So, I haven't posted anything since December. I thought it was about time to catch up. Is anyone as ready for spring as I am? We've had so much ice and snow in Indianapolis and I'm VERY excited to see warm weather come. Good new is that I woke up at 0800 this morning (day off) and it was already 51 out! AWESOME! Anyway, not much new going on here. Lester has been making his way through his last 'classroom semester' and I've been working.

I have been thinking a lot about the blessings of my life here on Earth. My and Lester's family, financial status, church family, and even the material blessings we have are more than I deserve. I feel ashamed sometimes when I catch myself complaining about something I want or don't have. It's especially humbling to me whenever I am in Honduras or reading my father-in-law's blog when he's over there. People who have so little are still so very full of happiness! It just goes to show you that our material possessions mean so little when it comes down to it. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. Hopefully, it won't be two months before I post again!!!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." Ephesians 1:3

The Nutcracker - Part 1 (1999)

Annual Outing

This weekend will be the third annual Nutcracker viewing by myself and four of my favorite ladies! Kedra and Rebecca Burris, Laura Barlow, and Melissa Wilson will come up to Indy tomorrow night to see the Nutcracker Ballet at Butler University. I ALWAYS look forward to this.

Its that time of the year!!!

I love this time of year!!! I don't think I will ever be a true 'adult' around the holidays. I still get VERY excited on Christmas morning and can't wait to open all of the presents. Especially now that Lester and I live away from home we get especially excited to see all of our family and friends. This year for Thanksgiving my Aunt, Cousins, and their family are coming home from England! I can't wait to see their little ones and hear the older one's adorable English accent~ It should be good times~

At a lady's breakfast this morning were were asked to list some of our family's holiday traditions. Mine are vague, but still traditions. On Christmas eve we would always go to the grocery (usually Walmart) and get donuts for part of our Christmas morning breakfast. Afterward, we usually found Rudolph on tv to watch. Christmas morning we weren't allowed to wake the parents up until 6:30, I think it was. So, you better believe that as soon as the clock struck 6:30 we knocked on mom and dad's door. As the camcorder rolled, we opened gifts and stockings. When we were done, we put our gifts into neat display piles for when Grandma and Grandpa came to our house to see what we got. Mom would have biscuits and gravy or breakfast casserole ready to eat when our grandparents got there. Around noon we headed down to grandma and grandpa's for my dad's side of the family Christmas and stayed there until nearly bedtime.

Anyway, I love remembering all of the stuff we do around the holidays. It definitely gives me things to look forward to!!!

Matthew 18:5

http://mowensjourney.blogspot.com/p/fundraising.html

This couple has being trying to raise money to adopt a child/ren from Ethiopia for about 10 months. I don't know them personally, but I admire their faith in God to provide the funds for the adoption. They sell t-shirts, hand stamped cards, and coffee. Anyway, I was inspired by their story and I thought you might be too!

Sniff!!!

So, this is sort of random, but my mom brought up a thought that I've had so many times. She taught Sunday school at church today and they happened to talk about what smells you associate with certain memories. Isn't it weird how that works? I am a very "smell-sensitive" person, so I have this experience frequently. One of them is when I pass an oil rig. As strange as it sounds, I had a necklace that was made of pink plastic hearts. This necklace smelled like oil. Gross? Yes, but that's what it reminds me of! Most scents remind me of people or people's houses. Sometimes I have a hard time knowing what exactly it reminds me of. So, that's really all I have to say today. It was random, but I was just thinking about how amazing it is that the brain connects everything so perfectly! Just a thought..........

GLEEN!!!

So, from the time that Lester and I have lived here at good ol' Bent Tree, we have gradually made friends with this Libyan family a few doors down. The family consists of the mom and dad (not sure of their names), Mustafah (5), Sarah (3), and ??? (1). (They always tell me their youngest sister's name, but I can't ever understand them). Anyway, last summer they would come to our patio and color without saying much, but this summer we've seen their real personalities! Every time we went to the pool, they seemed to be there as well. Mustafah would insist upon Lester doing swimming races with him. If Lester won, he would get mad and go pout! One time we watched the dad drop Sarah in the pool with no pants on to go pee!!! There are sooo many cultural differences!!!

One of our favorite things is hearing them speak. The children can speak english very well with a slight accent. Every time they say anything with the letter 'R' they replace with with an 'L'. It's very amusing to listen to for some reason. The father is extremely hard to understand but continues to speak even if he knows we aren't getting it!

We've also noticed that the father does all of the activites with the kids. Not sure if this is a cultural requirement or if the mother just prefers to get them out of their small apartment. I can see as I walk by their apartment that they have very little furniture and very little decor. The two older kids share the spare bedroom and the 1 year old sleeps with her parents. It makes me realize how lucky I am that I can afford a two bedroom apartment and there's only two of us living here!

Well, the latest Libyan fun that we've had was Thursday night. Lester was sitting outside on the patio with the screen door open and I was organizing pictures on the living room floor. I hear the kids get closer and eventually they make themselves at home. They asked us where our crayons and pictures were and for snacks and the whole bit! It cracked me up! They're lucky they're so cute... ;)