The end of Project 52

I honestly wondered if this would happen but it has.

Over a year ago (on August 1, 2010) I started a photo project to document a very important year in my life.

The goal was to take a picture each week that summarized my feelings for the week.

It is now completed.

Which is really strange.

This year I started and completed my first year of grad school,

decided on my thesis subject,

got a grant to get my data for my thesis,

excavated in Jordan,

researched for 2 weeks at the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan,

drove all over Italy and Sicily to Roman theaters,

went to England and Wales,

decided to pursue a doctorate...in England,

and basically changed my life.

These are a select few things, and in no way give an accurate picture of this year; more things have happened and there is no way to include them all.

The overarching theme is:

Life is a gift, everything this year has attested to that.

It is a blessing.

For some reason that I cannot comprehend I am on this particular path.

I am so grateful for that.

It has been amazing and I have no doubt whatsoever that it will continue to be that way.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all of these blessings.  

I wish I could tell you all of the miracles that have happened this year.

But it would go on for way to long, so I will resist. 

Suffice it to say, it has been a miraculous year.

Here is some photographic proof: 52 Lights in the Dark.

♥ ♥ ♥

Leaving Italy!

Quick post before take-off!

We are leaving Italy today.

During my week here we have literally driven from one end of "the boot" to the other and back and forth.

Quite amazing. 

Next stop:

GREAT BRITAIN!

Arrivederci!

Day 2 of Italia

It feels like I have been here much longer than 2 days.

Apparently, I've counted a few times that is how long it has been.

Today we drove 9 hours down the Italian coast and along the little "boot" of theirs.

THEN

we took a ferry.

To SICILY.

Sicily is crazy.

The roads are so narrow mopeds have a problem passing each other,

and we are driving a large 9 passenger van,

with people driving at you,

while you are trying to find your hotel in the maze of narrow streets and tall buildings.

Thankfully the Sicilians are nicer than the main-landers.

At least in Taormina (the city where we are staying).

When we couldn't find our hotel, we got some petrol from a man and then his friend led us to it on his little scooter, which really, was the only way we would have found that hotel.

The hotel is a bit...interesting.  

It is absolutely beautiful, and each room is unique in that each is designed after a specific artists work.

Our room was made by someone who is...a little on the creepy...I don't even know how to describe it. 

Anyway...

I watched the lights blink on the coast on our balcony as I wrote in my journal.

We are eating breakfast under the awning in the garden in the morning and then we are heading to at least 2 of the theaters here in Sicily.

Life is crazy busy, but it is definitely amazing.

We have been very blessed.

I am so very grateful.

♥ ♥ ♥

Dip your toes in this!

I would add pictures but the internet is to slow where I am.
They will come later.
So...

Today I went to Italy.

Yes, the country.

Italy is beautiful, the people talk beautifully, and it has been a good, good, good day.

First we left at 1:30 am for the airport.

Had some peanut m&m's with a sandwich and then boarded our flight at 4 am.

Slept A LOT on the flight,

no Dramamine needed on this flight, pure exhaustion did the job.

We arrived in Italy and had a bit of an issue getting out of the airport.  

Literally.

After about 2 hours of gathering luggage, exchanging money, getting the rental car, and finding the rental car...

we headed out for Ostia and the theater there.

It was a beautiful and a very quick drive to Ostia, right outside of Rome.

The survey went quickly, I'm getting a good system worked out.

Then we left for Sperlonga.

An estimated 2 hour drive.

Nope, that did not happen.

It took 2 hours to find the right road to get us out of Ostia.

Then it took another 2 hours to get to Sperlonga.

A total of 4 hours of the most terrifying driving I have ever been witness to.

People who have driven in the Middle East (Dr. F) have certain skills and guts that terrify me.

So, eventually, and after a loss of many fingernails, we made it to Sperlonga a little later than we had initially anticipated.

That is ok, it was worth the wait.

We hiked up to the museum and to the cave where some pretty remarkable massive marble figures were found.
Then we went to our hotel (very nice).

Finally we went to the beach.
The Mediterranean beach to be precise.
And we swam there.
In fact, Kristin and Jess had to drag Holly and I out of the water.
It was so marvelous.

It was a perfect way to end the day.
Then again, things with water usually are the best way to end the day.

Waiting for 1am.

Well I am back at ACOR for a few hours after 2 days in the land of Petra.

It was pretty fantastic really.

The first day there we sat in the back of a truck and drove for almost an hour from Um Sayhoun to Wadi Sabra.

Unfortunately, the truck can't make it all the way there.  

After that long drive along large drop-offs, and sections of road that...don't look like road at all,

we made it to the end of the line.

So we hiked for another hour DOWN into and through the Wadi Sabra

so that we could make it to an unexcavated and quite amazing theater built by the Nabataeans in the Roman period.

