We’ve now been in Rockford for almost two weeks. A lot has happened. I (Shawn) accepted a full-time job, as graphic designer, at Slavic Gospel Association. I’m really looking forward to working there. Along with that decision, many other things have fallen into place. We purchased a new 2005 Mini Cooper S. It was pretty cool how it worked out. I would highly recommend visiting miniusa.com and playing with the "configure your own". Most people do that, either online, or at the dealer, and create a "custom" mini with all the features that they want. You can pick the color, interior, everything. Then you place your order, track the progress through the factory and then you even get details like when your mini is loaded onto the boat, what the boat is named, when/where it comes into port in the States, etc. It’s pretty amazing and unlike any other car company I’ve ever heard of. At any rate, we had configured our Mini, but needing a car asap, couldn’t wait the 6-8 weeks for it to be built and delivered. So, we told the dealer that we were interested in anything he could get. Turns out they had just gotten one in that was going to be a demo car and it was configured exactly like we had wanted. It’s pretty amazing considering that there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of combinations. Everything came together late last week. I got my IL driver’s license, insurance and everything else that was needed and we picked it up on Friday night.

You have to understand that I already love driving. Whenever asked what some of my favorite things are, driving is always one of them. With the Mini, driving isn’t just fun, it’s exciting. Perhaps some of that will wear off, but the car is so unlike anything I’ve ever driven before – Mini refers to driving as "motoring", which is a great description – it’s about how enjoyable a drive can be. And that’s exactly what we were looking for. We likely aren’t going to be able to afford many major (i.e. Europe) trips these next couple years, so we decided to take advantage of the fact that we’re living pretty much smack in the middle of North America and do some driving. I mean motoring. Weekend trips will likely abound these next couple years.

To kick it all off, we leave tomorrow evening for Atlanta, where we’re going to watch Eric dive in the ACC Championship. Then we’ve got a week booked at a resort in Virginia. No beach, but a great place in the hills with a fireplace and horses to ride. We’ll only be about 30 minutes from Charlottesville, where Eric goes to school, so we’re looking forward to getting to spend some time with him, as well as getting to see more of that area.

Upon returning, we’ll be looking for a place to live and looking forward to Isaac coming out to visit and bringing Olemolo (aka Mo, our kitten) to us. We may add an update with some photos during the trip, but otherwise we’ll be back around the 6th of March.

We sure do miss all our family and friends back on the West Coast! Come visit!