Hello, West Coast!

Yesterday I arrived in California! It is wonderful to be here in sunny CA, spending time with some family I don't often get to see :) My trip out went well...I left New Holland at 3:30am and flew out of Philly at 6:20am. I had a layover in Minneapolis but no plane change, so that eliminated any potential stress. I arrived in Orange County just before 11am, with my flight arriving almost 1/2 hour early...I guess we had the wind on our side! I had pleasant flights, enjoying my window seat (with the seat beside me empty on both flights) and my time spent in and out of sleep and gazing out the window. I also did a little reading. I began reading Francis Chan's Crazy Love. I quite enjoyed reading the first chapter while also experiencing an amazing birds-eye-view of the Lord's beautiful and vast creation! If you've read Crazy Love, you might see how this was more than appropriate. While I wasn't able to view the videos that compliment the reading, I had my own live footage!!! I felt so lucky!

I am currently in Irvine with my sister, aunt and uncle. This weekend more of the family will join us for a mini family reunion! Later next week my grandma and I will head back to her house in Reedley where I will live with her for the next several weeks. It is neat to be able to have the opportunity to spend an exteneded amount of time with her, and am glad that I can do it in this time of limbo and transition in my life. While I feel it will also be a great opportunity to experience a chance of pace as I mentally and spiritually prepare for Colombia, my physical location also presents challenges as I work through technical and legal details and paperwork. I will have just one week back in PA in early July before leaving for Puerto Rico and then heading on to Colombia soon after!

Side Note: Just before leaving for CA I recieved notice that my facebook account has been disabled and I proceded to follow facebook's procedure for getting help with my account. They finally responded back that my account has been compromised by cybercriminals attempting to impersonate me. I was also informed that these criminals often will try to trick your friends into sending them money by claiming that you are stuck in a far away location and in need of assistance (It really isn't funny, but I had to laugh because just before my account closed on me, I was sending information out to friends about my trip to Colombia and how to support me). It is possible that my email account was compromised as well. Anyway, I hope to have this sorted out soon, although as fraustrating as it is, maybe I need this lesson in learning to become less internet and facebook dependent! Please let me know though if you recieve any stange e-mails that claim to be coming from my account.