Mint, Lime and a little bit of Grilled Pineapple

Not too much to report on the FS front...except that we finished filling out our bid list tonight and already sent it in. The Count Down until February 17th begins immediately. Next on my list is looking up the flags of all the countries we might be sent to and then I am dreading looking through all the paperwork they handed me two weeks ago, it seems like the kind of thing that will magically go away if I just ignore it enough, right?

In other news, even though my birthday is tomorrow, we went out to celebrate last night with some friends @ Cuba Libre {take that "To Do" List ~ knocked one off already!} The restaurant is decorated to resemble Old Havana and the chef's culinary inspiration is to imagine how Cuban Food would have developed if the Revolution had never happened ~ needless to say, it was pretty amazing. I even ordered a Mojito instead of my go-to "grown up girl" drink: the Shirley Temple. That's because it was a Grilled Pineapple Mojito made with guarapo {sugar cane juice} and who can say no to that?

Photo Credit: Dane Shelly

And so it begins...

When I decided to sign up for the all day "Spouse Orientation" last week and asked for the day off from work, I didn't really think much of it {ok, I panicked a little bit about "what to wear", i.e. "tried to not look like a chump"} and just went about my normal workweek. Thursday night Michael Ball, Daniel Ball and I spent all evening looking through our official "Bid List" which only listed cities with available posts, not their respective countries. I am ashamed to admit I couldn't pronounce a large number of them, much less fathom an even rough estimate of where in the world they might be. There were a few instances where we looked up a city on Google maps and had to zoom out about ten times to even recognize anything remotely nearby. We stayed up way too late doing this, then got up early on Friday and headed to the Foreign Service Institute.

I felt like I was a Freshman in College again, except that it caught me off-guard. I had to navigate my way around "campus" to find my designated building & then classroom number. We were introduced to various important & useful people, introduced ourselves to other spouses, and were handed more paperwork than I know what to do with. Then lunch time came around and I had to find my way over to the cafeteria to meet up with Michael Ball ~ I can't even remember the last time I ate in a cafeteria, but it was kind of fun.

All that to say, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing. I am also starting to feel like my time in DC {and the US} is limited and have started adding things to my "To Do" List before we leave...and yes, I realize that one of them involves leaving the country. That's how I roll.

• Go to the Textile Museum
• Go camping in Shenandoah with Dane & Val (& the pups, this time prepare better so that the bears don't steal all our food again)
• Go to Risika, Cuba Libre & an assortment of other restaurants
• Go up to Philadelphia & possibly New York City, possibly plan a College Roommate get-together.
• Go back to Chicago at least once
• Go to Costa Rica to visit the parents?
• See the big {fat & naked} man sculpture at the Hirshhorn Museum if he is ever on exhibit again...

If you have any suggestions for other things I should add to my list, feel free to leave a comment...

...in the meantime...

Since I do not yet have anything terribly exciting to relate regarding our life in the Foreign Service, I thought I would share a link to some blogs written either by Foreign Service Officers or their spouses. This is one little gem I stumbled upon, written by a lady whose husband is (was?) posted in Canada, which she describes as "the dullest post in the world": I think she and I are destined to be friends. She's crafty, grew up in Africa and already managed to crack me up. I particularly like her "New Improved Life List" and I might just have to start one of my own...


On it would be things like:


Get better at blogging.
Get better at photography (mostly to make blog more interesting)
Learn how to cook new awesome things (mostly to make blog more interesting)
Try to not look like a chump.

Crossing the Jordan

"Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the jordan. He said to the Israelites, 'In the future when your descendants ask their parents, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. THe LORD your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.

-Joshua  4:20-24

This past Sunday we listened to a sermon at Capitol Hill Baptist Church by Brad Wheeler on the first five chapters in the book of Joshua and I was struck by his challenge to create reminders of God's provision in our lives. Whether that comes in the form of  stones or a journal, it is important to remember how God has been faithful to us, and to acknowledge his powerful hand.


My hope is that this blog will help me remember God's provision for us, his guidance and love, especially as our little family (Michael Ball, Ronaldinho & I) embarks on this new adventure in the Foreign Service.


Thank you for supporting us on this journey.


Stephanie