A Sweet Fragrance

ooohhh...we're halfway there!

2012-02-11T18:26:00.000-08:00

Our sweet little bundle of joy is half a year old! With all that we've put him through the first 6 months of his life, I have to commend him for really going with the flow and being cool, calm, and collected. Starting at 3 months of age he has hopped from one location to another, stayed in a variety of hotels and cribs, been on 6 plane rides, and received a passport. It was nice having somewhat of a routine while it lasted. But Little Man has done better than any of us at constantly adjusting to new surroundings.

I figured I would give y'all a few pictures of life lately for our little man.

Play time!

Bath time!

Social time!

He really likes checking himself out in the mirror.

Sittin' up like a champ!

"where are my keys?"

2012-02-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

If I had to give a ~~dollar~~, ~~quarter~~, let's just say a dime to someone everytime I asked "where are my keys" or something along those lines...I would be in dime-debt. It's true. For as long as I've had to carry a ring of keys around, I've always had this tendency (a nice way to say 'problem') of losing/misplacing them. Alright, why am I talking about this? I promise, for once, this is not a rabbit trail. But rather than jump right to the key point of my post (pun very much intended), I'd rather wait until the end to pull this all together. Join me as I tell you about the nemesis that I was forced to live with, my keys. I promise, there is a valid and really deep point to this.

Long before I was of driving age, I desired to have a ring of keys just like my parents. I collected keys that my parents no longer needed, put them on a ring, and then put a bunch of random keychain trinkets on it. You know...a rabbit's foot, a little silver dolphin, my name made from beads...basically I wanted to fill up my keychain so it made me feel important. What was it used for? Absolutely nothing.

Once I turned 15, I started to build my collection. Basically I took away a few of the useless keychains and put a house key and MY FIRST CAR KEY onto the ring. Having a ring of keys at this point was like my first taste of independence. It was a right of passage...a sign of maturity...I was a licensened driver. I was already burning CD's to hang on my visor. This was pre-ipod days, people.

OK, flash forward to 18. Driving wasn't so cool anymore but that's alright because now I'm off to college! I gain another key, the key to my first home-away-from-home. I also get a mailbox key. What's the count now? Four I think.

I graduate and get a job as a 1st grade teacher. What do they hand over to me? A key to my classroom. I add it to my collection. However, this key was hardly ever used because it hardly ever worked. Still, I was proud of it because it was like a little trophy. My first job.

Now that I had a "big person job"...I needed to do something with all this money in the bank. So, naturally I was super excited (sarcasm) about paying the bills/rent of my first house living on my own. What came with it? A key, of course. At this point I was able to do away with a mailbox key because now I had a real mailbox...keyless entry.

Several months and one holy matrimony later, my home becomes our home. Other than gaining the key to his heart (I intentionally did that because it was too corny to pass up), I also gained the extra key to his car. This complicated my life a bit because we both had Hondas and our keys were identical. Awesome.

Alright, let's recap. I have a key to my parent's house, 2 car keys, a key to our duplex, a key to my classroom. Five keys plus my little keyless entry button thingy, one decorative keychain, and a little bottle of hand sanitizer (remember...I worked with 6 year olds all day). Can we say BULKY?? How I was able to lose my keys so much is beyond me. But I did.

Over the past several months, I've had to remove keys from my keyring. It started with my classroom key after I packed up my classroom. My parents moved so I removed their old house key. Once we finally left Auburn, I took that key off and left it for the ones who would move in after us. Finally, I handed over my car keys to my younger sister and returned D's Honda key to him. And that was that. No more keys. Wow. Suddenly, I found myself mourning the loss of all my keys. For 8 years I carried those things with me everywhere. I still find myself pausing and looking around before I walk out the door because I'm so use to grabbing them before I head out. What was once a nemesis is now a nostalgic afterthought. The last thing I thought I would feel sad about is getting rid of my keys. Actually, I never thought that would make me sad. But when you think about it, your keys represent little pieces of you and what you own. When you get rid of a key it means that whatever it went to either doesn't work or doesn't belong to you anymore. Normally, one key replaces another and it doesn't take any sort of emotional toll on you. But getting rid of all my keys in a timespan of 6 months...that was a little rough. It was a very visual representation of all the things I no longer own. All in good timing, the Father reminded of the parable of the rich fool (wow, fool? ouch).

"...one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions".

I find it not-so-coincedental that the passage after that talks about not being anxious. Could there be some sort of relationship between stress and the amount of stuff I own? Hmmm.

I'm not trying to create and impose some sort of proverb that says "many keys means much sin". Don't get me wrong, I will soon have a collection of keys again. It's just nice to know that it is possible to survive without them and the thing that each key belonged to.

we're alive

2012-01-28T16:27:00.000-08:00

Judging by my lack of updates lately, I think it’s safe to say we’vebeen pretty busy. As much as I would have loved to peacefully sit down in frontof my computer with a cup of coffee next to me and catch everyone up on ourlife…time just did not allow it.

I'll do my best to bring you up to speed with what's been going on the past 2 weeks without bogging you down with a really long post to read.

The last week that we were at Maleigh and Grandaddy's house, we really buckled down on the sorting and packing. I have pictures of that but I'll have to upload those later. Maybe later tonight but don't get your hopes up. It's a long, cold walk from where we sleep and where we can use internet (this may or may not be....but probably most definitely is a reason for a delayed update).

Wow, can we say rabbit trail?...

We finally sorted everything down into stuff that we were taking with us to VA and stuff that we would later pack up to take with us overseas. D and Grandaddy packed our car "tetris style". No open space was wasted. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of this because my camera was one of those space fillers.

We made the journey to VA a 3-day journey because Little Man does NOT do night time riding. It's like he flips a switch to the dark side and let's us know how strong his lungs are. Because of all the points D has earned us with his credit card savviness, we were able to stay in both hotels for free. I have to brag on Little Man and say that he did a FANTASTIC job. The trip up here could not have gone better. The weather, on the other hand...wasn't its best.

Here's a picture of our last day driving. It's not snowing. Just really foggy and misty.

Now we're here. We had a very busy week that was full of information. It's all been very good and interesting...but my brain is still processing it all. See...here's the information literally overflowing from our binder...

I've started multiple "to-do" lists because I always manage to lose them. So, hopefully that gives you an idea of why this blog hasn't been updated in awhile. However, you might want to get more use to THIS pattern than my previous because I wouldn't say that internet/electricity is TOTALLY reliable where we're headed. Let's just have the motto, "no news is good news" :-)

Oh, and just FYI to all you readers...leaving comments is OK to do. In fact, I would love to hear any feedback, words of encouragement, or even a "hey, you misspelled you're and typed 'your'". But don't go crazy. I never was a big spelling bee champ. Just remember to choose your words carefully and follow my example with certain words.

Also, check out the Lift Ups and Woo-Hoos page! I managed to update that as well.

a busy week for Little Man

2012-01-13T22:48:00.000-08:00

For this week's Ff5, I thought I would dedicate it our little man. This week has been full of little milestones for him. I keep looking at him and wondering how he grows so fast. Just today I was looking for some bigger clothes for him to take with us overseas. I kept looking at the clothes thinking, there's no way he'll ever fit into these. Of course, that's what I once said about the 6-9 month onesies, which he's wearing now. OK, moving onto his little accomplishments this week:

::Friday's Favorite 5::

Little Man Edition

1. He turned 5 months old! Weighing in at 18 lbs, measuring 26 inches. He currently enjoys the tags on all of his toys, rolling over every time we put him on his tummy, sitting and standing up (with a little help, of course), eating oatmeal, bananas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. He dislikes green beans, bed time, and riding in the car at night time.

2. "I like to eat, eat, eat...apples and bananas!" I sing this song to Little Man all the time and now it's true! Well, we haven't tried apples yet but I'm pretty sure he'll love those too. About a month ago we introduced rice cereal to him for the first time. Then, we decided to do oatmeal. Now, we've slowly been adding some fruits and veggies to the menu. As I stated above, he has tried bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and green beans. Green beans did not go so well...

3. He never meets a stranger. A few days ago, we went to Bham to visit our friend Ginna. She was briefly back in the States for a friend's wedding. She's been in Macedonia for almost 2 years. Since we'll be gone by time she officially returns to America, I couldn't miss the opportunity to go see her for a little bit. Obviously, this was the first time Little Man met her. It wasn't long before he was grabbing her face and giving kisses.

We also went ahead and visited 2 more friends who live in Bham, Aunt Rach and Aunt Jessie. Aunt Rach is the one who provided us with the famous sock monkey that accompanies Little Man in his monthly pictures. Aunt Jessie gave Little Man hugs before he was even born (which made for some awkward moments for me).

4. He's a quick learner. Yesterday, Grandaddy wanted to give Little Man some water. I decided to try out one of his sippy cups. I was really surprised to see how easily he took to it. I like how they've started making sippy cups with soft mouth pieces. It doesn't seem like such a foreign object to babies, unlike the hard, plastic ones. I decided to lie him on the couch and see how long he sipped on the water. He lasted for about 3-5 minutes! I was pretty impressed.

5. Movin' on up to size 3! The diapers have been a little snug around the thighs lately so I decided to move up to a size 3. The packages for size 3 say "Huggies Movers". I guess the days of plopping him down in one spot and knowing he'll be there until I move him will soon be over...

Several Ways to Make Yourself Miserable

2012-01-12T21:25:00.000-08:00

It seems as though complaining is a lot easier to do than finding the good in things. Does anyone else out there like to play that "victim card" like I do? I'd like to think that if I were speaking on this subject in front of a large crowd, this is the part where I would hear a resounding "amen" of agreements and affirmation. Even if no one in my blog audience has a victim card (which means you must have a denial card), I know of a group of people that had plenty of them...

If you read the Good Book, you might be familiar with the love/hate relationship that the Israelites had with Moses. I wonder how many times he was asked "are we there yet?". I would like to think that I would have been the one in the passenger seat encouraging Moses to not let all those manna-haters get to him, but who am I kidding?

I've slowly been reading through the book Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot. I highly recommend it. That woman knows how to step on your toes (in a good way, of course). One chapter was entitled "Several Ways to Make Yourself Miserable" and I thought I would share them with you. I think this is worth typing up, printing out, and hanging up somewhere that you look every day...just as a friendly reminder. Here are some ways to make yourself miserable:

Count your troubles, name them one by one--at the breakfast table, if anybody will listen, or as soon as possible thereafter.
Worry every day about something. Don't let yourself get out of practice.
Pity yourself. If you do enough of this, nobody else will have to do it for you.
Devise clever but decent ways to serve the Father and mammon (riches or material wealth).
Make it your business to find out what the Johnson's are buying this year and where they're going. Try to do them at least one better even if you have to take out another loan to do it.
Stay away from absolutes. It's what's right for you that matters.
Make sure you get your rights. Never mind other people's. You have your life to live, they have theirs.
Don't fall into any compassion traps. If you get too involved in other people's troubles, you may neglect your own.
Don't let reading the Book and yarps get in the way of what's really relevant--things like TV and newspapers.

"A spirit of calm contentment always accompanies true godliness...It isn't troubles that make saints, but their response to troubles." (E. Elliot)

Here is a challenge I'm giving myself:
Absolutely no complaining for the next 14 days.
Feel free to join me if you'd like! If you do, leave a comment so there can be some accountability :)
I'll let you know 14 days from now how my challenge went.

wordless wednesday

2012-01-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

a belated Ff5

2012-01-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been a busy one for sure! I could have typed up this post on Friday, but then I would have been missing precious time with family. You gotta keep your priorities straight! :)

a BELATED Ff5

::Friday's Favorite 5::

1. Before the New Year (am I really that behind on my favorite five??), D, Maleigh, Grandaddy, Aunt Bec, Little Man, and I went to Bham Zoo to see the "Zoo Light Safari". The zoo was decorated all over with Christmas lights. We went on a train ride, rode on the carousel, walked through a petting zoo, went on a hay ride. Little man took a little snooze for part of the visit, but fun was had by all!

2. The same night that we went to the zoo, we stayed at Gran and Papa's. We didn't want to have to make the long trip back to Maleigh and Grandaddy's house that late at night. The next morning, we ate at IHOP! It was Papa's idea and I believe it was a great one. We all got to hang out and chat while someone else did the cooking for us (and not Gran this time)! I had the CinnaStack pancakes. DELICIOUS!

3. D and I have been doing a lot of "tweeks" on our blog, you may have noticed. I hope you can excuse a lot of the construction that has been going on lately. We're beginning to have more of a joint effort at this blogging thing. But I'm excited to announce a few of the changes made:

Now, you only have to type ".com" after our domain name and not "blogspot.com"
D and I will both be participating in blog posts. In the future, if you're curious to know which one of us wrote the post, just look at the very bottom of the post and see who it was "posted by". It will either be "The Mrs." or "The Mr."
I've added labels to a lot of our posts. A collection of the labels can be found at the bottom of every page.
We've added several new pages that can be found across the top of the home page:

Subscribe
About Us
Lift Ups and Woo-Hoos (for yarp requests and praise reports)
The Deal Guru (D's page for great deals)
DIY
Photo365 --check out that page! I added the first week of photos!

4. Little Man has had a few milestones lately. He's cut his first TWO bottom teeth, he rolls over very well now, and he's also added oatmeal and bananas to his diet!! Where does time go?? I wish I could get a picture of his teeth but he always sticks his tongue out and hides them. The ease he has with rolling over makes tummy time even harder. However, I think he'd rather just skip the whole crawling phase and go straight to walking. He always insists on standing up. As far as meal times are concerned, he knows exactly what a bowl and spoon means and becomes very eager when he sees me getting his food ready.

