What better way to take a break from packing than to share some pictures!  A lot has happened in the last month… The biggest news is that Brandon is finally home!  After nearly a year apart, it’s good to have him back in my life!  FINALLY!!!  I am also happy to report that I am mostly recovered from gum surgery.  It was horrific…  I am so grateful for my mom’s support and care during my recovery!  It was wonderful having help and encouragement and someone to keep on top of my pain medicine and to help calm my tremendous fear of every possible worst case scenario!  Despite the misery of getting a gingival graft (I will spare you all the details… that is unless you really want to hear how it all went down… it is kind of fascinating!), so despite the misery, I had a lot of fun with my mom!  The hardest part was trying not to smile.  And my mom had to learn the unique Emilycan’treallyspeak language.  I don’t know who had the worse end of the deal that week – me or my mom.  Thanks for putting up with me Momma!!

And here is a picture of me, all hopped up on pain medicine.

The details of this particular scenario are a little foggy to me, but I am sure Brandon can better recount the story.  Ice packs I can understand.  But moustaches?  on either of us?  What??

So after I recovered, Brandon came home to a mostly mended me!  We’ve been busy getting ready to marry each other!!!  YAY!!!  But seriously, who knew wedding planning would be so much work!?  Who knew!!!?  I guess I did.  Ha.  Anyhow, it has been a busy week and a half.

At this point packing is well underway.  I am having some issues parting with clothing, but hopefully I can figure out how to pare things down.  Alie won’t part with a single toy, I can tell you that much.  And she doesn’t even get a special shipping allowance!

In other news, Brandon and I went on a hot air balloon ride in Newberg, courtesy of his very thoughtful parents!  It was so beautiful!  Neither of us had ever been on a hot air balloon before, and I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun and the views were gorgeous!  It was well worth waking up at 3:30am!  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

So anyhow, it’s been a busy month!  At least everything is back on track.  I had better get back to work now…  Hopefully there will be time to post more pictures later…

I am ready to come home now.  MLE!  Alie.  Sellwood.  Wheels are only spinning at this point.  We’ve much before us.  Hungry to begin.

I haven’t even been home a month yet. This is a picture from my scenic tour with Meredith. A benevolent-looking cow-beast.

Nothing like being a box in the corner. Back to the old, better-than-nothing routine!

Alie missed us

Brandon’s dad sent us this picture of Alie while I was still in Cairo. I think she is still harboring a bit of resentment. I never knew until now that it was her lifelong dream to ride a camel at Giza. I keep telling her that Marti didn’t get to ride the camel either, but it’s no use. At least she finally seems happy I’m home now, and thank goodness, because I would otherwise be pretty lonely. Too bad she doesn’t cook for me.