and so it ends...

The paperwork has been signed, the interviews have been held, my pink card (which gave me accreditation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) has been turned in, and I'm no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. I was joking that I wasn't quite an RPCV (returned Peace Corps Volunteer) yet, since I'm still in Ukraine, so some of us decided that we are ILPCVs (In Limbo Peace Corps Volunteers).

It's been a wonderful twenty-seven months, and I wouldn't have wanted to have spent it any other way. It's not that everything was perfect, or that there haven't been times when I wanted to go home, or that I accomplished everything I set out to. That's not Peace Corps. But I learned two languages (more or less), taught some kids some English (and a lot more about different types of teaching), disproved a lot of stereotypes about Americans (and created a few more...my girls wanted to know if all US women wear skirts all the time), had a successful long-distance relationship, got a better idea of what I want to do with my life, and made some wonderful friends who, even with the distance, I hope to keep in touch with.

It's been a good life. And I've been so blessed. God is good!

I'll be starting a new blog at some point in the next few weeks, so keep checking back here for the address. I may also blog here a few more times, just about the trip back and the readjustment process. To all my readers, both those I know in real life and those I don't, thanks so much for reading...your comments have been the impetus I've often needed to keep writing my posts. I hope you've been amused, entertained, and perhaps, once in a while, inspired.

So...go change the world. Just a teeny teeny teeny tiny little itty bitty bit. That's what I think I did, just a little.