Independence Day

We celebrated the 4th of July in Collegedale with friends

The Crutcher's hosted us at their house and we had a wonderful time :)

Eisia and her family were there, from Kenya. It was wonderful to see them again.

Corn on the cob

potato salads and beans (and olives!!)

watermelon :)

I didn't get a picture of it, but there were also cut up peaches and homemade vanilla and peach ice cream.. :)

With my amor, Ronito :)

People of the GC

The GC meetings were a perfect place to see SDA friends from all over the world, some that I hadn't seen in years.

Here are the Crutchers, Kent was our pastor when we lived in Tennessee. Now they're working as missionaries in Kenya. I spent a year with them there at Maxwell Adventist Academy. Good friends :)

The Erickson family I ran into. They went to college with Mom and were living in Finland when my parents moved here. Now they are missionaries in Papua New Guinea. It was good to see them!

Friends from Argentina (2006-2007)

Sebastian and Andrey

Sebastian was actually working in Kyrgyzstan with his wife last year, so I got to visit them a few times :)

Andrey (from Belarus) I hadn't seen since Argentina and wasn't expecting him to be in Atlanta. It was great seeing him!

Sebastian's wife Marly

Nancy and John Thomas, the principal and registrar at Maxwell Academy when I was there (2007-2008)

Also very dear people :)

a whole bunch more Maxwellites. And there were still more that weren't in this picture..

Had to include this picture. This is Alex Vyhmeister, my twin. I hadn't met him before, but I taught his brother Erik at Maxwell. Alex and I were born on the exact same day, same year even :)

Newbold College people (2008)

Thomas and Angie

Rebekah! :)

My friend and roommate from Kazakhstan times (2009). Countless experiences and good memories shared :)

Jobir, from Uzbekistan

another friend I was happy to see again :)

Had to include this picture too :) they look so cool!

The Sormunens from Finland

GC 2010 Atlanta

A view of Atlanta from the Omni hotel

an empty Georgia Dome on the first evening, before most of the people had arrived. The dome seats about 70 000 people and by the end of the week, it was almost full!

having lunch with Rebekah at the CUC booth in the exhibit hall. yummy :)

an afternoon of Ligretto with Rebekah, Linus and Oona

it's hard to get an accurate picture of the crowds, but this shows a little. The escalators were usually packed. At the end of each day my brain was exhausted from continually scanning the people to see if I recognized friends. On the other hand it was great though :) Running into people I hadn't seen in years and probably won't see for many more years.

Election of the GC president, Ted Wilson, for the next 5 years, until the next GC meetings in Texas 2015.

One of many many booths in the exhibit hall. This was for the ESD, Euro-Asia Division, that Kazakhstan was a part of. Here Rebekah and I are with more friends: Talgat from Kyrgyzstan and Gulya from Uzbekistan.

On the last day the dome was rather full. Trying to get out of there was quite the mission!

a random sight that made us smile :)

Arriving in Atlanta

Wonders never cease :)

One of the main reasons for my trip to the States was to attend the SDA General Conference meetings in Atlanta. I had planned to meet a Finnish friend the first day and stay with her until Rebekah (on the left) came. But Emilia and I had no plans of where or when we'd meet, or how we'd find each other :D Minor detail in a city of 5 million people...

I flew to Atlanta from Baltimore, right into oppressing heat and humidity. Lacking any other plan I decided to find the MARTA, take that to the Congress Center where the meetings were to be held and try and locate Emilia. It felt kind of hopeless, but I decided to trust God anyways. 

I got my bag from baggage claim and was walking down to the metro when I spied a familiar figure. David Helbley (2nd from the left) of all people! He and Gina were very dear friends that I worked with in Kazakhstan last year. I knew they were coming to the meetings, but really didn't expect to see him already at the airport! It was incredible :)

The rest of the day worked out great too. David knew what stop to get off at on the metro, a random guy walked by as we were buying our tickets and gave me one he wasn't using anymore, a Finnish friend walked by when I was trying to find Emilia and carried my heavy bag all the way to his hotel room for storage, I ran into another dear friend from Argentina, one I didn't even expect to see, and I finally found Emilia at the end of the day :)

God is good!

Capitol

Uncle Bud took us on a tour of the Capitol building in DC.

me with the Bond's, visiting from Florida at the same time I was

Capitol dome

Uncle Bud's office in Fredrick

with aunt Rosie :)

Baltimore aquarium

One day Leesa and Clay took me to Baltimore to see the fishies

Rosie and Bud

Flew up to Maryland. Middletown to be exact. To see my aunt and uncle. It was nice to spend time with them and catch up and relax.

Rosie's flower beds

Sabbath lunch with family

with Leesa, my cousin

shopping with Clay

Clay's new toy :)

He found this flower out in the grass. Growing up, it was my favorite flower. 

Kannusruoho in Finnish, I really have no clue in English. I think it might be a weed though :D

90+ F (32 C) pool :)