Arctic Blast '08!

Arctic Blast 2008 rolls like a powerful Yeti through the Pacific Northwest. With temperatures falling eight, nine and sometimes ten degrees below 40, Sandy and surrounding towns hunker down for a severe winter full of light, intermittent snow showers sometimes accumulating in over one full inch of snow on the ground. Grocery stores run low on supplies. Hot cocoa mix, marshmallows and beer are scarce… until the supply truck shows up in a couple days to restock.

Sometimes it’s hard to convey sarcasm in written word, but I feel like I’ve done a pretty good job here. It seems that Oregonians in the Portland area aren’t used to dealing with inclement weather. Most of the Sandy area stores and businesses have shut down due to recent intermittent snowfall. Sandy High was closed most of this last week and has used up all of its allotted snow days for the year. From here on out, any more days off will add days at the end of the school year. The snowstorm here is mild in comparison to the hearty winters we sometimes get in Tulsa. There is little ice here and driving conditions more resemble a rainy day than an “Arctic Blast”, which is what the news stations are calling this storm. Me? I hope a real arctic blast hits. One that resembles time I’ve spent in Colorado. It’s been since the winter of 2005 in Chicago, when Nan and I started dating, that I’ve seen any real cold weather. But right now, Mt. Hood is getting nailed with fresh snow powder so we’re gearing up to hit the mountain ski resorts for some fun sometime in the next couple weeks.

But for now, all systems are nominal. Nan will have the next two weeks off work for the school’s winter break and I’m still working temporary jobs from time to time. There isn’t much else to report. We are going to miss everyone during the holidays as neither of us are used to being away from Tulsa this time of year. We will, however, enjoy spending time with Karen and Chris and celebrating baby Olivia's first Christmas. The Zorn/Smith family has invited us over for Christmas eve festivities, so we're looking forward to that. Then, early in the new year, Nan’s parents will be up here to see baby Olivia and visit for a couple weeks and we are very much looking forward to spending time with them.

Now, as promised, here are some pictures of recent happenings on our side of the country.

With love and well wishes to our loyal readers!
Chris and Nan

Me about to flip the very hot and very wet Thanksgiving turkey at my parents house in Tulsa

Michelle holding Olivia during her visit to Sandy

Karen, Chris, Terry, Joe, Adam and Nicole awaiting Olivia's arrival

Karen, Delaney and Olivia Hunter at their new house in Tulsa

Karen with Olivia decorating the tree

Our Kitchen - The color is called "Sea Foam Green" other wise known as "Ugly"

This is just too pretty not to post. Nan took this picture as we left dinner one evening.

Thanksgiving, Baptism, and a Visit from Michelle

The last couple of weeks have been filled with fun times. We hope to post some photos in the next week or so. Presently the cord that connects our camera to the computer is MIA, so for now we’ll just have to inspire images in your minds.

Thanksgiving in Tulsa

We flew to Tulsa on Thanksgiving, saw some of Chris’s family and then headed to Jeff and Erin’s to rekindle some friendships and play a game of Risk (that Lovelace missed because he didn’t show up until 2am). For the record, Chris won said game. On Friday afternoon we had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner around a beautiful, new table at the Clendenin’s. Lauri brought senior pictures of Ian to share – what a young stud!

Saturday morning we met mom, dad, and Kevin for breakfast at Savoy a little earlier than we were ready for. On Saturday afternoon we went to my parents’ to visit with the family. While we were there, Grandma reminded me that she had given me some dresses that would be perfect for Fiji. Though I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for, I found 4 Hawaiian print shirts for Chris and a dress that matches one of the shirts for me!

On Sunday, we went to Olivia Hunter’s baptism and baptism party at the Hader’s. Then we headed to Meagan and Jason’s to see how big their kids had grown and visit for a few minutes. After three whirlwind days of seeing family and friends we headed to the airport for our 7:15pm flight. We were expected to arrive in Portland, OR at 11:50pm, but were delayed and didn’t arrive until around 1:30am. By the time we got our bags and made it to the train station, and then realized the train was not running, it was 2am and we had no way home. Chris Z. to the rescue! He came to the airport in the middle of the night to pick us up. Thanks Chris!

We finally made it home and were in bed by 3am, which was just in time for me to sleep 3 hours before work on Monday morning.

