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| Can a nomad ever be settled? Only time will tell. At this point it hasn't happened and we will tell you why. We started our journey from Nashville, TN on July 5th with a lot of optimism and excitement. We definitely had more bags than when we started our last journey from this airport. These bags only contained the "essentials," since the moving company was due in the next day or so. 
WE ARE STILL WAITING ON THE MOVING COMPANY! What else do we have to say. Luckily we have a dear friend in San Diego, Holli, who has made it her personal mission to fill our social calendar and welcome us to this beautiful place. Our new home is ready for us as you can see in the picture, but we just have nothing to put in it. 
So instead of moving in, we spent last weekend hanging out at the beach with Holli and several of her friends. The first day at Coronado beach was about relaxing and reading some chemistry. The next day we enjoyed some beach volleyball together. After that weekend it was time to get ready for work! So we left our hotel room early to make it for our first day of school! Well, we work at a school, we don't go to school. We still thought it was important to have a picture of the first day though. Unfortunately, we didn't get new outfits and new back packs for this first day. 
We had a great week of work and then to top it off we got some good news on Friday. Our wonderful Kia had arrived. Only 1 day late instead of 2 days like they had told us. For some reason, the Kia Rio doesn't seem to fit in with the Ferraris and a Lamborghini that we have seen. 
So as we continue to wait for our stuff, in our hotel, while working, we are trying to make life as normal and settled as possible. We spent this past weekend having dinner with friends below (Kevin, Allison, and Holli) and then playing speed scrabble at our place. The place was still completely empty, but we had a great time. 
We have been assured that by our next post our stuff should arrive. We will see! | | |
|  Another month has passed and tomorrow we embark on a new journey...........moving to San Diego. But before life there gets away from us, we will do our best to summarize the last 4 weeks!
The month of June held for us many celebrations and lots of fun, all except that case of food poisoning Heather had for a few days. Whew, we're so glad that's over! Unfortunately, it caused a delay in our anniversary celebration. 
We spent a week traveling all over Illinois visiting Heather's family and friends. We had a great visit in Bloomington with the extended family and a great cookout put on by Gary and Judy. We also enjoyed hitting some garage sales with them and even picked up a few deals ourselves. From there it was to Freeport and a delicious home-cooked meal with Grams and lots of laughs. She was in rare form that night telling stories! We spent a day and a half with Heather's dad, Steve. He is 5 months out from having a kidney transplant and doing great. We enjoyed talking, laughing, eating chicken, and watched as Steve swatted a bat with a tennis racket in the kitchen! Seriously, a bat came in the house! No fear animal lovers, it was set free, unharmed!  We also enjoyed attending Melody (Heather's cousin) and Steve's (not Heather's dad! in case you were confused!)wedding. From there we went to Bourbonnais and caught up with friends, Kindra and Nicole. On our way back to Nashville we stayed over night with our good friends Bo and Pei, in Bloominton, IN. They have a new home and are about to have their first baby. As you can see, it was a very busy week, but also very fun! 
 Since then we have spent time with our favorite baby, Elijah. Brent and Marcy have allowed us to care for this precious boy on a few occasions and we've become quite attached. We've also been to church softball games, Sunday School class and the Adkins' farm. We will miss these routine events and the people we share them with. 
 We've enjoyed our time with the Harvey's (Don and Jan). Gary has especially enjoyed his fishing time with Don and is very grateful for rod and reel Don gave him.We were lucky enough to spend one last night with them, celebrating Jan's b-day and eating at a Japanese Steakhouse. It was a lot of fun. They are at the beach now enjoying life, but have promised to come visit us soon.
Finally, we were able to celebrate our anniversary by taking a dinner cruise on the General Jackson, down the Cumberland River. It was a beautiful night. The jury is still out on what the funniest thing was that happened that night...........1. the checkout lady asking the 2 loud-mouthed, abrasive women in front of us if they were with the nun convention? or 2. when the band singing Sweet Home Alabama pointed to the crowd and directed for us to sing out loud, and it was dead silence (we literally heard crickets in the background!)?  Heather's best friend Cathy also celebrated her 30th birthday and today we wrapped it all up with a 4th of July cookout.
As for these last 10 hours in Nashville our plan is.........................to sleep. For all of those who have been pleading with us for the last 2 months, you will be happy to know we are getting cell phones tomorrow! Until then, don't call us, we'll call you!!!!
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| Here we are 3 days into June and so much has happened in this past month. We spent a long weekend in Florida with Gary's brother's family. Our little nephew, Andrew has grown so much since last year. He loves his cars, pushing his truck around the block, hitting golf balls, sliding down his new slide, and so much more. It was so great to share in their life there. Gary's brother and sister-in-law are the cool parents on the block and all the neighborhood kids hang out at there place. Who can blame them when there is a basketball hoop in the driveway and a refrigerator full of drinks and snacks in the garage!  
We shared with them there souvenirs from the trip. Andrew looked great in his Fiji "Bula" shirt. We celebrated Andrew's 2nd birthday with all of the neighborhood kids and family. There was a "crack the safe" treasure hunt and pinata. The theme was "Cars" since he loves it so much. We also celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday. The fantastic mothers that were there included Rosala (Chantal's mom), Judy (Gary's mom), and Lola (motherly to all of us). It was a really nice visit that included playing cars with Andrew, a trip to the aquarium, playing Settler's of Catan, cars with Andrew, shopping for the party, cars with Andrew, and good conversations with family. By the way, we love playing cars with Andrew!  
