shirley temple: the russian spy

I've been meaning to post something about my recent & AWESOME trip to our nation's capital last wknd, so jus tnow getting to it. But it was a perfect 3 days w/ 2 of my favorite amigas, Lori & Virginia....So you see that blond-headed, sweet-looking girl in b/w Virg & I? She looks harmless, right? Well, don't be deceived! This 26-yr-old Shirley Temple-look-alike is actually a US spy!!! No, jk. Whenever Virginia & I can't get a hold of Lori for months at a time, we like to joke around that she is on a mission to Russia, kinda like Alias. But she does work at the Pentagon and is the 'Country Director' for both Mexico & Canada for our Dept of Defense. She took us into the Pentagon so we could see where all the magic happens, and a picture she had at her desk still makes me giggle when I think about it: it's a pic of about 30 middle-aged men in their military uniforms (mostly Mexican military officials), looking very much like you would expect Mexican military officials to look...and then there's Lori. sweet Lori, with blond ringlets and a big smile on her face. :-) She calls it her "Where's Waldo?" picture. It is priceless.

I wanted to post about her b/c I am just so proud of her. She is brilliant when it comes to foreign policy, internat'l relations, & just anything to do w/ our country's history & gov't. The bottom pic is of her, our personal tour guide, giving us a schpeal on the Korean WAr in front of the memorial. VA and I definitely picked her brain while we were there, as she is a wealth of information, so it was an equally fun & 'educational' trip. I am just somewhat in awe of this girl and all that she does & all that she knows. Rest assured that there are really wonderful people like Lori that work in our government. Praise God they're not all corrupt!