A few more pics...

...from South of the Border. These are all from the secluded Resort we stayed at, deep in the mountains:

It was so LUSH!

One of the idols set up at the entrance:

The view from my window:

A stroll through the market...

I'm south of the border for a couple of weeks helping some friends with their preschool age kids. It's been quite a week of learning for me...and has even included a few dirty diaper changes...ha! :) Our theme quote for the past week came from our friend John's 1st book, the 4th chapter, 9th line. As I sat here reflecting on it tonight I just got overwhelmed that the One who made us CHOSE to make his love manifest among us in sending his only Son, he didn't have to knit us together just so we could experience it, but he DID! (Go read it.)

It's always so refreshing to get to spend some time in "the land of smiles." Here's some sights from our venture into town and to a market over the weekend:These girls are from a minority group, hence the ornate costumes, and were singing and throwing flower petals through the air.A pic of some young monks.Asian clothes for BARBIE!!! :)Sauteed BUGS!!! :(And this one's for the Raulersons and Hughes:

Total Eclipse (Turn around...)

I had a ONCE in a lifetime opportunity today!

My city was in the direct path of the solar eclipse that happened across Asia this morning. (PS- A solar eclipse is when the moon crosses in between the sun and earth.) So I had the opportunity to see a TOTAL ECLIPSE...you know the kind that looks like this:

My friend and I had our special viewing glasses ready and we were excited!

BUT...guess what was in the forecast for today???

RAIN!!!

SO, we didn't actually get to see the eclipse! BUT...we did experience it! From about 9:30-9:35am this morning the sky turned completely dark...like darker than night time! It was a little creepy, but SO cool at the same time.These are some pics from my friend's roof during the middle of the eclipse.And these are pics of the same 2 spots about 10 minutes later.The temperature dropped more than 10 degrees after the eclipse...it was a nice break from the over 110 degree heat index we've been experiencing frequently for the last few weeks. The 1st pic of the eclipse above and this one below were both taken in the city I used to live in (found them online)...amazing...that place only has clear skies 24.3 days a year or so! I'm happy for them!!!

Pagoda Climbing & a Visitor

Katie, a good friend of Joy-my former roomate, came and spent a few days with us last week. One morning we went to a park in town and had the chance to climb up in this old pagoda. When I say old I mean like a 1,000 year history or so. I've seen a lot of pagodas on this side of the world, but this was my first chance to go inside of one.A sign inside the pagoda:I agree! :)

The pagoda was around 7 stories high...so up and up we went on a narrow spiral staircase.There were several of these signs on the climb up:And I managed to make it all the way up without a concussion! :)

The doorways were barred at the top so we couldn't walk around, but I got a shot of the view through a window.

The way back down was a little tricky. You can tell from the pic below how steep it was:My size 10's didn't exactly have enough room to get a firm foundation on those baby steps...so I climbed down backwards.

A few scenic spots around the park:

On Katie's last night I took her to eat EA BBQ!EA BBQ is SO good...bascially whatever you can think of that is "spear-able" you can order...they throw it on the grill and when it's done season it with yummy-ness and spicy sauce. I hadn't ordered for just 2 people in a while so we ended up with a feast!

It's SUMMER!!!

While it feels like I'm stepping into a sauna each time I walk out of my bedroom, I'm SO happy that summer's here! I've seen blue skies on and off for nearly a week!!! I don't think I've experienced this phenomenon in over 2 years! And tonight, I even saw multiple stars in the sky!!!Jesh and I embraced the heat and took a trip to our local zoo this weekend.

I thought the camel with the saggy humps hiding out in the shade caputured that hot summer day feeling.

Sparkle, Sparkle

This post is a lil behind schedule, but...Happy 4th! :)

I found out that my camera has a "firework" setting...and when we tried it out with the sparklers we got some pretty cool results!!

Sadly, my computer crashed right after the big 4th of July Blowout, and I didn't get a chance to post these pics earlier! There's hope that she (my computer) will be repaired by the end of the month!

Road Trip!

Here's some pics from our recent road trip!!