Coming Soon to a Country Near YOU!

2010-02-06T22:38:00.000-08:00

We are back in the states again, this time it will probably be for longer than one month!

But since our last post, we have spent more time down at St. Innocent orphanage, visited a family we were able to assist with the building of their home last summer, Christened our god-daughter at the Blessed Feast of the Presentation of the Lord this past Monday evening. We feel so blessed have been there with her and to have her in our lives, as well as all the boys! We miss them already! We left Tuesday and have seen old friends and family in Southern CA, quick over-night stop in Vegas (we cannot gamble- we're too good at being frugal! but it was fun to see all the lights!), drove through Zion Natl. Park, UT, slept in the freezing cold snow in Bryce Canyon Natl. Park, UT (don't worry, we still had fun, and we're not tooo sick;) ) AND now we are staying with Kera and Chris in Denver! We had a lovely day today at the Celestial Seasoning's Factory in Boulder, CO, and a fabulous evening catching up with our good friend Mary! We plan to enjoy the rest of the weekend and have an AWESOME day skiing on Monday : )

Here are some photos for your enjoyment! Stay warm all you snow bunnies in Virginia! Sorry we're missing the big storm!

2010-01-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

Los Dinos Estamos en el Rancho de San Innocencio!

That's right, we've been here having a blast since last Friday night. Our drive here through Arizona was great, we were able to stop and visit the Monastery of St. Paisios - what a beautiful place! Then we stopped at Seguaro National park and saw the cool Seguaro Cacti growing all over! Then, we hit some bad weather (we felt like Dorothy!), but eventually made it down here, safe and sound! We are having a wonderful time with the boys, enjoying the beautiful green landscape that the rainy season provides in Mexico. It's been chilly most of the days so our days have been spent playing inside mostly, legos, cards, reading, watching movies, having fun, an occasional game outside and today we finally got the wind anemometer tower standing with the help of some of the older boys. Phew! The near spring-like weather is also bringing new babies in the porcina - 2 new baby cows and three new baby lambs! We are bottle feeding one for now because it was a bit weak when it was born today - they have named him "Chocolate".

Here are some photos for you to see all the fun we are having!

2010-01-20T19:53:00.000-08:00

As you may have heard... We are on the road again! We just weren't too eager to sit at home and wait for job interviews to find us, so we decided to hop in the car and head west! We have an exciting trip planned, mainly stopping along the way to see family and friends. Our destination this week is St. Innocent Orphanage, Mexico! Woohoooo! We are getting close - today we actually drove through El Paso, TX and saw Juarez, Mexico from the road! But we will head for California, so we have a bit of a drive still. Currently, we are in Safford, AZ. As with all of the places we have driven so through far out west, AZ is proving to be a beautiful place! But let me back up and briefly tell you where we've been so far:

Started January 13th, from Sterling, VA - to Nashville, TN

-Saw the Grand Ol' Opry; Enjoyed the home town of honkey tonk and listened to live music on Broadway St throughout our evening there.

January 14th - Nashville, TN to Memphis, TN (part 1 of this day)

-Drove by Graceland (literally, we had to turn around because we missed it the first time!)

-Toured St. Jude Hospital - If you have not done this, you must put it on the top of your list!

Check out their website if you have not read much on it: Stjude.org

-Walked around Beale St (Blues alley)

Part 2 of this day - Memphis to Dallas, TX

-Drove through AND ate in Hope, Arkansas, birth place of the one and only Pres. Bill Clinton

-Arrived late at Shawn and Yosi's house! (Deena's brother and sister-in-law)

January 15th- 18th stayed in Dallas, playing with the little rascals, I mean Skye, Dallas and Zoli! Great time catching up with them, we hadn't seen Yosi, Skye and Dallas since our wedding! Everyone has grown up! We had fun going to school in the morning with Dallas on Friday to his science lab! And over the weekend we had many a wrestling match, coloring and cake baking with Zoli, games of hide and seek at the park and good laughs shared by all!

January 18th - Dallas, TX to Carlsbad, NM

-This was a long driving day, but on a beautiful state highway. We saw deep rich earth colors, cotton fields, wind turbines by the hundreds, oil rigs and a warm sunny day

- We reached Carlsbad Caverns National Park basically right before it closed that day, so we set up camp for the night and went on a self-guided tour of the caverns first thing the next morning.

These caverns are the largest on the western hemisphere - we walked 800 ft down a steep spiral walkway to reach "the Big Room" where there are amazing natural structures that have been carved over time (millions of years)

January 19th - Guadalupe Mountains National Park, TX

-Yes, after Carlsbad Caverns, we re-entered TX and spent the day at McKittric Canyon in GUMO Natl. Park. It was originally privately owned land until gifted to the Dept. of the Interior by the owner, Wallace Pratt, a Texan oil man. We enjoyed the similarities we saw between this park and parks in Patagonia (because of the high winds that come out of nowhere)

-Spent the night at Piney Springs campground in the park, amidst some high wind gusts throughout the night - but! Big Agnes, our tent, held up strong, and kept us warm and grounded throughout the night!

January 20th - GUMO Natl. Park, TX to Safford, Arizona

-The most beautiful portion of the drive so far; The end of TX was lonely on the road but more beautiful than we can describe. Houses were scarce out in these parts! We went through El Paso, then we again crossed back into New Mexico, and eventually made it to Safford this evening.

- Tomorrow we plan to visit St. Paisius Serbian Orthodox Monastery.

2009-12-30T19:48:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everybody!

