Birthday

My birthday was on Friday this year - Friday the 13th that is.  Since it's a rare occasion, I couldn't let it go by so I threw a big party.  I had a number of friends who helped and it was a great time.  Cleared the furniture out, hired a band, a friend dj'd, and lots of friends came to hang out.

Christmas

It was a bit of a different Christmas for me. My parents went to Hannah's in Tennessee, so I spent Christmas with Sharon & David at their house.  JT was excited to have Diesel stay at his house.  We spent 3 days there and their little dog Nacho was Diesel's shadow.  D adjusted after a day. 
Christmas Eve my roommate and I met up to go to the Chiefs game against the Raiders.  Unfortunately the Chiefs lost, but it was a good game. 

I had a lot of fun spending time with JT and Sam.  I've said it a lot but I love my nephews!

JT loved the "hamster ball" he got from Grandma & Grandpa.

I am very blessed by my family.  I got to spend a day with my parents when they came back.  And I got to spend an afternoon snuggling with my best friend's baby boy.  It was a good trip home.  I've spent the rest of my week off working on house projects & deep cleaning.  I realize I was so busy this fall that I have tried to squeeze 4 months of maintenance into 5 days.  I'm exhausted and almost ready to go back to work.  I was so blessed to spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with many friends. 

May you be blessed in 2012!



End of semester

There hasn't been that much to blog about recently.  I've been busy with finishing up the semester.  Project, paper, tests.  Fun stuff, but I completed my first semester in the masters of public administration program.  We'll see how successfully when grades come out.  But I enjoyed learning new things and got to know some interesting classmates.  Looking forward to what next semester holds.

I enjoyed my first weekend without homework hanging over my head.  There is about a month between semesters.  One thing I did this weekend was attend the Delano Chamber Orchestra's Christmas concert.  A friend plays flute & piccolo in it.  It was very enjoyable.

Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone. We were all home for Thanksgiving this year.  7 adults, 4 kids, and 2 dogs made it a little chaotic at my parents' house but it was lots of fun.  I got a lot of time with my nephews - always a good thing.  We had family pictures taken on Friday morning.  It was windy & cold but I am looking forward to seeing the proofs. 
Nothing terribly much to report other than good family time.  I am thoroughly in love with these 4 little boys.

Peru

It has been awhile since I posted.  October was very busy and it culminated in a mission trip to Peru.  I was honored to be a part of a conference on international finance and economics at San Marcos University - the most left-leaning, socialist, communist university in all of Peru.  It was as very different mission trip than I have been on before but we definitely saw God move.  Americans are not usually allowed to speak at San Marcos.  We had an all day conference with 200 students.  Six of us spoke at it and we also spent time interacting with the students on breaks.  As we spoke, we explained our views by speaking our of Christian faith and using bible verses.  I spoke on Working in a Global Marketplace. At the end, a student leader I had particularly connected with spontaneously shared her testimony with the entire conference.  My teared up as she was sharing knowing how bold she was being. She thanked me afterwards for as we shared that day she realized that her belief in God and what she was studying were not mutually exclusion but could go together and it gave her the boldness to share.

We were able to spend the rest of the trip learning more about Peru and it's culture. That Wednesday we flew from Lima to Cusco in the Andes.  We had a city tour of the cathedral and an Incan temple that the Spanish turned into a Catholic church.  As well as a bus tour into nearby Saqsaywaman archelogocial park to see three Incan ruins.

Thursday we took a tour of The Sacred Valley.  We got to go to three Incan ruins and did a lot of hiking and stairs.  There were amazing views.  The Andes are different than any other mountains I have ever seen - very sheer.

The last day we took the train from Cusco to Machu Picchu.  It was incredible.  Never even imagined I would visit there.  It hard to capture how tall and sheer the mountains are where it is situated.  It was an amazing trip and a wonderful team to share it with!



Sad news

I went to Chicago for the Society of Women Engineers National Conference. It was a good trip though tiring.  I also got to go out to Oak Park to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio as well as do a walking tour of the neighborhood and see a number of houses he had a hand in.

The weekend ended with very sad news however.  Grandma Ledford passed away unexpectedly Sunday morning.  I am so thankful Mom and I got to visit her in August.  She is much loved and missed.  It is hard to believe she is gone. 

Triathlon

I competed in my first triathlon on Sunday.  I finished and wasn't last! That was my goal.  The swim didn't go as planned but I completed it and moved on.  It was a sprint distance triathlon so 500 yard swim, 13.5 mile bike, and 3.4 mile run.  I finished in 2:08:52 and was happy to accomplish it.  I've been training towards this since last December when I started the Couch to 5k running program.  I did it with 4 other friends.  This triathlon was in Heber Springs, Arkansas. 

The day before the triathlon we went hiking at Mt. Nebo near Russellville, Arkansas.  It was a beautiful day.  We took the 3.5 mile loop Rim Trail for some great views.