The Indulgence

Depending on how frequently you read this blog, you may or may not have noticed that I’ve been gone for the past few weeks.

Wandering through the avenues of St. Paul's historic district where I was staying.

I spent some time in Minnesota helping the Friends of the Orphans Office in St. Paul get the word out to their donors about what is happening with construction of our new home in Nicaragua (FOTO Offices around the US in conjunction with similar offices in Europe fundraise the huge majority of NPH’s income and make it possible for the rest of us to concentrate on our jobs). All the events went well thanks to the hard work of the staff and I had a great time getting to know all of them!

Mt. Rainier from Ft. Lewis, with a lot of zoom!

The presentations continued into Washington State (we always have a great time with some good food and wine!), but the majority of my time was really seeing friends and family in Spokane and Seattle (and the surrounding area).

Pike's Place Market in Seattle

There was a little culture shock (I forgot what it was like to be able to speak my native language to anyone I wanted), I ate everything I wanted (which was quite a bit!), acted like a tourist (a picture of apples? Absolutely!) and saw many many old friends (a thank you to all of them!).

I received a tour of local Catholic churches (since I'll be building one soon) from a friend in Seattle.

Whidbey Island beach and the hill with metal horses just east of the Columbia River.

I drove across the state a couple of times, slept in and only checked my work email a few times! I was very happy to be back, and fortunately also (secretly) hoped that nothing major with the construction project would happen while I was gone.

It's so nice go back home, but it's also nice to realize that you miss work too (especially when it takes complete commitment).

Mt. Rainier from the plane taking me back to Nicaragua.