The Journey Continues

As could be expected, the last several months haven't failed to deliver Erin and I on many adventures. Since Erin's return from Taiwan after winning the Gold with the U.S. Ladies we have found ourselves exploring the rainforest along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and visiting schools along the Rio Sarapaqui; smiling, dancing, and laughing at our cousin John and his beautiful bride, Sam's, wedding in Northern Virginia; scuba diving (often late into the night) along the splendid reefs of Bonaire for Thanksgiving; and galavanting around the island with our dear friend Elizabeth from Atlanta before heading off to Southern California and Santa Fe, New Mexico to spend the Holidays with family and friends in the surf and the snow. In fact, just since we've returned from our Stateside adventure a few weeks ago we've celebrated Erin's birthday (we're not allowed to say which one) and finished a reverse triathalon to help fight cancer.

Life for the two of us seems so good, it strikes us as unfair. As the journey for us continues, and our dreams manifest themselves as our lives, our hearts wrench for those who are suffering because of the earthquake in Haiti. My friend, and NASA 'SpaceCamp for Teachers' roommate, Jeff, lost his wife and 1 year old daughter in a tragic encounter with an elephant in Kenya - and my mother shared the story from the LA Times, unknowing of our relationship, as I enjoyed the inspiring and comforting company of those closest to me. We live our dreams each day, each week, each month, each year - and we promise to keep living them as long as we can - because we know our time is precious. We hope you know that too. We share our stories because sharing our lives, our dreams, is what we enjoy the most.

As we look forward, the journey only gets more exciting. A half-marathon and our first official triathalon will be in Aruba, and here on Curacao, in March. We are hoping to visit Haiti soon to help care for and teach the young children under the protection of Child Hope International. We find out next week which 2010 World Cup tickets we received in the lottery, and will soon buy our plane tickets for this upcoming summer. Last week we accepted, in great anticipation and enthusiasm, job offers to live and teach in the city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It will be hard to say good-bye to the island where we started our married life together, but we could not be more thrilled at the opportunities presented by our move to Taiwan. All we can do is be thankful and full of joy for all that we have had, all that we have, and all that we hope to have in our future. While we strive to make ourselves better, and lift up those around us, we understand how little we can control - and that's ok by us. We're ready for more adventure.

See ya' later Alligator