Welcome to the Jungle....

At this writing, we have interviewed in two more states and accepted a job at Mississippi School for the Deaf. We are currently in California and planning our trip back to the South... with a slight detour through Seattle, just for the heck of it. Really because we owe it to our kids. As for our mental status, we go from "What the &(*#($ are we doing" to "GO GOD" to "Life is a highway... we're gonna ride it, all (life) long...."So rather than getting all wordy let me share with you some visuals. We're moving to the land of the Bayou... yes there are alligators... if you are having a hard time picturing me there, just imagine this!!"I went sky diving... rocky mountain climbing....

and I loved deeper.....spoke sweeter....

I gave forgiveness I'd been denying...

Yes I hope someday you'll get the chance:

to live like you were dying...."

Golf balls and Graduation....

At the Gallaudet graduation last May a speech was given that went something like this (paraphrased)....



Once there was a group of golfers playing a round out on a course. As they were playing, they noticed everytime someone hit a ball, it could not be found at the place they thought it landed. This continued on for some time... a nice hit to the green, a ride to the green and... no golf ball. They began to search harder and noticed that some of the balls were off in obscure locations. Sometimes in the rough, sometimes even closer to the pin. Since this was such a persistent problem, they had several opportunities to decide what to do about it: do we start over at the tee? Move the ball back to where we think it should be? Or should we just hit it from its new location and continue the game?



The golfers agreed that for the joy of the game, they should just find the ball and play it from the new spot. It added a little excitement, not knowing exactly where the ball was situated. It added new challenge, hitting from an entirely new location. It added some humor and humility, for there was no way to know who was in the lead. They found that as they welcomed the new challenges, low and behold the game was even more enjoyable than their traditional way to play...



What they didn't know was that along the entire 18 hole course, groups of mischievous monkeys sat hanging out in the trees, waiting for balls to be hit near them. As soon as one landed, they ran down out of the trees, picked up the ball and tossed it wherever they felt like aiming. Then they climbed back up the trees and made a good sport of watching the golfers figure out how to play....



The point of the speech being: better to be ready to play your ball, wherever it may be tossed. Things don't always work out as we plan, and what good is it to fight the monkeys?? Keep the joy of the game.

I remember loving the speech as I saw it, and I think I like it even more now. You see, it seems as if some monkeys might have tossed our ball to Mississippi.... and we are going pick it up, and play it.

Love~Cher

VA-KY-TN

We left Gallaudet with mixed feelings of relief, sadness, and anticipation... as the Graduation ceremony in May was the highlight of our celebrating the accomplishment, this departure was tinged with the prospect of not seeing our Gally family again and the closure of this "travel to DC every summer" chapter of our lives. Dear, dear friends and amazing growth.

We drove straight back to Kentucky, all crammed up in Toby, then jumped back in Winnie and are now traveling South for some job interviews and hopefully the West Coast. It's a little ironic, actually, as we were all pretty excited about the prospect of Sabbatical being over... yet in reality, it feels as if its truly just beginning. Gone are the days of picking our city, working VRS, and exploring America on a whim... days where we were very much still in control of our destiny...

"Leaving Gallaudet" by Josiah

It's hard to leave a place that you've been going to half your life.! Every summer I've been coming here and it feels like home. I love gally!

There is the all famus G

BYE BYE GALLY

THANKS GALLY

i am very very very very sad

Update....

well I'll be a fried egg on the sidewalk....

I did it!! We are DONE!!!

It has been a hot, busy month out here at Gally... with Cheryl forging through the last month of classes and Greg going from State baseball tournaments to as many free museums as possible. He and the kids were supposed to post pictures, by the way, and they just might get to that....
someday....
Meanwhile, the Kalers are packing up and ready to head out to phase GOD ONLY KNOWS. The job options in Los Angeles have not panned out, so we are keeping our eyes and hearts open for other possibilities. We just might take you through some of them if you hang with us awhile longer in the journey... we leave Saturday to reunite with Winnie in Kentucky, then are making our way South.

(Yes, its been 100 degrees and disgustingly humid in DC. And we are going SOUTH. Don't you wanna join us??!)

It is with great pride, gratitude, humility and wonder that we have made it this far, and now Cheryl (officially) has a Masters in School Counseling to show for it. I believe I feel a party in the air....

Love n hugs.... the Kalers

Berea and Bandages....

We've been wanting to learn more about the Appalachian culture while we've been here, so we took a day to visit the artistic community of Berea. It is located in the foothills of the Appalachians and is a town that was built around one of the first biracial and anti-slavery colleges (founded in 1850.) It is a tuition free liberal arts college where students work 10 hours a week to pay for classes. A lot of them make Appalachian crafts, including weaving, brooms, wood working, and making instruments. We happened upon a log cabin porch where there was a group playing dulcimer music... they were super sweet and stopped everything to show the Kalers how its done.

We also scored on some crafty items and a glass bead making demonstration- pure joy for the crafters in the family.. definately a must stop for you fellow travelers out there!

Meanwhile, back at the baseball camp, we took a break from the Louisville Slugger routine and decided to work on our balance.

Guess who worked the hardest??

White Sox, by JJ

JJ had a great season playing on the White Sox in Danville/Boyle County, Kentucky. He made it on the 10 year old all star team, and guess what!!
They won districts and went on to State!