We miss updating the blog, so you may find that if you check in now and then, we will add a few tid-bits here and there about the new happenings in our lives! It may not be quite as exciting as the last few months... but we'll do our best!

Christmas was extra special this year because it was a Gakos & Khalil celebration - which meant BOTH of our moms were heating it up in the kitchen! WOW! What a combination! I think you can see for yourselves in the photo above that they made sure we did not go hungry on Christmas day (Thanks mommy's - we love you!)

There were many a game to be played Christmas night, with air hockey being the Khalil sister's fave, as well as Dean teaching me how to play Nok Hockey (must not be a southern thing because I'd never even heard of it!)

And it wouldn't quite be Christmas without a visit into NYC to see the massive tree in front of Rockefeller center!

Having our families together this year was really nice, and we want to thank them for all the thought they put into it, as well as all their thoughts of us as we traveled! Now that we're home, I'm sure they'll start wondering why they ever missed us so much... hehehe.

Alright now, have a blessed New Year! Ring it in loud and clear tomorrow night! I wanna hear those pots and pans!

2009-12-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone misses our blog...

we decided to show you all what a snow storm in Virginia looks like!

We were hit with just about 2 feet of snow yesterday! We've been outside shoveling for my parents but we also found time to feel like kids again... we went sledding! Twice! Last night was a bit anticlimatic because the sled almost couldn't move in all the snow, but when we went back to our hill this morning the conditions were way better. We even got my good ol' daddio to come out and play too!

enjoy the photos of the snow! Merry Christmas!

2009-12-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

We're home!

It may seem a bit early, but with the threat of a British Airways strike that would leave us stranded in London for Christmas, we hopped the first flight out of Buenos Aires (6 days earlier than planned) and reached London on the morning of the 16th of Dec., on which we were able to fly home to Dulles, stand-by... we were not the only BA customers who were worried about their flights, but luckily they had room to accomodate us and bring us safely home.

Wow! It is a blessing to be home again, safe with our families. We are currently in Virginia with Deena's parents, whom we surprised the pants off of when we showed up unannounced this past Wednesday. Pretty soon we will head up to New Jersey to see Dean's family and celebrate Christmas, with both of our families! We're looking forward to it, because even with all the fun we were having - there's nothing like being home for Christmas with your families : )

2009-12-14T16:08:00.000-08:00

Hola from Buenos Aires!

We arrived yesterday and have been busy exploring the town. But before we talk about Buenos, our last night in Calafate was spent visiting Nebepo Aike Estancia, at the foot of the Patagonian Andes. We had such scenic views from there, and enjoyed learning about the way the estancia works and the sheep shearing process (see picture below!). We also were treatedto a delicious Patagonia feast! Asado, Beef, Chorizzo and fresh salad from the estancia´s garden. Yum!

Ok, so now for Buenos!

Last night we went out to San Telmo Market and strolled around for a few hours, admiring the artisans´ work, along with just the neat feel of the city. The architecture is very old and beautiful. We enjoyed hearing many street bands along our walk last night! There were tons! We also made our way over to Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church. They just happened to be hosting a choral concert that we were able to sit in on, and then we had a nice tour of the church. It is a beautiful church, with beautiful iconography and mosaic iconostas. The cupula is also a must see! we enjoyed our visit and hope to make it back for vespers on Saturday!

Today we spent time walking throughout the Recoletta, an old cemetary which houses some of the rich and famous of Argentina, including Evita. Each mosoleum is unique in it´s architecture and decor.

We plan to have a few more exciting days in Buenos Aires before we head up to Iguazu Falls!

2009-12-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

Hola Amigos!

We are living it up in El Chalten, Argentina (still in Patagonia!)

We have been playing in the mountains again...! We spent 2 nights/ 3 days up in Los Glacieres Natl. Park, with up-close and personal views of Mt. Fitz Roy, Grande and Piedras Blancas Glaciers, and Cerro Torre.

We also were able to visit Perito Merino Glacier nearer to El Calafate, Argentina, where we went out in a ferry to get a quite closer look at the beautiful mass of ice! That kept breaking up and landing in the water, sending the boat in crazy, wavey upheaval! It was so cool! What makes Perito so unique is that it is one of a few glaciers in the world that are still advancing, instead of receding in size like most others.

We had been staying the last 2 nights with Flora, a lovely lady who owns an El Refugio in town, who we enjoyed spending time with last night. She even shared her Asado (grilled lamb!) with us - a Patagonian speciality. Very lovely lady!

We will be heading to Buenos Aires soon, but for now we are enjoying the little town of El Chalten!

Ciao! Buenos Noches.

-Los Dinos

Help our family at St. Innocent/ Project Mexico!

2009-12-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

As you all know, Dean and I hold a very special place in our hearts for St. Innocent Orphanage and Project Mexico. Please read the copy- pasted letter below from their founder about the year end matching program that they desperately need your help with! Please contact them directly by using the address at the bottom if you wish to contribute, or there is a way to donate online as well, probably on their website.

Please pray for the success of
our year-end matching challenge!

Dear (Dean & Deena),

A blessed Advent season to you!

As misfortune (and the little lenten demons) would have it, our mailing house made a huge mistake when manipulating the data for our annual appeal mailing and the entire mailing must be sent again. This means a potentially huge delay in response time to our matching challenge from our donors/supporters. While the mailer did go out last week, the names did not match up with the addresses on the ones that went to private homes (as opposed to churches, businesses and organizations). Many folks, I'm afraid, will have thrown it out, thinking that it came to them by mistake.

