A day or two after we arrived back in California, we received a letter that stunned us into laughter and happiness. It heralded from Blarney, and thanked us for our honesty in sending them a check to reimburse the tab we forgot to pay at Christy’s Pub. I had used Matt’s parents California address as a return address, wanting to look more like visitors to the country than forgetful natives (Dublin address) merely there on an interview. Fortunately for us, that’s way we knew that they did indeed receive our tardy payment. I should have enclosed a convention badge :)

We attended the Zealous Proclaimers Convention this past weekend in San Francisco, with Matt’s Parents congregation, and to my surprise, my hometown congregation of south Placerville. It was really nice to see so many faces (and those faces children, which make Matt and I feel older than we are used to feeling) from so long ago, but shocking to find that most of them (many whom I hadn’t talked to since our wedding, nearly 4 years past) knew exactly what we had been doing, and where, namely Ireland. Such is the nature of travel, people talk :) Last weekend, we had the enjoyable opportunity to spend a few days in Santa Cruz with two of our cloese friends, and 6 of their closes buddies at a house sitting local, where we got used to the sun and wide selection of Micro-brews again :)

Matt has received encouraging replies to his plethora of job inquiries, and as for myself, I find out tomorrow if I have landed another restaurateur position. One job in particular that has Matt’s hopes up is located in the charmingly scenic (and happily unburned) Glenwood Springs, Colorado, a half hour from the town he used to call home in that State. Actually, I should rephrase that, as there are really two jobs there. One is working as the head techie for the same company, Aspen Ski Co., that he once operated ski lifts for, the other being a Network Engineer (NOC Monkey, as he affectionately calls it) at an undisclosed company. We’ll let you know how that goes.

We are extremely thankful to be in the situation that we are, having a cheap roof overhead, a full refrigerator and complimentary kitchen to cook in, and a vehicle at our disposal. Both of us are anxious to find out (as though someone other than ourselves will make the choice for us, and maybe He will) where we are slated to end up next. When we do, the saga continues…..