Hangin Out

I have to apologize for not updating in a while! But here's some of our weekend fun with friends last month...

I got to teach Novi how to bowl...but I'm pretty sure that she has natural talent b/c she got more strikes than all of us! We also got to go to our first concert last month! The stage was in the middle of a huge arena...so we had to use binoculars to really get a good look! Glow sticks and light sabers filled the arena, and were swaying to the beat!
It was so wild to see everyone singing their hearts out to these popular choruses, the young, the old, the girls and the boys! May their heart songs soon turn to praises!

I love to tell the Story...

Here's one of the sweet cleaning ladies that works around our apartment! We love to talk with her and she's always up for a story!

We had a PRECIOUS time celebrating this past week with our friends, teachers, and classmates! Val taught us how to make these yummy cookies from scratch!We had a party for some friends, who got to hear all about the Easter story! We played games, read stories, and ATE...just having a really good time!
I got to demo for everyone how to throw back a PIXY STIX! Thanks so much for sending them Jenny & Kaci...they were such a hit!
We spent some time dying eggs, which our friends loved! So I just recently made a connection in my brain...the egg symbolizes a New Life!

The egg hunt was also a BLAST!

So many reasons to CELEBRATE!

So many sweet reasons to celebrate this week! Here a few you may not know about...

Oh...how I love my Mama! She's my best friend, my role model, my encourager, my confidant...and she's TEACHER OF THE YEAR!!! "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all!"

The same way Morgan's show us who's boss in this picture is the same way she keeps her precious little residents under control...they love her SO much they named her "STAFF MEMBER OF THE MONTH!"

2 in a ROW! The GATORS once again take the title of National Champs this year in Basketball!

The ZOO!

An exciting little trip to the zoo w/ lots of "firsts"!My 1st time to see a panda!
Ice Cream BREAK! My 1st time to try this really yummy ice cream I always see everyone eating!
1st time I've looked at an animal and thought "Bless...what in the world is that?" I'm still wondering the same thing!
And my 1st time to feed a monkey! We bought little cereal like snacks to feed the bears...but the bears were no where to be found. So I got to use my stretch-armstrong arms to reach across the railing and stick food through the cage to feed the monkeys!

Pure Country!

We got to spend some retreat time this month out in the COUNTRY!

3 little pigs went to market!
Aint he cute!


No, I didn't bungee jump...and yes, those are monkeys!

...be the center of our lives...

It's been a super busy week, but a great one! Thank thank thank him! I've learned so much through struggles, rejoiced in victories small and great, and actually seen progress in language!

So I like to pretend like these goodies from the bakery are LITTLE DEBBIES!

Every Friday we have a calligraphy class! Our teacher is not afraid to call me out when I hold my hand incorrectly or slouch in my seat while writing!

YEP...I was actually concentrating that hard on making straight lines with the brush! It's all about the baby steps!
Joy was so excited about her work...she hung it on the fridge when we got home!

And after warming up with the straight lines, we moved on to this:

SIKE! Our teacher wrote our names for us!

Oh...and no day is complete without making a stop by what I call the "Kit Kat store!" I can't find kit-kats anywhere, but this little store outside of campus sells them!

That's gonna leave a mark!

We began language school this week! We were SO excited about starting school Monday, but boy were we in for a surprise! All of our classmates are from another country in Asia, and have been studying our new language for much longer than us! The good thing is that to communicate with them we have to use the language b/c they know only a few words in English! Thankfully by the end of the week our teachers realized how far behind the rest of the class we actually are! So in addition to our regular schedule we'll be studying w/ our teachers in the afternoon as well! Woohoo...30 hours a week of language school! I'm so grateful that I know who's in control and who knows exactly what I need...because other wise I'd be feeling a little stressed! Hopefully this will help us pick up language way faster than we expected!Another fun surprise was that our advisor signed us up for a shadowboxing, or Tai Chi, class one night a week! While we were jogging laps around the room at the beginning of class to warm up, I failed to notice an electrical outlet protruding out of the middle of the floor and did a graceful little tumble onto the floor! I was laughing so hard, along with all my classmates and I just kept saying "bu hao yi si" (I'm embarrassed)! I got to redeem myself though, because during the break I figured out how to tell my instructor that I had studied ballet and I ended up getting to lead the class through some of our exercises! How funny! All those years really did pay off Daddy!

After our Tai Chi class we got to meet and watch some guys bust a move! They were break dancing to some old hip-hop/techno songs! It made my heart glad to watch them!