Of all years for this to happen, this is certainly the worst. We're all feeling the pinch of the economy. Churches, charities and non-profits are feeling it most especially. We experienced a setback after September 11th but eventually we recovered. Although we saw this recession coming, we did not expect it to last this long, and the impact of it has been far worse than September 11th.

Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to re-send the annual appeal. Pray that the hearts of our supporters will be moved to support the appeal in SOME way. A little help from many can add up to a GREAT DEAL for those to whom we minister at St. Innocent Orphanage and among the poor of our neighbor, Mexico.

If you would like to help in this effort, please forward this e-mail to your own e-list of friends and family,and consider making your own donation towards this challenge online or by regular mail. All donations received by December 30th (up to $45,000) will be matched one-to-one by several anonymous donors.

May God grant you a safe and blessed holiday and Holy Day season!

In Christ,

Greg Yova
Founder & Executive Director

Send responses to this e-mail to: gbray@projectmexico.org

Donations by regular mail can be sent to:
Project Mexico
P.O. Box 120028
Chula Vista, CA 91912

2009-12-01T05:03:00.000-08:00

We have been loving our time here in the Chilean Patagonia!

Since our last blog we have traveled by bus to Puerto Natales, where we celebrated Thanksgiving! We really got lucky, Dean had read in his favorite magazine ¨Backpacker¨, like a year ago, about the best hostel place to stay in Puerto Natales, the Erratic Rock. We looked em up and booked Thanksgiving night and were pleasantly surprised to find that we´d be having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner : ) Helped us to feel right at home!

The next day we took another bus to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, where we entered the park at the portion of the Circuit trek called the ¨tail¨, probably our favorite day scenery wise! We had excellent weather that day, with gorgeous sun and GUSTY WIND! (50 mph, no joke!) It was tough to walk through, but a great work-out nonetheless! We eventually made it to our first campsite that night which luckily for us had a nice enclosed shelter to cook and stay warm in before we went to sleep in our tent.

Next day, we took it a bit easier, to rest from our previous exhausting day of trekking and made our short walk to the next camp and then headed up to see ¨Valley de Frances¨. We then had a nice awakening the next morning to a few flurries, and headed out for another exerting day (15 miles or so) to our next campsite, Campamento Torres. We had another beautiful day, passing by many glacier aqua colored lakes and beautiful meadows, and then finally made our way up to the point where HEAT MISER and SNOW MISER were having a wrestling match! No joke (for those of you who don´t know your Christmas claymation movies, look it up!) summer and winter were trying to decide who would win this match! We were in the warm sun on one side, then peaked our heads around the corner and could feel the howling gusty, snowblowing wind! You could see summer in one direction, and winter in the other, with the turn of your head. Pretty awesome! but very hard trekking!

Eventually we made our way through our trek after one more morning of waking up in the snow! it was beautiful, helps us to get in the Christmas spirit! (Which has been hard, since it´s summer everyone that we´ve been recently!)

We are now back at the Erratic Rock and will enjoy relaxing till tomorrow when we head by bus to Argentina to see Perito Moreno Glacier and El Chaten, Mt Fitzroy.

Hope you all are well!

Ciao for now!

2009-11-25T14:56:00.000-08:00

Los Dinos Visitan Los Penguinos! (The Dinos visit the Penguins, for those who no habla Español)

We are in Chile! First we started with two nights in Santiago, which we found to be a refreshing city for us to relax in . We are loving being in South America, it is giving us a chance to practice Español! We got to explore some of the city. We visited one of the oldest Catholic Church´s (San Francisco), the Public Library, Santa Lucia park/overlook, as well as an Antiochian Orthodox Church. The secretary took us into the church, giving us some history and telling us about the parish. It was really neat to see the iconography in Spanish! It was great to explore the city, and really neat to see how clean it is. The Andes mountains are in the background and almost give a Colorado Rockies & Denver type feel to the city. These mountains tower well over 6000 meters (around 20,000 feet).

We are now in Punta Arenas, basically the bottom of Chile and South America. It is verrry cold here, but we are staying at a lovely , cozy hostel with warm fires and blankets! We spent the day exploring the city of Punta Arenas, which is a cute little port city (reminds Dean of an Alaska). This afternoon, we went on a tour to the Seno-Otway Penguin Reserve where we saw hundreds of Magellanic Penguins. The colony there has roughly 10,000 resident penguins that spend September to March there, breeding, then raising their young. It was so cool to see them emerging from the water after a long day of fishing. Others were around, resting in their burrows, probably staying out of the wind which often pushes 50+ mph (though today it was only 30-40).

Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We will definitely be missing our families. We´re taking a bus in the morning to Puerto Natales (3 hrs) north, which is the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. The hostel there is owned by Americans so therefore will be having a Thanksgiving feast! We are very excited!!! We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and we´ll post again after we get off the trail in the NP!

2009-11-20T04:41:00.000-08:00

Hello from Christchurch NZ! We just got back to Christchurch yesterday after a great second week of exploring the south island of NZ. Once again, we were spoiled with spectacular scenery of gorgeous mountains, lakes, and coastline.

After leaving Queenstown, we headed up the west coast (also known as the rainy west coast). As we approached it, we found a campsite for the night but the rain had already set in. With no tree cover and decent winds, we decided to spend a night in the car so not to get soaked. Surprisingly, we slept quite well. From there, we headed further north, passing Fox Glacier and arriving at Franz Joseph Glacer, one of the only glaciers in the world that is in a rainforest-type climate zone. As you can see, we got to explore the glacier on a 6 hour guided tour which took us through caves, crevasses, and through the icefall on top of the glacier! What an amazing day and such a cool opportunity to climb up on one.

