Hands up!!

I'm about three weeks away from getting on a plane bound for Mongolia and am feeling very much like I'm on a roller coaster that's about to get really exciting and scary!

My last day of work was this past Tuesday, Jan. 31st! I had been at GDWCAR for 4.5 years working as the Public and Member Relations/Committee Coordinator and had really enjoyed it.

Here is a picture of the ladies I worked with (Kara, Gretchen and Mary) and I honestly loved working with them - and working with people you love is a huge blessing!  They threw me a little going away party with gifts and homemade foods I feel certain I won't get to eat while I'm in Mongolia. I'll admit, I teared up when I walked out of the building for the last time but knowing why I'm leaving makes it a little easier.

I'm also selling the car I've had for the past five years - something else I thought I'd have for at least another five years or so. On my first day of not working, I took it to get detailed and cleaned really well - so of course, this happened within an hour:

Stupid birds.

Along with selling my car, I'm finishing up details like telling my bank that my transactions for the next three years or so will be in Mongolia, cancelling insurance, giving power of attorney, visiting with an accountant about handling my taxes while I'm gone (yup, still paying taxes even though I won't be living here), and more boring stuff like that.

I'm also trying to spend time with friends before I leave which includes a few of my oldest and closest - Libs and Karen. We tried to do a few things that we've always joked about doing, like going to Medieval Times in Dallas...we're nerds.

But watching beautiful men on pretty horses fight and speak with English accents wasn't nerdy at all.

I'm over 80% as far as funds go for the first year and will be pretty close to 100% by the time I leave which blows my mind every time I think about it. Trusting that it would be provided and guess what, it was provided! Awesome. Soon I'll start packing and I think it will really start sinking in that I'm actually moving - right now, it just feels like I'm going on vacation for a few months...

Speaking of roller coasters, here is a quote from Parenthood with Steve Martin (who plays Gil) - I love it:
[Gil has been complaining about his complicated life; Grandma wanders into the room]
Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.