The time is coming.

The airplane isn't very far away.  As I type, we have less than a week left. I am unable to clearly identify my feelings, but here are some of them.

I am sad to leave friends here.  I have met some extraordinary people here, who I will be lifelong friends with. Then there are other people who have meant a lot to me, but realistically, I probably won't see again. 

I am nervous about home leave.  We have 30 days of vacation, which is great, but I keep having these really bad dreams about fighting with family and not having a place to stay. 

I am excited to move to North Carolina.  I have only been thinking of the good things, and haven't even considered that there are any negative possibilities.  I am pretty confident that it is going to be great, except for the dream that we had to move into a converted garage that did not have a working toilet, only a squatter out back.

I am relieved that we are leaving Colombo- as Dengue has hit here really hard.  It has always been a problem, but in the last few weeks, several friends have been affected, and one family had 3 of 5 members of their family in the hospital.  Let's just say, in every single one of our prayers, we pray that we won't get it.  And we start each day with a good dose of deet.

I can't wait to have a car.  Two years of tuk-tuks and taxis have had a lot of benefits, but there are also frustrations. It will be fantastic to have a car, and not have the unorganized chaos that is traffic here.

I am leaving here a different person.  I think mostly for the better.  I was able to do most of what I wanted to do.  I got out of it what I put in, and for that I am completely satisfied.  

Sri Lanka will now be a part of me, and a part of my story.  And for that I am grateful.

Here are a few pictures of our time here.  In no particular order.

Underground. A little boring for you. Memories for me.

The is the view of a skylight from under the ground and on the sidewalk.  Very cool.

We went on a tour of Seattle, called "Seattle Underground".  It was fascinating.  For those of you not aware, Seattle was originally built several feet below what is now there.  The original city was apparently a big mess, and when a fire destroyed most of Seattle, it was rebuilt several feet above the original city.  There are remnants of the prior structures, and today we took a tour of it.

I was ready for anything.

This is the picture where I show off my wristband and my new watch.

 (Thank you Ben for an awesome Valentine's day.)

It also looks like I could be pointing at the guy in the plaid shirt.

Either way, great picture.

This is the place where there have been ghost sightings.  

Paige even downloaded an app that confirmed that.

Nothing Says Valentine's Day Like a Black Mamba.

My mom and dad took us to a reptile zoo today.  It was extremely educational, fascinating, and really smelly.

Ben, Thomas and Jack in front of the Black Mamba.

A two headed turtle.

Jack was so brave and held a snake.

Favorite moment:  My dad asked Jack if he wanted to he wanted to look at the spiders, 

Jack held his hand to his eyes, and said "I can see it from here".  So cute.

This guy was my favorite.  

On his tongue was a worm looking thing, and he used it to lure fish in to eat.  

Amazing.  

Nature astounds me.

What is Valentine's Day without a sweet treat?

Happy Valentine's Day!

The two of us take Seattle.

Have I ever mentioned that my parents are fabulous?  

This weekend my mom (and my sister, Paige) watched the boys so Ben and I could get away for a few days.  It was fabulous, for the most part.  We had a few interesting moments, but overall, our weekend away was perfect.

The bad:

In a period of 24 hours, we were offered weed, watched a drug deal in plain sight, and walked out of a movie because someone thought it was better to watch a chick flick while smoking pot.  (Just so you know-- in the two years we lived in Tijuana, we never saw any drugs in person.)

The good:  

Seattle, you had me at Nordstrom.  Did you know Nordstrom started in Seattle as a shoe store?  There are Nordstrom stores and Nordstrom Rack stores on every corner, and I love it.  

Oh, and it is beautiful here.  I am a huge fan of the greenery and the water everywhere.  

We have a few more days here...any ideas of what we need to see?

Oh, and don't you love Ben's beard?  I think it makes him look AMAZINGLY MANLY.

One day in our exciting life.

Today was another day on home leave, and it was awesome!

First, we woke up around 8:30 (rough, huh?) to find out that my sister had her third baby.  We get to meet the little one in a few weeks! I would also like to point out that I correctly predicted the sex of her child (boy).  Hooray for me.  Winning.

Then I went and got my haircut.  I feel fresh and lovely.

THEN we went to an arcade, and Ben and I WON Deal or No Deal.  Yes, my friends, we won the jackpot of 200 tickets!  I know, you are all impressed.  

Our spoils.  The tickets just kept going and going.

Getting ready to cash in.  We ended up with a sword and an eye patch,
 four ninja toys, two dum-dum suckers,  twelve little frootie candies,
 and a glider with a rotating propeller.  WINNING.

My treat of the day (well one of them).  These are amazing! 

My brother and I went to All-you-can eat sushi.

Oh, and I am pretty sure that Ben has purchased my Valentine's Day gift.  I am going to try to keep it a surprise by not reading the e-mails that I know are there...

And we are going to do it again tomorrow.  

Well actually, tomorrow isn't going to be as great, but you know, I like blogging about the best so that no one knows how boring our life really is.

Home leave. The first half in pictures.

I was sick for a few days, and we didn't get pictures of the boys with their Grandpa Whitaker at the police station and on a fire truck.

--It was awesome.--

We are having a great time on home leave.  We are visiting friends and family, playing, and trying to stay warm.

We are halfway through, and ready for more.