Afterwards, we headed up north and, before making our way back east over Lewis Pass, we spent a night in the little town of Charleston. It was really small (not a town at all), but the nice older fisherman running the campground told us which beach we could go to after sunset to hopefully see blue penguins emerge from the sea and head to their nests to sleep. Well, after 1 hour of sitting out in the cold (and no penguins) we were heading back to the campsite, but drove a bit further down the road and sure enough... we had a cute little penguin crossing the road from the sea into tall grasses where the nest was! It was really cool!!

From there, we headed over Lewis Pass and hopped on the St. James Walkway with the intention of hiking 10 km in, camping at a hut, and heading out the next day. Instead, after only 7 km, we arrived at this spectacular hut with views to-die-for, so we decided to spend the sunny afternoon outside and enjoy the area. The coal stove inside was a nice treat for the chilly night. The next day (yesterday) we hiked back to the car and (after visiting a really awesome natural hotspring on the side of a river) headed to Christchurch.

We surprised our friends Caroline & Richard (we had originally told them we would be in today instead) at their house in the late afternoon. We spent the evening catching up and today spent the day together exploring Christchurch, walking along the coast, then a BBQ at their cool house. Oh yes... forgot to mention that Richard and Caroline are new friends that we met (and subsequently trekked with) for nearly 1 week of the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal.

Well, we're having a blast, maybe drinking a few too many Speight's Beers, but looking forward to enjoy the morning together before we head to the airport to catch our afternoon flight to Auckland! You'll hear from us again in South America!!!!

2009-11-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

Hello from chilly New Zealand!

We have been touring around the South Island for the last 5 days in our Kia rental (yes!)
So far we have been through Christchurch, Mt. Cook area, Dunedin, Te Anau, and Milford Sound. We arrived here in Queenstown yesterday. All so far have been wonderful! The scenery here is spectacular! Our jaws drop every time we look out the window! We have been enjoying camping at various Natl. Park run sites as well as Privately owned camp grounds (Kera - we've taken pictures of some BEAUTIFUL camp grounds, unbelievable amenities!! Hair dryers in the bathroom! I was ecstatic!)

So far we've see goregous mountains, endlessly starry skies at night, glow worms at night, beautiful vineyards (that specialize in Deena's favorite wine - Pinot noir!), ran around on a beach with seals and sea lions, searched for blue penguins and yellow eyed penguins, and gorgeous sheep farms with tons of baby lambs! (Deena will be bringing one home!)

We were going to do one of the Great Walks of New Zealand, but the Natl Park recommends not to due to deep snow conditions in the high regions of the mountains. So instead we are taking day walks and taking in all the beautiful scenery that we can! Dean is excited that after his homemade alcohol run stove (actually the aluminum pot stand) melted in Dunedin, we decided to buy a Canister stove that is a knock-off of the MSR pocket rocket for about $22! (Deena's excited too - quicker boiling water for coffee and FOOD!)

We have been cooking all of our meals which has been a nice change from the most of the rest of our trip so far.

From here we plan to work our way up the west coast of the South Island before crossing Lewis Pass and returning to Christchurch at the end of the week! (we're also looking forward to that, so we can see our new buds from our trek in Nepal, Caroline and Richard!)

We are sorry for not having pictures to post, but we are having technical difficulties! We will try to post some soon : )

We miss you all!

2009-11-07T03:40:00.000-08:00

What a great day!

Today, our lovely hosts, Mary & Kevin, drove us out on the wondrous Great Ocean Road. We spent the day singing in the car, reveling in the sun, hiking to waterfalls, checkin' out the beaches and the surfers, searching in trees for koalas, and then feasting our eyes on another of God's beautiful creations, The 12 Apostles.

We photographed our day pretty well, they speak for themselves! As you can see, Australia is a beautiful place. And - we found the koalas!!! They were asleep in the trees of course, but there they are! So cute in the wild!

We're finally going to make it to church tomorrow! We are so happy! So we must get to bed now to be rested up for church, spending the day in the city and then flying to Christchurch, New Zealand tomorrow evening!!! See you from our next country : )

2009-11-05T22:53:00.000-08:00

Hello from Melbourne! We arrived yesterday afternoon and are enjoying our time with the one and only Mary Pier, who has so graciously taken us in for the weekend! We are very happy to be here : )

Prior to our arrival, we were sailing in the Whitsunday Islands. We set out on Tuesday and have been on the catamaran until early yesterday morning.

While sailing in the Whitsundays, we were able to meet a lot of cool people, including an amazing crew on the boat! As you can see in our photos, we decided to dabble in diving... Well, to be honest, Deena did chicken out after performing her skills test - but she did make it underwater, breathing! Very cool. The other half, however, did go through with it! Dean completed 2 successful intro dives! Go Dean! He saw 2 sharks, a sting ray, held a sea cucumber, and even did a funky dance which was caught on his intructor's video camera (i'll send out the youtube link when I get it!) haha.

Basically the sailing trip was so fabulouso and we are very glad that's how we spent 3 days, on the Great Barrier Reef! Snorkeling was impressive there!

Now to the present: Today Mary is taking us out on the Great Ocean Road in search of wild koalas and kangaroos - it'll be like a safari! Wooohooo!

We hope you enjoy the photos; miss you all! God bless : )

G`day, mate!

2009-10-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

G'Day, Mate!

