Home in a nut shell.

So what have I been up to while in the States these past 2 months… the best way to answer that is well… a lot. I flew back from Kenya end of Feb, then I happened to get stuck in Johannesburg S. Africa for about 10 days (but thats a whole story of its own) and then finally made it back to Atlanta in early March.

First I had Sarah and Luke’s wedding in Atlanta. Amazingly beautiful. Sarah has been one of my best friends since freshman year at tech, i dont know where I would be with out her in my life. And her and Luke, they are so perfect for each other, I was so happy to be able to be part of that union. It was a blast of a reception and basically like a reunion of seeing so many good college friends that I hadn’t seen in years. 

The next day I went early Sunday morning to Savannah to play a bit of St. Patty’s rugby tourney. Again, great times, great reunion.

Then Monday I flew off to New Mexico. Where I rented a car in Albuquerque and drove to Taos, New Mexico where I had a month long internship with Earthships. Earthships is a company that builds completely self sustaining houses from recycled or reused materials. 

There houses are completely off grid, catching there own rain water, filter water for multiple reuses, solar and wind power, passive heat and air-conditioning, green houses for food, temperature, and water re-use, even septic tanks with effluent to tress to deal with sewage. Plus all the houses are designed in there own special way so they look like hobbit holes meet fairy land and everyone of them is special and unique. So my internship was basically free construction labor. I went and did construction all day, every day for about 4 weeks learning some practical masonry skills as well as understanding how these earthships are designed and built. Fascinating stuff. As a bonus all the people I worked with were absolutely incredible. Specifically the other interns, we had a blast together. 

 

Then SUPER bonus was blown away with how cool Taos and the area surrounding the town are. Taos is a small town, but pack full of art, local breweries, music, and outdoor adventures. We were minutes away from rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, natural hot springs, skiing, camping, mountains, the Rio Grand Gorge, dessert and so much of it completely undeveloped. Let’s just say I was in haven. So much so I decided to buy land there and in a few years build my own adventure hostel.

 

From New Mexico I actually went home to Houston. Got to be home for Easter (2 years in a row now!) and I loved dyeing eggs with my Nephew Philip, hanging out with my family and friends drinking daiquiris eating fajitas. Being home in Houston is always great, but the time meant just to relax gets packed pretty quickly between catching up with friends and playing rugby. Got to play in a rugby tourney in Houston and actually won MVP of the tournament before playing a fairly good round of pub golf. 

The following weekend I flew to Atlanta for one of my best friend’s bachelorette party. It was a weekend affair with going out on the town one night, then out camping the next. I also got to speak at the Southwestern Production meeting for GA. Meaning I got to give an encouraging talk to a bunch of people about to head out to sell books this summer. I got to do that again in Waco Texas the following weekend before heading up to Dallas for a rugby round robin. I had a lovely time remembering just how beautiful Texas is in the Spring. We even pulled over on the side of the highway for some wild flower pictures with some of the rugby girls. 

 

That following week was all about my brother Doug and my new sister in-lawMichelle’s wedding. There was much prep work to do, lots of excitement in the air, and had to get everything and everyone to Louisiana.

It was so good to see the extended family and friends. So much crawfish. A great party. My standard plus one and best friend of many years Gabe drove to LA to celebrate with us. I actually got ordained a couple months ago so that I could officiate over the wedding. I have to tell you how much fun it was to chug Jim Bean out of the bottle with my brother- the groom, the bride, my other brother – the best man, and me – the minister of the wedding.

 It was a blast of a wedding, the rain or the flower girl couldn’t stop us. And the reception was a bunch of dancing, eating and drinking, basically what my family does best. Then for the after party we took off to the casinos in Lake Charles. So much fun playing craps with everyone, meeting strangers and then being given beautiful suits and large amounts of playing chips and cigars for free. (ya that’s a fun story, ask if you want the full story)

Then it was back to Atlanta for some meetings at the CDC and hang out time with friends there. Got to go camping in the rain and cold up at Tallulah Gorge, got to play some rugby and say goodbye to some really incredible ppl.

Then it was a simple 2 day trip before I found myself back in Kenya!