Thankful

Not one leaf here is changing colors.

We haven't felt that cool autumn breeze.

No starbucks is serving pumpkin spice latte.

(In fact, there's no starbucks at all!)

So what do we do to make it feel more like Fall?

We make crafts at AWANA.

Joe found this cute little pumpkin design on the internet.

The boys had a great time making them, and we used the time to talk about how thankful we are for the Father.

"Singing a song of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders." Ps. 26:7

Six Months In

We've been here long enough that I'm not really sure when we actually got here. It was sometime at the beginning of April...which makes this first part of October our six month mark. I've been doing a lot of reflecting, which led to the Six Forgottens, and the Six Unforgettables.

 Six Forgottens:
1. Which side of the road is the correct one to drive on/Which side of the sidewalk you are supposed to pass people on (For that matter, what was it like to drive again?)
2. What it's like to walk down a street and not see anyone and everyone relieving themselves, cow mess everywhere, and trash as far as the eye can see.
3. What Daddy's steaks/pork chops on the grill taste like.
4. What it's like to go for a run in shorts and a tank top.
5. What it was like to brush your teeth with tap water.
6. What it was like to go a whole day without sweating.

 Six Unforgettables:
1. The feeling of getting on an airplane in Little Rock, holding my one way ticket in my hand. The Father was so gracious to provide peace and comfort while my heart was anxious and afraid.
2. Getting to daily wake up and work along side my husband. Just when I think I couldn't love him anymore than I already do...something will surprise me. The Father is using this time for us to learn dependence on each other as we seek His direction.
3. Quiet, peaceful, relaxing mornings seeking the Father. The Word has never been so alive to me before now. And oh, how wonderful it is to not be bound by the clock.
4. Sitting on the "holiest" of rivers, watching thousands give devotion to water, while we are singing praise to the true Father in a different language.
5. Watching how our Father is showing up big ways in our new friends lives.  People are turn to the truth daily!
6. Getting to experience the birth of our second nephew, Carson Jack, via skype. Felt like we were in the waiting room with all the rest of the family. Thank you Father for technology, sweet nurses that break all the rule for sister living over seas, friends that have internet cards, and patient family members that gave play-by-plays.

What a journey we are on... Thanking the Father for the last six months, waiting in anticipation as the next six months unfold

Greater Things Have Yet To Come

 How long, Oh Lord, will you let your praise be given to another?

 I've only been on a couple of trips outside of our city. The first trip we took was to a holy city (our second week in country). My emotion that day can only be described as fearful. From the moment I walked of the train and had my water bottle stolen from me, I was fearful. When the man dressed in all orange, covered in paint tried to put a snake around me...there was fear. Would I have to use a squatty potty? Was the food safe to eat? Fear, fear, fear..

 So going into this trip, reflecting back to our past trip, I just began to claim that I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. How great is our Father's faithfulness! I realize how much the Father is doing in my own life on this little journey.

This trip was full of love. Love for the lost. Love for the brothers we were able to visit. Love for the Father. My true Father.

 I was also filled with hope. Hope for the future. Hope that one day, instead of worshipping the created, that a crowd too great to count from this nation, tribe, people, and language will shout with a mighty shout to the Creator!

 There is no one like our God! Greater things will be done in this city!

Weekend, week late

We just got back a few hours ago from an amazing trip to one of the holiest cities in India. I really haven't had time to process or reflect on the trip yet. I'm going to need some time before I make a post about it.
 So, I decided to blog last weekend.
 C and B are coming over weekly for AWANA's. It's been an incredible time to love on these boys, laugh with these boys, and look at truth from the Word together. They earned a pizza party sleepover, which was last weekend.

 Within the first hour, B fell face first into the coffee table. I felt terrible. I knew it had to hurt. While I'm trying to make sure he's okay, I asked Joe to get us some ice. We didn't have any ice, but Joe Joe potato came to the rescue with some frozen coffee beans. (He's going to make a great Daddy someday!)
 The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful. Just enjoyed some banana banana bread, I made from scratch. And some Wii!