Michelle’s Visit

One week after Thanksgiving, Michelle (my sister) visited us! Well, she was actually visiting our new baby niece, Olivia Lynn, but we got to spend time with her too! We even got to see her on she and P.J.’s 10th anniversary! Congrats, guys! While Michelle was here, Olivia Lynn went one her first outing to a restaurant- she was so good. We also put up all the Christmas decorations at Chris and Karen’s house, which look fantastic. Again, pictures when possible.

More updates soon.

Nan (and Chris)

Peace Corps Update

You might have noticed that we haven't been blogging recently. We've been in contact with our Peace Corps placement officer and we have some good news and unexpected news. The good news is that we have a placement in the Pacific Islands! YEAH! The unexpected news is that it looks like we won't be leaving until May 2009.

So, again with the rolling with it... We've decided to stay in the Portland area until May. We've got a few job interviews set up and have found an apartment to rent in downtown Sandy. Our belongings are all in storage, so we've outfitted our apartment with items off Craigslist and some things Karen and Chris have found for free. We even have a futon for any visitors. :) You're all welcome anytime!

We will be updating this blog with any new news we have in a few months (most likely November or December).

Nan and Chris
clencurry@gmail.com

Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming

It has been a very long and exciting 3 days, so we thought we'd post a mid-week blog to share all the fun. We left Chicago Monday morning and drove all day until we reached Kilen Woods State Park in Minnesota. Beautiful place, removed from the highway and very quiet, also a fantastic location for anyone wishing to shoot a horror film in which campers are attacked by thousands of mosquitoes. But, again, very beautiful and quiet.


Yesterday (Tuesday) morning we drove through South Dakota. Anyone who has driven through SD on I-90 knows there are more billboards for Wall Drug and the Corn Palace than anything else. So... our first stop was in Mitchell, SD to see the Corn Palace. The theme this year is Every Day Heroes so we got to see corm murals of teachers, fire fighters, and the like. They had a map of the world at the Corn Palace where visitors could stick a pinto denote their home. After much debate, we decided on NC.

Next, we enjoyed the scenic route through the Badlands. WOW! What a sight. We kept appreciating all the roads and the fact that we were in a CR-V and not a horse drawn buggy. It just isn't hard to see how the Badlands got that name.

Our next stop of the day was to pick up some cotton balls and Calamine lotion for my poison ivy. We had checked gas stations with no luck, so decided Wall Drug was our answer. In case you are wondering if the largest drug store in the world has cotton balls, Calamine lotion, and a bucking bronco... it does.



After a long day we reached Keystone, SD, drove over Iron Mountain and found a delightful place to camp not too far from Mt. Rushmore. Our campground turned out to be for people with horses (the name Elk Haven Horse Camp probably should have been our first clue) but they let us stay despite the fact that we did not have any horses to speak of so we wouldn't have to stay at the campground down the road with the mini-golf course, karaoke, a tiny swimming pool, and a serious tent city. We enjoyed the karaoke from a distance at our private campsite where we made the best dinner over coals I've ever had - steak and veggies cooked in foil! We took a drive over to Mt. Rushmore and as we clicked our camera for the first picture of those awesome faces, the battery died. But, no worries we charged her up and returned this morning so we could snap some shots for this blog.

We drove into Wyoming today, and are camping in Greybull tonight. The drive through the mountains was incredible! Tomorrow we're headed to Yellowstone! What a great state Wyoming is!

-Nan

P.S. We have been rating the welcome centers and welcome signs of the 20 states we have been through on this trip. Oklahoma- very nice welcome signs, but you're beat our by Minnesota! WOW!



Also, Wisconsin gets major props for having an attractive sign with parking and a little walking path to get to the sign for photo ops!


If you have a favorite state for welcome signs, we'd love to know about it so it can be added to our wealth of state welcome sign knowledge.

Illinois

After St. Louis, we headed to Galesburg, IL to visit Josh and Knox College (my alma mater). We spent some time walking around campus, which really did not take all that long as it is very small, saw a few staff and faculty, enjoyed a Knox community potluck, and an evening at Seminary Street Pub. We also had the chance to meet a few of Josh's friends and co-workers- all fabulous people! Chris and I spent one day out at Green Oaks, Knox's biological field site, canoeing and spotting jumping fish.


From Galesburg, we drove east to Chicago. Our first night in town we met Blair for dinner at Duck Walk (where Chris and I had our first date, also where he proposed). Yesterday we lingered around Wrigley Field, hoping to score some tickets to the Cubs game, but to no avail. So we settled for watching the game at Sluggers (a bar across the street that has batting cages!). Cubs almost blew it, but they ended up flying the big W flag after 2 extra innings.

