Another birthday wish...

Just wanted to say "Happy Birthday" to my mom! She is 66 years young today :-) I hope she doesn't mind that I said that! We miss and love you and hope you have/had a great day!!

Here we are together (with my three siblings) this summer. And another one of the whole family together. It sure is hard to get a perfect picture of everyone when you have this many people to work with! ;-)

Beth Moore Study

This semester I have been doing a Beth Moore bible study called "The Patriarchs". Some of the school ladies started the study on campus a few years ago, but because of the timing of my classes I have never been able to go in the past. However, with the change of schedule this year, I am free during the afternoons so I decided to join. I have been LOVING it. I have read Genisis many times in my life, but I have never have I looked at things in such a way before. It has really impacted me to see how God chose Abraham to be a father of many nations, and yet at the same time, to realize that even in Abraham's obedience to God's call on his life he was still human and made mistakes . That is so freeing for me. He didn't have to be "perfect" for God to choose to use him, and I don't have to be perfect either. Not that it gives me an excuse to sin, but it does free me from thinking that before God can use me in any "real" way I must be a better person. I have also really enjoyed the videos that go with each lesson. I am so glad this opportunity came up for me as I feel I am getting so much out of it. Normally we meet for the study on Thursday afternoons, but today, because we are half-way through this study, we had a luncheon instead. It was a great time of fellowship with the other ladies in the study. It's been nice to have a week off, but I really am looking forward to getting back into the study for next week. Unlike some studies I have done in the past, I really look forward to each day's lesson and can't wait to find out what comes next. A friend of mine is planning to do another one of her studies starting in November and asked if I want to be a part of that one too. I hope it works out so that I can be involved as I know it will bless me and help me to grow.

What the House Test Says About Me

Just did these next couple of things for fun...not that fully agree with what it says, but it was fun to do nonetheless.

What the House Test Says About You

You consider yourself important, but no more important than anyone else. You love attention, but you don't feel like you deserve more of it than anyone else. You can't stand community oriented people and annoying "buy local" campaigns. You prefer to live the best life possible, and that doesn't really involve many other people. You are creative, expressive, and bright. You are always in the middle of some amazing project. You take good care of your physical appearance. You dress well, stay in shape, and do your best to look great. You are moved by the most simple of things. You can find pleasure from a small, perfect moment.

The House Test

The Recipe for me

The Recipe For Tara

3 parts Class 2 parts Allure 1 part Charm Splash of Understanding Serve over ice

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

Happy Birthday... x 3

Today we celebrated two birthdays in our house...KR turned 8 and KL is now 11!! Wow, it's so hard to believe. Greg took KL out on Friday night (with KB) to a movie and then I did the same with KR and her friend yesterday, as part of their weekend celebration. Then today we had a supper celebration (one thing we do is allow the birthday person to choose a restaurant to eat at for lunch or dinner). Normally on Sundays we do the lunch thing, but since KD was gone over lunch (he was on a Boy Scout campout...hopefully I will have a few pictures to share about that in a day or two) we wanted to wait until he got home. We just couldn't celebrate without him. Fortunately the kids both chose to go across the stree to the pizza place, which was nice and handy. Afterwards we came back home and let them open their gifts and had cake to finish up the evening. Although it was nothing spectacular, I think both of them would say they had nice days. KR is actually going to have a party with her friends next Friday night. Not sure about KL though, as it's been a bit difficult finding a good time to arrange something for him...will keep you posted on that. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the pictures from the day.

Just had to include the above one...I had no idea they were making such faces when I took the picture!

I also want to take a minute to wish my cousin, Bonnie, a belated Happy Birthday as well. She celebrated her special day on Friday, and although I sent her a personal note, I just wanted to embarrass her on here! lol! Here are a couple of pictures of us...the first is from nine years ago...and the other is from this summer (we were at an airshow..we both got a chuckle out of this one). Believe it or not, this is the only picture we got together this summer (and we didn't even take it!)...we will have to do better next year.

Happy Birthday, girl! I love and miss you!

Movies, fish spas, Korean food, teeth, and Haiti...