By the way, this water theater was fed by a waterfall that was then channeled into cisterns and/or into the orchestra floor.

Awesome huh?

That is why I am writing my thesis about this kind of stuff.

Because it is awesome.

After taking tons of pictures and measurements (it really was an amazing water theater),

we had a spot of lunch.

During which time Kristin saved Holly's life a little bit.

Turns out that Holly had an incredibly small and very POISONOUS black scorpion that was highly attracted to her feet.

Kristin brushed it away from her before it could get her,

and our Bedouin guides threw it in the fire.

It was a bit of a heart stopping moment.

After that I got some final measurements and we were off...at midday.

The hour hike nearly doubled in everything,

time,

heat,

and elevation.

While the hike down was nice, the hike back UP out of the Wadi was rough.

But we made it.

By what I call divine intervention.

It was an unusually cool day for the first of July, which is why we made it back really.  

I don't think we would have otherwise.
The heat made us a bit goofy.

After that theater we went to the theater at Petra, got some stuff, and then headed back to our beds to leave in the morning.

Busy day.

Today we drove the 4.5 hours to Jerash in northern Jordan.

It was MUCH, MUCH hotter today.

I have the sun burns to prove it.

We did the 3 theaters in Jerash, it was beautiful, but by the end we were glad to be done.

Now we are at ACOR trying to get everything re-packed for our flight to ITALY!!!!

There you go.

Good times,

more to come.

I should say how grateful I am for this entire thing.
I am constantly overwhelmed by how great the people are that I am with,
and what an amazing experience this is.

I am learning so much.

I also must say, hiking up and down these theaters for pictures and measurements is giving me some fantastic legs.

Just sayin'.

♥ ♥ ♥

I had a dream...

Actually I had a few weird ones last night but I also had a really, really good one.

You could say it was a productive dream.

I will explain.

Once upon a time in my subconscious sleeping mind,

I had a dream about my thesis.

I was doing my proposal presentation and it was a little different than what I thought it would be.

I would get into the details, but then I would have to explain my whole thesis, and that would take SOOO long.

Needless to say, I was proposing what I've been researching the past few weeks, 

but with a "twist" of sorts.

I woke up with this excitement because it made perfect sense.

Yes, even after I woke up, that is not always the case.

You see, I've been struggling because I've picked a subject that I could do a doctoral dissertation on.

and a few books,

actually I could do 30 years of work on it and still feel like I was scratching the surface.

I am really not up for a thesis that is that long.

So I've been trying to find ways to shorten it.

To no avail.

Until last night...well early this morning.

So, this morning, with a fire in my belly (as well as cornflakes) I am changing tactics.

I have a plan that will reign in all those lovely tangents I love,

and make this project a good thesis,

as opposed to a lifelong pursuit.

I'm feeling pretty dang good about that.

So good in fact that I am quite literally bounding in my chair.

Which has caused some dangerous squeaking.

So I will have to stop.

Good start to the day.

This clarity is perfectly timed really, because my adviser is coming into the country today.

Yep, and now I will have good news and lots of work done!

Yay for blessings!

♥ ♥ ♥

It's all Greek to me - scratch that - it's all looking a bit Roman.

Hello from the land...not down under.

More the land east-north-east.

or Middle East.

I wish I could say the 'Land Down Under'.

It has such an appealing ring to it.

My good friend Laurie, whom I adore, she is awesome...

recently went to the land down under. 

I will go...one day...I hope.

Here at ACOR things are going just dandy.  

Well things weren't going dandy, but now they are. 

:)

If you don't know the story I'm not going to tell it to you.

Suffice it to say that things can get a bit monotonous at a desk for 2 weeks straight.

I'm getting a lot of research done, but I never felt like I was going to reach the end...that I would be at this desk forever...sweating, reading and typing my life away.

Thankfully, yesterday changed all that.

I had this "fire in my belly" yesterday 

and

(drum roll please)

FINISHED!

Well, kind of.

:)

Yes, I know it doesn't make sense but I kind of finished.  

I had 3 goals when I came here  

(I wrote them down and everything)

and they are now 2/3 of the way done.

which is fantastic,

and happened yesterday.

In other ACOR updates.

I did my laundry.

BY HAND.

Ok, it really doesn't matter that I did it by hand, it matters that I was able to get off away from my desk long enough to do it.

That is the exciting part.

I'm a little embarrassed about how dirty this water is but guys, I've been living in a desert for the past month.

Give me a break.

Just a little one.

I hung the semi-dry pajamas in my closet...unfortunately that was not a good place.

It was to humid in there and they did not dry...they just started to smell.

So I washed them again.

Because I can.