Last night we met some people to celebrate Blair's friends birthday. We met some really wonderful people and ate the best grilled corn and chicken ever. Hats off to the chef- Jason (Blair's brother).

We're enjoying our last day in Chicago and prepare for much camping and driving as we head to Oregon!

Nan

Heading North

Hello, all!

We had a great time in St. Louis. We were there visiting the newly engaged Kate and Adam. Our time in there went by in a blink. We were only there for 3 days and had so much on our plates to do. Jess and Lisa met us in St. Louis so the six of us could hand out. Which was an awful lot of fun because we were all staying in Kate and Adam's very "cozy" one bedroom apartment. Originally we had planned on meeting Jonathan and Meghan too, but schedules didn't work out and we missed them by a few hours. Which is probably for the better, since the only available sleeping space in the whole apartment was in the bathroom.

We did a lot of walking around St. Louis and saw the arch (of course!) which is always a magnificent sight. But by far, the best thing we saw was the City Museum (www.citymuseum.org). It is this wonderful hands-on museum in downtown St. Louis where you can touch, climb on, crawl through, slide, and literally get lost in the exhibits. It's really less museum and more huge playground. It was loads of fun.

Other than walking around St. Louis and playing at the City Museum, we spent most of our time hanging out at the apartment with friends we wont get to see for two years. We barbequed, watched movies, and played on Adam's Wii Fit.

Goodbye Kate, Adam, Jess, and Lisa! We'll miss you all!

Chris

Complete

"Medical Complete. A decision has been reached regarding your medical review. Please look for a letter in the mail."

A little ominous, but inspiring nonetheless. Our medical paperwork is complete and now we have to wait for a letter saying that we passed. This is such exciting news! As soon as our letters are in hand, we can call our placement officer to see what she has in store for us!

Nan and I just hit Chicago, so soon I'll put up some photos from our St. Louis visit. We just wanted to update everyone on the exciting news!

Chris

Tulsa Time

I feel like it's been forever since we've had a chance to write on our blog! We have been so busy since we got to Tulsa! I'll do my best to catch everyone up...

We got to Tulsa on Tuesday, June 24th. We spent two full days driving from Florida and we decided on a southern route. We hit Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana on our first day driving. We spent the night camping in a nearly deserted state park in Louisiana... well, we thought it was deserted anyhow. It was actually inhabited by what I can only guess as about 13 bajillion very aggressive mosquitoes. Our tent was about 20 yards off of a swamp.
The next day we cut through Arkansas and Texas and finally made it to Oklahoma. When we arrived we had a very tasty Clendenin/Lenora family dinner with hot wings (thanks Dad!) and home made spring rolls (thanks Nan!).

Mom and Dad also put us to work so we could make a few extra dollars for our trip. So, for the last week and a half we've been weeding gardens, mending fences, cutting down small trees and big bushes, clearing gutters, installing ceiling fans, and much much more. It has left us very tired (see pic of Nan asleep on the deck). Our muscles have been tired and our eyes weary, but we've had the satisfaction of working hard and completing projects.

In the time we've had between projects we've been seeing friends and family. We even had some time to spend a day at an Ultimate tournament. We had a good time playing at Tulsa's annual Summer Solstice tournament. Nan came out to watch as I played with my old frisbee team. We had some rain early in the day but that gave way to los of sunshine and heat. It turned out to be a very beautiful day to be outside.

We also happened to be in town for Kevin's birthday. For those of you who don't know, Kevin turned 22 on June 30th. Happy Birthday, Kev! The Currys took us to a fancy dinner at Bone Fish for his birthday. Bob, Sheri, Carder (the Curry's summer house guest), Kevin, Lizzy (Kevin's girlfriend), Nan and myself all had a great time.

On Tuesday, Nan and I hopped in the car and headed to Kansas for a night to spend time with Nan's grandmother. She showed us Wichita in a whirlwind of family visits. We were there for a mere 19 hours but packed in enough family visits for a week. It was great to spend a little time with both of Nan's grandparents and various other family members. Thanks for all the great food and conversation! Then we were back in the car again headed back for to Tulsa.

Tonight we're headed to a Driller's game. They are having their 4th of July fireworks show after the game tonight. Tomorrow night we will be celebrating Poppy's (my Grandpa Lenora) birthday and having a cookout. We haven't heard anything new from the Peace Corps and are getting a little anxious. But I'm sure we'll be okay. On Saturday we'll leave Tulsa, bound for St. Louis to see Adam and Kate. Congratulations to those two, they just got engaged!

