Background

I am told that I should put up some sort of background work...

Here goes... I'm originally born and bred in Louisiana, near New Orleans, raised in Houston, Texas, and currently residing in New Zealand (yes, that is another country! It is down near Australia, but no it is not actually apart of Australia, they are their own country - just in case you weren't sure.)

I went to high school, followed by college (aka. university), and then couldn't settle on a course for a while. I decided to travel and went to Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales for visits. Spent New Years in London. I then made the decision to live outside of my native country for year. To some of my family, I am sure that I seemed to be a wanderer.

I encourage anyone who has the chance or the appreciation to do the same. You realize living somewhere else how others really view your country, you get to live in their culture for a while, and most importantly, you gain a new found appreciation for the country you left. I do miss home.

New Zealand is however a beautiful country. The people are wonderful, laid back, fun. Some things take getting used to - such as practically everything in town closing at 5 or 6 pm every day. It is interesting to note that I have now lived right on a fault line, and now am living very near to a "Mountain" aka Volcano that is rather over due for an eruption. Add in the possibilities of a tsunami and or tornadoes and you have all the natural disaster excitement for anyone.

(Sadly, every time there was a small earthquake while I was living in Wellington, I was either sleeping or in a car at the time and never felt it! But I have lived through a couple of them.)

The most exciting part of my journey here has been to meet and marry the man I have come to love so very much. We are one of those sad cutesy couples that makes everyone else sick. We even meet the mayor once, who upon meeting us said we were either newlyweds or engaged! But it is fun and we enjoy being sickeningly cute. We have fun together.

Our story isn't anything fancy really - We meet at church, started talking. Jon mentioned this 'mountain' that we could go climb and off we went. Our trip was three of us: Jon, Marianne, and myself. We had fun, but poor Marianne had a bit of a fall on the hike and sprained her ankle. (I am pretty sure our Relief Society President still holds that against Jon and I - That we brought her back in less than perfect health.) But our relationship started developing from there. It was all perfect and smooth and seemed like nothing in a way when he proposed. Now, 3 months after the wedding, I wouldn't trade him for anyone or anything.

We are working on getting permits and green cards and visas to get us to the states where we are hoping to set up our home.

I believe that brings us up to date in one quick jaunt, so I suppose this blog can end....

Or I should say, this is just the beginning....