This article confirms why Dustin and I love Portland so much and why we began to despise Tampa. In the list of angriest cities, Tampa ranked #12 while Portland ranked #96!!! Can you believe that!! I also want it noted for the record, that out of the top 20 angriest cities 5 are in Florida!! With the number 1 and 2 spots being in Florida!! Yet another ironic note, Orlando, supposedly the HAPPIEST place on earth (because of Disney) is ranked the #1 ANGRIEST city!! The irony abounds and we can now safely laugh from thousands of miles away. Goodbye anger, frustration, and apathy, hello love, community, and hope. =)

On a more serious note, we honestly can see a major difference in people between Tampa and Portland. I think most of it is because of driving and traffic. Tampa is a city where everyone must and does drive. Portland is a city where everyone sometimes drives and doesn't have to unless they want to. It makes a huge difference.

To all my Tampanians, I will pray for your road rage.

So as not to sound redundant, I'll let you read Dustin's blog to hear about our time in Mormon country. We stayed in Boise last night and FINALLY arrived in Portland today!!! WE ARE HERE!!! And i can't even convey how excited emotionally and physically we are to just be here already. Our road trip was great, God totally kept us safe even with our "Service Engine Soon" light on for the last 2 days. I will never forget this experience and yet i do not wish to drive ever again....or maybe for a few years atleast. The next few days will be spent with Dustin looking for a part time job and me, um, i don't really know. we move into our studio on Friday evening which just can't come soon enough.

Thanks to all for your prayers, phone calls, and emails. I will be posting pics of the new place soon enough. For now, I lie stretched out and watch TV. Ah...I love not driving.

I feel like every day of our travels brings new beautiful surroundings and yet continual weariness of actually driving with a trailer. Wyoming and Salt Lake definitely redeemed the drive.

















Wyoming has these huge and strange rock formations in the midst of wide open range.
















This is the view of Salt Lake from our AWESOME executive suite hotel room!! Salt Lake is a very pretty city. Their suburbs are probably the most gorgeous suburbs I've ever seen. See pic below.
















We are SO excited to be in Salt Lake for two nights. Just knowing that we don't have to get up and start driving again tomorrow almost brings me to tears...seriously.

Day 2 could best be described as BORING!! Eastern Kansas is beautiful with bright green rolling hills, so gorgeous (unfortunately I didn't take a pic). Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, however, is very boring. The most interesting thing we saw were signs for roads that were named letters instead of numbers like we are use to. Pathetic, I know.

















The day was redeemed by our time with Doug and Liz. It was great getting to stay with them in Fort Collins. I feel like they are very similar to Dustin and I as a couple which was weird and encouraging all at once. We forgot to get a pic with Doug and Liz, dang.

We spent about 10 hours driving on this first day of our road trip. I'm definitely glad that the rest of our days will only be about 7 hours. I can tell i'm getting older b/c my body aches all over after driving for that long. Dustin has done most of the driving (thank God!), so I'm left with trying to entertain myself and Dustin too (although he says he doesn't need entertaining, but how can he not?)

We visited from friend from high school in prison. Dustin wrote a bit about it. It was a strange experience but was as positive as it could have been because of his outlook on the whole situation. It was so exciting to see his new faith in Jesus and his anxiousness to follow Him wherever he might lead.

We arrived in Salinas in the evening and chose between the Best Western and the Log Cabin Inn which advertised "Telephones". I'll let you guess which one we picked.

All is well with the Bagby's roadtrip. One day down, 4 more to go!!