Goodbye for now,

Chris

Last night in Florida...

Hi all,

We just finished packing the car. This is our last night in Florida. Tomorrow we leave for a two day drive home to Tulsa. We're planning on camping in northern Louisiana tomorrow night and finishing up the drive on Tuesday. We're both really excited to get back to Tulsa to see friends and family. I realize we just saw everyone in February, but it's always nice to come back home.

This last week was very eventful for us. Nan's parents, Bob and Sheri, came with us when we took the girls to the beach for a day. We all swam, and rode knee boards in the waves. We even saw a few dolphins jumping and playing off the coast. And Parker had a very near miss with some stingrays (there were about 2 feet from her!). It was a very full day with some mild sun burns and tuckered out little girls.
We also went blueberry picking again, because, let's face it, you can never have enough fresh blueberries. Our blueberry trip last week yielded around nine pounds of blueberries. This week we went all out, and between Nan and myself, Bob, Sheri, and Hayley and Parker, we walked out with a whopping 16 pounds of blueberries. And needless to say, we've been eating them on and in everything from blueberry cobbler and blueberry muffins, to blueberry soda (good recipe find Michelle and PJ!). By the way, all the photos seen on this blog entry are courtesy of Sheri Curry. It turns out, Nan and I have been really bad about remembering to bring our camera with us recently. We completely forgot to bring it with us to Delaney's first birthday this last weekend. Kara took some great pictures though and as soon as we can get some from her we'll post them here. Kara's parents were nice enough to invite everyone over to their house in Jacksonville for Delaney's birthday. It was loads of fun. We swam and ate and did some arts and crafts. Kara had a wonderful idea to have everyone at the party design a birthday card for Delaney for the next 16 years. We each drew a number out of a hat and had to design the card for her when she turns that age. Dustin and Kara will keep track of them for the next 15 years. I drew her 5th birthday and designed a card that looked very much like a 5 year old made it... Nan made a very cute card for her 11th birthday. What a great idea!

I think that's all we have to report for now. We're going to miss the time we've spent in Florida, but are very much looking forward to getting on with our trip. Tulsa is next! Get ready for us!

Oh, and a quick Peace Corps update. Nan got all of her requested blood tests done and sent in. Hopefully we'll have new info later this week. Keep us in your thoughts! We have high hopes for a September leave date!

Chris

Week in Florida

It has been a great first week in Florida. Chris and I have enjoyed every minute with our nieces, Parker and Haley (Nan's side). They have been teaching us some ballet moves (which Chris has quite the knack for), and no day is complete without a dance party in the living room! Tonight they decided to get all dressed up and do an impromptu photo shoot before dinner (pics to right).



We had an opportunity to see Kara, Dustin, and Delaney (Chris's brother and family) this past weekend, which was a blast. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera. We'll have to get pictures next weekend when we return for Delaney's first birthday! Convenient for us, two of our siblings, Chris's brother and Nan's sister, live within an hour of each other. Anytime we come to FL, we always get a healthy dose of family. What's better than that?

Speaking of family... Happy Father's Day to any dad's checking our blog! We had a fantastic Father's Day celebration today complete with 2 dads (Nan's brother-in-law, P.J. and Nan's Dad, Bob), 5 hamburgers, 4 hot dogs, 5 new neckties for Bob, and 10 pints of Blue Bell ice cream (that we barely dented, even with 8 people!). We had an ice cream tasting contest for dessert this evening in which we all attempted to correctly identify 10 Blue Bell flavors.

A quick Peace Corps update. Nan received a FedEx packet from Peace Corps requesting more lab work and more medical information. She'll have a few appointments this week, and hopefully get all requested information back to Peace Corps as soon as possible. We're still crossing our fingers for a September placement, and working on going with the flow.

Thanks for reading our latest blog entry. More updates on our road trip and Peace Corps developments soon!

June 9 is here...

...and we have no new information. Ahhh... the red tape of Peace Corps is becoming very familiar to us. Our files are still making their way through the medical clearance, which may take a few more weeks. So, we wait patiently. In the meantime, we have made our way to Florida. We have been hanging out at the lake, eating camp food, and picking blueberries. Not a bad life. :) Chris left this morning on a trip with Montgomery campers. They'll be hiking and caving for the next few days. Chris is tagging along as the first aid guru with his Wilderness First Responder.