5. This past weekend, we made a very quick but enjoyable trip to Memphis to see some of my dad's side of the family. None of them had had the opportunity to meet our little man yet. He got to meet Daddy G and Jules, Gran, Uncle Sean and Aunt Heather, and Michael and Abigail (I guess they would be his second cousins). My dad and sister were there this weekend as well. We also got ourselves a nice helping of Memphis bbq. One of my favorite things about this visit was an idea that my dad had. More about that idea can be found on the Photo365 page. Here's a picture that might peak your interest:

wordless wednesday

2012-01-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Contextualization and Wicked (Spoiler Alert)

2012-01-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

On our recent trip to New York we went to see Wicked: The Untold Stories of the Witches of Oz. For those of you who have not seen the musical, it's the backstory to the familiar film The Wizard of Oz. In The Wizard of Oz the audience sees Dorothy's perspective. In Wicked the audience gets to see the perspective of the residents of Oz and what was going on before Dorothy unexpectedly arrived.

When Dorothy arrived she didn't really put a lot of effort into trying to understand the situation beyond what was immediately obvious to her based on her worldview. Her conclusions were horribly inaccurate. She concluded that Elphaba was wicked and that Galinda/Glinda was good. She didn't understand where the tin man, the cowardly lion, or the scarecrow came from. She did come to understand that the wizard was a fraud, but she didn't understand that the wizard had collaborated with Madame Morible in a scheme to mislead the citizens of Oz.

Basically Dorothy came into a situation as a foreigner, made quick judgments about what was going on, and proceded to act in a way that she felt was the best response to the situation. The problem is that she misevaluated the situation which lead to her trying to kill the "wicked" witch, Elphaba, even though she was actually good.

As one who will be interacting with a new culture soon, it's important that I not arrive as a foreigner, make quick judgments, and immediately begin to act based on my assessment of the situation. Dorothy arrived into a situation that had been brewing for quite some time. We'll soon arrive into a situation that has rich history full of conflict, heroes, and villains. We don't want to arrive and immediately try to kill the wicked witch only to find out later that she was actually good.

top 5 events of 2011!

2011-12-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

With the 2011 year coming to a close, I thought I might briefly spotlight the "top 5" events that took place the past 12 months (in the order each one happened):

1. We got to be a part of one of the most phenomenal Toomer's Corner celebrations I've ever seen. National Champs! War Eagle!

2. D graduated from his master's program with his fellow 5 interns. ptL that every one of them landed a job at a fellowship. This is really good news for D and I since we'll be needing some fellowships for yarp warriors and volunteer teams!

3. Probably (ok definitely) my FAVORITE event this year was adding an adorable baby boy to our family on August 8th. Weighing in at 7 lbs. 14 oz...and now weighing double that, we have enjoyed every OUNCE of him.

4. The last time I dressed up for Halloween was my freshman year in college. I dressed as the Energizer bunny and a friend of mine dressed up as a battery. I didn't know my darling husband then...but he was at the same party as me and he was dressed as Quail Man from that hit series in the good ol' 90's, "Doug". Are you dying to see a picture? You know you are...

With awesome costumes like this...we were destined to be together.

OK, flash forward to 2011. We're married. We have a baby. We HAVE to dress up. So we dressed up as the "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" trees and Little Man dressed as a monkey. We didn't plan on entering any costume contest downtown but ended up winning 3rd place for "Best Dressed Group". Booyah.

5. Celebrating Christmas with our Little Man was so fun. Even though he won't remember it, we will :) Also, getting to spend time with our families and seeing them interact with Little Man was heartwarming.

So there you have it, my top 5 picks for the year of 2011!

Wishing you a Happy New Year from our family to yours!

traditions...old and new

2011-12-28T20:40:00.000-08:00

This is by far my favorite time of the year. Sonostalgic. As soon as theunpacking of ornaments, decorations, stockings, Christmas dishes, etc begins…youinstantly begin to take a walk down memory lane. You can hear Christmas musicplaying everywhere you go. The malls bring out their lights and wreaths. Evenautomobiles are decked out with reindeer antlers and big red bows. It seems toall come and go so quickly. Since this year was extra special...first, beingthat it was our little man’s first Christmas…and second, that it’s going to bea few years from now before we’re celebrating this season in the States again…Iwas sure to take plenty of pictures!

One of the oldest traditions I can remember while growing upis watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve. Watching that movie nevergets old! This might be a tradition that D and I continue to do as westart to develop some new traditions of our own.

A recent tradition that started only a few years ago with mydad and sister is the making of the “chocolate covered cherry mice”. But if youwant a taste, you better act fast.These little guys don’t stick around very long. I was sure to document their existence since their average lifespan is about 2 hours.

Once my sister and I were no longer in the age bracket of making those fantastic stick, glue, pom-pom, rik-rak ornaments at school, we each chose a hallmark ornament series to start collecting. We put a lot of thought into our selection...she started collecting kitten ornaments and I started collecting puppy ones. So original. Each year we would get the next ornament in the series. This year, I didn't continue on with my puppies...but I did make a stop by Hallmark to get my little man his first ornament. I got a shot of his ornament next to my first ornament on the Christmas tree.

At each of our homes, little man got a stocking. At Mimi and Pop's house, his stocking will have a jingle bell added at the toe. At MaLeigh and Grandaddy's house, he got a handmade stocking..just like I got when I joined the family.

Little man loved all the wrapping paper that was flung about as presents were opened. He eventually developed his own style of unwrapping (shown by a picture below). He has more toys than he knows what to do with now. But I think his first present became his favorite...his buddy Scout. It was friendship at first sight (sorry Mr. Sock Monkey...)

It's been really fun adding our little man into all of the family traditions that have been around long before his arrival into this world. I'm already thinking of the new traditions I want to add for next year. :)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

There's really nothing more to this post other than to wish everyone who keeps up with our crazy life a very Merry Christmas! We cannot thank you enough for the yarps, love, and support that you have given us over the years.

Here's a quick family picture we took after fellowship this morning..our little man was ready for a nap :)

There will be more pictures from Christmas day to come later, when I have more energy :)

In light of celebrating our Savior's first coming, let's also long for the day of His second coming!

Until then, let's get the Word out!

i am determined

2011-12-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

Determined to do what, you might ask? I am determined to do a post on Friday so that I can do an "Ff5". I can't even remember the last time I made a post on Friday. And I'm cutting it pretty close as it is. I have about 47 minutes according Eastern Standard Time to get this post finished and by golly (where did that word come from??) I'm gunna do it! Let's go!

Ff5

::Friday's Favorite 5::

1. We took a trip to Tallahassee to do some Christmas shopping. Our little man always loves taking a trip to the mall. Christmas time is even better because of all the lights and decorations. All in all it was an enjoyable day spent with the family.

2. I finally started wrapping presents! I decided to be creative and go with a "theme" per se. I saw this website (and no it wasn't Pinterest this time) that showed me how to add some nifty personalization to my gift wrapping. Yes, it took longer than normal but I got nothin' but time on my hands these days. I only had glossy Mod Podge on hand but I would have rather used the matte type. But I still liked the the finished product!

3. Our little man had cereal for the first time. I was pretty amazed at how well he took it, considering it was a whole new way of eating than what he was use to. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised. I've seen him eye-ballin' my burgers and fries lately. He's even tried to take a swig of my cream soda. He's still trying to figure out how to eat out of spoon, which is to be expected. He still sticks with the sucking tactic...but it gets the job done! He's pretty impatient too. If I pause for even a second to ooh and ahh over his little milestone, he's already reaching for the spoon with a distraught "more soup please" look on his face. Before too long he'll be stealin' my french fries.

4. I took ANOTHER trip to Tallahasse today, but this time it was only with my sister. It was really fun, even though we were both told not to buy any clothes. That was difficult. Also, shoes were not allowed to be purchased. So...we purchased ACCESSORIES! Sisterly bonding is hard to do without some shopping involved. And I couldn't let some coupons go to waste...Just let me justify this however I want! I'm still going to sleep just fine on my pillow tonight. We also had lunch at this really neat place called Ghanghis Grill at my sister's request. It's this Mongolian stir fry place that's pretty impressive. If you're ever in the Tallahassee area, hit it up!

5. To end this week, we went to this really awesome Christmas shoppe in town. I've never seen anything like it. I could have stayed in there for hours just looking at everything. The building looks so small from the outside and just seems to triple in size once you walk in. Little man wanted to touch so much, but unfortunately I couldn't let him. Everything seemed so perfectly and strategically placed that I just knew something would topple over and thus cause a domino effect. I'm not sure if the pictures I took really do the place any justice but it's still pretty fascinating.

And while we were there, we went ahead and bought our little man his first stocking (for Mimi and Pop's house)

Alright, so maybe I took a little more than 47 minutes to type this, but I still made it on Friday according to Central Standard Time!

the nomadic life

2011-12-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

I can still remember when I was in history class in middle school learning about "the nomads". How they never had a permanent home, they set up camp wherever the food was, and then when the food moved...they moved. That about sums up our life these days. I've forgotten what it's like to open up drawers in a dresser or closet doors. Oh the little things...like hangers. Those are so nice. We've basically been living out of a suitcase since the beginning of November and it will continue to be that way until we can finally call some place home in SE Asia.

Well, I refuse to call this a "Ff5" if it's not Friday. However, I'm afraid to wait until Friday to do a blog post, lest I forget most of what has happened the past couple of weeks.

Our last week in Auburn...

The first day of our last week was spent lounging around and sleeping a lot. Even our little man took some longer naps than usual. We knew the inevitable was ahead of us...packing. But I was unable to find even an inkling of motivation within me. We did venture out for a little bit to take ND to his 4 month check up. Then we went to send in ND's passport application. His little picture is so cute...with his chubby wittle cheeks. I find it humorous that his passport will be good for 5 years. Do they really even need a picture? Because by time he's 5, that picture will be pretty much useless.

On Thursday, I took little man's 4 month old pictures. He and Mr. Sock Monkey didn't seem like they were hitting it off real well in the beginning. But I think the pictures show that they have really grown to enjoy one another's company.

1 month (forgot the onesie)
Doesn't even realize the monkey exists...

2 months
Ready to punch monkey where the sun don't shine...

3 months
Making jokes and laughing it up...

4 months
Huggin' it out...

We also started our moving sale early by posting most of our possessions on Facebook. I was amazed out how well that worked. Things sold so quickly and, the best part, they were sold to people I knew :) Getting rid of all our things was hard but knowing that it went to people we know and love makes parting with it a lot easier. And might I add that the Father doesn't have to make that part easier on us. He commands us to "drop everything" and follow Him. He knows that it will be hard but it's what is expected of us. But because He is a loving Father, who knows a thing or two about sacrifice (Jn 3:16), He gave me peace by simply making sure everything I held near and dear made it into the hands of someone close to me.

On Friday evening I had a going away party hosted by the one and only Jenn! I had the rare opportunity to hang out with friends I've made the past 8 years. It was a huge blessing and a much needed break from packing and selling. And I can think of no better time to be in Jenn's house than Christmas time!

Everybody do an awkward smile!

On Saturday we spent most of the day selling things, and then the last part of the day packing. The packing lasted all the way until Monday. Our goal was to leave Sunday after fellowship at Lakeview but that just wasn't gunna happen. The amount of stuff just seemed to be multiplying. I wanted to hurry up and get everything out of the house so that it would stop making baby junk. Once we finally got everything out of the duplex, I made sure to take pictures. I realized that I had never done the "after" pictures of all the renovations we took upon ourselves to tackle. Here are just a few of the before and afters...or maybe even some "after and befores" since I can't seem to upload my pictures the way I want to...

Now we're at my parents house until after Christmas and then it's off to D's hometown. While here at my parent's, we've already taken a quick weekend trip BACK to Bham for a family Christmas party with D's side of the family. Once we're in D's hometown, we'll take a quick weekend trip to to Memphis to visit some of my extended family. Needless to say, we're rarely in one place for too long. Welcome to our nomadic life.

Our Anniversary Trip

2011-12-15T15:33:00.000-08:00

I'm making a guest post today to explain exactly what we did for our recent anniversary trip to the Big Apple and how we were able to afford it. Those of you familiar with our current situation know that we're not exactly rolling in it right now. My last job was working at a yogurt shop for $8.50 an hour, and the wifey hasn't worked since the last school year ended. So how in the world were we able to stay in 4 star hotel just a couple of blocks from Times Square? How were we able to visit all of the sights we saw? How did we afford to fly into NYC? I'll let the pictures explain.....

The night before our flight we stayed at the Westin Atlanta Airport. We used 4,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points for the room. The only money we spent was $10 for parking. The nightly rate for the room when we stayed was $154.39.

Once we arrived at the airport, we didn't hang around the riffraff down in the terminal. We went to the lounges. We have free access to the lounges through one of the credit cards we signed up for.

This is the view of the tarmac from the lounge.

The lounge has plenty of comfortable seating, free wifi, snacks and drinks, and friendly Delta agents. The noise level is also significantly lower than the terminal.

The coffee machine made a nice cup 'o joe, and the price was right....free.

