Wow! That was fast!

Redwoods

My cousin Michael, brother Paul, and my 98 yr old grandpa

     

That is the best way to describe the first part of my summer vacation. I literally left Thailand only a few hours after playing the hymn for the highschool graduation. I went to Sacramento and Arcata first to see family. It worked out perfectly that my cousin was coming into town during the same time period. I was able to get a ride back to the Bay Area with him in order to connect with my ride to Santa Cruz county. But before that I retrieved my phone from SFO where it had been lost literally since I arrived in the USA. Apparently I dropped it in my haste to flag down my mom and get in her car. Thank heavens someone turned it in. Before I connected with my SC ride, I was able to meet up with my other cousin who lives in Mountain View. We had a nice time of catching up as well. I love catching up with people who I haven't seen in a while. I hadn't seen cousin number one- Michael since our childhood and cousin number 2 - Amara- since before I left for Thailand.

My Jr VBSers working together as a team

After visiting the family, I headed to Santa Cruz county to visit friends and participate in VBS. I was asked by someone who doesn't know about our VBS why I would work on my vacation. VBS can be explained but its much better if its experienced. Cuz once you experience it, you want to do it again. And this is the adult perspective. The kids say its better than Disneyland. Its a great time to serve, hang out with people, meet new people and learn new stuff about myself. I stayed at two different houses during VBS and the week after VBS. I also accomplished things outside of VBS like clearing my teaching credential for CA. Its my last paperwork step and renewing it after this is much easier. I'm still awaiting final word but my paperwork part is done. It required a lot of proactivity on my part since my school is currently without a credential analyst. But since I don't know what next summer holds and really don't want to postpone yet another year, I made sure all my paperwork was done and turned in this year. I should hear soon though. Now I'm back in Thailand preparing for my next summer adventure, China!

Scouts Team and our helpers Chloe and Bella