Hello from the Whit Sunday Islands!! We enjoyed Sydney for our first few days in Australia. We stayed right near the city so we were able to take public transport all over and saw the beautiful Sydney Opera House, along with the Harbour Bridge and we took a few ferry rides around, including up to Manly. We also visited the gorgeous Bondi Beach - absolutely incredible beach, in the city! So nice. We also were able to meet up with Dean's cousin Brooklyn who is living in Sydney for a year. It was great to see her and her friend.

We arrived here in Airlie Beach yesterday and are camping for a few nights. In fact, this morning, there was a parakeet hiding under one of our backpacks in the campsite. For the next few days, we'll be exploring here along the coast and in the mountains nearby. On Tuesday, we leave for a 3 day sailing trip out into the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef!!! We are so excited.

We will update again from Melbourne!!

2009-10-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

Australia here we come!

We arrived in Bangkok this morning after a surprisingly comfortable 14 hour bus ride from Railay Beach in Krabi, Thailand. We had such a great time relaxing there. We spent a lot of our time enjoying the 3 separate beaches, Railay East, West, and Pranang Beach. The highlight of our time there though was our rock climbing on Railay East where we spent a 1/2 day climbing these awesome cliffs with our cool Thai guide, Yute. See us up on the rock? Super cool! Super sore arms for Deena days after though of course! After our climb day, Deena was able to get a relaxing manicure and pedicure while lying on the beach (desperately needed -you should've seen the before picture!)

Today we toured the Grand Palace in Bangkok and took in all the sights and sounds of the city. We even were able to visit St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Bangkok!

Well, we'll be writin' from Sydney or Melbourne next! Miss ya ; )

2009-10-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hello from Thailand!!

We are now at Railey Beach, the rock climbing capital of Thailand. We arrived here yesterday from Ko Lipe in southern Thailand, which is a gorgeous little island just up from the Malaysia border. So, since you heard from us last, we spent a few more days (very tiring) travelling across India, seeing the Taj Mahal before reaching Delhi. After our flight in Delhi, we arrived in Singapore (which is definitely the cleanest place we've ever been) before catching a bus to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. There we got to relax and enjoy the tea plantations and nice scenery there. After 2 days, we made our way to southern Thailand and the islands of Ko Lipeh (for 4 days) and are now on Railay Bay, near Krabi. Ko Lipeh was incredible! We stayed there because it is one of the more quiet islands - so tranquil and beautiful. We snorkeled among the many many reefs - so many different types of coral and fish! We also kayaked around the island, which was a tough feat actually because there was some rough water! But no worries, we are experts.... : )

Now on Railay, we plan to spend time on the beach, theres a lagoon and a viewpoint to hike to (tons of cliffs here) and we will attempt a climb or two!

Of course, we cannot forget to mention the FOOD! WOW! We love Thai food, and are enjoying Papaya salads with sticky rice and Pad Thai of course - and don't forget the fresh fruit!

2009-10-12T00:12:00.001-07:00

India! WOOOOW!

We crossed the border from Nepal into India by bus, rickshaw, jeep, and then hopped on a train. We are so lucky to have met our new friends from Australia who were our saving grace, getting us into India safely and hassle free! We love you guys, thanks for everything!!!

So we are currently in Varanasi, one of India's oldest cities and a very sacred place for the Hindu religion. Varanasi is believed to be the place to come to die, because then your soul will be released and you will go to Heaven. Definitely look up Varanasi, you'll see what we're talking about!

Very interesting, mysterious place. Very different from Nepal. Cows roaming the streets, rickshaws : "beep, beep, jingle jingle, jingle" crowded streets, people everywhere. Delicious food! (Don't worry moms and dads - we're being cautious!)

We're heading tonight to Agra by train, and will be staring at the beautiful Taj Mahal this time tomorrow. We can't even imagine what's in store for us! Then we'll quickly make our way to Delhi tomorrow evening, also by train.

We'll post again soon! Miss yall!

Namaste!

2009-10-09T02:24:00.000-07:00

We did it!!!
We spent the last 17 days trekking the Annapurna Circuit in the Himalayas. After a few flights, and a couple interesting bus rides, we made it to day 1 of our trek. Starting in the low country of terraced rice fields, we trekked our way up to Thorung La Pass (17,768 feet above sea level) without altitude sickness! The trail passes through villages that are untouched by the outside world (except for trekkers). We passed through Hindu and Buddhist villages, visiting some really neat gompas (temples) along the way. Don't worry, we didn't convert.
After the first few days of cloudy skies, the Himalayas began to appear, one at a time right in front of us. We have met some awesome people along the way and had many fun evenings with friends as we relaxed at the teahouses. The trail passed through many different climates, very hot and wet to sunny and clear/cold skies. After 10 days or so, we reached Thorung La Pass (that was hard!!! We huffed and slowly puffed our way up the mountain, incredible feeling!) and began descending through a completely different landscape. Straight down, for 4 hours, we quickly made our way from 17,768 ft down to 12,500 ft (so that day's total alone was 8,000 ft of climbing/descending!) Once down, we were in a desert like setting. Since we had a long trip, the next day we took it easy and went 5 miles or so to the next village - Kagbeni. Which we'll have you know, has the only "Yakdonalds" in the world! We enjoyed yak-cheeseburgers with fries and the freshest apple juice we'll ever have! Delicious - sure, not quite what we'd call fast food, but much better in our book! Continuing on, we eventually returned to lush, green fields and even got to spend some time with our friends in the hot spring at Tatopani... but after Deena's RN eyes started to scope out the water, we decided, "Ok, time to shower!" But it was relaxing for our tired muscles : ). The next day was yet another tough climb up, and up, and up... you get the point! We reached Ghorepani, a village that is supposed to have Spectacular views, they call it the "Curtain Call", the Himalayas last chance to give an encore presentation if you will... however, we arrived and it POURED! 2 days, we stayed in a quaint little cottage and tried to wait out the rain, no luck. BUt we did enjoy catching up with our buddies (Al, Perry, and Eric - thanks for the entertainment buds!) So we made our way down, however slowly.. due to the days on end of rain, the stepped way down was flooded, like a constant stream at times. It was tricky enough due to the soggy conditions, and then Deena's right knee problem decided to visit! Yay! 9 hours later, when we thought we could go no further down, we made it out. Woohooooo! Took a taxi to Pokhara and are spending 3 days here before we leave tomorrow for India. It's been a nice relaxation period for us and we're having a blast hanging out with our group of trekking buddies. We'll be on a bus early tomorrow morning to the border of India, which we pray will be nice and smoooth (To my Lodwar friends - the roads here are even WORSE than Kenya!)