 I've been learning a lot about myself this last year. One thing I've learned is that I love to see an end result, as most people do. I came from a job where every day, multiple times a day, I started a project and completed it. I always saw it to completion. (I'm sure my clients with foils in their hair appreciate that fact.) Unlike our work here. The work is never done. And some days it gets discouraging. So, I think this explains why I'm enjoying cooking so much. I get to create it, prepare it, eat it, and clean it up. Completion! woohoo. Feels so good.

 Here is one of the latest...I took a couple different recipes, and what was in the fridge to make Mexican Chicken Hummus pizza. This one got added to the list of our favorites!

Bites

 So this last week has been a rough on me physically, spiritually, emotionally, and anything else ending in "ly"
 I tend to be the one to bottle up my emotions until I explode. It's really a terrible trait I have, and honestly the Father and I are talking daily about how that can be changed.
 This weeks events:
 It all began on Sunday. I was walking home from working out. There were men working on the sidewalk, so Joe and I were gracefully balancing between the sidewalk, and the heavy flow of traffic coming towards us. That's when it bit me! No it wasn't a roaming dog (even though we have plenty of those) it was a metal post. Thankfully, it didn't rip my pants. Sadly, it did rip my leg! (bite #1 of the week, just incase you are taking notes.)
 Yesterday, I went for a run. It was one of those runs where you feel like you put ankle weights on instead of socks. My legs felt so heavy. I was struggling. Looked down at my ipod, and found that I had only gone a little over a mile. Then I got bit, in the eyeball! Not just, "oh a bug got in my eye" no more like "a bee just stung my eyeball and I can't see a thing!" *over 24 hours later, the eye is red, puffy, and oozing green stuff. (bite #2)

 Today, I decided to wear my super cute Indian shoes that my hubby got me for my birthday. I really thought I planned it out well, because I knew I was going to be sitting in meetings all day long. Got blisters anyway. After applying band-aids to both heels, I made it through the rest of the day. Tonight while doing a devotional with some of my friends, my friend Sun says "Oh what happened to your leg?" I thought she was asking about the first bite of the week. She said, "No, not that. Your shoe bites!"
 Doesn't the Father know just the perfect timing in our "rough" weeks to provide laughter?! Who knew that blisters on your heels from new shoes are called "shoe bites"

Cooking Class Goodies

We not only taught our friends how to make "no-bake" cookies, but we feasted on an assortment of American goodies. It was so funny watching our friends try the treats for the first time. They looked a little skeptical at first, but they were begging for us to let them take the leftovers home.

In fact, the party went so well that we've already lined up another cooking class featuring Mel's cheese ball.

Cooking Class 101

 We are always picking our brains for fun and creative ways to hang out with girls. When Shannon called and proposed the idea of a cooking show, I thought it would be really fun. So, we decided on the date and began letting all our friends now through text messages. (these girls are the queen's of texting!)
 You never really know if girls are going to come to events, so we were really excited with the turn out. They ate it up! (haha) Most of them had never met any of the other girls there, but you would have never known it. They acted like they were all best friends. In fact, some of them may now be the best of friends!

We played an "ice-breaker" game where the girls had to guess the name of the person on their index card  without looking at the card. They had to go around asking yes/no questions to other people to figure it out. The winners took home Bath and Body Works lotions. (one winner said that her bottle of "warm vanilla sugar" smelt like chocolate. too funny!)

Every time we played I would end up with a Bollywood star on my head. Why could I not have gotten this one?

This picture makes me laugh so hard. D was loving the show, if you can't tell. She didn't seem to mind that she was blocking the view of everyone behind her.

Look for D's video of Angela (aka Paula Deen for the day) on youtube. I'm sure she's already got it posted!

 We laughed. We played. We cooked. We ate. All in all, I would stamp the day with success.