Going, going, gone!

The title of this post is so appropriate to several things that have happened this past week or two.  

I was invited to a dear friends' house for an authentic Mexican meal during my last week in Marietta.  We're not talking Tex-Mex.  We're talking Mex-Mex all the way!  Amanda is a chef and her husband is Hispanic so with that combination, anything Mexican she fixes is so good and straight out of Mexico.

She fixed fresh homemade Tostitos and, as my daughter would say, they were de-lish!  I am not exaggerating.  If not the best meal I've ever, it was a very close second!   I finished off the first one and licked my fingers in anticipation of the second one, which was inhaled as quickly as the first one!  Gone in no time!!!!!    Thanks, Amanda!  Great time with you and a great meal.  Kudos!

While in Marietta, we stay with my father in his ranch condo. (His community is for adults 55 years and older so we fit right in.  I'm 56 years old so I can stay there.  My sister isn't quite old enough.)  We try to do a few projects around his house to help out.  My sister Karin and I replaced the two huge pots on his front porch with new silk flowers.   The previous flowers were so GONE!

My brother Jim came down from Chattanooga for Father's Day and he weeded the yard for hours on end with Karin's husband, Eric.  

And this is my Dad (more often referred to as "Pop") relaxing out by the community pool after his son and son-in-law weeded all afternoon in the hot sun.  It was hard work supervising those two workers!  Fortunately, the weeds are gone and the yard is looking beautiful again.

I always get together with my wonderful friend, Kristin, whenever I am in town.  When Glenn and I first came back for a visit in the U.S., Kristin and I started off with getting together for an hour or two over a Starbucks coffee but we've come to realize we really need more like 4 or 5 hours to share all our news because we do "go on" about everything happening in our lives!  (Get it?  "gone" & "go on")  She is such a blessing to me.

We didn't get to visit with our pastor and his wife this trip because our schedules just didn't fit.  Either we were out of town or Ken was!  But Ken, even though we couldn't get together this time, true to his character, made us (particularly me) feel loved and appreciated!  He had ordered and had waiting for me two bottles of Ghiradelli White Chocolate Sauce for me to take back to Hungary!!!  You know, for my serious coffee addiction!  

Speaking of coffee addictions, my sister Karin refilled our previous Starbucks gift card she bought for us last December so that we could have all the Starbucks coffee we wanted while in the U.S..  Can you imagine what it is like to get up every morning and want a cup of white chocolate mocha from Starbucks, and not have to worry about the cost of it?  It was wonderful!  Now, if she can only figure out a way that I won't have to worry about the 310 calories in each cup I drink, that would be equally as wonderful!!!

Glenn flew up to New Jersey to help our son load their belongings into a U-haul and then drove with Chris down to Maryville, Tennessee where he will start work in a few weeks as a P.A.  A few days later, Kate and Jazmine flew down to Atlanta, where I picked them up.   The next morning I drove them up to Maryville to meet up with Chris and Glenn, so that Chris and Kate could look at houses to buy.  They saw 25 houses in 3 days, but didn't find one they felt was "the one".

I got to spend lots of time with Jazmine!  She is a doll! 

Many people thinks she looks just like her grandfather, Glenn, but in this picture, she looks just like her daddy!  Those are most definitely his eyes! 

She was a little reserved, but after about 2 hours, she would come to me without any hesitation.  Well, unless her mom or dad were nearby!  As long as they were not close at hand, she loved for me to hold her, which I did, of course!

She is very expressive with her eyes and nose.  She likes to crinkle them up and snort at us, which, of course, makes us laugh!

She's adorable.

She loves to read (she's smart too!) the stack of Reader's Digest on the end table, but she hasn't mastered putting them back yet  :-)

We enjoyed an outing at the park with her in Maryville while Chris and Kate looked at a couple of houses and talked with the realtor.  She was with us (without her parents) for several hours and did great.  I'm ready for her to come spend a month with us over the summer next year.

And these are her parents, Kate and Chris, from whom she gets that adorable smile and great personality.

Chris, Kate and Jazmine are now gone, back in New Jersey to celebrate Jaz's first birthday and to say good-bye to their friends and family.  They will head back to Maryville in the next week or so.

Glenn and I left the U.S. on Monday of last week and returned to BP on Tuesday.  It has been a crazy week since then!  Unpacking suitcases, laundry, paying overdue bills, cutting the grass and pulling up the weeds that were a foot tall, running to Auchan for bread, milk, and fresh fruit and vegetables, and all the other things that must be done when coming home from a long trip.

On Thursday we hosted a cook-out for everyone in town to say good-bye to Mary and Alvin who are going on their last STAS (stateside assignment) and then retiring from overseas service.  

Our group was small because four of our families are in the U.S. currently on their own STAS.  There were 16 of us in all.   Glenn is in the process of designing and building a counter to attach to the side of our gazebo that will give us space for putting the food items for our next big cook-out, instead of using one of our tables for serving.  Our yard is small so there's not a lot of space for sitting and serving.

Some of the last things I bought in America were Honeymaid graham crackers, Hershey chocolate bars and JUMBO marshmallows for S'mores at our cook-out.  (If you read last weeks' post, I saw them in the grocery store with my sister Karin;  and yes, I went back and bought a bag after all!)

The S'mores were a big hit with the kids AND adults!

We said good-bye to the Doyles on Saturday as they left BP for the last time.  They are on their way to Greece to visit with their son's family and then they will attend our big AGM (Annual General Meeting) in Greece before returning to the U.S. for their final STAS and retirement.   We'll say our final good-byes at the AGM in a couple of weeks but I'm already grieving the loss of their friendship and fellowship, just knowing they are gone.

The Eden House closed officially while we were in the U.S..  All the furniture and belongings were sold in the local community and what remained unsold was given to a homeless shelter ministry.  

Glenn and I bought a few pieces of furniture and some baby items for us personally, but there were also some things that our company needed us to store for the next medical coordinator (that will take Mary's place), short-term volunteers and for use in the two apartments that have been rented for folks who still need to come to BP for medical care.  Additionally, we bought Mary and Alvin's washer and dryer and two other pieces of furniture from them.  I'm also the Keeper of the Used Homeschool Curriculum, so, as you can figure out, our basement is packed to the gill.  

We've spent the last two days going through stuff and deciding what we need to keep and what needs to go.  We put this old, broken dryer out on our curb at 6 pm Friday night, and by 7 am the next morning, it was gone!  Yea!

Anyway, a busy week.  Next week ...  nothing big on our schedule so we should be able to get back to our normal routines.  Whatever that is!