Backyard Adventures

This morning I was reading a blog post by Melina over at www.thewildercoast.com and I found myself slightly whiney.

I want to be able to go climbing on a whim.

Or backpacking.

Or just nature in general.

The kind of outdoors I yearn for is not easy to come by, requiring hours of driving and taking days off from work. 

But nevertheless, I've also come to terms with this fact and make do with the beauty that is Florida. 

Instead of complaining, I need to grab Florida by the horns and give it all I've got because soon, we're leaving. I know part of me is going to miss the massive oak trees with spanish moss dripping from branches, or the way woods meet water and Diego goes crazy with the opportunity to swim. And one day, I might reside in a city and find myself dying for a quick, warm jaunt on a short trail through the scrub pines towards the ocean, like we do at Guana River park.

And I can't even begin to come to terms with leaving this guy behind, even if only for a couple years. But I'm not even going to let my heart go there yet.

Living for today which has brought productivity, new veggie plants purchased for tomorrow's sowing, a brief but lovely jaunt in the woods and now happy hour with other grownups in Jacksonville.

Mini-adventures await; where will you find yours?

a post entirely devoted to food

It's official: I'm a glutton.

I classify myself as a 'foodie.' and I'm pretty sure Mike has said once or twice that 

my favorite hobby is eating. 

There's no denial on my end of these accusations.

It's not the cooking that I enjoy; just the consumption.

Looking for dinner ideas? 

I've eaten kale every day after school for a week using this recipe:

http://www.food.com/recipe/my-favorite-sauteed-kale-364252

 St. Patrick's day isn't proper without corned beef...

yum! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Reuben-Sandwich-II-2/Detail.aspx

And, (drumroll, please...) tonight's meal:

Thai red chicken curry courtesy of Jenna over at www.eatliverun.com. 

Something different, quite delicious.

http://www.eatliverun.com/thai-red-curry-chicken/

a roadtrip, perhaps?

I can't sleep, trapped by my computer and information overload.

After a heart-to-heart with the vet today, it seems that Annie serving as his foster mom is the best bet. Honestly, he would have the time of his life out there on hikes and with her dog friends... the move with us would be too stressful for him. On top of that, we'll have to move in another year, and who knows where that could be. It pains my heart, but Dr. Krista assured me he would not forget who I am after a two-year hiatus.

And now my brain won't stop... I know I can just ship him out there (Delta is nearly $1,000-- eek!) But how amazing would it be to drive him out there? A cross-country roadtrip is certainly on my bucket list... so now we have to make it work.

I wish I knew when so I could start truly planning!

Maybe I should just go to bed and not worry about this now.

i can't get enough of our world

Monastery outside Barcelona

Streets of Toledo

I crave adventure...

It's not that I'm unfulfilled after exploring a place, or unable to be filled with the amazingness of our adventures. It's just that every destination we visit makes me long for the next one. 

And I can't quite pinpoint what it is about experiencing a new cultures that drives us to live the way we do. Perhaps it's the people that we share our lives with when we travel, like the driver in Peru who transported me to and from different locations in the mountains when Annie and I went parasailing. With my limited spanish, we somehow talked about his children and his growing up in a small village. Or the couple in Germany whom we talked to for hours at the Chinese beer garden over a large frosty beverage about the European's general perceptions of Americans and how we should stay away from Oktoberfest. And Rella! Oh how I love Rella, our friend's parents' housekeeper, who grew up in the Philippines and has served in households to put her daughter through college and to give her son a better life.

I. Love. People. 

Peruvian farmers who so generously roasted up some guinea pig for lunch

We don't have money stored up. I drive a car that at any minute threatens explosion or abandonment on the highway. Half my clothes are from Goodwill, and our couch has a distinct funk to it from allowing a lab to burrow into the comfort of its cushions. Most of our travels have involved people who were already there; free housing equals "we'll make it happen" in the Checchia household, because there's half your cost of traveling right there. It's just always worked out somehow.

Singapore

A student said the other day, "Dang, Mrs. Checchia. I want to go to all these places you keep talking about." I share my travels with my kiddos constantly because I hope it will instill in them a tiny seed for big adventures.

It's not Holland without a cheesy windmill shot

That they'll see past the limited confines of their rural, American upbringing.

Sweet baby boy in Thailand

Make it happen. Because taking the time to explore life outside our bubble is worth it. 

My life will never be the same.

Start with a visit to the Checchia household circa summer 2013! Place TBD.

 Belgium

 Italy

Machu Piccu

 I have caught a glimpse into our crazy world, and, God-willing, this is just the beginning.

Dream big and start savin'

meat instead of manna

The other night I stumbled upon the History Channel's "The Bible" series, or as my mom likes to call it, the "Kung-Fu-Bible." Yes, there's a fair share of Hollywood, ninja-violence but hey, the Bible really does has its fair share of appropriate killing off of groups of people partaking in debauchery. Anyways, moving on.