A nice view from the wing of a Delta McDonald Douglas 88. This flight from Atlanta to JFK in New York costs us a total of 50,000 Delta Skymiles plus $10.00 in taxes. The going rate for this flight at the time we booked it was $387.40 per person. So 50,000 points saved us $764.80. (2 * $387.40 - $10.00)

On the Delta flight we purchased 2 packs of M&M's (one of which never made it into the photo) and a box of "travel treats." One of our credit cards reimburses us for money spent on an airline of our choosing, so that money would have gone unused had we not purchased snacks.

We arrived at JFK at about noon, but our check-in time at the hotel wasn't until 3pm. To kill some time we decided to spend some time in an arrival lounge at JFK called The Oasis. It was by far the nicest airport lounge we saw on the trip. Come on Delta, get your act together. This lounge had a much better selection of snacks and drinks. It was less crowded and thus quieter. It even had a shower, which we didn't take advantage of on this trip, but it would certainly be nice after a long international flight.

This is where we camped out.

Nice shower facilities. There have been times in my travels when I would have killed for a shower. This, however was not one of those days.

Lots of snacks to choose from

We didn't take advantage of the spirits that were offered, but they were there for the taking.

We did take advantage of the coffee and other drinks that were offered.

Now for probably the nicest part of our trip. The Andaz 5th Avenue. This is easily the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in....and well out of our price range. We stayed here 4 nights, and at the time we booked our room 4 nights would have costs $2,637.42. For this hotel we used 88,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points and that's it. We didn't pay a dime out of pocket.

This is the view from the door as we walked into our room. That's the bathroom through those doors.

This was the part that really wowed us.

I don't know a lot about soap other than it makes me clean, but this seamed like really nice soap.

Each day they replenished a supply of chips, chocolates, and some sort of weird granola bar. All of the snacks and drinks were complimentary except for the alcohol which we passed on anyway.

This is the room itself which was more spacious that the pictures show.

The hotel manager left us a bottle of wine when she found out it was our anniversary. We were appreciative, but didn't really take advantage of it since we don't drink. It did make a nice gift to some family members when we returned.

After we got settled into our room we head out to see the sights. The Christmas tree next to Rockefeller Center was all lit up. If I'm not mistaken there are 5 miles of lights on the tree.

Then we made our way to the Gershwin Theatre to see Wicked. Seats on the orchestra level for the night we were there were $124 each, but we only payed $20 each. We used 10,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points plus $40 to get 2 tickets to Wicked. We both really enjoyed the show. If you get a chance to see Wicked, I would definitely recommend seizing the opportunity.

The next morning we went to Culture Espresso which was just 3 blocks from our hotel. I had my first flat white, which is popular in Australia, and a tasty donut made with fresh berries. The flat white was nothing like what Starbucks offers. It wasn't syrup-y sweet. It was a smooth nutty coffee flavor without even a hint of bitterness...very good.

We also stopped by the Love sign since it was our anniversary, visited the Apple Store, and ate lunch at The Soup Man, also known as the soup Nazi from Seinfeld. I'm guessing the changed the name to be a little more sensitive. The soup was very good, by the way. I can see why Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer went to such lengths to get the stuff.

One of the few things we paid full price for during this trip was visiting the Museum of Modern Art. It costs us $25 per person and I believe it was well worth it. I don't consider myself much of an art appreciator, but I enjoyed getting the opportunity to see some of the most iconic painting by some legendary painters.

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

Portrait of Joseph Roulin by Vincent Van Gogh

The Olive Trees by Vincent Van Gogh

Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Agapthanus by Claud Monet

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

Illuminated Pleasures by Salvador Dali

Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth

The detail in this painting was incredible, down to individual blades of grass and individual hairs.

Violin and Grapes by Pablo Picaso

Girl with a Mandolin by Pablo Picaso

The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau

Gold Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol

Double Elvis by Andy Warhol

The rest of the Museum of Modern Art was pretty ridiculous. Stay tuned for another post about some of the most ridiculous exhibits.

The next morning we slept in and ordered room service. Normally I would never order room service, but we used 10,000 American Express Membership Rewards points to get a $100 Hyatt gift card to use for breakfast. All in our breakfast would have cost us $72....insane. It was good but not worth $72. Here are some pictures.

Toast, bacon, and apple juice.

Lemon poppy seed pancakes with orange syrup

Hash browns, roasted tomatoes, and scrambled eggs

The coffee was not pictured. That's right folks, for 2 pieces of toast, 3 pieces of bacon, 1 pancake, eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, 1 juice, and 2 coffees we were charged $72. Thank goodness we had a gift card that didn't cost us anything. We had enough left on our gift card to get coffee and donuts for ourselves the next 2 mornings.

On the other days of our trip we visited the International Center of Photography and the Metropolitan Museum of Art both for free by using our Bank of American credit and debit card for entry. Bank of America has a program called "Museums on Us" which allows cardholders to enter select museums for free on the first weekend of each month. That program saved us $24 at the International Center of Photography and $50 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We didn't take pictures at these places because they didn't allow it. I wouldn't recommend visiting the International Center of Photography. It was really small and the photos weren't that great. I would, however, recommend visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is huge, and houses artifacts from all over the world. The age of these artifacts dates from thousands of years old to a few hundred years old. You could easily spend the better part of a day in there and still not see everything.

We also spent half a day in Greenwich Village, which is the setting of Friends, visiting small shops and drinking some good coffee.

Finally, it was time for us to head back to the airport and catch a flight to go see our little buddy. We really missed him while we were away.

All in, we spent redeemed a total of 168,000 points across various loyalty programs. Our credit cards saved us a total of $3,988.61. If you add together what we spent plus the value of what we got with points our trip would have cost $4,484.37. Instead we only spent a total of $495.76 which includes everything from food to parking to filling up our car with gas to buying things we forgot to pack. On this trip we saved a lot of money and had a lot of fun spending time with one another.

better late than never!

2011-12-01T10:44:00.001-08:00

I realize that I missed a Friday in blogging but it's been pretty crazy. It was inevitable that I would miss a week. Trying to type a post would have meant losing precious sleep or closing myself up like a hermit on Thanksgiving day. Neither seemed appealing to me so I decided to "wait until tomorrow"...about 5 times.

Might I also add that I'm currently sitting in one of the nicest lounges in the JFK airport that I've ever been in. All credit is due to my husband who knows all the ins and outs of points from credit cards. So instead of paying $45 per person to sit and relax in this lounge, we are enjoying the luxuries of free vending, fruit, cookies, coffee, etc...FO' FREE! He wants to type a post about all of his earnings so I'll let him give you all the details. I'll continue on with what I do...

Let's see, where do I begin? D and I celebrated 2 years of marriage on November 21st. This time, we let a little baby boy tag along. We were already in Bham because of some speaking engagements at a fellowship in the area so we decided to stay for the whole week, lest we go back and forth from Auburn and Bham for Thanksgiving travels. We all woke up in the morning, got dressed, walked around the corner from our hotel to O'Henry's coffee, and had some breakfast. Natty D seemed to enjoy lounging outside in the perfect weather.

Then, we spent a large portion of the day at the zoo! It's been about 15 years since D and I have visited the zoo...probably on a class field trip. So we actually enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. Our little man took a couple naps during our time there but he did stay awake long enough to see flamingos, storks, and other birds, some reptiles, and his favorite...MONKEYS! He could have watched the squirrel monkeys all day long. Honestly, I probably could have too.

Another fun thing we did while at the zoo was go on a train ride (with an incredibly corny conductor).

I think I'm laughing in this photo because the conductor said to say "choo choo"

Later in the week was spent with D's side of the family for Thanksgiving. We were conveniently in Bham for the Black Friday festivities. I was going to go to Target at midnight for some $5 scarves and then make my way to Belk at 3 am for some $20 boots. However, Natty D decided to take quite some time getting to sleep that night and I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep after finally getting him to go to sleep. I woke up and went shopping at 10 am...I didn't get my scarves but I did manage to get my boots. I found ONE boot my size. After searching for a little longer, I found another boot my size. I later found a box to put them in. I made my way upstairs to find the rest of the fam when D realized I got two RIGHT foot boots. I heaved a big sigh and made my way back downstairs into the war zone to try and find a lefty my size. After searching through what seemed like a dozen brown suede boots scattered about the floor, I finally found the matching left boot. I'm glad D realized that before I bought the dern things.

deals, deals, deals

it was pretty cray-cray

success!

Natty D loved the Galleria. He also visited Santa Claus. I hope Santa understands baby talk or else ND might not get anything for Christmas (that was corny...i apologize. I didn't even laugh at my own joke...). ND also learned how to prop his feet up on his stroller. I would have loved to travel his way through the Galleria.

To end the week, we spent the weekend traveling to 2 separate towns down south to visit some friends from D's intern program who now have positions in fellowships. They asked D to come speak and promote the LM offering. I was dumb and didn't get a pic of Natty D with our friends, Josh and Jessica. Sorry about that guys! But I did get a picture of ND with TL and Jack.

Alrighty, I need to bring this post to a close. As I mentioned before, we're at the JFK airport which means we're in NYC!! So I'd like to see a bit more than just this fancy lounge. Stay tuned for a post from D about the perks of points! This trip alone (plane tickets and hotel stay) is only costing us 10 buckaroos. BOOYAH.

Also, a shout out to Mimi and Pop for watching our little man for us so we can enjoy this anniversary trip. However, I do miss him terribly. Maybe one day he'll see the Big Apple...until then, I'll enjoy it for him! :)

what time zone are we in??

2011-11-18T16:49:00.001-08:00

Needless to say, I've asked myself what time zone we're in a lot lately. From Auburn to Atlanta to Richmond, VA...Richmond to Hattiesburg, MS...Hattiesburg back to Atlanta...and finally Atlanta to Auburn. We've done a lot of hopping between Central and Eastern time. Though it goes without mentioning, we have no routine anymore. And while our little man seemed to handle all of the flying, driving, and new environments really well 7 days, I think the craziness of our schedule finally caught up with him today. He has been incredibly fussy and super clingy...not having anything to do with anything except being held by mommy and daddy. Don't get me wrong..I love cuddling with him. But it's been pretty exhausting today to say the least. Even as I type this post, he is sitting in my lap. He was on his play mat RIGHT by me..but that wasn't close enough. We're leaving TOMORROW for another week of traveling and hotel rooms. I can't remember if I read this somewhere or somebody said it to me, but when everything else around a baby/child is changing, they demand a lot of closeness to their parents. So when you think about it, please lift all 3 of us up. Ask that D and I would remain close to the Father as we go through a lot of changes and do a lot of traveling. Yarp that we would be able to give our little man all the comfort he needs in order to adjust to all of these changes, just as we seek the Father for comfort in these times.

But let me move onto my Ff5 lest you think we've had a terrible past 7 days...because that is FAR from the truth!

::Friday's Favorite 5::

1. We had our first hotel stay with Natty D on Friday night in Atlanta. He loved lying on the big fluffy bed and playing with his toes. He also got to experience his new "sit-n-stroll" stroller/carseat. It's FAA approved for flying and with just one little lever, it pops out into a stroller. It reminds us a lot of a transformer. It's great for rushing through the airport making connecting flights in record time (I'm looking at you Delta).

"This stroller is AWESOME!!"

2. Saturday was D's 27th birthday! I made him an "iDad" card with little notes inside of each "app". I had also taken pictures of Natty D with nothing but daddy's red tie on. I then put 2 of those photos inside a coffee mug along with some on-the-go coffee mix. It was a quick birthday celebration before heading off to the airport!

I had wanted to take a moment a do a blog post celebrating D's birthday but I never had a free moment to do it. So I'll just say a little something now...

I cannot think of any greater man to spend the rest of my life with, to call my husband, and to be a father to Nate and any other future children the Father blesses us with. He is loving, caring, forgiving, fun, adventurous, a leader, and he's great to have around for all the heavy lifting :) I'm so thankful to the Lrod that He brought D and I together, having already called each of us individually to serve Him overseas. Though I haven't known him for all the years of his 27 years of his life, I look forward to loving him more and more each day for the next 27+ years!

3. Natty D had his first plane ride and it went great! So did the other 3 that he experienced. He slept through most of his first flight but he still earned his "wings"...which we proudly pinned on his vest. We almost missed his first flight because we lost track of time. Before I realized we had lost track of time, I sent MaLeigh with Natty D to change his stinky diaper. As D, Grandaddy and I rushed to our gate, we anxiously waited for MaLeigh and D to return (running) towards the gate. We walked onto the airplane with literally only MINUTES to spare. So I didn't handle that flight nearly as well as my little man did.

4. The majority of our week was spent at orientation in Richmond. This was my first visit to the ILC so I was glad to finally see it after so many of my friends have been here before me. The days were looooong and it became harder to wake up each morning but they were very informative. The weather was perfect and the leaves were beautiful fall colors. However, when we get there for training...it will be bitter cold and probably snowing. Awesome weather to live in right before moving to a tropical island. That should help make the transition in climates go smoothly.

The highlight of this time was the appointment service in Hattiesburg. It was such an awesome moment in time that went by so quickly. Each couple/single had to go up on stage to share their "testibyte" (a very brief testimony of calling and where we are serving). And when I brief...I mean it. D and I had a 72 word limit...that's 72 words ALL TOGETHER...not each. We had a contest to see who could say the least amount of words. I think we got it down to 6 words but we sounded like cavemen. After all 77 m's shared their testibytes (and they were all awesome!), Dr. Elliff spoke. It was inspiring, powerful, and convicting. If I find the time, I might talk about it in more detail in a post of it's own. Yeah, that's how good it was. It gets its OWN post. That's a big deal.

