Moving on...

The time has come.

And, honestly... at first I was unsure if I was ready for it. But today, I found out that I am.

In case you didn't know, my blog will be "moving" back to Texas and hopefully I will remember to update you all frequently on how the process is going. To help this all go more smoothly, my parents were nice enough to take time out of their busy schedule & volunteered (read: felt obligated to after much begging and pleading) to drive the moving truck back to The Great State.

God bless them!

Without even knowing it, they have single-handedly saved me THOUSANDS of dollars (because we know that moving across the country is NOT cheap), helped me survive my last few weeks here, and kept me focused on getting closer to finishing the dissertation.

Once again, God bless them!

Of course, their time here does not come without many distractions. We started off this adventure by spending a couple of days in Washington D.C. where I was able to show my parents a few of the outdoor monuments (Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, The Mall, The White House) and a couple of the Smithsonian Museums (American History & Natural History). The time FLEW by WAY too fast, and ended on somewhat of a sour note because I managed to catch a cold and be ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE for the next couple of days.

Thanks to that, we came back to PA a little quicker than I originally anticipated, but probably just in time too.

I have tried to make this a vacation for my parents as much as I can while trying to continue working on my dissertation & packing up my apartment. So, we've worked in driving tours of campus (complete with visits to the Joe Pa statue & Nittany Lion Shrine), a movie day (where I survived my parents watching The Hangover- whew!), a day trip to Gettysburg & Hershey, tea with my "dissertation buddy" Elizabeth, and one last Wing Night at Otto's where they got to meet some of my Kimball buddies. :)

Today is the big "packing up the truck!" day and of course, that is followed by cleaning. Whew! I don't think I can handle anymore excitement! (lol) If you are inclined, keep us in your prayers as we start the next big adventure and... stay posted for more of our adventures as we travel down the road and you might have to "follow" via twitter if you want more frequent, shorter updates as we travel!