See you in two years!

We had our farewell party this past Friday night at Mike's parents' house in Kansas City. It was really nice to see many friends and family together for the last time before we depart for our staging. Amazingly, the turbulent weather we've been experiencing in Kansas of late took a breather, and we had a beautiful night to enjoy with everyone.

Mike and I have frantically been trying to tie up all our loose ends. Hopefully we've gotten all the addresses changed, the finances in order, and the supplies we will need for our two year journey. I still have a to do list that makes me very nervous, but I'm confident we'll get everything together in time.

On Tuesday (Mike's 28th birthday) we'll be flying from Kansas City to Atlanta to start the "staging" process with all the other Peace Corps volunteers going to Mauritania this year (we think it's about 70 or so). Staging will consist of many hours of review of all the Peace Corps rules/procedures as well as a health clinic day where we will have our final medical check-up and get more shots than we've ever had in our life. It's possible we'll have some Internet access at our hotel in Atlanta, so we'll post from there if we have a chance.

On Friday, June 20th, we depart from Atlanta and fly to Dakar, Senegal overnight. From there we will be loaded onto a bus and will travel just across the border to our home for the next three months, Rosso, Mauritania. At this point we will probably not have much time or access to the Internet, so you may have to wait for an update for a while. We'd really appreciate hearing from you by mail though...so keep the letters coming!

Thank you very much to everyone who has been helping and supporting us through this transitory period, especially to our families for all their support. We'll be thinking of you all the time!

P.S. Happy Birthday Annie!