Updates ... at last

We have more news to update our blog site - we have been busy, but just not telling you all about it! And Chile is now only three weeks away ....


We had an awesome visit with Andy's mum and dad, including an overnight trip to Victoria through the San Juan islands, where we spotted dolphins and killer whales, as well as several nights at the casinos and a great 4th of July night!


Since then, we have been working hard and getting ready for our upcoming trip as well as future plans. Our trip to Chile is just the beginning of the next few months of 'stuff'. At the end of October we are off on a two week road trip/spiritual retreat to New Mexico. More about that in a later blog. And then in January we are meeting up with Andy's parents in Florida....

Of course, we have also been busy with getting more plans afoot for our next trip to Nepal. While we have been planning and building our contacts, we have also been working on increasing awareness in the USA. In November, we are scheduled to present in our town's travelogue series, a presentation we have called "Nepal - from the Himalayas to blind massage, a volunteering adventure". Usually 100-200 people attend these events, and we are excited to get the information out there during the two hour powerpoint and photograph presentation. We hope this will be the first of many. Evan has also written an article that we will be submitting to various publications about our experiences, inlcuding local magazines, and national therapy publications.

We have kept in regular contact with two of the therapists in Nepal, and have been sending monthly packages of English language CDs, including classic books (such as Animal Farm, The Crucible), history (such as Guns, Germs and Steel) and academic books (such as Freud (by request!). And Andy has been developing a series of workshops aimed at the special needs children in the orphanages. Our contact with the Pokhara board of orphanages has been actively involved in helping Andy identifying the education needs of the staff at the various orphanages. Next year, Andy hopes to present these workshops to staff from up to 17 of the local orphanages, including training on sensory integration, behavior modification, handwriting, and motor skill development!

And we got a great write up on our work with Seeing Hands Nepal - check it out at http://www.seeinghands.blogspot.com/

Locally, Andy has started volunteering with the Whatcom Humane Society (the dog side of things, naturally) and Evan has applied to the Whatcom Hospice to volunteer.

As I said, we have been busy ....
.....
"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary" (Aaron Rose)