We miss you all, and hope that our photos will load successfully, we're having some trouble. If not, we PROMISE to figure it out and post some soon!

2009-09-17T04:57:00.000-07:00

Hello again from London! We have had a nice morning exploring the city a bit. We just found an internet cafe to post some pictures before we head off again. The time at the monasteries was wonderful. We were able to spend the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Feast Day at the monastery in Thebes (which has the same name). It was crazy to see the buses full of Greeks to go for the feastday. It was so great to see many of the sisters that we met years ago. The other picture from Thebes is of Deena picking a fig the size of an orange. (Dad Khalil, your tree needs steroids to catch up). We have had a wonderful time there and were fortunate enough to meet new people, including the Abbot for all 4 of those monasteries.

After leaving, we headed for Athens where we met Dean's 3rd cousins Taki and Magda (and Taki's mother). They took great care of us and had a nice evening. Afterwards, we spent a night with the Clark family (Thanks again!) in Athens and headed to the airport Wednesday morning.

Well, today is Thursday and we are safely in London. We have included a picture of one of the guards outside Buckingham Palace. We have to get going to go catch our flight to Delhi then immediately to Kathmandu. We hope to post again from Kathmandu before our trek begins, but if not, we look forward to posting again in a few weeks!!

2009-09-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Greeting from London. We have just arrived here after 5 beautiful days in the monasteries of Central Greece. We spent time in 3 different monsasteries and we were able to spend the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross at that monastery. In addition we got to see some of the sisters that we got to meet 5 years ago on our visit, in addition to Sister Ignatia. We don't have time to add more now. We hope to updated again with some pictures either in India or Nepal (we leave tomorrow night)! See you there

2009-09-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yasou from Corfu!

It was a long journey from Bari, Italy by ferry to Corfu, Greece - but we made it! In Bari, we made it just in time to see the Basilica San Nicola, where St. Nicholas is entombed ( Thanks for the suggestion, Niko!!) Sure, the Greek ferry took off 3 hours late... but no big deal! Camped in Dassia the last 2 nights. Rented a scooter to get a better view of the island and of course have some fun! Dean was an excellent scooter driver - we've decided we'll get one as a second vehicle when we get home, haha. Our best day yet! Found so many secluded, gorgeous beaches, went to a monastery, breathtaking views. However, today we took a bus from Corfu town to Agios Gordis, on the western side of the island. BEAUTIFUL! We are staying at a lovely place called "Dina's Paradise" - perfectly named, right? So wonderful, it is absolutely amazing. Today before getting on the bus we were able to visit Agios Spiridon, and were able to venerate the body of St. Spiridon. Very blessed.

Well, enjoy the pictures! We miss you all. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERA!!! Love you : )

2009-09-05T00:07:00.000-07:00

Florence is a beautiful city. Yesterday we toured around the city, visited many famous structures like the Duomo, and the Uffizi Gallery. At the Gallery we were able to see original paintaings of Renaissance art by Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raffaelo, Bottecelli, etc. - wow! We felt like we had stepped inside of our History books! We did see copies of The David, too.. Actually, there are many naked statues all over Italy! We walked to the Ponte Vecchio, the "old bridge" - the only bridge that survived World War II. It is also the center of gold and jewelry trade (the street on the median side of the bridge reminded me of Damascus.)

We also took a walk up to Piazzale Michelangiolo, to have the best view of Florence. It was a priceless spot - you can see inside the city, all of the beautiful buildings and domes, bridges, and then out past the city you can see the rolling hills of Tuscany. We've decided that next trip, we will venture out into Tuscany!

As you can see, we indulged in Gelatti as an appetizer to dinner! Soooo creamy. And for dinner we decided to go traditional and ordered Lasagna! It was a bit rich for our taste, lots of cheese and cream, but hey, it was traditional. You'll never believe what our late night snack was... mixed vegetables from the Chinese restaurant across from our hotel! delicious! And I guess I'll go ahead and tell you that for breakfast, we gave in and split a McDonalds egg mcmuffin! Nobody eats breakfast like we do at home over here. Nobody.

Today we head through Rome on the train. Unfortunately we do not have time to see much of Rome but that is okay. We are heading to Bari to catch a Ferry to Greece tonight! Corfu for a few days : ) See you there!

