The last time I posted a blog was in 2008.  Five years ago.  Wow!  Now, I expect my students to blog their journals for me, so in the interest of "practicing what I preach" I am going to blog again.  We'll see how long my resolve lasts.

I'm still teaching English - and loving it.

I'm still paddling OC - and loving it.  I am training at a more competitive level than I was in 2008.

I'm now running - and loving is such a strong word, but I like it... sometimes.  It has opened up a whole new world of sport for me, including triathlon.

I was on my first Outreach Trip - and the last minute, with passport mentioned in a blog - to Ukraine in March 2008.  I travelled on a week's notice.  Crazy.  That trip was to Kiev.  Since then, I have returned on another Outreach Trip in 2011, this time to the Crimea.  Outreach 2012 and 2013 found me in Guatemala.  Both Guatemala trips were amazing and memorable.  2012 was the year the team was sick a lot.  2013 was the year all our luggage was stolen shortly after we arrived.  I am returning in March 2014.  I wonder what adventure awaits us this school year?!  It will be another amazing time of connecting with friends and acquaintances in Yepocapa.

After 23 years post-bone-marrow transplant, I found out just over a year ago that I have chronic graft vs. host disease in my left eye.  In layman's terms, the stem cells do not reproduce in that eye and I have a scar right down the middle of my left cornea.  Contact lenses have become the long term solution - and ironically, I can see better than ever with my right eye!  As of Spting 2013, however, I am back on the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic radar and am into a regime of regular visits to a hematologist once again.

Let's see... We now have two German Shepherds, both four and both rescued.  Darby is our male - a big, friendly, furry beast.  Myia is our female, smaller, shorter hair and tons of personality.  Freckle the Cat keeps them both in check.

So... a new entry is now complete.  Who knows when the next will happen?!