5. Today (Friday) was our only full day back in Auburn in between travel dates. We were pretty lazy for the most part but we went eventually came out of our cave to get D's license renewed. Later, two of my good friends came over and did a lil' photo shoot with Nate. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the best of moods (as I mentioned at the beginning of this post). But he still managed to be cute even with a bad mood. That ability doesn't stay with you as you grow. I'm pretty ugly lookin' when I have an ugly mood. I guess that's my way of saying that I'm pretty good lookin' when I'm in a good mood.

Here are some "behind-the-scenes" shots from part of the photo shoot...

what a week!

2011-11-11T00:31:00.001-08:00

I should have no trouble at all coming up with 5 things about this week that were my favorite. Actually, the hard part might be narrowing it down to 5.

::Friday's Favorite 5::

1. On Sunday, we went to the grand metropolis of Valley, AL to speak at a fellowship now led by a former intern in D's group. On a side note, that sentence was really hard for me to form for some reason...I would share all the other formations that I attempted but that would be a MAJOR rabbit trail. I digress...We had a great time! Though the congregation was on the smaller size, their love for us made up for it. I have to admit, I was pretty tired that day. I must have been running on fumes for the first half of the day because I definitely hit a wall around 4:00. It might have had something to do with the time changing and my 3 month old's internal clock NOT changing. He was wide awake and ready to get the day started at 5 a.m.!! woohoo!! Nevertheless, D and I enjoyed the time we got to spend with Matt and Rebecca and also the members of their fellowship.
**also, that same day was my sister's 15th birthday...SHOUT OUT!**

2. Even though I found this great news out on the same day as #1, I wanted to make it a separate number...my long time homegirl RACHEL T. got some BLING from her boo Cameron. My super excitement was followed by the realization that I won't be here for their big day. Sigh...and I thought they would plan their big moments like this around my schedule...geez...
ANYWHO! I was taking a walk down memory lane via facebook and there was hardly an album that she didn't appear in...so i picked a few of my favorites (this isn't even including tagged pictures...) Now I realize this isn't sentimental for most of you reading this, but hopefully you'll at least find our inability to take a serious picture humorous..

Dance partnas fo' lyfe

Congratulations friend!

3. Monday morning I finally got a chance to have a skype date with my good friend, Ginna! She currently resides in Macedonia and has been there for a year now. I didn't think I would get to see her before we moved overseas...but "thank my lucky stars!".. (a phrase ginna and i always got to hear from our biology professor) she will be briefly returning for a friends wedding in January! Right before we leave for training...wonderful timing...

Ginna's on the right and the friend getting married is on the left

pay no attention to the other 2 weirdos in the picture...all up in my bidness

but if y'all are reading this...hey alan! hey mlar!

4. Some friends of ours (who..whom?..shall not be named at this moment) shared some great news with us earlier this week. SO EXCITING! Sorry to be so vague with this one but maybe more details will show up in a later "Ff5" :) :) :)

5. Natty D turned 3 months old on the 8th. My how time flies when you still don't get a full night's rest...

Other than that, I love spending my days with him. He's my little buddy. Having him around makes me feel less crazy for talking to myself. Really...I'm running my thoughts by him and seeing if he has anything to add...

A recent discovery...

TOES!

Later today we will be heading to Atlanta to stay the night so that we can catch a flight (our FIRST flight with a baby) to Virginia for a week-long training. Then we fly to Mississippi for our appointment ceremony on Tuesday. Keep us in your thoughts as we tackle our first 2, of many..many..MANY more, flights with a child(ren)!

Also, stay tuned for a special post for a special someone's BIRTHDAY! (the big TWO SEVEN)

Oh! D also had his last day of work on Wednesday...woop woop!

See...I told you this Ff5 was going to be hard this week...

on the road again

2011-11-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

I'm shocked that I'm even sitting down to type this tonight. Everything was going somewhat smooth today until I took a moment to check out the upcoming events in my planner....WE'RE ONLY IN AUBURN FOR 10 DAYS DURING THIS MONTH! Cue the minor panic attack.

In order to calm myself...I started making lists to figure out how all this packing and unpacking was going to work. I had to get all my wandering thoughts out of me and onto paper before I started to malfunction. Basically, after this next full week, we will only be in auburn for a day and a half at a time. And each of those "day and a half's" will be used to recharge, wash laundry, repack, and head out again.

Fortunately, "His power is made perfect in my weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). Oddly enough, the scripture from my devotion this morning. You think maybe Somebody knew I was gunna freak out later in my day and eat all 6 mini cupcakes that D brought home for me? What?..

Here are some quotes from my devotional (Look Unto Me) today:

He will empty you of yourself before He will put His resources in you...Believer, are you morning your own weakness? Take courage, for you must have an awareness of your own weakness before the Lrod will give you victory. Your emptiness is the necessary preparation for being filled, and being cast down is simply preparing you to be lifted up. -- C.H Spurgeon

When I am weak, then am I strong,

Grace is my shield and Chisrt my song.

Isaac Watts

::Friday's Favorite 5::

1. All Saint's Fair on Sunday-- I already went into detail about that in the previous post so I won't elaborate.

2. On Monday (Halloween), we decided to go downtown for all of the events that were taking place. Really, I just wanted another reason to dress Natty D up as a monkey again :) D and I decided to be just coconut trees this time, not the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees. Surprisingly, that confused people a bit. All of the happenings downtown started at 6 and lasted until 8. We waited for our little man to wake up from his nap before we started to get ready. So, we didn't get downtown until about 6:45. I had heard that there would be a costume contest but I didn't really feel like entering. We hadn't been downtown for 2 minutes...actually, we were walking towards downtown when a judge approached us and asked if she could enter us as finalists into the "Best Dressed Group" costume contest. We obliged and were told that the judging would start at 7. So we literally showed up just in time for the contest with no intentions of even being in it.

While we were waiting by the Toomer's Oak trees for the judging to begin, we were able to see the other group costume finalists for the evening. There were 2 little girls dressed as "spa beauties" (??) and they even had real masks on their face. I told them they were going to have some super clean pores. There was a large group dressed as all the characters of the Wizard of Oz (they looked awesome and ended up winning first place..well deserved). Then there were 3 guys dressed as the Ghostbusters (who ya gunna call?!). One of the guys had a very close replica of the lil' vacuum pack that sucked up the ghosts. It had blinky lights and everything. He said he spent 2 1/2 years and $300 making it. I spent 2 1/2 hours and 20 bucks making our costumes. I leaned over to D and said I would feel kinda bad if we beat them. Well, lo' and behold, we got 3rd place and they got nothin. I'm thinking it's because there were no children involved in their group...so they were just 3 grown men trying to win a costume contest for an event designed for children...::creepers::

3. It might not be exciting for anyone but me, but I successfully cleaned off the table in our kitchen. I'm sure we're not the only ones that use a tabletop as a means to drop off anything and everything that you carried into the house. I was getting kinda tired of all the clutter so I cleared it all off. I temporarily cluttered it up about a day later to stuff and address envelopes with thank you letters and birth announcements. Hopefully no one was banking on the "birth announcement" to hear about the birth of our child. At least I sent it out before ~~he changed diaper sizes~~....~~he grew hair~~ ...his 1st birthday..
::ehem:: I digress...

4. D and I had somewhat of a "date night" earlier in the week. Actually, I think it was on Halloween. After we got home, we gave N a bath and put him down for bed. Then we watched a RedBox rental "Thor" and had a Hot-N-Ready pepperoni pizza for dinner. We do it big for date nights. "Go big or go home" I always say...

5. This afternoon I went on a very pleasant walk with Natty D in the park and the neighborhood that's close by. The weather was beautiful, the fall colors were warm, and the air was fresh. It was just the thing I needed for the end of my week. I was hoping to let N experience all of these refreshing elements with me, but he slept for the whole 30 minute walk. Just as I was approaching our car, he woke up. "Really??" I said to him...Obviously a rhetorical question because he couldn't answer even if he wanted to. So I decided to extend my walk a little more around the park so that he could experience SOMETHING.

monkey business

2011-10-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd post a few pics of Natty D's first Halloween. Technically it was the eve of Halloween at our fellowship's All Saint's Fair. D had the great idea of us being coconut trees that the "monkey" is climbing on. THEN, aunt bec said we should be the "chicka chicka boom boom" trees. This was a perfect idea since that is the little man's favorite book.

I made our hats out of cardstock paper, cheap visors from Hobby Lobby, and styrofoam balls...all attached via hot glue. Interestingly enough, there is no un-awkward way to put 2 styrofoam balls on your head. Believe you me, I tried.

So cuddly

All smiles!

Daddy with his lil' buddy

tell me how you really feel about your monkey costume...

I love the "shh shh shh" moment caught here

"winning"

sorry...i can't take a serious picture dressed like this..

i can't believe i'm going out in public dressed like this..

ok..this costume isn't so bad...it makes a great pillow...

the BEAUTIFUL sunset for the evening

is it Friday already?

2011-10-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well, this post WOULD HAVE been posted yesterday but after pressing the "SAVE" button, an error page popped up and I lost everything I typed. Ironic, eh?

Ff5
::Friday's Favorite 5::

1. Last Saturday, D, Natty D, and I went over to Aunt Bec's apartment to watch the Auburn/LSU game. In town for the game were my parents (MiMi and Pop) and sister and D's parents (MaLeigh and GranDaddy). We had lots of delicious game day finger foods--Bec and I both tried out some Pinterest recipes :) Even though the tigers took a beating and it was hard to watch, we didn't mind because we had a cute baby to play with. He loves watching some football...it's easier to watch when you don't know that your team is losing.

2. My mom and sister stayed in town until Monday. Before they hit the road, we stopped by Kohl's since my mom had a coupon. My mom is one of the most giving people I know. I rarely ever see her buy stuff for herself. Even after all these years--graduating college, having a grown-up job, and now being a mom myself--she still bought a new pair of jeans for me. By the way, jeans are hard to shop for these days. They now have "skinny jeans"..."super skinny jeans"...and "jeggings"?? Pretty soon you'll be able to buy denim tinted spray paint...

3. There have been quite a few mornings this week where I have just laid in bed and cuddled/played with THE CUTEST BABY IN THE WORLD (i make no claims to have unbiased opinions) for hours. He's definitely a morning person and I am definitely not one. But when he gives me his first cute little smile for the day, I can't help but try to be a morning person. There have been some moments when I let myself get frustrated that the daily chores and errands aren't getting done...But then I realize, even if I DO get those things done, they'll be back next week...lurking over my shoulder again. Those chores are just a never-ending cycle of "to-dos". However, my little man won't always be little. There will come a time that cuddling with mommy in the bed might be considered awkward turtle. One day he won't want me to bite his fingers and toes off. So forgive me if dishes are piled up in the sink or laundry has yet to be folded up and put away...because I'm too busy playing with THE CUTEST BABY IN THE WORLD!! :)

4. We had a little family outing on Thursday to Outback to enjoy a FREE steak dinner. It was one of the million steak dinners that Outback announced they were giving out. I saw the commercial while I was bouncing Natty D around the living room (lest he scream his head off because I'm not walking him around). I immediately went to our computer and single-handedly (literally) got one of the free dinners! You could say that I'm pretty proud of myself...2 points for me! (but who's really keeping score anyway?)

5. Soooo...if you've read my post a few months back about all of the renovations we've had to do the current place we live, then you might appreciate this story more. Nothing seems to surprise me anymore about this duplex. Don't get me wrong, it's a great little place to call home. However, the previous family that lived in it definitely left their mark(s). The smells that came from the tile grout as I scrubbed them clean really put my gag reflexes to work. The multiple stickers/crayola marks that I removed from the wall had me questioning their parenting skills. The broken appliances and holes in the wall made me wonder if anger management was an issue. So, you'll forgive me if funny sounds coming from the dishwasher didn't cause me to jump to my feet and put my investigation skills to work.
Well, the other day, I decided to clean the inside of the dishwasher. As I bent down and started wiping the inside, I noticed a couple of plastic water bottle caps. "That's strange..how did these get here?" I said to myself. And incase you're wondering, no I do not wash our plastic water bottles. I know that D and I are both thrifty but even we know when too much is too much. I continued to clean and found another object..but I didn't know what it was. As I stuck my head a little further into the dishwasher...I saw a FOURTH object. I went to grab it but a hissing sound happened when I touched it. I could tell there was water inside of the object so I assumed that it was hot water. I grabbed a pair of tongs out of the drawer and made another attempt to remove the unidentified object. This is what I found:

Yes, a half-melted bottle. No, it is not one of ours.

Thank you, and good night.

hiding His Word in my heart

2011-10-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. -- 2 Tim. 3:16-17

If there's one thing I've been convicted of recently and over the past several months, it's been my neglect of memorizing scripture. I'm a fan of reading biographies of m's and other strong believers that have run the good race before us. I think biographies make for an easy read that both motivate and convict me. Consistently, with every biography I've read over the past year, I've noticed the reoccurring blessing of hiding the Father's Word in your heart. Whether the person was in a prison camp, on a long journey on a boat, hiding in a tiny nook from soliders, or riding in a car across boarders that weren't safe to cross....the Father always blessed them with His Word that they had long ago tucked away in their heart. In many cases, they had nothing. Not even the written Word to give them comfort. But the Lrod would bring the perfect scripture or hymn to their mind and it was then that they would find peace.