The following weekend we went back out to California. This visit was all about finding a place to live and Heather a job. She had three interviews for two jobs, took several tests, and was on the go nonstop. Gary was able to meet with his new colleagues and relax in comparison to the last visit. We hopefully found a place to live and should find out more information about that this week. We also got to hang out with our great friends Holli and Riley, and meet some new friends. There are still many details to finalize about our move to California but it is all coming together slowly. We have now been in the midst of a three week stretch without traveling. It is the longest stint of being in one place since we left Australia! Gary has kept busy with some light construction work, a little farming, some fishing, and reading. Heather has been in charge of the shopping and lining of garage sales to stop at. We have really enjoyed hanging out with our friends here. Jan has made it her mission to show Heather how to cook from scratch (homemade pancakes aren't made with Bisquick!) and Don is making Gary a fishing pro. Maybe not a pro, but at least a co-angler. We have had a great time living here and continue to learn so much from them. On Memorial Day, we had a really nice picnic and went swimming with Cathy and Luis for the second straight year. Hopefully we can do it again next year! 
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| We cannot begin to document the many events, emotions, or conversations of these past weeks. It has mostly been chaotic, uncomfortable, and surprising. Luckily there have also been a few moments of fun, peace, and clarity. We have enjoyed settling into our new "home" and are so thankful for Jan and Don's hospitality and generosity. We have also got to spend time with our friends Cathy and Luis, Brent and Marcy (and baby Elijah), and the Adkins clan (Stephanie, Jason, Lydea, Aiden, Carly, and Jeremy). We have even made several walks to the local grocery store using our re-usable green bags, which has made us reminiscient of our days in Australia. The most immediate noteworthy news is that we are moving to San Diego, California in July. Gary has accepted a full-time teaching position with Point Loma Nazarene University www.ptloma.edu. It was not an easy decision by any means. It is a great school, great position, and great location, but several uncertainties. After weeks of talking, praying, and lots of tears (mostly on Heather's part) we came to the conclusion that it was a good decision for us and that we would in fact take this step of faith, unsure of all that lies ahead. So the nomadic journey continues.............at least for a few more months. For these next two months we plan to make a few trips and hang out with our friends in Nashville as much as possible. Come July, we'll pack our bags (again) and move west. Our hope is that by living in such a wonderful place, people may actually come visit us, so just let us know and we'll have a room ready! One of the best things about moving to San Diego: Holli  Everybody needs a friend like Holli and we're so thankful that she is in San Diego and trust that she will help us during this time of transition (no pressure, of course!) www.xanga.com/hollibibler
Our dear friend Riley also lives in CA about 1 hour north. This is also a HUGE perk! http://www.xanga.com/rilescott | | |
| Our first stop was the peaceful and restful sanctuary of the Shiloh Morning Inn. http://www.shilohmorning.com/ We spent one night there a year and a half ago and it seemed like the perfect place to celebrate Heather's birthday. Bob and Linda are wonderful hosts and the food is fantastic. The serenity on the property is amazing and we enjoyed taking walks and lying in a hammock. We also watched several movies and had a fantastic time together. We arrived in Norman,Oklahoma on Thursday afternoon and were able to visit coworkers and old friends right away. Heather visited hospice coworkers and caught up on all that is going on there. Gary was able to visit with his former supervisor and catch up on all the chemistry happenings at OU. We also were able to visit JD that night, a dear friend of Heather’s. We then got settled in at our friend Shawn’s place. He has a new family member named Shiloh, a very energetic and sweet dog. On Friday, Gary had a phone interview for a faculty position and Heather enjoyed lunch with her friend Shae and then hot chocolate with Tava. She had a wonderful time with both of these ladies catching up on life and sharing stories. Saturday we had pizza for lunch with a group of friends from OU. Some of the chemistry folks have finished there Ph D’s since we left (Shawn, David), others are still going strong (Gwen, Rachel, Tami, Alex), and others are the non-chemistry friends that are so great (Bridgette, Thabani, Savannah, Rob, Mirianna, Eric, Isaac). That night we were able to take JD out for Mexican food. We had a great time visiting with him. After dinner we also got to hook up with one of our great friends Savannah. It is always entertaining to hear her stories and we shared about our trip as well. She is graduating soon and so many great things are ahead for her. Sunday we visited our home church, St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is a very special place and we were so glad to visit old friends (Marshal, Linda, Ms. Ruth, Scott, and many others) and to see our precious priests (Luke, Dean Back, Susan, Carol). Holly, a friend of Heather’s from SNU also came to church and we got a snack with her after lunch. She is graduating soon and off to many new adventures. It was really nice to spend time with her. We also were able to visit with another friend (Tracy) of Heather’s from SNU that afternoon and catch up. Sunday night we were able to take Shawn out for dinner and spend more time with him. He is a great friend and it was really nice to hang out together and look at many pictures together from our trip. His hospitality in hosting us was also fantastic. The next morning we headed up north to make a visit to SNU. Gary was able to visit with his former chemistry professors, Drs. Cox and Reinbold. It was really nice to catch up and see the old place of where the studies began. That morning we also hung out with Kyle and Caleigh, members of the YIM team that we hooked up with in Korea. We had a great time hearing about the rest of their summer and how life has been since they got back. We also shared many stories from our trip and we enjoyed lots of laughs together. We then headed east on the highway and stopped in Ft. Smith to visit our friend Brandon. He is a regular stop on our way to Tennessee from OK and will definitely miss those times together. We caught up on life and enjoyed staying the night at his place. Gary and Brandon also got in some needed Playstation time! We were off again the next day and made it in to Nashville by the late afternoon. We got connected with Brent, Marcy, and their beautiful new boy Elijah. It was great to catch up some, have dinner, and visit. We then picked up the good ol’ Kia and dropped off the rental car. We arrived “home” late that night. “Home” is graciously provided by Don and Jan and we are so excited to be here. They are fantastic and we look forward to sharing many moments together. We also arrived to find the mail they had been collecting for us over the last 10 months! 
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