Heading back West...for our last stop before our new home!!!

Hello Everyone!!  Sorry that it has been a little while since we last posted.  On February 16th we left Wausau, Wisconsin, and headed out west to Corvallis, Oregon.  We spent 3 months in Corvallis last year so we knew the grueling 3 day journey that lay ahead of us.   My honey is a machine when it comes to driving...which is very good since I seem to fall asleep just thinking about driving!  This assignment in Oregon will be until the end of April and then we will make an even longer drive to Memphis, TN, where we will begin our lives as non-gypsy city-dwellers!  We are super excited to begin this new chapter and we are really looking forward to living the "settled" life!  Our time as nomads has been amazing and has involved so much learning!  We wouldn't trade this time for anything and we are so grateful for the beautiful places, friends and patients that we have come to know and love.  

Here we are at the beginning of our journey!  We make quite the gypsy pair and I must say we have gotten quite good at moving, packing and driving cross-country as a team (us and Ms. P and Mr. Winston).  I will miss the long talks and sweet time spent together on our road trips, but its not over forever!

Here is Ms. Penelope relaxing in the "big momma" while Winston is in the floor board on a pillow.  They are such amazing travelers but I must say they have it quite good when it comes to road trips.  They get the whole back seat which is folded down and this allows them to have their scratching post, bed, food and water, carrier that they like to sleep in and their littler box!!  Oh and we put a towel on the top of the carrier because P likes to ride up there sometimes!

Here I am allowing my Mr. Winston to break the rule about getting into the front seats!  It only happened once...and he was so happy!

Here we are crossing into Wyoming.  Such amazing landscapes!

My honey can't resist posing with random animals and especially the Sinclair dino!

I took this picture for my mom because we used to read the book "The Wide-mouth Frog" when my cousins would come over and we laughed a lot!!

Entering beautiful Montana!!  We would love to return to Montana on vacation so that we could take in the beauty while not in a car!

These are pictures I took while my honey was driving of the beautiful snow-topped mountains as we made our way west!  God has made such beautiful things!

We spent one night in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, which is a small ski resort town.

We ate Mexican food while stopped and I fell in love with this little donkey in the entrance to the restaurant!

Back on the road again!  No Mr. Winston pictures because, once again, he stayed on his pillow in the floor board!

Yay...Washington!!  This means we are almost to Oregon since the interstate makes us go north and then come down into Oregon instead of going west straight across.

Here is our new home in Corvallis, Oregon.  Its within walking distance of our first home here, but is an apartment this time with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.  It is brand new as we saw them being built when we were in Corvallis the first time.  We feel that it is a cozy home and the kitties like their bedroom and all of the carpet.

This is the view off of our balcony!  There are picnic tables and grills in this courtyard that you can't really see.  You can see how green Oregon is because of the almost constant rain!!  We are very happy here and I am enjoying being in the same place two times...that's something that we haven't experienced in almost two years (except when we've gone home to Alabama)!  It feels good to be in familiar surroundings and to actually have friends here!  

I am continuing to plug away at my school work and that fills up most of my time.  I will be heading to South Africa next month on a mission trip and would love to have your prayers with me.  I will be gone from April 19th to the 29th and will be working at an existing mission base there that works with orphans and those with AIDS.  I'm very excited to be a part of God's work there and would appreciate your prayers regarding the following things:

jet-lag and smooth travel

no migraines

increased energy and strength physically

that the temperature would be perfect and not too hot

One more thing, on the 14th of this month is my honey's and my 3rd wedding anniversary!!!!  Soooo, we are flying to Hawaii on Friday and coming back on Tuesday!  I'm excited and amazed that I could be so blessed in love and that God would give me and my honey such a great love for each other!  We enjoy being a team through this life and as we look at the road ahead we get excited even more!

With much love,

Amanda for the Salmons