The Big 2-4!

Last week we celebrated my 24th birthday! Thanks so much for all the sweet notes and encouragement you sent my way!!! I had the best time celebrating with my friends here! The weekend before my birthday the girls threw me a surprise party...I knew we were having a party but I had no idea what was going be going on! So when I walked in with my friends...I was tickled to see that the girls had spent all afternoon making a GATOR cake and decorating the house with all my gator stuff!! So a big thanks to Val, Sarah, and Joy and their mommies for sending lots of great stuff to make a delicious cake...and for sending toppings so we could have an all-out ice cream sundae fest!!!
Isn't it CUTE!!!

On of the things I was really excited about is that my new classmates came! So this is Joy and I with our classmates!

Cat and Belle, sweet sisters!

After a couple of dancing games, the cup game, a round of Mafia, and giving thanks to the Maker, we all got together for a group shot!

And after the party the girls surprised me with these new shades and camo kicks! They actually found my size (of course they're mens and labeled "giant" ;) )!!

Thanks so much for an awesome birthday...love you guys!!!

Mountain Climbing

After wearing long johns and carrying an umbrella all week, the clouds finally lifted along with the cold weather! So Nicole and I went out last Friday to enjoy a blue sky sunny day in the mountains behind our universities. We decided to take a steep little narrow path when we came to a fork, and what started out as stepping stones, quickly turned into boulder climbing! Haha!

"I lift up my eyes to the hills-

where does my help come from?

My help comes from...

the Maker of heaven and earth."

(Ps 121)

It was really beautiful from the top to look out one way to see our district of the city, and then turn around to the other and see the countryside!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...at least around our apartment! We had some friends over for a Christmas decorating party this past week! I have even more anticipation about this Christmas than I did when I was a child!!! Everybody got to paint their own ornament and hang it on the tree!
Lisa and Sally started decorating each other!

I got the priveledge of putting the star on the top of the tree...b/c my arms are the longest!

The decorating crew!

The nativity scene!
After sharing the Christmas story, Joy taught everyone Christmas Carols!
Thank the Maker for the gift of Emmanuel, and the many opportunities this season will bring!!!

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting...

One of our teacher's insisted that we study Kung Fu for the first several weeks of this new semester. So every Thursday morning after class we head out to the soccer field for an hour or so to give it a try!

Our instructor is really good, and pretty intense! The 1st video is one of the warm-ups he has us doing...

Haha!!! I'm still trying to figure out how to say, "My body doesn't do that!"

And this next video is one of my classmates and I following him through a sequence of Kung Fu moves.

If we get some speed going, perhaps it'd be a little more intimidating! ;)

But anyways, please remember Mr. S and the last few weeks we have together with him!

Country Roads....Take me Home

This past weekend we traveled out to the countryside to visit our friend Sally's family and hometown. I had such a great time...so great that I've dedicated the following 4 posts to stories and pics of our time there!

The first night we arrived, we went out for a walk around the town. We got to watch ladies dancing, people singing karaoke to the sound of ancient Asian instruments ("erhu karaoke"), and eat some sugar cane!!

The next day we went out to her relatives homes, and spent the day with them! Her relatives were so gracious to us, and really made us feel like part of the family! I was absolutely blown away by the Maker's handiwork...that these people call their backyard!

This is the house of one of Sally's aunts.

When we first arrived, we went trekking through the fields to pick oranges.

As I was walking around I kept thinking about how everything these people are as farmer's of the land depends upon the hand of their Maker...though they've yet to acknowledge it.
"The Maker is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love...
he is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made...
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing."
Ps. 145

Eatting Up

All of our dishes for lunch came fresh from the fields and water and livestock!

All the family pulled together to create a feast! It kinda felt like Thanksgiving Day!

This is the biggest wok I've ever seen!

La Jiao (pepper)...this is a favorite to put in the dishes in our neck of the woods! I've actually acquired a taste for spicy food...one of the many miracles the Maker's done!

The lunch feast!

The Son says,
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

Hanging Around

After lunch we got to spend time talking and hanging out in the shade!

I got to teach all the cousins how to play spoons...using peanuts! And they played with all their heart!

We made jokes about catching a chicken all day (there were plenty of them running around)... and our friend actually got ahold of one!

Sally with her Mom and Dad! Her looks are a combination of both of them! Her Dad was so sweet...he took pleasure in cooking meals for us all weekend!

A shot of the whole family gathering. This is just part of her Mom's side of the family.

Turns out that one of her Aunts is a sister of ours!