It got me thinking...if I found myself in a situation where I really needed the Word but didn't have it at hand, what would I be able to recover from memory? Let's see....good ol' John 3:16. Then there's "Jseus wept"...ummm..."I can do all things through He who strengthens me"..
What about songs? "Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham"???
OK, I might be exaggerating with the songs a bit...but after realizing how little scripture I could recover from memory, I felt a bit childish. So, that was the first song I thought of...

While I was browsing on a particular website of interest that involves pins...OK! OK! I was on Pinterest again...I came across a blog of a mom that makes pretty scripture memory cards that you can download for free and print out. Check it out: www.creolepaperie.blogspot.com. So, I decided to take advantage of her mad skills and started printing away! I'm committing a verse a week to memory. I taped my first verse on the inside of my front door. I chose this location because I get antsy sometimes...and when that happens...I have to get out and be productive or I'll turn into "bum on the couch with laptop on my lap" mode. Since I have to walk through the front door in order to go out, I'm constantly reminded of my scripture for the week. It's also a good way to get my attitude in check before I go out into a world of lostness.

Scripture of the week!

via Creole Paperie

i need motivation..introducing the Ff5!

2011-10-21T23:30:00.000-07:00

Somehow, in the process of doing some editing...this post got lost in cyberspace. Despite my best efforts (into the wee hours of the morning) I could not retrieve it.

This was when I began my Ff5 series because of my lack of motivation to blog. I wish I could say that I remembered what my first 5 favorite things were but my memory fails me. I think I bragged on a few of my Pinterest projects but I'll include those on my DIY page some time in the near future. However, I do remember documenting ONE important thing and that was the birth of our handsome little man! He was not born the week I started the Ff5 series. However, according to previous posts, I was still pregnant.

So without further ado, I will take up all 5 slots of this Ff5 by listing 5 little facts about our Little Man's birth.

Photo credit to Rebecca Simmons (shout out!)

He was born August 8, 2011
He was born at 7:05 p.m (12 hours of labor and no food or drink....alright!)
He weighed 7 lbs, 14 ounces
He was 21 inches long
His first breath took ours away :)

On the day I wrote this blog (October 21st), he chuckled for the first time! What happened to that wittle bitty baby in the picture?!

where was i?

2011-08-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

I can't believe so much time has passed and I've only managed to do one blog post this summer. But I can assure you, it's not because NOTHING has happened between my last post and now. Obviously, I informed you about the renovations we took on. I can tell you (and show you later) that those are indeed complete. The blinding lime green has skewed the vision of its last resident. Honestly, I was never able to fully see the true color of the paint I picked until I had painted the whole bedroom and bathroom. For a while, my "teepee brown" looked like calamine lotion and the much softer, calming green I chose for the bathroom looked like a regurgitated green pea soup. I thought I was going to lose my mind for a moment. But all turned out well! Also, I did paint the cabinets in the kitchen. I will also tell you that I skipped numerous steps in the "cabinet renovation" process that most people would frown upon. BUT it turned out pretty superb if I do say so myself and I even got to skip the step of putting all the cabinet doors back on (thanks to dad and dad-in-law)! Thanks to my mom, most of the grout in our tile flooring is back to its somewhat original coloring. I don't even want to know what I was on my hands and knees scrubbing from the bathroom tile because it released a pretty intense smell.

Soooo enough about the boring renovation stuff. Who really cares unless you see the pictures, right? Like I said, I'll get those up with the next post. We've still got plenty of boxes lingering around. I don't want to have those in the pictures. Instead I want to lead you to believe that we don't have a single bit of clutter in our home :) I CAN, however, show you how my little man's room has turned out. His room has probably been finished for the longest time. I at least wanted to give him something to come home to...in case he came early (ha! wishful thinking...i know).

Sorry for the poor resolution/color of some of these pictures. They were taken with my phone..

A mom from my classroom this past year painted the name sign for me.

My crib from way back when. And the quilt was made by "MaLeigh" (D's mom). She made it from some of D's shirts growing up.

I thought I'd pass along Fuzzy Wuzzy the bear. He's a good bear.

College funds.

A built-in desk area that made for a nice changing table.

These are just some gift bags that I thought were cute and couldn't bring myself to throw away :)

As far as an update on my little man, he isn't here yet. He was due July 27th but he's not so sure about entering a world that has a heat index of 110 and a national debt crisis. I don't blame him. However, if he's not here by August 8th....he really has no choice in the matter. Though I'd love to feel like a beached whale just a little bit longer...a mother's love (abdomen) can stretch only so far.

D has been working at a travel agency and also has a job at a frozen yogurt place called Chill. As much as he'll poke fun at himself for receiving two difficult degrees and ending up at a frozen yogurt cafe, we still know that the Father has really blessed us. It might mean less Chick Fil A and Starbucks but we just have to make it until our training time in Richmond, VA come the end of January. This leads me to one last final update: we have a job assignment overseas! Things still have to be made official on paper but we're very excited that things happened so unbelievably fast. D and I are certain that the Father was all up in this because we were almost convinced that it would be another year before we'd get even an inkling of news about moving forward. What's even better, we're getting to work with friends we already know and have worked with in the past! I don't know if you've ever asked to have something that you were almost certain you wouldn't receive...because ACTUALLY getting it would be too good to be true. Then, one day, lo and behold, you open up a gift and there it is...EXACTLY the thing you asked for. Well, that's about how we feel right now. It leaves you speechless, jaw-dropped, wide-eyed....but above all, so very thankful and blessed.

Well, if you'd excuse me....it's almost 2 am and I'm going to continue watching tv and eating my reese's cup ice-cream. Yes, my hours of sleeping are pretty off...but it's not like they'll be back on anytime soon. So don't judge me, i'm pregnant.

let the renovations begin!

2011-05-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

We finally got the key to our next home for the next--well--however long it takes to get an assignment, pack our bags, and travel abroad! It's another duplex but we're getting a wonderful deal on rent and we're able to rent by the month. To make things even better...we get to do whatever we want to it! Whatever we spend on renovating will go towards our rent payment. I've never had this kind of freedom with a rental so I'm pretty excited. I loooove DIY projects. And it's not too often that I get to put all of my ideas into practice. The only drawback at this point is that I'm somewhat on a tight timeline. Obviously we're expecting a new addition to our family soon and I don't want fresh paint fumes and other chemicals lingering about the house. My poor little guy doesn't even have the beginnings of a nursery yet...so some real home makeover magic is going to have to happen in the next 8 1/2 weeks. If anyone gets bored this summer, call me up! I'm sure I'll have something I need help with.

I'm a big fan of SEEING progress and having "before and after" photos. So I'm going to use the blog to help me keep track of all that.

How about this color...

This will be "Frank's" nursery...obviously I've got quite a bit of work to do..

The bathroom is that same beautiful color:

I'm hoping to do some renovations to the cabinets in the kitchen. We'll see how that goes....

The living room has more problems than these pictures can communicate. Basically, the child that lived here had free reign to do whatever he wanted. Coloring on walls...putting stickers on walls...

And I get the feeling he MIGHT have been the cause of a hole in the wall as well....

The front door

Did I mention that kid was allowed to do ANYTHING he wanted?

Love the chalk accents....

There she be...

1377 Hampton Dr.

an uncanny resemblance...

2011-05-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

If I had known that the guys' ordination/graduation cake would look like this...I would have taken a picture of D looking like this on our couch multiple times:

I don't know if D ever stained the rug with coffee...but we do have an ink stain on the slipcover from the many papers he wrote. Now that I know of his deep hatred of our slipcover...I'm wondering how much of an "accident" that was...hmmm...

"you can call me Master David now..."

2011-05-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Walking across to receive his diploma!

(thanks to Brian Brown for taking a picture from the online live feed)

enjoying a certain president's personal library...

Well, it's official! You can now call him "Master David". Three years of reading, writing, drinking coffee, and pulling all-nighters are now behind us. And yes, I say "us" because it affected me almost as much as it did him. Though there were some tough times, the past 3 years will forever be a fond memory for both of us. In my attempts this past year to memorize the book of Philippians (that has been a serious work in progress) I'm reminded of the very beginning of Paul's letter:

"I thank my Father in all my remembrance of you, always in every pr@yer of mine for you all making my pr@yer with joy, because of your partnership in the gspl from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of JC. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gspl. For the Father is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of JC. And it is my pr@yer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of the Son, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through JC, to the glory and praise of the Father."

I don't think I could word it any better for the group of godly brother and sisters I've been able to spend time with during this intern program. I now hold each one them so dearly in my heart and will continue to do so for the rest of the time that the the Father gives me here on earth. I cannot be thankful enough for their friendship. It's exciting to know that no matter where the the Father takes each of us, I can be assured that they will be partners and defenders of the gspl and partakers with us of grace.

Here's to Intern Group #5

Grace and peace.

P.S. If you are able, check out the mark they left behind, one that I will not easily forget The Fingerprint of Intern Group #5

quick picture update

2011-05-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes pictures tell a lot more than I could. So, I decided to borrow D's fancy iPhone and take some photos of what our little family looks like on a Monday night...

This is what D gets to do more of now that he doesn't have anymore school work to do...

Disclaimer: He actually wasn't feeling well...I can't let you think that he's become a bum now.

Graduation is in 4 days!!

Random Fact #427 about D: He hates slipcovers.

Mozart likes shoes.

29 weeks and 5 days!

How do I feel, you might ask?

Like I ate a meatball sandwich...and that meatball sandwich is kicking me

(quote Baby Mama)

Well that's about all I got right now. I have 2 more days of work this week and one more day after graduation. My how time flies...

what's happened since the last post?...

2011-04-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

To answer the title of this blog post....A LOT!

I'll be honest though, not a whole lot of exciting stuff was happening for the first few months after my last blog post so cut me some slack. I'd much rather give you something worth your reading. But in case you really must know, I'll give you a quick summary of those uneventful months:

D started back with classes. So he went back into his "bat cave" mode--having to seclude himself for long periods of time to read and write papers.

I started back to school, teaching my new group of first graders. If you want a taste of what I experience on a weekly basis, you can take a trip over to my teaching blog and read some of the crazy things they say. I have a lot I need to add but I can only handle updating one blog at a time. It's hard to believe that as I type this, I have 18 days left with this group of kids...crazy!

OK, so there you have it....that was the daily grind for us for quite some time.

Things started to get a little more upbeat when D and I went to a M-Expo in Birmingham. This was a part of our application process and made us a little nervous. We had yet another interview to endure with the possibility of not getting to continue forward. However, while we were on our way to Savannah, GA to celebrate our one year anniversary, we received the phone call that we were approved to move forward! This meant lots of paperwork ahead of us.

Another exciting change for us unknowingly took place around this same time. The Father decided to begin to knit together a baby boy in my womb. I found this out at the end of November and was quite surprised by it. Though D and I hadn't planned this, we knew the Lrod had, so we were both able to rest in that.

Here's his first picture at 17 weeks...

A select few friends of ours have decided to nickname him "Frank". I'm now exactly 26 weeks and without a current picture of him. Though I don't have a second ultrasound picture yet, I do have this picture of how much he's making ME grow...

This was at 24 weeks and 5 days.

He is quite the kicker now. I don't usually have many moments in the day when my stomach isn't jumping around. I think he might have my long legs. If not, he'll definitely have his daddy's football kicking skills. But I guess we'll find out somewhere around July 27th!!

Now I guess I wouldn't be a good "mother" if I didn't show you a picture of our other family member...

No, I didn't take a picture of a dead cat. Mozart is very alive and well...and not the least bit stressed with life, as you can tell.

Some of his favorite things to do these days are climb the curtains, attack your feet, sleep on top of your shoes, and knock any and everything off of a high surface. He doesn't like to be pointed at...I guess he finds that rude just like everyone else. But you don't want to find out that fact the hard way...like my mom did when she started fussing and pointing at him.

He also cannot stand to have a door closed on him and knows that opening the door has something to do with the shiny round thing. So, he paws at the door knob and makes a loud, obnoxious noise when he does that.

I'm interested to see how he'll take to the new family member in July...

Last but CERTAINLY not least on the update, D and I just had our 3rd and final interview in the application process with "the company". I am EXTREMELY excited to tell you that it went better than we could have ever imagined and were immediately given the green light to move forward. We are no longer considered "applicants". We are now "candidates" and simply waiting on a job match. PTL!!

I cannot tell you how great this news is. There have been so many other couples we've talked to that have been paused at this point for one reason or another. We began to feel more and more discouraged and were completely prepared to encounter the same problems. However, this was not the case and we thank all of you who lifted us up during this time (and some of you who lifted us up as we were interviewing!) It's such a huge weight lifted and we both feel a greater sense of what the future holds for us now. Who knows...maybe this time next year we'll be packing our bags!!

So that's our year in a nutshell right now. D will graduate May 20th. I will officially leave my classroom for the last time on May 23rd. Two will become 3 on July 27th(ish) and any other important, official dates from that point on are TBA! Until then, we'll be hanging around Auburn until the next door opens!

we're back...

2010-09-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I know that I'm about...5 weeks late in giving this update but we DID make it back to the States. In case anyone was hanging on the edge of their seats waiting to see a blog post that confirms are arrival, I do apologize for the delay. The trip back went much smoother and we did contact Delta about all our problems. Turns out we're getting reimbursed for all of our expenses and they are giving each of us $200 travel vouchers.

