To Bring You Back Up to Speed...

It's high time I bring everyone up to speed with what has been happening in my life since I left Michigan last month, and boy oh boy, lots has sure happened! Here goes:

Holly and I left Michigan on Friday, the 18th of September, and drove all the Iowa/Nebraska border on the first day. The next day we drove up into South Dakota and made it almost through all of the Badlands when my car, Matilda, started to over heat. So I pulled her over, we got out and opened the hood, and flagged down a nice couple from IN to help us. After they pulled over, the Park Ranger (a real, live Park Ranger!) of Badlands National Park pulled over and radioed for a wrecker to come and tow us to Rapid City, SD. We realized that my radiator had a hole in it and that it would not be good for us to drive to Rapid City - or anywhere, for that matter - that night. So the wrecker came and took us to Rapid City, where we dropped my car off at a garage to be fixed the next day. So Matilda got fixed on Sunday, Holly and I went to Wounded Knee, SD (a place I've wanted to visit since I was in the7th grade), and to Wall Drug, and then headed up into Wyoming and spent the night there. The next day we drove all the way through Montana, which was beautiful. There was snow in the mountains, so we put in a Christmas CD and sang carols. It was great! We spent the night in Montana, and the next day (Tuesday) we drove through northern Idaho and all the way across Washington and into Seattle. Matilda was fine as we drove through the mountains and the pass, but as soon as we got onto I-5 and into 5:00 stop-and-go traffic, it started to over heat again. So we made it to a parking lot on Westlake, where these very friendly Aussies helped us out and told us that the problem was due to the electric fan in my car not working, thus not cooling the engine down when we were driving slowly or stopped at a red light. So that night Holly and I spent the night at the Travelodge downtown. We parked the car in the parking lot behind the building. I got up the next morning, took a shower, and went to the car to grab the belt I forget and realized that my car was gone. GONE. STOLEN. Yeah. I called the police, filed a report, called Emily, and went back to SPU. SPU let me move into my house early considering I didn't have anywhere else to go or any way to get there even if I did have someplace to go. Tami Anderson-Englehorn, who works in Campus Ministries and whom I went to Scotland with, had us spend the night at her home Wednesday night. That was awesome and a huge blessing. My roommates moved in Saturday, which was a good distraction. Holly flew back to MI Saturday evening and classes started last Monday. Last Tuesday I received a call from the Seattle PD saying that my car was found downtown and was impounded. So I went downtown last Wed, got my car out of impound, had it towed to a garage on Queen Anne, and ended up picking it up Friday afternoon. So now I have Matilda back, and she's doing fine!

That was really the nutshell version of my life. It's been crazy and rough. I keep having to deal with the insurance company regarding some of my stuff that was stolen, repair costs, etc. Last week I was on the phone with the Fraud Dept. for 45 minutes. These are things that you just don't think you'll ever have to do, let alone at age 22 and during the first week of classes of Autumn Quarter! My life has calmed down since last week and I am enjoying my classes for the most part. Lots of ED stuff with Women in Christianity thrown in for my minor. I'm my favorite prof's TA this year, and that has been fun so far, too. Life is getting better and things are looking up. All in all, I'll be okay.

Off to the library to find a book to read for fun. I am finishing The Poisonwood Bible tonight and need something else to delve into!