Venezia y Firenze

2009-09-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ciao! We arrived in Venice by train on Tuesday afternoon. We took a water taxi to our Bed and Breakfast, the Ciprea. We met the owner and immediately were happy to be staying there. The B and B was located in an area not common for most tourists to stay, so it was nice to feel like we were living amongst the locals for a few days. We napped most of the first day. Ventured out for a traditional Italian meal though.... Pizza! Delicious. Strolled through San Marco Square, listened to the lively orchestral musicians, playing at each restaurant front in the square. Some truly talented musicians, too! A lot of people were walking about the city. We discovered that the 66th Venice Film Festival was just starting! A few of the guests at our Bed and Breakfast were journalists, visiting Venice to cover the festival. Actually, one was from Washington, DC! Small world, right?

Before leaving Venice this afternoon we ventured over to Lido by water taxi to see the beach and to try to get a view of some of the film festival action.

We are now in Florence, where we had dinner this evening with Dean's cousin and his family. It was so nice to meet them and join them in their home for dinner.

More to come tomorrow, we promise! Time for bed now, Ciao!

Goodbye Austria!

2009-08-31T12:19:00.001-07:00

What a great 3 days we have had here in Austria. Deena's cousin Ziad has treated us like royalty and has been an excellent tour guide for Saturday, Sunday, and today. On Saturday, we spent the morning getting caught up with Ziad since Deena has not seen him in 9 years, and Dean had not met him before. We then went on a bike tour of Braunau (Ziad's town) riding nearlz 17 miles along the Inn River, crossing the river, and then returning on the Germany side. Everything here is very beautiful, the houses, people, and scenery. We finished the day off with traditional meal of spatzle and Corn Beef brisket with traditional sides (Dean cant remember the name of what he ate!) at a nice restaurant.
On Sunday, Ziad took us to the area of Salzkammergut in the Austrian Alps. We hiked a good way up a huge mountain to an overlook which had views of Attersee (a beautiful lake) and then finished the day off with a nap for Deena and some wake-boarding for Ziad. There was a neat little festival going on in the little village along Attersee, so we got to enjoy seeing Austrians dressed in their traditional garb.
Monday was spent again in the Salzkammergut region. We rode our bikes to the water taxi, and took them across the lake. We took the cog railway up to the areas' highest peak which offered spectacular views of the lakes below and the Austrian Alps to the South. Afterwards, we biked back around the lake, enjoying the views and trails that surround the Wolfgangsee.
It has been an amazing few days here in Austria, we have truly enjoyed them. We look forward to Venice tomorrow, but will miss Ziad and Austria as we say goodbye.

2009-08-28T04:07:00.000-07:00

Hello from Switzerland : )

We had a nice time in Barcelona - beautiful beaches there. Spent 13 hours on a train last night to make it to Switzerland this morning. So beautiful - if we do not come home, it is because we decided to live here : ) We started our day in Bern, beautiful scenery, nice people. Just took a short train to Thun to see some of the mountains. We will be in Switzerland for a short time, leaving tonight to get to Braunau Austria to see Deenas cousin Ziad. We are excited : )

Just wanted to send a quick update, we miss you all... but we are having a blast so far. Pictures to come later.

Espana!

2009-08-24T16:38:00.001-07:00

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Hola from Espana!

We arrived in Malaga yestereday (Sunday afternoon) after 2 very smooth flights. We were even upgraded on our flight from JFK to London, so we had roomier seats! We did however almost had a luggage incident when we arrived in Malaga. Dean's pack appeared to not have made it. We began a lengthy, confusing discussion with the nice man at the baggage counter - he must've thought we were crazy! But, Deena to the rescue! She took a look one more time and saw Dean's lonely pack, circling the belt in a secluded room, with a lot of other "lost" luggage! Crisis averted! We did however get stopped by a confused Spanish guard.... but all worked out, and Aunt Ulla picked us up!

We've been to Marbella for a walk around the town and some cerveza, hamon, mariscos, and helado! Muy delicioso!! Today we spent time in Malaga, and we went to the most awesome Fish restaurant on the Mediterranean! Plates of fresh seafood, calling out to you!

We are so enjoying our time with Uncle Mufid and Aunt Ulla, they are so good to us. Tomorrow we will spend more time in Marbella and then some time at la playa!

Till next time,

Adios!

Muchos Entranamos!

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

2009-08-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

These last few pics are a mix of the last few days in Mexico and our visit with Torti in Colorado! We also met Deena's cousins who live in Colorado.

Next stop: Marbella, Spain! See you on the other side.

2009-08-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we did it... we didn't think we could but we did.. we have left Mexico : (. Sorry for being so terrible about updating our blog, we promise to TRY to be better for our trip. We are now visiting Deena's sister Kera for a few days in Denver before we head home for about a week to see our families (VA and NJ).

Well, I wrote the above paragraph about a week ago! Been meaning to come back to it but Dean and I have been in Virginia with Deena's family unpacking, then repacking, then bus'ed it up to NJ to spend time with Dean's family to repack some more.... and................ Tomorrow is our first flight! We will be arriving in Spain on Sunday to be with Deena's family for a few days.

It has been an exciting adventure already. We are really, really excited for our trip to start. But we can't leave out how much we truly miss all of our friends at St. Innocent Orphanage and Project Mexico. We think about you all each and every day! We miss you!!!!! Thank you for a wonderful summer, and allowing us to be your "Los Dinos". We can't wait to see you again.

2009-07-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay! We have been bad blog updaters haven't we?

Since our last post we have had another OBT (woohooo!) which went fantastic!

After OBT we went to Soak City in San Diego with the summer staff, and then took the train up the coast to Orange County to see Noono, Uncle John, and the Hoehns!