We both had to hit the ground running upon returning but we've gotten over that speed bump. It's been hard getting back into a very scheduled and fast-pace culture and we're already longing for the time that we get to go back. However, I'm not complaining about the conveniences and air-conditioning. I've even started complaining about walking across a hot parking lot....oh how easily we fall back into our comforts...

I told myself I would use this blog to keep you updated on our life in the States as well, and I'm going to do my best to keep my word. Sitting down long enough to type up an entire post seems to get pushed down a lot lower on the to-do list when you're not chilling on a tropical island. Seems like I pick doing laundry over blogging. What's up with that?

I just read an interesting article in the NY times, American Cousins Ask, Will We Ever Belong? It peeked my interest considering I just left a country where I might have asked the same question about myself. I couldn't help noticing that they had a lot of the same arguments and concerns that m's have overseas. It's interesting how focused their vision is on the persecution that they feel here in America, while their own people are doing the same things to believers working overseas. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Probably one of my favorite quotes from the article was "There is simply a desire to paint an entire religion as the enemy". As believers, we could say the same statement. Except, we have a command to love our enemies. The world might hate us because of what we believe. Paul asked of the Galatians, "Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?" (Gal. 4:16). And he later wrote to the Thessalonians not to associate with those who don't obey the commands of the Father YET "do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother" (2 Thess 3:15). See, we were never promised to be loved by all. In fact, we've been told the exact opposite. However, we have a hope and love from the Father that fills and overflows our cup so much that we don't need the approval or love of those around us. And whom shall we fear when He is on our side?

Upon picking up the paper and reading the title of the article, I felt somewhat angry towards the cousins for being so narrow-minded and hypocritical. However, my feelings changed once finishing the article. My heart breaks for them. To answer their question "Will we ever belong?"....no. And if that is what they are seeking for the rest of their life, they will never find it. Not even we as believers belong. We are aliens and this place is not our home. We belong to Him who set us apart from birth and who called us to Himself, and has promised us a hvnly home for eternity. What hope do the mslms have? Yarp that TRUE believers would be a witness to the cousins in America and that they would tell them of the hope we have in the Son.

back to the flight updates...

2010-07-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Hello all, long time no blog. However, we are still alive and well and back in transit. A lot has happened since the last brief post but I'm not sure how much time I have to go into detail at this moment. BUT! I will make it my next blog post...whether that be right now in the Singapore airport (if I find out I have plenty of time)...or once we're back in the states. I like to post pics...and I don't have current ones uploaded so you might have to wait until I get back to good ol' Amuricah!

While on the mainland in Indonesia, we arrived at the airport only to experience deja vu. They informed us that we were not booked on the flight (saaay WHA!?) We tried explaining that this was a roundtrip ticket so therefore, we HAD to be on this flight. We pulled out our tattered itinerary to prove our point...as if that was going to do any good. It was then that we were informed that since we didn't follow this itinerary to a T...all bookings automatically cancelled. This, of course, caused our ill feelings towards Delta to resurface. After all, they were the beginning of our terribly long adventure at the forefront of our traveling. But to make a long story short (because I'm really tired and don't feel like typing all the useless details) we managed to get back on the flight, no charge (thanks Mohan!) Now, here we are in Singapore...we have been put on the waiting list for the Singapore flight to Houston. Thankfully we are number 1 and 2. D just got off the phone with some Delta people in America to check on our seats for flights within the states. Apparently, those flights were not cancelled. So now D is back up at the desk trying to get our luggage sent all the way to Atlanta....at least then we wouldn't have to check them at every stop. On a side note, I've noticed that business and first class passengers get a nice rug leading up to their section of the counter. Economy gets nothing. I mean really...not even a rug? Our we really THAT undeserving? I think I might carry around my own rug and roll it out as I approach the counter...maybe one of those small bathroom ones...easier to carry around.

All that to say....we're tired of flying. Talk about hitting every tree limb on the way down (and no, I'm not talking about the ugly tree). So our only hold up currently is getting onto this Singapore flight. I have way more confidence in Asian airlines than I do American. We haven't had one hold up since flying around Asia (and believe you me....we have done A LOT of flying). However, I have this strong feeling that as soon as we get into American territory, the hold ups will occur. We are with United Airlines on the way back though...so maybe that will make a difference. Stupid Delta.

Alright, D just got back. Looks like we can get our bags checked all the way to ATL (PTL!) ...whether or not we arrive at the same time our bags do is a different matter all together.

I have no current pictures uploaded onto the computer to post other than a pic of D rubbing a monkey's belly...

Hope that will do for now :)

super fast update

2010-07-19T16:11:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have to make this quick because D and I need to head to the airport in a few minutes. We left the island yesterday morning and were very sad to go. It has been a great summer spent with S and B and the people of Kokomo. We arrived back on the main island and had a fun day at the mall just relaxing. We also went and saw the movie Inception and we were pretty impressed.

This morning we're heading off to Singapore for a couple of days (since we've gone through the airport numerous times but have never been able to leave it). After Singapore, we head straight to visit our friends K and W. We've decided not to take our computer because we doubt we'll get internet access. I say this so that you're not expecting any updates anytime soon. But don't fret, I will have plenty to share about (pictures included) once we return back to Indonesia before we head home.

Please lift up our travels. Ask that our travels would be safe and that maybe, just maybe, our luggage will arrive with us this time. We packed pretty light this time (2 small carry-ons and a small checked bag) so there is not much room for error :) Ask the Father that our time spent with K and W will be fruitful.

Thank you for your yarps!

oh Chick-Fil-A...how I do miss thee..

2010-07-14T22:17:00.000-07:00

Probably one of my favorite restaurants in the states. And I don't know if anyone has told the head honcho of Chick-Fil-A yet, but I think they deserve to know that it is one of the top most-craved foods of m's outside of the U.S. That is a stat I made up on my own but I think I could back it up with a poll of some sort if I really wanted to. Nevertheless, that is quite an accomplishment.

I didn't think I could miss this fast-food industry anymore than I already do....until I stumbled upon this video posted by a good friend back in the states. Thought I might share it to all you blog followers out there!

Party in the Chick-Fil-A

"Sippin' sweet tea like yeeeeah"

fun times...

2010-07-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

I was going to include these pictures in the last post but decided they deserve their own blog post. Just a handful of pics to capture the funny moments:

Lots of coffee has been consumed in the making of pr-cards and mobilizing videos. Amount of sugar used in the coffee could put you into a diabetic coma. Also, hot coffee in a glass cup is just plain wrong. Even more wrong is that I'm drinking hot coffee on a tropical island with a scarf around my neck and head.

What happens when guys get a hold of head coverings?

This is what you get when you have to go the the bathroom really bad and ask if there is one close by:

I love the cleaning brush. I think that's the cleanest thing in there.

And this is what you get when you had to politely take your shoes off before entering the house with the bathroom:

A tag from a pair of pants:

"Your performance will be a good value if wear ones of this general out fit and your satisfaction will be delighted"

Come again?

And look what you might find on a walk on the beach!

A cute baby goat looking for its mommy. It fell asleep on my chest while I was holding it. Poor thing was probably exhausted.

Aside from all the funny and quirky things about this country, there are some absolutely breathtaking sunsets out here. I love how creative the Father chooses to be with sunsets. He doesn't have to make it beautiful, but He chooses to make it His "little" painting canvas.

"Alas, Lrod! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! There is nothing too hard or too wonderful for You"

Jeremiah 32:17

delayed update

2010-07-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

It is amazing that almost 2 weeks have gone by since we got back from Bali. I guess you should be pleased to know that the reason for my lack of keeping you updated is because we have been so busy. We just recently sent out a newsletter update but I'll try not to repeat myself on what's been going on.

D and I experienced a little bit of culture shock after returning to the island. It was almost humorous. We spent the first day back just cooped up indoors. What did we do for those 24 hours you might ask? Well, we watched 24...almost a full season. Sad, I know. But I'd like to see you try NOT watching one episode after another when you've got the full season at your fingertips. When we finally ventured outside, we decided it would be good to get some "grocery" shopping done in town at the market. I should have mentioned earlier that right when we returned to the campsite from airport, I quickly realized we completely forgot to grab our cooler full of food that we got while staying on the main island. Talk about panic when you realize that your OREOS (the real kind) our in the hands of those that might not even appreciate their true worth. We quickly returned to the airport only to find out that they had already headed out to the city with our cooler to drop it off at the airline's office (the location of this office changes probably as often as Facebook changes its settings....that reference might only hit home with a certain generation or 2). So now the chase was on. We did end up catching up with the bus and retrieved the cooler. And yes, I checked. The oreos were accounted for. So, that was our first (unexpected) trip into the city. The second trip was for veggies, fruit, bread, etc. We didn't leave town without getting something to drink (Sprite for me...Pocari Sweat [the translation they give for volunteers: "Monkey Sweat", mmm..refreshing] for D)...while all along complaining about everything under the sun. Then it hit us, we were suffering from culture shock. We decided that it would probably be best to just rest it out for the weekend before trying to start back with anything...just to keep from prolonging the bitter 'tudes.

We went back to our travels of the island on Monday. But let me not forget to mention that we had a fantastic 4th of July celebration with S and B, complete with burgers (with cheese), beef hot dogs individually incased in a plastic wrapping that we had to remove before eating, french fries, baked beans, pickles, and yes...FRIED OREOS. This celebration came to the tune of "Born in the U.S.A" (Thank you Bruce Springsteen). Anyway, back on topic....we started back with our travels to different villages all across the island. As of today's post, we have profiled and made pr-cards for FOUR villages. This might seem like little progress for the time we've been out here. However, we've only been on the island for 4 full weeks and traveling to some of the places can prove difficult (pot holes, water buffalo, chickens, water buffalo poop, rain, hardly a road at all). Let me just take a moment to post a few pictures so you can see what I mean:

What is that skinny stick coming out of the ground for?

Oh, they are trying to warn us that there is a massive hole in the ground that could swallow our truck alive. Thanks for the palm leaf; that should really help break our fall...

This picture is two-fold because it captures 2 road blocks in one:

(VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED)

I warned you.

If you don't see TWO road blocks in this picture, then you didn't look very closely.

I should say that it is a road block in the making...

Stupid water buffalo...

All those pictures to say that we are pretty excited about having 4 villages completed. Now we are in the process of putting together a video in order to help get the message of lostness out to people in the States. D has successfully figured out how to use iMovie on the laptop and it's turning out pretty nice (considering this is our first video attempt). We're interviewing people on video (with permission...and that's where it gets difficult) to answer questions concerning the culture. The last few questions concern their beliefs, how their s*ns are forgiven, and then we ask the real kicker...." Do you know that they are forgiven?" The resounding answer is "I don't know." It really makes you all the more thankful as a believer to have full assurance of our s*ns being forgiven and that we have confidence to enter the hloy places by the blood of the Son (Heb. 10:19-22). After we finish the interview, D usually has the opportunity to share with the locals about that assurance of faith. Please lift us up as we continue to talk and interview with people. Also, go ahead and lift up those who will one day watch this video. Ask that the Father would raise up workers for the harvest through the words of lostness and uncertainty spoken by the people of Kokomo.

pics from Bali

2010-07-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

We're safely back on Kokomo now. Surprisingly, the electricity is on...thus allowing the internet to work. So without further ado, here are a few pics from Bali...

D got a haircut and I got mine washed really well and straightened (asian pose).

This is the only pic I'm going to upload from our room for the sake of time. However, I thought it might be interesting for you to know that there were not any light switches in the entire room. All lights were controlled by this one bedside table. I'm not sure if this was meant to be convenient...because it was not. Especially when D had control of the bathroom light while I was in it.

Some of the sea creatures we found during our walk on the beach...

and here is the sand on the beach...

here is D's arm after he took a picture of the sand...

One of the views we had right outside our room.

There are more pics of our room and the views from our room but those will just have to wait for another time. In the words of Porky Pig, [which is definitely not a culturally appropriate reference...]

"Tha..tha..tha...That's All Folks!!"

:: insert Looney Tune end-of-show music::

the week so far...

2010-06-25T02:35:00.000-07:00

D and I are thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being clean everyday, hot showers, and AC. Eating the forbidden fruit (aka ::whisper:: pork) is pretty nice too. More enjoyable than all of that, however, is the fellowship that we are getting to have with other m’s around SE Asia. It has been such a blsing to hear stories from individuals and families that are serving Him in some of the hardest to reach places and people groups. We feel like we’ve been able to get more of an inside scoop by attending this conference. There have been trainings on CPM plans, dsplship, sharing with cousins, and getting the gspl out anywhere, anytime, to anyone (Any3).

While enjoying ourselves with the cheap shopping, dining, and massaging…S, B, D and I had the opportunity to share with some Hindu women. With my limited language ability, I’ve learned that my best role while they are sharing is to silently lift them up to the Father. Not all were receptive but there were 2 that were…we will call them Emily and Yvonne. What was interesting about the situation is that Emily was in the back giving D a massage while S was in the front sharing with 2 other women (one of them being Yvonne). So, Emily was being attentive to what S was sharing, even though she wasn’t even in the same room. Hopefully that will serve as encouragement to those of you who have experienced, what seems to be, an unsuccessful sharing with an individual. You never know who is listening close by to what you have to say. Emily approached S after we finished up our massages and shared her heart and burdens with us. Her husband had left her years ago. She got a boyfriend some years later and he died of a terminal illness. It was evident that the Father had already been working in her heart. She was very receptive and was excited to receive a copy of the Word. Yvonne was in the room with us as well and received a copy as well. PTL that seeds were planted in the hearts of these women! All 4 of us have tried to follow up with these women. Neither have been ready to receive and profess it to be true in their hearts, however; we can have confidence in our Father to bring forth other seed-planters in their lives.