The Friday before last, a former student of ours, James, called us up and asked if we were up to an evening out. We always love catching up with him so we said "of course". He planned the evening for us and didn't tell us too much about it. We started off by going to a movie (Dark Knight...I really enjoyed it and I am not much of a Batman fan) and then he told us he had a surprise for us. He took us to a newly opened fish spa in the mall. If you have not heard of this before, don't worry, it was new to me too. At these spas you pay money to put your feet (or entire body!) into tanks of fish, who then nibble the dead skin off of them! Eewww....!! It tickles at first and you can hardly stand it, but over time you become used to it and it ends up being pretty relaxing. We weren't very brave and started with the small fish, but in the end did try the big fish as well. There was quite a difference between the bigger and smaller fish and after a number of minutes it began to feel like I had been exfoliating my legs and feet a little too long with scrubbing cleanser and it started hurting a bit, so I switched back to the small fish. We enjoyed this experience for a little more than half an hour. I was hoping to have some pictures to post, but the person who took the pictures never did send them to me...sorry. If I ever do get my hands on them I will be sure and post them. Once we were done at the fish spa, we went for some Korean BBQ. Greg and I had not really eaten much Korean food before so it was a first for us both. Other than the meat being a little too fatty for me, it was good and I'm glad for the experience.

Last week KR finally lost her other front tooth. It had become quite wiggly and not very attractive as it was crooked and had moved over towards the middle of her mouth, leaving big gaps on both sides. Personally I was glad to see it come out! She basically refused to eat most of the day because she was scared it would come out and she would swallow it while she was eating. She asked me to pull it out while she was sleeping that night so she wouldn't be scared. I wasn't too sure how that would work out especially if it was still attached at all. However, I did decide to check it out once she was asleep to see how much effort it would take to pull it out. Basically it was just sitting in the socket with nothing holding it as it pretty much fell out in my hand when I touched it. I think she very likely could have swallowed it during the night if I had not gotten it out. So the toothfairy left her some money and she was all happy (and able to eat) the next morning. Here are some before and after pictures...doesn't it look much better out??

Then this past weekend, James' brother (who was also a former student), called up and asked if he could take us out (along with another teacher) since he has missed our outing the weekend before. He (and his mom and younger brother, who is in KB's class) took us to a place called Victoria Station (steak place). I forgot to take my camera that night too, so have no pictures of it either...bummer. It was a very nice place and we had a nice meal and a good time of visiting and catching up. It's always fun to hear about how things are going in our student's lives even after they leave Dalat.

Other than these couple of outings, not a lot exciting has been going on with us here. However, I have been a bit preoccupied and saddened by the news coming out of Haiti the past couple of weeks. They have been so devasted by the hurricanes and tropical storms that have passed over the island recently. If you haven't checked out some of the pictures (and read some of the stories) coming out of there you should (just do a Google search). And if there is any way you can give even a few dollars to help the people of Haiti, you would be blessing me and my family by your giving. My heart just aches for the people there who have so little in the first place. I always wonder how they can go on after something like this happens to them (which seems to happen frequently). If you are all interested in giving money you can check out the following organization http://haitirescuecenter.wordpress.com/ . I have known of these two sisters for several years and know they are a legitimate organization with a great ministry in Haiti (a clinic and a rescue center for severly malnourished children). They were hit hard by Ike and lost many of their personal belongings as well as sustained much damage to their places of ministry. You can see numerous photos of the damage that was done in their area (and there are many, many places who were hit as bad or worse during the storms) as well as read stories about families that will break your heart. Please, please give something if you can...even if it's five dollars. There is a place to pay by Pay Pal on the right hand side of the page as well as an address where you can send checks. How can our hearts not be broken by the photos and the stories they share? How can we not do something to help when we have so much and they have so little? If you really feel you cannot donate anything at this time, can you at least pray for these people? I can't imagine walking in their shoes...as the saying goes" but for the grace of God go I..."

Thanks for letting me share my heart with you today. Hope it's a great one where ever you are.

Happy Anniversary...

...to us...and to Greg's parents! We were married on 9-1-91 which was their 29th wedding anniversary. We didn't deliberately start out to be married on the same day, but it ended up being a logical choice for us in the end. We still had one year of college left so we needed the summer to make money to pay for the wedding (my parents were not in the position financially to help us out much) therefore we decided to have it at the end of summer. And having it on Labor Day weekend allowed for family and friends to travel for the wedding so in the end the date just made a lot of sense. Through the years we have enjoyed sharing such a special day with them (and I don't think they have minded too much either!). So I didn't want to let the date go by without wishing them a very special day today!! We love you!!!