We have a family friend who recently died of cancer. Dustin and I had a chance to see him when he came to Tampa to visit the world renowned Moffit Cancer Center with hopes of good news. I remember Jerry to be a life of the party kind of guy. He has been a friend of my parents ever since I was about 5 years old. They have ridden motorcycles together all over North America, went on family vacations together, shared the every day moments of life together, and were neighbors for a few years. Jerry has always loved beautiful women and beer. He always kind of looked like Don Johnson from Miami Vice in a way. A few months back he was diagnosed with cancer. My dad and cousin Jimmy who is also a good friend had been helping Kim, his wife, take care of him. My dad and Jimmy would take shifts sitting with him everyday. Everyday for the last 3 months my dad has sat with Jerry. He’s helped to plant Jerry’s garden, he’s installed a wheelchair ramp, he’s cleaned his house, brought him meals, visited him in the hospital, and helped to deliver bad news to friends and family. I have never witnessed such an act of friendship in all of my life. My dad was drained, emotionally and physically and yet he continued to give to his friend. Every day he committed more and more to this dying man. Through his dying experience Jerry realized mistakes he’d made in life. He was baptized about two month ago and spent most of his last days reflecting on all that’s he’d overlooked in life. We rejoiced with him in his baptism and reminded him of all the great memories we have together. But I know that he still felt so much regret.

When someone is dying, there is a longing for it to just be over, felt from both the dying person and their friends and family. The reality of death is so heavy, it’s hard to bear. I have no idea how my dad has done it. How he sat with his long time friend hour after hour in order to help him die. How he looked at his deteriorating body and remained encouraging. How he didn’t break down every day. My dad could easily be where Jerry is now. My dad has smoked all of his life and I have dreaded a similar death for him for years now (sorry if that sounds morbid). I pray my dad doesn’t have to go through what Jerry is going through. But I know if he does that his friends and family will be there to take care of him too. Isn’t that what friends are for? To make you smile in those last moments as they have done in so many before that. To help you sleep peacefully knowing you were loved, in sickness and in death.

My heart goes out to Kim, his wife, and Tammy and Stacie, his daughters. How do you move on? What do the days look like now that someone who took up so much of those days is gone? I will post a picture once I find them again after the move so the whole world can see the beauty that was Jerry. We miss him already.

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

I feel like i want to scream, "I love you lonely people. Let my love help you not feel so lonely." I realize that this isn't my place, but rather the reserved spot for Jesus. I can only imagine how Jesus feels knowing ALL of the lonely people when i know only a few. My heart can't bear it and neither can theirs. I love you lonely people.

So, we think we have our apartment. After A LOT of debate and stress and trying to figure out what the best thing or us would be, we have decided to go with a basement studio apartment in an old Victorian home. The rent is so great, the location can't be beat, and the landlords are super nice. But, let's be honest, it's a STUDIO for TWO OF US!!! Dustin and I are determined to make it work b/c we have the long term goal in mind of owning a home next year. Soooooo.....out of town guests will be either extemely snug or out some cash when visiting. We apologize for any inconvenience this may be to our family or friends, but unless you want to buy us a home you'll just have to deal with it for now. =)

Having made the decision, we are very excited to just know where we'll be living and can start to plan accordingly. Our minds may or may not change by tomorrow morning, i'll keep you posted.

Well, our first day of looking for apartments is to no avail. We put in an application for one but another girl got hers in first, so we're in line for it. We're off to look again today, feeling quite frustrated and desperate. This is a lot harder than we had expected. Please be praying for our sanity and a place to call home.

We arrived safely in Portland last night. After a LONG day of traveling, we were so glad to get to our new friend Sarah's house. It took us 1 1/2 hours to rent our car from the Seattle airport, very frustrating. It reminded me of the Seinfield episode, "You know how to TAKE the reservation, you just don't know how to KEEP the reservation." We reserved an intermediate size car, of course they overbooked and didn't have one, so they were graciously going to give us a Dodge Caravan...Uh, um...no thank you. We talked them into a Jeep Liberty so all is well, but it's the principle behind the thing.

I digress, we are apartment hunting today. Will post pics of our new place once we find it, hopefully that will be today. The weather here is BEAUTIFUL and we love it here already. We feel like we were made to live here. Can't wait to have visitors!!!

