It's been too long.. appologies

Wow, it really has been a long time since I've done this... sorry about that. I haven't had much internet time lately it seems.. but that's also not completely true I guess. Well let's recap about a few things.

Ok, so long ago there was life as usual. Then came the fast.. and there was life as usual except that I was hot and thirsty the whole time. Then came my family!! (well, some of it anyways)

We had an awesome vacation (at least I really enjoyed it). They flew in to Panama City, Panama so I traveled (in all) about 11 hours to meet them there on a Saturday night. Sunday morning we went to the Temple and it was really nice - unfortunately it was the height of the dry season so it wasn't green and misty and beautiful like I remember it the first time - but it's still peaceful and beautiful. Next it was time to get to a tropical beach! but to break up the long bus ride we stayed the night a bit over half-way at a hostel called the purple house... and that night we walked to a little restaurant and had the best batidos ever (basically they're fruit smoothies only with tropical fruit like papaya and lots of sugar - very yummy). The next day we hopped a bus to the crazy boarder, crossed over, and continued on our way to Zancudo! There we spent two days completely chillin' It's such a peaceful place. I really do enjoy it there. We played in the waves a bit.. walked along the shore (I love that there are really very few people ever there).. and played with the camera :). Then we headed up to Progresso to check out where I live and what kinds of people I hang out with and what sort of things I do! Unfortuantely, for me that meant back fasting for two days. And also unfortunately it was still the height of the dry season and to me everything looked so dead and drab when really this is the most colorful place ever! Really, it's the colors of the rainforest that I will miss so much. Mostly it's just greens and blues but the colors are soo.. colorful. I wish I could have shared that. So, in Progresso we visited some of the neighbors, held some baby parots, drank some fresh coconut juice (milk?), Casey came with to see if I ever actually did anything worthwhile and spent the whole time disturbing the pre-youth class (gosh Casey, stop throwing things at the oh so adorable Progresso kids!) headed up the mountain on my favorite (though by far hardest) walk (three cheers for Mom, and sisters too), and then down the mountain to celebrate Naw-Ruz at the Baha'i Center (about a bazillion cheers for Mom and sisters for doing both of those walks in one day - quite impressive). Then, early next morning it's time to head back down the mountain and up to San Jose on the long -though admittedly beautiful - bus ride. We stayed at friend's Hesh and Zar's house (eternal gratitude to them for their so special and never ending hospitality). And, woops, I couldn't actually make the very last leg of the journey - the taxi ride to the airport. I'm afraid I got food poisoning (or something) that night and had to simply send them off in a cab and go back to bed. My appologies for a not so wonderful goodbye.

About a week or so later, Laura's family came to visit. Her mother from Greece and brother who lives in Switzerland both came for almost two weeks - so they actually had like 4 days or so to explore Progresso. With this excuse Laura, Benjamin, Linda and I tagged along behind Don Jesus and visited an area that's untouched... wow, so that's the real rainforest. Benjamin was swinging of vines, we were walking the ridges of mountains, and finally we came to the Rio Claro and up to a little waterfall with a beautiful little swimming pool. We were jumping off rocks and Don Jesus caught a lot of shrimp - so big and yummy! and we built a little fire and cooked them to have with our lunch. It was a very nice day (though hard over 6 hours of hiking altogether). So then they left to enjoy other scenic spots in this part of the world...

... and then came another Instituto. Meaning, friends from El Salvador came and we had a week long intensive Ruhi book course. The people from El Salvador are so wonderful - it's always so much fun to have them around. And, I met Kelsey Bulkin - and people, wow, amazing voice. At the moment she's setting prayers to music and my goodness, it's just beautiful. She's got a myspace.. if you want to hear beauty check it out.

and now we're almost back to life as usual. Although, the national convention is this coming weekend.. so not quite.

oh, and there was one more thing throughout all this. A couple months ago Linda sent me an application for a future job opportunity so I had to fill that out and send it in, and then about a couple weeks ago I came down to have an interview. So, thanks to her I've been thinking about my future a lot recently... which is hard to do when you have no idea what it will actually be.. and when all you really want to do is live in the present and enjoy the right now because you know it's simply the best. So, I'm still waiting to see what happens. It simply comes down to was I the best they had to choose from or were there others better. We'll see. I could be living in Huntsville searching for jobs.. or in August I could be moving to Virginia. We'll see.

It's sad that the time here is coming to an end. Both Linda and Laura are already beginning making their final plans for leaving. They both have only a little over a month left. My goodness. Change.

And I just found out that my counsins Alex and Greg are gonna come on the youth trip in June!! Now I'm really looking forward to the youth trip! And this is unconfirmed but I think Casey is gonna come too! Yay even more!! I wonder what we're gonna think of for them to do?

And then, after that - I should be home to celebrate July 4th with everyone in true Hunstville style!

so.. that's my recent past and future in a (rather large) nutshell ... but pictures are worth a thousand words, so they say, so look at facebook for details!