By the Numbers

I've racked my brain to think of a concise way to sum up my two months in the United States. With so much exciting news to report and so many Mexican dinners to count, I decided to attempt to condense my thoughts into a "By the Numbers"-style list. Let's hope this works...

Cris's Trip to the US, By the Numbers

2: Number of eye infections with which I arrived in the United States on February 4
0: Number of eye infections with which I left Natal on February 3

16: Number of times I ate at a Mexican restaurant
2: Number of times out of the 16 that I was by myself at Taco Bueno

3: Number of weeks it took for me to find churches to cover my salary, work fund, and oversight
2: Number of churches that are overseeing my work, paying my work fund, and paying my salary (shout out to the Westover Hills Church of Christ in Austin, TX, and the Springtown Church of Christ in Springtown, TX.)

3: Number of roadtrips I made to Texas
1: Number of times I redeemed frequent flyer miles to go to California

5: Number of days a week, on average, I slept in
6: Number of days a week my sweet mom let me sleep in if I wanted to

2: Number of times I saw snow
1: Number of times the snow was deep enough to play in it and build a snowman

20: Number of dollars I spent one day at Old Navy to buy 6 shirts...which leads me to:
6: Number of shirts I bought at Old Navy for a total of 20 dollars!!!!!

4: Number of former roommates I got to see and play with
1: Number of former honorary roommates I got to see and play with (shout out Jeff Duncan, thanks for sharing your wife with us!)

30+: Number of fundraising letters I sent out
10: Number of contributors who responded to said letters and made generous contributions (up until this point)

2: Number of times I paid money to eat a cupcake at "Cuppies & Joe"
2: Number of cupcakes I bought the second time I went to C&J, they were that good

3: Number of times I attempted to drive a standard
0: Number of times I felt good about my attempts

5: Number of times I went to Wal-Mart
2: Number of times I went to Wal-Mart in the last 24 hours of my time in the US

8?: Number of times I went to the eye doctor trying to get my prescription just right
1.5: Number of years for which I now have a supply of contacts

2: Number of times I went to a nail salon to get a manicure OR pedicure "just because"
0: Number of times I had ever done that before when I lived in the US...(Disclaimer: Brazil has totally ruined me on this. In Natal I can get weekly mani/pedis for less than US$10. You would too...)

3: Number of episodes of "Dancing with the Stars" that I watched
3: Number of times I was embarrassed about that

3: Number of aunts with whom I watched "Mamma Mia"
2: Number of days it took me to get songs like "Take a Chance on Me," "Dancing Queen," and, the worst, "Super Trooper," out of my head after said watching

5: Number of times a week, on average, that I talked to people in Natal
5: Number of times a week, on average, I wished I was still in Natal

3: Number of years I have committed to stay working with the church in Natal
?: Number of years God has planned to keep me here

So there we have it. My 2 months and 1 week summed up into a catchy little list. I got back to Natal on Friday and have loved every minute of being back. For the next couple of weeks I will be doing some re-settling things, and then will be getting in gear to start hosting our LST teams for the summer.

Speaking of summer, the whole time I was gone everyone in Natal kept telling me that it was the hottest it had ever been. People who have lived here for years had never experienced such heat. I, of course, was dreading coming back to the heat after having such a pleasantly cool time in the US. However, God smiled down on me (and showed mercy to those who have endured it this whole time) and has sent cool, rainy days our way since I arrived. I'm hoping since summer went long, rainy season will come early? A girl can dream...