Dustin and I are making our trek to Portland via Illinois. We’re spending basically the month of August in IL visiting family and friends. I LOVE coming home. There is nothing greater I believe than coming to my hometown of Marshall and to my family. I know that I’m partial to my family, but I can honestly say with the most objective view I can muster that I have the greatest family in all the world. I laugh here, I sleep here, I eat TONS here, I rest here, I sit on porches here, I play games here, I shop here, I reflect here, I love here. There are times when I’m at home that I get extremely lazy in everything. I said to Dustin that there’s something about marshall that makes me want to sleep all the time. It’s so strange. This time however, I believe do to life circumstances, I am feeling even more energetic, appreciative, reflective and really like a sponge. I want to savor every moment here. I think this is for a variety of reasons.
1) I’m married now and I want Dustin to love my family and my hometown for all the same reasons that I do.
2) I have nieces and only seeing them once or twice a year knocks the wind out of me, I hate it. So the time I do have with them I want to cherish and lock up in a box for later when I’m missing them and being a part of their life so much.
3) We are moving to Portland which is even further away from my family. I’m starting a “real” job where I can’t just take time off whenever I want and therefore will be missing the holidays at home for the first time in my life!! Very bummed. 4) An old friend of the family recently died of cancer. I’ll write more about this later.

For all of the above reasons, I just can’t get enough of my small town. It’s such a strange feeling however. Part of me longs for adventure, to move to a new city (which we’re doing) and to make a life of my own somewhere. Another part of me wants so much to settle down by my family in Marshall and be a part of their everyday lives. To know all of the ups and downs. To raise my kids around their cousins and aunts and uncles. For Dustin to be a part of Marshall like my dad became a part of Marshall. Does anyone else feel pulled in this way? I’ve talked to many who are feeling pulled in the same directions. I have no answers for this, except to say I’m happy. Sure there are moments when I miss being a part of what’s going on somewhere else in the world. But I have no regrets concerning life choices. I am happy and at peace with where I am in life right now. I’m at peace knowing there is growth to come and wanting it so bad. And I am happy knowing that there is so much good out there to be had and known, that leaving home allows me to experience even more happiness. I miss you Marshall, you will forever be my first love and my comfortable shoe.

We saw M. Night Shamalan's new movie, Lady in the Water, and i loved it. I left with a well of emotion inside of me, inspired by hope, saddened, and excited all at the same time. that is the making of a great movie, in my opinion.

not for sure why i loved the movie so much. i see it in the same genre as a Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings, a simple story that clearly depicts good from evil, hope of mankind, faith in the ordinary, purpose for each individual, the need for others in our lives to help us to accomplish our purpose and even give purpose to others, and courageous victory in the end. i recommend viewing this movie through child like eyes, allow yourself to get caught up in how scary the evil creature is that lurks in the grass, the beauty of lady in the water, the sadness of hopelessness that so many humans live with everyday, etc. i love that this timeless story is set in modern day. i have lived in many apartment complexes, have i ever thought that i was brought there for a purpose? no, the rent was cheap or the view was great and that's it. why don't we view the world as more connected? why don't we view our lives as more purposeful? why don't we look around and see how we can each help each other? do we know our gifts and use them?

this movie was such a strange mix of suspense that targets adults and yet a simple bedtime story for a child. i have loved all of M. Night shamalan's movies and this one did not disappoint.

I have begun a blog b/c I have just left my home and friends yet again and don’t want to lose touch. I love change and I enjoy moving and living in different places. I love meeting new people and wondering how I ever lived without them. What I absolutely despise is losing touch years later with these same people. People that I love dearly, that I care about deeply, that have made me laugh in so many ways, people that somehow have been pushed out of my life as easily as they were pushed into it. I vow to blog in order to combat that phenomenon b/c I love the people in my life and want to continue to “talk” with them. I want my blog to be a forum where friends can remain friends. Another reason I want to blog is b/c I need therapy of sorts. I find myself slipping into superficial at an alarming speed. I want to remain real not only with my friends but with myself as well. I hope this blog will do just that. Thank you blog world for allowing me a chance for expression, to take the time to write down these thoughts and feelings that otherwise I may have lazily passed up.