one of two places…in the mountains, or by the seashore. The mountains won out, primarily because the seashore tends to be crowded with people, and expensive. In comparison, the mountains held a certain sort of solitude, solace and peace. Still, I will always long to be by the ocean, if only for brief moments in time. So many happy memories there…Belize, Santa Barbara, Hawaii, and Okinawa. And now Florida. Our annual ‘parent trip’, and this year we are fortunate to have my brother join us. Stay tuned for our adventures from the Gulf of America💕😂😂👏👏.

Homesick

I am feeling a bit lost this morning. While there is the unpacking to do, and the resettling, I woke up wanting to go to work, and see my patients, and greet my coworkers, and be the first to make coffee to the delight of Brenda, the HopeWest office wonder. (I always added an extra scoop, so I always hoped to be the first to make it😂.)

I stopped by to see the grandbabies yesterday, and Chelle came out this morning before class, and it was so wonderful to be home to see the family! Even though I’ve seen only a small portion of them thus far. When I crossed the Idaho/Montana state line, I had hoped to take a picture of the Montana sign to send to my Colorado friends, but there was really no safe place to stop off, so I continued on and got a picture of the Montana flag at the first rest stop I came to.

I feel the same nostalgia when I drive from Montana to North Dakota, and every time I’ve had to leave, I always longed for just one more day there. When I give thanks to the Lord for this country he has put me in, it goes something like this…’Thank you for Minnesota, the place of my birth. And thank you for North Dakota, my childhood home. And thank you for Montana, the land of my sojourn. While there is a longing to be ‘back there again’ in these places we’ve called ‘home’ at one time or another, if only for a season, it is so reassuring to know that when we are truly ‘home’, we will not long for where we’ve been. 💕

Off to a Grand Start

A good friend suggested an alternate route back to I 15, which will take me through the Salt Lake Valley and on into Idaho. So I headed off yesterday morning for Green River, Utah! That took me through Price Canyon, which was just stunning. Kind of reminiscent of Black Canyon in a small way. I’ll attach some pictures I was able to snap, as they had several roadside pull-offs to take allow travelers to take in the beautiful views.☺️

A sad tale …😔

I am staying in the exact same hotel. I stayed at on my way down. It feels a bit surreal to be here, knowing I am headed back to Montana rather than to Colorado. A happy surreal. Very happy.💕🙏💕