Baltimore Photos

Hey all, we just wanted to put up some photos real quick from our time in Baltimore.

This is Nan driving, somewhere in Virginia I think.

We got to Baltimore a little late and missed the first inning on the Orioles beating the Red Sox. Go Os!This is me, Nan and Charles at the Capital Building in DC.

Me and Nan walking by the reflecting pool in between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

Charles and Cathy
Thanks so much for letting us stay with you and showing us such a good time!

Baltimore

We left Brevard on Monday, and made it to Baltimore just in time to watch the Orioles beat the Red Sox at Camden Yards (what a game!). Charles was an excellent tour guide in Washington D.C. as we racked up miles and miles on some sore legs yesterday. Per mom's prompting, we picked up Reader Identification Cards for the Library of Congress! More to come and hopefully a few pictures as we add a new post later this week. In the meantime, our fingers are crossed while we wait to hear from our placement officer before June 9! -Nan

Last Day at Wellspring

While Chris is back home putting every last thing into our storage unit, I am finishing up an 8 day academic learning expedition just outside Atlanta with 15 students from Wellspring Academy. (Wellspring is the camp and boarding school where Chris and I have spent the last year.) It has been a hectic and fun 7 days filled with a scavenger hunt at the zoo, Memorial Day at Kennesaw Battlefield with a very loud cannon demonstration, and four days of service projects. I'm headed back to Brevard tomorrow to meet up with Chris so we can begin our roadtrip by heading to Baltimore. See you Sunday Charles and Cathy! -Nan

Med Paperwork Done!

Things are starting to happen!

Our medical paperwork is finally done and turned in. We are now waiting for the Peace Corps medical professionals to go over our paperwork and deem us safe to serve. June 9th is the cut-off date for the program we were approved for in the Pacific Islands, so we are anxiously waiting to here back from them. We have the name and number of a person we can hassle to speed things up, but we're not allowed to call them until May 26th. So that is where we stand with Peace Corps right now and we're feeling very positive about making our June 9th deadline.

What's next, you ask? Well, we are moving! Well, not so much moving as becoming homeless. Nan and I are giving up the confines of the walls in which we live for a life on the road! Our lease is up May 31st and we decided it didn't make much since to move in to a whole new home for the few months before we leave sooooooo.... We're hitting up various family members and friends for their comfortable couch space, or not-so-comfortable floor space on our loopy treck from the mountains of Western North Carolina to the moist atmosphere of Portland, Oregon. We leave June 1st for Baltimore, MD (We're heading NORTH!) to spend a few days with Charles and Cathy. Charles was just awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in Lithuania. Cathy has also applied for one and they are waiting to hear if she got hers. They will be leaving for Lithuania in August. Congratulations, you two! Then we head to Florida (SOUTH!) to see Dustin, Kara, and Delaney (Delaney turns one year old while we're there!) and Michelle, PJ, Haley and Parker. Michelle and PJ are getting their summer camp season started and Nan and I have been awarded the pleasure of watching two of the cutest little girls in the whole world for a couple weeks while their mom and dad are crazy busy. While we're there, I'll be heading on one of the camp's adventure trips back up to Tennessee (Chris heads back NORTH!) for a few days. When our time in Florida comes to a close, we will drive to Tulsa (We're going WEST!) to spend some time. This is where plans and schedules become a little fuzzy. Since we're not sure exactly when we will leave, we may have an awful lot of time to spend on our drive to Portland, or we may have to rush out there. If there is time we'll head to St. Louis (NORTH!) and Chicago (NORTH again!) and then to Oregon (WEST!).

That is the plan as of right now. If June 9th rolls around and we're still not cleared, things will change drastically. Right now, though, we are counting on leaving. Our house is all packed up in boxes. We've had our yard sale. The Goodwill trailer has had many many generous donations. We are now living in our "Peace Corps Clothes" (About 10 shirts a piece, some pants and shorts and swimsuits, a couple pairs of shoes and lots of sandals). And our kitchen contains two glasses, two plates, two bowls, a pot, and a lot of pasta.

Everyone keep in mind that our mailing address will change on May 31st and I don't totally trust the Brevard Post Office to properly forward our mail. If you need the addresses of our parents' houses, please e-mail us. That will be the best way to get mail to us.

But for now, farewell Brevard, NC! Hello open road!

