Quarter of a Century

25 seems like a really big number when it comes to age!

I was so thankful to spend this birthday with new friends! I'm kinda overwhelmed, with thankfulness, when I think about how many new and precious friendships have come into my life over the last 6 weeks. :)I was especially blessed by all the fun birthday gifts! This little plaque was one of my favorites..."Candy Canes Sweeten the Season."Oh, and J gave me a pretty awesome bday gift as well...a new bicycle seat! Precious girl went to extreme efforts to buy me a new one...and I'm very appreciative for it! I'll no longer feel like I'm sitting on a pencil when I'm riding my bike!

Biology 101

It's crab season here in the city, so of course we had to try some out. I wish I'd taken the camera when a local friend took us to buy the crabs. We bought them on a little alley that had all sorts of "parts" of animals lying around, and the crabs were in big buckets crawling around. I don't know much about crabs at all, but it looked as though they were foaming at the mouth struggling to breathe trying to stay alive. So we brought them home, scrubbed them down, and threw them in the pot to boil.
When the were ready to eat, our friend taught us how to tell the difference b/w the males and females. :)And then we ate the ENTIRE insides of the crab, even strange yellow gooey stuff, and other juicy stuff! It was sort of like doing a disection similar to the one you would do in Biology 101. :)

Better than this?

What a month of changes!

Here's something I've been thinking through...

Have you ever had "better than this" moments? Moments or experiences or circumstances where you've been SO satisfied, SO full, SO content, that the reality of that time coming to an end made you ask, "Could it really ever get better than this?" I can remember a few distinct moments in my life, all of them being when I'm on the verge of a transition, where I've had those moments...

...and I believe this is the answer I get each time I'm anxious or fearful about change...

"He has made everything beautiful in it's time." -Ecc 3.11

Everything Changes

My dear Kid Sis came to visit over the past weekend on her way back to the States...here's a few pics from her visit:

Nightlife

Some of our new friends took us out to watch a laser, light, and firework show this past weekend...it was really impressive...and free admission to watch!! J even captured it on film!The water and lasers sprayed and flashed in rythym to the music.The viewing crew:And the fireworks were shooting up from at least 20 different places.Snacking on some candy-coated fruit on a stick after the show:The lights were so pretty:And we just happened to run across this big ole gator...

so I took advantage of the opportunity to teach the CHOMP!

This is our town...

Some more sights around the beautiful new city!

The New View

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks already since the move! We finally got the internet up and running at our apartment, sort of, and I'm so excited to share some pics of the new place!

Exciting news...I've started using a new mode of transportation since moving here...a bicycle!

J made it in safely last weekend, and we've been learning the ropes of bike riding in Asia together...it's definitely a rush dodging people, other bikes, and occasionally buses!J even made a lil sign to warn the other bikers!This guy's catching fish off his bike.Even the lil ones have wheels!Behind the dorms.And when you go to the supermarket...there's even an enormous bike parking lot.We also learned a really valuable lesson this weekend, never ever, no matter what, go to the supermarket on the weekend. We had to have been 5,000 deep in there. :)

Hopefully I'll get a "bike cam" view for ya soon!