it can only get better from here...

...and by here, we mean in Cottonwood, CA, sitting on the side of the road in our broken-down car at 6:45 AM on a Saturday morning.

Yup, the middle of nowhere.  This is where we were!

Ugh.

Yup, not the greatest way to start our trip to Washington.  It was about 12 hours into our drive north and our car suddenly went kaput.  Thankfully we have some amazing friends who live in a town just south of our unplanned stop and they took five hours out of their weekend to rescue us.

By this point, all we could do was wait.

After towing the car to our friend's house, arranging for a mechanic, moving our luggage, renting a car, driving to the rental place, moving all our luggage again, and lots of hugs, we were finally on the road again.

We arrived in Washington nine hours later.  A night at Jamie's parent's house and then over the mountain to Scott's family the next day.

Ahhhh....finally.

Things are looking up.

Early mornings are best spent by the Christmas tree.

It's amazing how a dusting of snow makes anything beautiful.

Graduation Day!

Can you tell we're excited to graduate?!?!

Time to toss your cap in the air and shout for joy - graduation day is here!

Okay, well...no caps or gowns will be present, but there will be lots of celebrating as the Leadership Training School graduates today.  Scott will be one of those graduates, pulling a 90.5% as his final grade (even though he is missing from the school photo above...thus is the life of a staff/student).  Awesome!

We are excited but also feeling the bittersweet emotions of the end of this season.  Having so many nations on campus, so many kids running around, so many languages around the dinner table...these past few months have definitely broke the mold of what 'normal' is here at Tijuana del Mar.

You can join us in the graduation celebration by watching it via live stream today!  Click here at 3:30 PM PST to watch the festivities (technology willing).

But...it only gets more exciting from here!  Tomorrow night we will take off on a 15+ hour road trip to Washington State for three weeks with family and friends over the holidays.  We're driving through the night so Hunter can sleep (and so we don't have to entertain him for so many hours) and are hoping to be somewhere in Oregon by the time he wakes up on Saturday morning.  Pray for clear roads and good weather...and then, once we arrive, lots of snow!