By the way, if anyone from my familia ever reads this, the green bag has presents in it.

:)

Overall, things have been marvelous.

They feed us really well,

their library is full of marvelous books for research,

and their internet works so I have been able to keep in contact with the loved ones.

Which makes me look like this:

That is a happy face by the way.

Today is Tuesday.

Friday I leave ACOR and head back down to Petra.

Saturday we leave Petra and head all the way back through Amman, to Jerash and Pela.

Finally, on Sunday we leave the beautiful country of Jordan and head to another beautiful country.

ITALY!!!!

Yes, sometimes I don't believe my life either.

It has been such a blessing and I am so, so, so very grateful.

I will write again before I leave.

Adios!

♥ ♥ ♥

The Blogging World

A ways back, wow its been several years now, I started a blog.

It was 2008 I think. 

At least that is what blogger is telling me.  

I was so excited about it!

I am generally pretty shy at first and I don't like to push anything on people.

So during a hard time, with no one to talk to, and a desperate need to vent

I started blogging.

I REALLY liked it.

and the funny part was that it wasn't really the writing my days out to the universe that attracted me.

It was something that I created, continued to tweak, and it was all mine.

But then I wanted more outlets for different parts of my life.

So I made more for others,

like Stephie  and my family.

Then I started getting into tumblr.

I created a blog for my Project 52 

(which I am still doing by the way, I just can't load those pictures until I get back to the States)

and another blog just for me with inspirational pictures and quotes.

(but since it is just for me, I'm not going to give you a link...wahahahaha (evil laugh))

It has been marvelous.

My life is crazy right now.

I travel the world a little bit,

I move around a little more,

and I do as much as possible to drive myself to insanity.

At this point I have a creative outlet for when

I take a few pictures, 

read a ton of books, 

get inspired by more than a few things,

and have a place to put them all.

So there you go.

Thank You Mr. Reynolds

I just wanted to share a link that one of my friends posted.

It is an article written by a Mr. John Mark Reynolds writing for the Washington Post.

I just wanted to post my appreciation for someone who refuses to simply "jump on the bandwagon" when it comes to discrimination and bigotry.

Mr. Reynolds, you rock.

To read his article click HERE

or copy and paste this address into your browser bar.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/amos-and-andy-and-the-book-of-mormon/2011/06/15/AGRlHPWH_blog.html

Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again

Alright, I do realize that the title of this post is a horrible title but that nursery rhyme kept going through my mind as I put together the hands hand feet of a nearly 2000 year old skeleton.  Sometimes you just can't help yourself.

Life is fantastic in good old Jordan.

By old I mean very old.

It's interesting getting used to a place that has so much history.

I remember the first time I went to Damascus (in Syria not Jordan) and walked where I knew millions and millions of people had walked for centuries.

On the very street, under the very arch, through the same doorways.

It is a little bit mind blowing.

And it has this...feel to it.

Like you can feel all the people that have been there, like when you go somewhere you leave a little piece of yourself that those following can feel.  

I love it.

While I am now at ACOR with lovely internet access and no longer at Petra (I was there for 3 weeks), I do have some pictures.

I will only post a few though because if I start putting more I may not be able to stop.

So here goes.

If you haven't seen pictures before (and you won't see it in the post) I wear a bandana (shown here) under a kaffia on site to avoid sunburn and dust in my eyes.
It is actually cooler too.
Picture Lawrence of Arabia and you will have an idea.
This is after work one day (sans kaffia).
I collapsed on the floor from heat and exhaustion.
But not heat exhaustion.
But if you look closely you will see that I have a Harry Potter lightening scar dirt mark.
Don't know what that means.
But if I get super powers I will let you know.
:)

Another day I came home after digging through a meter and a half of goat dung.  

Let me rephrase.

It was a meter and a half deep.

And it was from a loculi that was a little over 3 meters long.

I'm not going to do the math because it will depress me how much dusty poop we moved.

So that "dust" on my face?

Yeah. 

:(

Here is a view leaving Petra.

I love the landscape there.

Although I could put up a picture of St. George and it might be hard to tell the difference.

:)

We uncovered an undisturbed burial (very rare).

I had a bit of crash course in Osteology.

I think I did pretty darn good to be honest.

I was in charge of putting her hands and feet back together.

Yes, some of them fit perfectly which was amazing.

(and if you are thinking about that Humpty Dumpty song I was definitely NOT a member of all the kings horses and all the kings men, because we were able to put this skeleton together...haha nursery song, take that)

After we cleaned the skull we were able to glue what remained back together.

It was really remarkable.

So there is a quick update of things.  

I post so sporadically I won't make any more promises but I will definitely try.

That's if they can keep the internet working at ACOR.

Could use some prayers there. 

♥ ♥ ♥