2009-07-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

OBT

2009-06-30T00:32:00.000-07:00

It's been busy : )

This past week was Orthodox Basic Training (OBT) where around 95 volunteers from all over the US and Canada came to build 4 homes for needy families in the surrounding community.
What an awesome week it was - 4 homes were built in 4 days! We were fortunate enough to have been able to help lead one of the teams in the process, and what a great team we had! Plus - Kera was here this week! So we had a great time and learned a lot as you can imagine.

Pictures and more details to come!

Just want to mention: If you are looking for a non-profit organization to donate to, please check out www.projectmexico.org, or email us! We definitely would love to talk to you! As you can imagine with this rough economy, donations have fallen short this year unfortunately. A new campaign was launched tonight: iCan give: 20-4-24. Which means if you commit to this new fundraiser for PM: I can give $20 a mo. for 24 mos. They are looking for at least 500 participants in this fundraising campaign! if you or anyone you know may be interested, please feel free to contact us : )

Ok - pictures to come later this week!

God Bless!

2009-06-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

Since our last update, we have been spending the week doing various projects around the ranch in preparation for OBT (Orthodox Basic Training). Next Tuesday, around 95 volunteers will arrive for a full weeks worth of home building ( 4 homes will be built)! So far this week we've helped out with tool prep, and first aid kit prep, and Dean's been doin' a bit of Solar hot water research.

Yesterday we even got to go for a run around the ranch property. However, it was the most difficult run ever, simply because of three culprits: Kicha, Spunky, and Frijoline - the ranch dogs, who thought that it would be fun to attack our feet and tackle us as we tried to run! So after about 5 minutes of running, and then stopping because I would be tackled to the ground if I didn't, I resorted to something I learned from my mom when I was a kid. I paused our run, found an empty spray bottle, added water, and resumed my run, spraying the dogs as they approached. They quickly caught on that we meant business: we needed exercise! So after about 5 sprays in the face each, we had running companions instead of full contact tackle-running.

Just one of the many things we are learning as part of life on the ranch!

Oh, the pictures are of Sasha, one of the 3 kittens that the kids are taking care of! The other two are boys, Tom and Jerry. (Sasha's my fave though) And the other two pictures are where we are living for the summer!

Hello from Mexico!

2009-06-12T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well we have been in Mexico since Monday now, and we are having an incredible time. We are slowly getting to know the boys living here at St. Innocent Orphanage, and this week we have been working with a building team since Tuesday to construct a home for a family in need. It has been an awesome week so far!

You are probably wondering how the home building process works. Here it is layed out day by day:

Wednesday - Day 1: This is the day that the site gets leveled, and a frame is made to mark the perimeter of the new home. Next, we mix concrete! How you might ask? Well, it takes a lot of sand, a lot, of cement, a lot of stones, and some water... oh and a lot of muscle! The concrete slab is slowly poured, and by the end of the day, you have the floor of the home.

Thursday - Day 2: This is the day that the house really takes shape with the framing of the walls and roof. By the end of the day, the skeleton of the house is completed.

Friday - Day 3: Tar paper and chicken wire is added to the outside walls, windows/door installed, and roof completed.

Saturday - Day 4: Stucco Day!! The stucco is mixed (sand, cement, water) and then pasted onto the outside walls. It will provide a weatherproof coating and complete the house. Afterwards, the house will be blessed and the family will receive the keys.

Well... 1 house, 26 volunteers, no power tools, not bad for 4 days!

* So today is Sunday! The home has been finished and blessed! What an awesome day that was yesterday. The family was so appreciative! The father even had on a white T-shirt that he asked each team member to sign so that he could remember everyone.

Last night we had a wonderful Vespers service with the boys, which was really neat because many of the older boys participated in the chanting, while the younger boys serve on the altar. This mornin's Liturgy was also amazing : ) We stood next to one of the 8 year olds, who did follow along in his service book and sang for MOST of the service.

Looking forward to the week ahead!

Off we go!

2009-06-07T11:56:00.001-07:00

Here we come Mexico! We're leaving today. See you in Mexico : )

Adios!

Getting packed!

2009-06-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

The start of this week feels funny, because neither of us have to go to work! Strange! Anyhow, we do have other work to do, it's called packing and tying up loose ends! In the above picture you will notice my nifty tool belt and tape measurer - some of my toys for house building in PM.

It's almost time...

2009-05-28T05:29:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday... the final Thursday of work for a while for Dean and I - that sounds so weird, and hard to believe!

Before I head out to work today, I wanted to share a little bit with you all about the first part of this wonderful trip we are about to embark on, Project Mexico.

You may remember that last summer we went down to Project Mexico (in Rosarito, neat Tijuana) for a week to participate in Orthodox Basic Training - a week long home building trip where 150 people, mostly youths, come together to build multiple homes for those in need. We stayed in tents for the week on the grounds of the ranch where St. Innocent's Orphanage is, and just had an awesome time... hence, why we're going to spend the summer there. We hope to help out with as many projects as we possibly can while we're there.

Here is some more information about St. Innocent Orphanage and Project Mexico:
-Project Mexico: Created in 1988 to help struggling families in the local community by building homes that will provide security, safety and a permanent structure for them to live in
-St Innocent Orphanage: Est. in 1996 to further expand the outreach to young boys who were living on the streets or who had been put out of other orphanages, to fend for themselves.

For further information (because that was just to spark your interest, of course!) Please go to:
www.Projectmexico.org and read about each of these wonderful programs.

Ok well I'm off to work! See you next time!