Please yarp for these ladies with us. Ask that the Father would bring a peace to Emily’s heart concerning all of the former loves that have come and gone in her life. Yarp that she would know that the Father earnestly desires Emily to seek Himself as her One True Love. Lift up Yvonne and the stress and worry she is experiencing in her life. Ask that she would realize that the Father even cares for the birds and the flowers of the field…how much more He will care and lookout for her! Yarp through the story of the woman at the well in John 4 because that is the passage that B gave them to read through. Ask that the Father would reveal Himself to them as they read through it in their personal time.

hello bali!

2010-06-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

Though we've had an endless amount of electricity and internet the past few days....we've also had a pretty busy schedule. Whenever there are breaks, it's usually for food...which we like to take advantage of. Then, by time the conference is over, we're usually pretty ready to get outside. I won't have time to post pictures during this blog post (plus, I don't even have enough pictures to post yet). The hotel resort we're staying at is huge....I don't even know if I can truly explain how big it is. You can walk on the beach for 30 minutes to an hour and still be in the resort. Tons of shopping, places to eat, and a beautiful beach (which I haven't even had the pleasure of enjoying yet!). The swimming pool is also amazing. Today we have a free afternoon...so my hopes are to get a good book, take it down to the beach or swimming pool and read.

Well, our extremely short break is over with so that's all the time I have to post right now. I'll try to give more details later of the training and sharing opportunities we've had here recently. Mainly I wanted to let everyone know that we did arrive here safely and we're thoroughly enjoying our time!

real simple

2010-06-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

I'm a fan of the Real Simple magazines. B had one that was given to her (no subscriptions sent way out here) because she's a fan of the magazine as well. I was thumbing through it this morning and realized that you have to live pretty extravagantly in the States in order to achieve the "simplicity" that they advertise in their magazines. Photo shots of rooms are made to look so simplistic until you think to yourself who really has wide wood-paneled floors like that? I glanced down from my bed to realize...I DO! Isn't it ironic that I could achieve these interior design styles by ACTUALLY living simply out here? Whereas in the States, you're realistically having to spend more money to achieve that simpler look. I have to admit, it made me even more excited to live overseas in a simple little makeshift house because I might, for once, be able to use the ideas found in Real Simple. However, I will really will be living simply. Anyway...I stumbled upon their website today as well and found a link to "50 All-Time Favorite New Uses for Old Things". Check it out if you'd like. I found it pretty intriguing. Probably one of my favorites had to do with the ketchup bottle...but I'll leave that to intrigued minds to find out the "new use" on their own.

maybe i will be able to upload a few pics...

2010-06-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

Here we are on the beach of the Indian Ocean!

Drinking from a coconut for the first time

Over 80 mangos the guys retrieved from a tree (with a football)

what a cutie!!

Hiked up a hill that one of the villages retreated to when the tsunami hit.

Everyone survived.

a grandmother seeing us off from her window.

Eating at a restaurant that looks over the Indian Ocean.

Island Thoughts

2010-06-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

I don't usually write these blogs but thought I'd give it ago. A lot of you know that we have returned to the same island that I was on before I started school. During the past two years I've often found that it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to really communicate exactly what it's like out here. Let me try to open the door to my mind this past night. I went to the city to watch the World Cup with a friend of mine and these were my thoughts as the evening progressed.

"He told me I should be there at 5:30, but I'll probably leave in about 10 more minutes."
(It was 6:00)

"Why is he still playing volleyball if he told me to be here 40 minutes ago?"

(I follow him home and ask if he wants to bathe before we leave. He returns from taking a bath in about 30 seconds.)

"There's no way he used soap."

(We both get on the motorcycle. I'm driving. We take off into the jungle on what they call a road. It's more like a hiking trail.)

"At least there's not a lot of water buffalo turds on this road."

(He cuddles up next to me because the wind from the motorcycle is making him cold. I don't care because this is the closest thing to air conditioning out here.)

"I think all my sweat has dried up."

(We arrive at the coffee shop, which is nothing like Starbucks except for it has coffee, where the game is just starting.)

"Dang it. I'm sweating again. Now I have to drink hot coffee."
"Why in the world does the guy standing over the hot stove have on a sweater??"

(My numerous poison ivy-like rashes start to itch.)

"Man, my fingernails are long. I need to cut them. But then I couldn't scratch my itches as good. But maybe the rashes would stop spreading if I couldn't scratch them so good. But scratching them really does feel good. But itching all the time all over is pretty miserable. I should cut them."

(The first game ends and we go to get some supper. I stop sweating on the motorcycle ride. He takes me to a place that sells some kind of noodles I've never heard of. We sit down waiting for out food.)

"It's pretty toasty in here. Try not to sweat. Oh gosh, this is spicy. There goes not sweating. Something cold to drink would be nice. Blah. That water is just as hot as my coffee. Who drinks plain, hot water?"

(We finish eating. I pay. It was $1.80 for both of us. My hair is soaked with sweat. I put on a warm motorcycle helmet. Sick. We go back to where we were before to watch the game. I take my helmet off. It held my sweat in nicely. I'm hot. He orders our drinks.)

"I hope he got something cold. That might be iced tea! Crap, he didn't put ice it in. This is just as hot as my coffee earlier. Why does he still have that sweater on?"

All in all, I had a good time. I was able to share some with him, as well as eat some good food and drink some good coffee. For the night I paid for two cups of coffee, two glasses of hot tea, and two plates of some kind of noodles mixed with eggs and vegetables. I spent a total of about $3.00. Not a bad price. One cup of coffee would have cost more than that at Starbucks, and it wouldn't have been as good. Now I need to go cut my fingernails.

the past week..

2010-06-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

I figured it would be a good time to give everyone an update on how things have been going on the island here lately. Last week seemed to be full of adjustments...not a whole lot of moving forward. D seemed to jump right back into the language without much of a problem. I've washed a total of 3 loads of laundry by hand. Now I know why the women's hands here are so strong and masculine. We both have had to adjust to the heat. It's hard to explain how hot it is. There have probably been days like this, maybe even hotter, in the states. However, I think we far too often take advantage of the fact that as long as we have a building close by, we have AC to refresh us. Join me for a moment as I try to illustrate how I feel:

Imagine you are about to run an errand during this summer heat. You step out of your air conditioned abode and head to your car. "Man it is hot today"...you think to yourself. You sit in your steamy car....feeling as though you are about to suffocate from the container of heat you're sitting in right now. You quickly crank your car...phew...relief. Why? Because AC is starting to blow against your face. Granted, it might be a little warm to start with....but you're confident in your freon to cool it down. You arrive to your destination and probably by then, have turned the AC down because you've gotten a little chilly. You make your rounds around the parking lot, hoping for a close spot so you don't have to endure the toasty walk across the pavement. Unfortunately, no close spot is in sight, so you settle for the second best kind of spot...parking next to the turn-in spot for shopping carts (hven forbid you have to push that darn thing a row over...oh the agony). You begin walking to the store...you feel beads of sweat collecting on your forehead. You pick up the pace...must...get...inside....Heat waves are radiating from tops of cars and the pavement. You get across the pedestrian walkway...doors automatically open for you as if they were expecting your arrival. Ahhhhh...a gush of cool air hits your face. Within minutes, you are completely content. Oh, and let's not forget what your attire probably is: shorts, tshirt, maybe even a spaghetti strap for the girls.

Now, I'm by no means making much of myself and trying to make all of you feel bad. I am that person when I'm in the states. But for a moment, I want you to think about all of those "hot flashes" you have when you're running errands. Add all of those together, take away any hopes of an AC, and imagine yourself wearing fall attire in the scorching heat (girls, add a scarf around your head and neck)....then you might have an idea of what it feels like when we say that we're hot. Adjusting to the heat is no small task.

All that to say, this week is a new week! I'm over my sinus issue, PTL! I didn't realize how much energy it was taking away from me until I recovered from it. However, on the note of bodily issues, D and the other m out her, S, got into something while they were hunting down a monitor lizard they shot (thinking it was a snake). Both of them have broken out with rashes on their arms and face, causing a lot of discomfort. Though they have managed to find humor in the situation, please keep them in your thoughts and yarps. The heat only adds to the discomfort of having any kind of itchy rash or break out.

D and I have started on our media project. For those of you who don't know...we are helping out S and B to get the word out on certain villages around here by getting pictures and videos together that they will eventually turn into yarper cards for their supporters and adopters. We attempted one village last week but we just so happened to stop in a town that was full of "out-of-towners". Today we went to a capital and got a good bit of information, thanks to a local...we'll call him James. James says that his family has been on Kokomo for 7 generations. From what we gathered, the first mosque of the whole island was built in their village. They rebuilt it in the 1970's because earthquakes had destroyed it. I immediately thought of Ps 127:1...unless the Father builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. How often these locals must have to build and rebuild not only their own houses, but their house of pr-er as well...which is probably one of the most elaborate of structures in any village. Yet all their labor is in vain. Yarp for those that labor, watch over cities, rise up and go to bed....all in vain. Yarp that the scales would fall from their eyes and they would behold the Kingdom that has been built up above, which will never crumble or fall. Ask that they would see their insufficiency and inability in and of themselves to satisfy the law. Only in His righteousness, ready made, already finished, is fit for that purpose.

As for me and my acquisition of the language....I'm learning. It's humbling and frustrating....but I'm learning. I haven't had the opportunity in awhile to meet up with the girl who is teaching me. The last time I went, she was somewhere listening to a visiting speaker for school. I would really appreciate your yarps for the Father to direct our conversations to matters more eternal. Though I enjoy learning bits and pieces of the language, I would much rather have some deeper conversations with her.

On a side note, as a request, I would ask that you would lift up the team out here: S, B, Kvn, SJ, and Ky. I am so thankful to the Father for the laboring they are doing out here for the Kingdom.

Man's Great End

2010-06-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

There is one thing that deserves my greatest care,
that calls forth my ardent desires,
That is, that I may answer the great end for which I am made--
to glorify thee who hast given me being,
and to do all the good I can for my fellow men;
Verily, life is not worth having
if it to be not improved for this noble purpose.
Yet, Father, how little is this the thought of mankind!
Most men seem to live for themselves,
without much or any regard for thy glory,
or for the good of others;
They earnestly desire and eagerly pursue
the riches, honours, pleasures of this life,
as if they supposed that wealth, greatness, merriment,
could make their immortal souls happy;
But, alas, what false delusive dreams are these!
And how miserable ere long will those be that sleep in them,
for all our happiness consists in loving thee,
and being h-ly as thou art h-ly.

O may I never fall into the tempers and vanities,
the sensuality and folly of the present world!
It is a place of inexpressible sorrow, a vast empty nothingness;
Time is a moment, a vapour,
and all its enjoyments are empty bubbles,
fleeting blasts of wind,
from which nothing satisfactory can be derived;
Give me grace always to keep in covenant with thee,
and to reject as delusion a great name here or hereafter,
together with all s*nful pleasures or profits.
Help me to know continually
that there can be no true happiness,
no fulfilling of thy purpose for me,
apart from a life lived in and for
the Son of thy love.

-- Valley of Vision

a short and sweet update

2010-06-07T02:17:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm sure most of you have figured out that the delay in me posting an updated blog had to do with the poor internet connection here. If you assumed that, then you would be correct! We actually still do not have internet at our camp so I'm typing this in a little "internet cafe" in town. So, I might not have long due to the amount of time I'm paying for and because it's raining and that typically means bad internet reception.

We arrived here safely and recovered from jet lag as far as I can tell. I have come down with a bad case of sinus infection for whatever reason. It started during one of our plane trips. So, if you could, please lift that up. It's causing me to be pretty drowsy and irritable...mainly because my head feels like it will explode at any minute.

Our checked bag has been missing ever since we arrived (about 4 days). However! PTL that we received a text message this morning that said our bag arrived! So, we will be picking that up from an airport early tomorrow morning. The Father definitely used this time to reveal to me how much a clung to my own clothes. I've been wearing borrowed clothes or anything else I can find that's been left over from past teams.

D has really enjoyed reconnecting with some of his old friends. Please lift D up as he shares with his friends. He has already planted many seeds, but maybe he could see some growth in his friends...or even a harvest! I'm not sure if most of them understand the distance he had to travel to get back to the island. Most of them think that he's just coming back from somewhere on the main island.

I've been trying to pick up on the language (considering I'm the only one that doesn't know it), but it can cause me to get pretty frustrated. I went on a walk through town with B the other day and she introduced me to a girl that I might be able to learn from. At first she was a little shy, but she warmed up to me and to the idea of teaching me the language. I should remind you, though, that I speak VERY LITTLE Indonesian and she speaks VERY LITTLE English. So this should be an interesting learning adventure. Probably the best way to learn is to be thrown in all at once. We're all hoping that a relationship can be formed so that I might share with her about my beliefs...so please lift that up as well.

Well, that is all I can think of right now...other than the weather being hot, and the food is even hotter. I'm doing my best to wash our clothes by hand (since that's the only option). The past batch smelled a bit...sour...so I'll have to try, try again. Once again, D and I appreciate all of your yarps and support. This trip would just not be as rich and sweet without it.

To Him be the glory!

Getting closer...