So, we've made it through Noah, Abraham, and are currently working through Moses's life. Dude, Moses was pretty much your Joe-Schmoe kind of guy. When asked to lead God's people out of Egypt he pretty much asked God to pick someone else. And when he succeeded, and the Israelites turned into a gaggle of whiners in the desert, Moses asked God again why the heck he had to babysit a bunch of morons and couldn't he give the task the someone else so he didn't have to do it alone?  

And let's talk about the Israelites themselves for a second... they were incredibly oppressed by the Egyptians for hundreds of years in miserable slavery, crying out for salvation. When God answered their cries, redeeming them and defeating their foes, they were so quick to turn on him because when they lived in Egypt they had access to meat, garlic, and leeks. No joke. They conveniently forgot how oppressive their lives were under Egyptian rule and ended up being pissed off at God for only providing manna every morning. 

I find myself irritated at the Israelites' discomfort, even when food was provided for them daily and they were brought out of slavery. But then I'm also struck by the thought of how I would react in their situations... sure, I'm provided bread every morning but after years of the same thing, I think I would get fussy as well. And forty years? Okay, maybe I would be a little peeved that God wasn't pulling through like He promised. 40 years is a long time to wait for anything... it's been a month since we were supposed to find out where we're being moved, and I'd consider myself perturbed over the situation. 

Anyways, God gifted them with more meat than they could ever hope for, so much so that they were sick of it. And honestly, this happens in my life as well. I beg and crave a particular 'something' that I'm convinced will bring happiness and yet when it arrives, I'm left feeling jaded and used.  

Only God can fill the empty, lonely spaces. In my head, I know this, but sometimes my heart takes longer to catch up. 

I'm pretty sure most of the pictures I post are of clouds. From this exact spot.

 I can't help it-- I'm always stunned by their beauty and the calmness the twilight represents. 

I challenge you to seek out ways to be filled this week in lasting ways, (I don't mean catching up on Downton Abbey, which I may or may not be obsessed with...) Visit your favorite spots (mine's my hammock and Vilano Beach.) Drink wine with your favorite friends (Thursday and Friday? Yes, please.) Read a book. Run. Write happiness into the world. Snuggle with your dog. Eat healthy dinners that you took the time to make. Create something.

These are the things that fill my soul... your turn!

perhaps one day

Cheree and I had a conversation this weekend about these silly forms we filled out when we graduated and stuck in a time capsule. I'm pretty sure when asked ten years ago about where I'd be now, I believe my answer was "I'll be a nurse, married to a doctor, living on a farm with kids running around." I can't help but laugh at my former, somewhat naive self. How completely foreign, this life I dreamed as a child. All it took was one semester of chemistry to know that any job in a medical profession was out, at least back then.

But isn't life sweet? It's never how we intend, because where would the fun be in that? I never planned on teaching, marrying young or even living in Florida for any period of time after college but here we are. And life is sweet, just what the Lord had in mind.

Ten years... how rapidly we sail through time, one event to the next!

And in ten more years? I envision us living in an older house on a sizable chunk of land, with massive trees and a swing that we'll claim is for the kids, (but really is for me.) A huge garden will take up the yard, and it's in this garden that I'll teach science and life skills to my children (whom yes, I'll homeschool or send to a co-op or something like that.) We'll find a way to blend my granola self and my husband's stylish, modern ways into a life that's completely what was meant to be.

Take time to dream today. Where do you see yourself? What do you hope this life will bring?

he has my heart

I fell in love this weekend.

He's perfect--- likes to snuggle, smiles at my jokes, and eat's like a boss. 

I was blessed to spend the weekend with one of my closest/longest friends and her new baby. She let me do everything, essentially alleviating my hesitancies around newborns. Prior to this visit, I'd hold a newborn if you plopped it into my arms on the couch where it would stay until making noise, thus resulting in a freak out "takehimtakehim" moment. 

But now, everything's changed.

Like I said, I'm completely enamored. And not in a "I-need-one" kind of way. In fact, it helped to offset baby aches. Do you have any idea how hard it is to properly grow a baby? E needed to eat, like, every two hours! Feed, change, play, sleep, repeat. It was exhausting, and I'm not even his momma. I did have fun pretending... and one day it'll be right. 

I'm so proud of my sweet friend Cheree, who has taken on her new role with such grace and ease. We talked about everything... and I just love her willingness to share every aspect of her wee one with me! 

We even attempted a park & farmer's market visit. A success, mind you.

Love my friend, Cheree, and always being able to pick up where we left off.

Love her new life.

I also love sleeping and am not ready to give that up. 

still unsure.

Nearly a month ago we believed our next destination to be London; now we are back to square one without a clue of the next phrase, or when that will happen.

(Insert long, dramatic Napoleon Dynamite sigh.)

This is what purgatory might be like, I suppose, where our lives are a game and we are merely pawns waiting for the next move. It's not a bad place to be, but just, unsettling in a way. I'm forced to slow down and take each day one at a time, without stressing about the finality of leaving this house, this town, Diego...

With that said, we hope to find out within this week, seeing as Michael is collaborating with his peers in the program and working closely with the coordinator. I hope I hope I hope.

I'll continue trekking, doing what I can to prepare for the inevitable... sorting through life's souvenirs we've accumulated during this phase, selling what I can, praying like crazy for what's to come.