Chocolate Town!!

Chista and I just spent the week with our Mimi and Grandad in Pennsylvania, near the chocolate headquarters of the U.S., Hershey! Besides a fun trip to Chocolate World, all worth it for the free sample you get at the end of the tour, we also visited with some of their friends in their retirement community, some of whom have known us since before we were born; in fact, they saw my Mom grow up in New Town Square, PA! We also played many games of Hand and Foot, a favourite card game with our grandparents. Most fun was the musical evening we attended with about 400 seniors at their community center, which included performances of songs from broadway shows such as Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, Spamalot, Hello Dolly, and Woman of the Year. It was great! I had great chats with my Grandad and I was sad to leave yesterday morning.

Today, Dad and I are spending the day at Princeton, where he is a visiting scholar using their Carl Barth library. Here he is working under a portrait of Betsy Stockton, the first black female missionary. Princeton has a really beautiful campus and I can't help but feel academically inspired! Alas, Ivy League may not be in the cards for me, but I am very much looking forward to starting my Masters in just over a month!

Tomorrow, we're going back to Ocean City, NJ, where Christa is now, and will be joined by the rest of our family (Mom, Charlie, Jen & Nic) for a week of beach and sun and family awesomeness! Let's hope it doesn't rain!

Weekend at Lake Anne

This past weekend we spent up at Dan's cabin near Morin Heights. It was beautiful! The weather didn't cooperate all weekend but gave us a few good moments here and there. We went swimming, played frisbee, played board games, and ate our group body weight equivalent in yummy food. We had a blast with our friends. We're thinking of going back up there in a few weeks for our book club, turning our meeting into a whole weekend of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies fun! Hopefully we won't run into any actual zombies in the woods there.

Charlie and Charles were the first brave ones to jump into the lake.
The rest of us followed, and froze our butts off, a couple hours later.

The girls! Sunday morning was sunny and beautiful so we sat on the dock for a while.

Cheers!

Chab Dai Canada

The Chab Dai Canada logos are official! We need to celebrate the small victories in this new challenge, because setting up a charitable organisation is more difficult than it seems. Our colleague in California who does such a great job at the communications designed these new Chad Dai logos, and Canada is being added to Cambodia and U.S.A.

We're so happy we can stay a part of the Chab Dai team, we really enjoyed working with them and they influenced us a great deal. Although we have no idea where we'll be headed after I finish my Masters, staying in touch with them through our projects here will be a big perk to the job!

Us with the Chab Dai team at Ta Prohm, at the Angkor temples.

So for those of you who are wondering what exactly those projects are, here's a brief list of Chab Dai Canada's goals:

• Research domestic issues of trafficking.
• Raise awareness of issues of sexual exploitation and trafficking, domestically and globally, particularly in the ecumenical community;
• Engage people in taking action;
• Network with NGOs, people, churches, and coalitions already working on these issues;
• Identify and apply for funding for projects in both Cambodia and Canada.

Until next time, keep us in your thoughts and keep in touch!

Back from Winnipeg!

We just spent a great week in Winnipeg with our friends and family! I've never eaten so much in my life! We had good visits and it was so nice to stay with Charlie's parents. We were also there for Dave and Jenn's wedding. Dave and Charlie have known each other their whole lives.

We had a blast at the wedding. Isn't Jen gorgeous?!!

Us with Charlie's family and Char's best friend, Jeremy's family. Lorraine and Louise are two of the infamous 4 L's who have been best friends since high school!

BBQ at John and Charlene's. Their oldest daughter, Danica, here with John, Phil and Lorraine.

I got to spend some time with Kim, my college roommate. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband Alex and their two kids, Sofia and Tegan.

A walk in Assinaboine Park with Mom and Dad Brake.