Chris

Quest for Medical Clearance

As you have probably noticed we haven't been doing such a good job of posting lately. We continue to wade through the Peace Corps medical clearance process. Chris and I both had doctor's appointments and dentist appointments over a month ago. At that time we discovered our dental hygiene is fantastic (all that flossing finally paid off) and that my white blood cell level was low. After several trips to the doctor's office, a month of blood work every other day and a bone marrow biopsy, we have discovered that I have cycling white cells (cyclic neutropenia) that seem to increase and decrease at will, which I have most likely had all my life. On Thursday I was able to get doctor's signatures on all of the forms! So, we're almost set to turn in our medical records and cross our fingers. Our one last task is for Chris to prove that he does not have rheumatoid arthritis. (That's a complicated story.) Red tape has certainly been keeping us busy.

Meanwhile we are in our last month in Brevard, and we're soaking up every minute with our North Carolina friends. We've started packing up some things, and we're having a yard sale next Saturday in hopes of downsizing a bit- feel free to stop by between 8am and 1pm if you're in the area. :) On June 1 we will begin a couple months of traveling around the country until we (hopefully) receive our highly coveted medical clearance and head to the Pacific Islands.

We'll do our best to post more often! Thanks for checking in to see what's new.

-Nan

The First of Many

Welcome! Nan and I decided to start up a blog to keep everyone up to date on what we're up to as we get ready to leave for the Peace Corps. Providing we have internet access in our host country we'll be posting periodic updates on how things are going for us and what our experience is like. From the many books, articles, and blogs we've read, most recruits have at least some internet access during their service, even if it is only once a month.

So where are we right now and what do we know? Well, right after we returned from all the celebrations in Tulsa, we got a call from our PC recruiter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth has been absolutely amazing with answering our barrage of questions and concerns quickly and patiently. Well, Elizabeth called to tell us that they have found a placement that we qualify for and that it leaves months before we were planning to. For those who we hadn't told (of which there are few), we were told we would probably be leaving anywhere between June and November, but it was looking like it would actually be November at the earliest. Evidently it is hard to place a married couple in the same place as our skills are very different and they would have to find a location with two positions open that match both of our skill sets. Anyway, Elizabeth called to tell us that they have found a placement for us that would leave in late July or early August. She said that this was much sooner than she expected. She also asked us to talk it over and get back to her by 5:00PM. It was about 3:30PM when she called. Well, we spoke for about 5 minutes and called her back. The placement is for me to be in Youth Development and Nan to be in the Health Extension. What do those mean? We have no idea. But it sounds great and right up our respective alleys. There also seems to be something a little rushed going on with our placement. From everything that we've read, most recruits don't have any idea what there placement will involve, where they will be, or really anything, when they get there call. They are just called and told that they will receive a nomination for an invitation and they need to start working on their medical tests. But we know what fields we'll be working with and what region we're heading for.

Alright, so, the location. Well, we told almost everyone that we were shooting for Africa... and that was our first choice of locations. With all the work that is needed to be done in Africa, we thought it would be no problem to find us a placement there. So, the Peace Corps has found a place for us in the Pacific Islands. OK, pull out your map. Do you see that vast expanse of ocean spreading from Australia east towards the edge of the map and north towards Asia? Do you see all those little specks spread all over the place? No, somebody didn't sneeze on your map. Those are islands. There are an estimated twenty to thirty thousand islands spread through the Pacific Ocean. Now the great majority of those are uninhabited. But many of them are. And it looks like we'll spend about 2 years and 3 months serving on one of them. Needless to say, we're pretty excited.

Would you like more details? So would we. But that's all we know right now. We have until May to get a barrage of medical tests done to see if we are medically fit to serve in the Peace Corps. There are some very invasive physicals to be had, psychiatric evaluations to be passed, dental work to be done, eye tests, hearing tests, and follow ups on past medical complications. We're currently wading through paperwork and medical tests and plan to be done by the end of March. Once that is all finished, they will tell us if we're fit and then give us a departure date.

So, for right now, we are in our house in Brevard, NC until May 31st, when we will put all of our belongings in storage for two years. Our last day of work at the school is June 6th, so we'll be living on the couches of friends for those remaining days and then we'll hit the road and start over-staying our welcome with various friends and family members until we leave.

Please check back here and we'll keep you up to date. Eventually we will have a mailing address that we can receive letters and packages and that will be posted here. Thanks everyone for your support!


Chris


PS We will only be receiving mail at our current address until May 31st and then you can use our parents' addresses. Also, Nan's cell phone will only be active until the end of March. After that, we will be sharing my phone. E-mail us if you need that number. Bye all!