I've been busy!

Andrew at the recruiting station the day he left me

Andrew and his dad

It was a family affair: his brother Brett and wife Mesia were there, as well as his parents

Us minus Don

USIP's new building (pic I took after a USIP softball game one night)

VB Convocation Center

Aubrey, Steven, me, and Granny at Mariah's HS graduation (6/17/2011)

Granny and my aunt Deneen

So happy!

My sisters and best friends

I love them.

My family <3

Mariah and her boyfriend Steven

So I probably should be blogging more, but I never seem to have the time to do anything FUN these days! Here is a glimpse into my life the past month or so..

At my job (I work for the United States Institute of Peace), I specifically work on a program called the National Peace Essay Contest (learn more at www.usip.org/npec). It is an essay contest for high school students in the US that awards $1,000.00 state scholarships (and 3 national scholarships out of those state winners- $10,000, $5,000, and $2,500 respectively). The students have an essay topic that relates to conflict resolution and peacebuilding-- which just so happened to be the topic of Governance and Corruption for this year. Needless to say, the judging process, and mailing out of materials to these students is a long process. Ever since I started this job, back in February, I have been working on this contest. However, we have moved from the phase of judging and sending out winning materials to preparing for their arrival for the awards week. So, these students who win for their respective states come to DC for a 5 day long Awards Week Program, which was last week. I have been in contact with the students and their parents coordinating this trip. I have made all the packets, collected all the paperwork, helped book travel, and on top of that they visit Capitol Hill while they are here so I arranged Hill appointments. Each student has 3 appointments, and there were 44 students attending this year (some people were not able to come and some states did not have winners because of lack of entries or we didn't chose a winner for lack of poor essay quality). However, since USIP has been going through a number of congressional battles this year, USIP decided to send an additional staffer with each student this year. So that doubled my work (I had to make packets for all the staff and coordinate with them). AH I made about 80 Hill appointments in 2 days and I managed to schedule ALL the appointments.. I couldn't even believe that I was able to do that... I had a panic moment there for a bit. So needless to say my job has been really busy. I actually clocked in 54 hours last week, with taking Friday off!

On top of that, I am also taking 7 credits this summer. Trust me, that is a lot of extra work. I have one online class called Identity and Conflict taught by Korostelina, and an in person class called Religious Response to Genocide taught by Bruce Aft (Tuesday and Thursdays 7:20-10:00 PM). THEN I also had a 2 day class (1 credit course) taught by TechChange called Technology for Peacebuilding. It was a great course. We participated in a few simulations like a mock Afghan election that utilized Frontline SMS and Ushahidi. I learned a lot about these technological tools, and was really impressed by the ease of them. This class just so happened to coincide with the same weekend that the Peace Essay kids were arriving, so I was pretty busy. On top of that, my sisters graduation was on that Friday.. so I had to make a day trip down to Virginia Beach. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I'm so proud of Mariah.

So this week is a week to finish up some homework and relax a bit. Work isn't nearly as busy as it was as last week. I could really use a vacation right now! It's too bad that I have class or else I'd be in Oregon at the Weber family get together.

In addition to all this, I have been religiously writing Andrew daily. Because he is in boot camp for the Marine Corps, he is not allowed to make calls or email..nothing. So the only method of communication we have is letters.. I know, how primitive, right? Haha. Let me just note that ever since he was allowed to send letters (about 1 1/2 weeks into his boot camp) he has written me a letter every single day. He is a great husband! What other husband would do that?

He left on May 31st and he graduates on August 26th... so he is essentially gone for 3 months. It's a long time, but time seems to be flying by. The first week was the hardest. I didn't think it would be hard because I got to use the car and would have the apartment to myself and have freedom to hang out with my friends.. but it was really hard. The moment I saw him pull away in the car I just lost it. And then not receiving a letter from him for a whole week and a half (and not having his address to send him anything), I was panicking. But I finally got a letter and since then things have been better. I cried when I got my first letter from him in the mail cause I was just so emotionally drained from missing him and waiting for a letter from him. I guess I love him, huh?

So I figured I'd share a few thoughts from his letters:

He wakes up every day at 4 AM, goes to bed at 8 PM unless he has Firewatch. He has been running a lot, doing martial arts, did an obstacle course, and an 8 mile hike. He is still in Training Phase I. I think Training Phase II and III are a lot harder. He says he will be spending a lot more time outside during the day (in the HOT SC sun!). He is constantly tired of the younger kids in boot camp with him (he knew this before signing up), and he said he likes his Senior DI... all in all he sounds pretty positive. Never complains, except he says that waking up at 4 AM to yelling is his least favorite part of it all. If you want to write him, please ask me for his address. He LOVES letters!