2010-06-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

Alright, I feel a bit excessive with these blog posts...but I know that some of you are dependent upon these to know what's going. I know that D hasn't sent an update email in awhile so I'll let this serve as something brief. We're at the guest house now. D and I are about to go around town getting money exchanged, food....and clothes. Why the shopping spree you might ask? Well, our checked bag has not arrived and we're not sure when..or if..it will. If that had been the only thing that went wrong in our traveling then that might have made us upset. But in light of all that's happened, it's pretty humorous and I would have been surprised if it HAD made it. I might be rotating through 3 outfits this summer...but really all we need is the clothes on our back, amen? I'm sure I'll add as I go along. Just having 3 sets will require me to a.) wash clothes every day or b.) smell and look absolutely disgusting. Sweat is already accumulating on my face as I type this and I'm not even in any kind of traditional covering. Alright , well we better head out. And for those of you who are wondering about the time difference, we are 12 hours ahead of those in central time..so right now it's 9:40 am on June 1st for us and it's 9:40 pm on May 30th for most of you. It's pretty easy to remember in case any of you are looking for us on Skype. Please continue to lift up our last leg of traveling and for our luggage that is MIA.

blessings!

Singapore!

2010-06-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

We made it safely to Singapore. It's 3:35 a.m. right now and we're both wide awake. I slept somewhat alright on the flight to Tokyo but really hit the hay on the flightnheere to Singapore. D gave me this medicine that resets your internal clock and it instantly makes you sleepy with 10 min of taking it. I was sleeping just fine even in the upright position. But then, one of the flight attendants came by and asked me if I wanted him to wake me up when dinner came. I decided to skip out on the swanky food this time and just get some rest. The flight attendant also attempted to ask D the same question...in which D mummbled "argahmm...". I translated, "no." That was the last thing I remembered. My bladder woke me up one time and I managed to find my way to the bathroom... then instantly went back to sleep. The final time I was awoken by the insane pressure on my ears because we were landing. So here we are, for another 4 hours. Our next stop will get us to a guest house and I believe we will also be doing some grocery shopping. I believe we we'll leave there on the 4th for Kokomo, at last!

Tokyo!

2010-06-01T01:14:00.000-07:00

We made it out of the U.S...finally! Our flight was terrific....we flew business class (due to our many delays). I took pictures that I'll have to post when I get the cord for our camera. It's amazing what a difference it makes in the service and hospitality. I'll just let them keep wondering how i made it into business class while they continue to serve me the head of a pig and a goblet of something cool and refreshing.

The only downside of that flight for me personally is that my left ear has decided not to pop yet from the pressure change. It's causing quite a bit of discomfort and I'm hoping that clears up soon. Oh, and it should com as no surprise to you that our connecting flight with Delta here in Tokyo has been delayed... Our layover in Singapore is long, though. So we shouldn't have a problem.

Thanks to all who are lifting us up!

last layover...i hope

2010-05-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well, this post will be quick but I figured I would keep everyone as up-to-date as possible. We ran into another wall after arriving to LA. Apparently Delta didn't really book us on the flight...who knows what the full story is there. Not to go into details, because it would probably stir up more frustration than anything, we are headed out this morning after yet another stay in a hotel. Please yarp that we will not run into anymore delays. Also yarp that we would remain Crst-like in our behavior. The enemy is really attacking us in our weakness. Delta might never be defeated but PTL that the enemy has been defeated.

"The Terminal"

2010-05-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

D and I couldn't help but feel slightly like Tom Hanks today. Not only is this bizzarly set up airport becoming familiar to me, but faces of people who work here are too. D and I are considering watching that movie on netflix just because it seems fitting. So without further ado, let me fill you in a bit on how D and I are sitting on a couch in the lobby of the Marriot for a second night in Houston...

We woke up this morning feeling afresh and also assuming that are lesson on patience had been learned and passed with flying colors. The only thing that was not "afresh" was our 2 day old clothing. We weren't about to pay for someone to do something I knew very well how to do myself...so we decided to hand wash...in the sink...of our hotel bathroom. Again, I keep missing photo-ops, but we had a pretty efficient homemade washetereia set up in our room. We had 3 drying options...

1. The Hairdryer -- hang up garments on shower rod via coat hangers and extend hairdryer across the whole bathroom and prop over shower rod to allow maximum drying coverage.

2. The Air Conditioning Unit -- place opening of garment over AC unit so that it puffs up like an open parachute. Use coffee mug or other slighty heavy object to hold garment in place.

3. Hand Iron -- for steam pressed undies, use this method. However, this method can lead to incredibly hot fabric, thus leading to epidermal burning on the fingertip region.

Needless to say, we were desperate to be clean. After cleaning up, we got our breakfast, got aboard our shuttle, and headed to the airport for another day. Everything was going according to plan. We even found a new pastime activity...an idea we borrowed from The Terminal...turning in baggage carts so that we could earn 25 cents. Total earnings today: $2.25.

The downward slope of today began while David was turning in some carts. I patiently waited by our bags by a arrival/departure screen. It was then that I realized that our flight was delayed another hour. NOT AGAIN...I thought to myself. So...I looked again...delayed...I looked again, this time tracing my finger across the screen just to be sure. It was true. We were experiencing Deja vu. This meant that, once again, we were going to have about 30 min to make our connecting flight. The LA airport is no better. Come to find out about an hour later that we were already deemed "denied" in the computer system for Singapore Air because they knew we wouldn't have been able to make it. So...off we went...back to terminal A...to the Delta desk...where we encountered none other than..Marvin and Sungrim! We had already prepared ourselves to hear that web were going to be delayed another day. But we were bound and determined to get some great accommodations...and great is what we got. This time we got $15 meal vouchers...4 a piece, as well as some $10 vouchers for snacks; a hotel room in the Marriot which is within the airport; business class all the way; and for the grand finale...a $300 clothing allowance from baggage claim...alllll on Delta's tab. Eventhough we are 2 days behind schedule, we are not struggling.

I do not say all of this to brag...because quite honestly, I would have been perfectly content with our original plans. Our goal for this summer was not to spend a week in the luxuries of an airport. We eagerly and anxiously await to finally be at our final destination...serving those who do not have the greatest Treasure there is to have. A treasure that Delta doesn't have a voucher for. However, PTL that we as followers do have a Voucher who gives us a guarantee and a personal assurance of a title that we do not deserve; yet, He lovingly and willingly bestows it upon us. He provides Himself as supporting evidence...a tstmny of what was completed on the crss. It is vouched for.

It is paid in full.

It is finished.

Funny flight humor

2010-05-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I referenced a comedian that made a funny flight joke. This isn't the same one we watched but still just as funny and so true. This is for all you frequent flyers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9em-ZCddWk&sns=em

Enjoy!

What a day...

2010-05-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

It started off smoothly at least...we arrived in ATL 2 hours before our flight...got our ONE bag checked (that's right...we got packing skill-age). We said our goodbyes and went through security with no trouble at all. We arrived at our gate a good 20 min before calling time...I opened up a good book and began to read. It wasn't until we sat in our plane seats and buckled up that the trouble started...

I kept reading as we waited for our plane to go. The pilot came on over the intercom a couple of times to apologize for the delays. D and I laughed as we reminisced about a joke made by a comedian we listened to just the night before referencing how pilots never have good news when they come over the intercom... Little did we know the extent of our delay. TWO HOURS LATER we got up in the air. We spoke with our flight attendants and explained the situation. They allowed us to move up to first class so we could book it right when the plane landed in Houston. D and I managed to remain optimistic throughout it all...the sprinting, the sweating, the rapid increase in body odor, the bus ride we had to take in order to get to a train that later took us to the terminal we were suppose to depart from (real efficient)...only to hear the inevitable news that we missed our flight by 10 minutes. We asked if we could run to the plane and hop in...we got a sympathetic laugh.

From that point we reversed the trip we had just made via bus and train...but at a much slower pace this time. We were on a mission...find the Delta desk and show them who's boss ::insert gangster pose of the 2 of us:: ...not really...but we were definitely out for some flight changes, hotel rooms, and meal vouchers. To make a much longer story shorter, I'll zip past the 3 hours that we stood at the delta desk with the very friendly and helpful Sungrim and Marvin getting our flights rescheduled. No lie, I wish I had taken a picture with those two...they were the friendliest workers Delta had tonight and we got BOTH of them...PTL! We now fly out tomorrow night and head to Los angeles, from there to all of our connecting flights in SE Asia. We even got some upgrades in our seating arrangements on the plane :) all that to say...we are arriving to our final destination a day later. Since Houston is my hometown, maybe I'll get to take D to some of my stomping grounds...we'll see.

Please continue to lift us up. Despite everything that happened today...I can still tell that it was covered in yarps.

In Him,
D and A

a quick update

2010-05-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

We're 2 days out from departure and we're still checking things off of our very detailed and extensive list. I'm still in the process of cleaning up the house and all that goes with that (clothes and dishes). That will probably never get completely finished...but I try to stay on top of it. We've taken care of bills and rent, received our passports back with visas, and sent out our first newsletter and list of yarps out via email. If you did not receive it then that is either our bad or we just didn't receive an email address from you. So, you could either email us or post your email as a comment on this blog entry.

Now, if you pay very close attention to detail, you might have noticed I've mentioned nothing of packing. Mainly because that is nowhere close to being done. I have begun the process and D has not at all. However, I know that it will take him all of 5 minutes to throw something in the suitcase and he'll be done. It will be a process of give and take for me. I've been out of the country a few times and I've always packed way too much. No matter how many times I tell myself "pack lightly next time"...I still end up with 10 combinations of outfits. Why is that? I don't get it. Anyway, I'm bound and determined to pack lightly this time. I'm going to start that after I'm done doing other meaningless things only for the purpose of distracting myself from packing. You know, like cleaning out your dresser drawers, organizing your pantry, alphabetizing your DVD collection, checking facebook every 5 minutes because my newsfeed may have updated...maybe even a "tweet" here or there...

Well I said this would be quick so let me wrap this up. D and I appreciate your yarps. Please lift up our packing and travels specifically for now. Ask that we would be wise in what we take, leave behind what is not essential, and rest in Him for the provision of anything we might leave or forget. Ask that our travels, layovers, and flight changes would go smoothly and that our luggage would travel with us :)

He is worthy of all pr@ise and glry!

wake up and smell the coffee

2010-05-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to attend a gathering in B'ham at Brook Hills. Many of you will probably know what event I'm talking about. It was on the gspl, possessions, and prosperity. Here are some startling statistics and percentages that he opened up with that really opened my eyes and gripped my heart:

Out of 6.8 billion people in the world, 4.5 are still lost.
Of 16,351 people groups...6,645 have still not been reached.
Over 1 billion people live (and die) in desperate poverty (less than $1 a day)

The people...

700 million in slums
500 million on the verge of starvation
93 million beggars
200 million children exploited for labor

The poverty...

Lack of food and water
Illiteracy
Inadequate medical care
Disease
Brain damage

26,000 children today will die due to either starvation or a preventable disease.

"We are not inconvenienced by this extreme poverty because those stricken by it are not only poor...they are powerless. Literally millions of them are dying quietly in relative obscurity."

North American believers give an average of 2.5% of their income to the chrch.

North American chrches give an average of 2% of these funds to m-work overseas.

For every $100 a North American believer makes, we give $0.05 to m-work overseas.

Americans spend $40 billion every year on pets.
Americans spend $60 billion every year on weight-loss programs.
Chrches spend $10 billion every year on chrch buildings.

It's interesting that so many of us (and I include myself in this statement)...are shocked at these statistics and percentages...yet we have something to do with it. How much do I spend on Mt.Dews every month? I'm scared to add it up in fear that I might find that I don't give nearly as much for the sake of the gspl. I should not be shocked out how many are dying...it's just that I don't think about it...nor does it effect my day. But for millions...even billions...of people, it is an eternal reality. Something within us chooses to be blind-spotted by certain things. The problem starts with our hearts.

But statistics won't change our hearts....only the living, breathing Word.

the aroma of Him

2010-05-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

Time to kick off the new blog! If you're reading this blog, you already know that D and I have a heart for the nations. Our Father drew us first to Himself, then to the nations, and finally to one another. So, with great eagerness and much preparation, D and I are headed to Kokomo this summer...but this time...TOGETHER! We hope to return there for long term work after D finishes up with his intern program; therefore, this trip is definitely a vision trip. We hope that you will yarp with us as we seek the Father and His leading.

On that note, there are a few other things you can go ahead and begin lifting up with us...
.... that our visa applications will go through and we will receive those back quickly!
.... that we will be simple and wise in our packing--especially for me, being that I'm a female :)
.... that we will be able to take care of bills and rent payments for the months we aren't here
.... that we would daily seek the Father and His purpose for us this summer

We are so thankful for and blessed with your support and yarps. We want to be able to share with you all of the many things that the Father can do with your support and yarps. That is why we have started this blog so that we can keep you as up-to-date as possible. The title of our blog came straight from the Word and it's what we want to be...a sweet fragrance. As many of you might know, SE Asia is a major provider for popular coffee shops and companies. I don't know how many of you are coffee drinkers....but even if you aren't, you can't deny the sweet aroma that coffee gives off. It fills the room within minutes. We want to have that same kind of effect with spreading the Good News. So, anytime you take a moment to take a sip of your coffee, say a little yarp for us as we serve in Kokomo. Just know that your part in this trip is just as necessary as our part. There are those that must go and those that must send. Thank you for partnering with us in getting the Good News to the nations!

Let the nations be glad!
D and A