Glory...the Nicholsons

NEW BLOG

2011-10-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

We now have a new blog!!! From this point on, keep up with the Nicholsons at:

tunapendakisumu.wordpress.com

Last post

2011-10-11T12:44:00.001-07:00

For some reason I'm a little bit sad about this being my last post on this blog. It's not like a virtual web address really means anything, but I guess I feel like this blog has been a document of mine and Chris's life from when we got married until the time we move ourselves across the world. Just like moving out of our house, giving away our precious dog, and selling almost everything we own, this is one more goodbye. I guess it's a goodbye to this time in our life when things were easier and more comfortable than we even realized. At the same time, there will be some comforts and perks that come with our Kenyan lives, so I am in no way indicating that the years in Atlanta were the "golden years."

This is just me realizing that we've been blessed beyond our imagination with friends and fun and we are about to let it all go. As we are coming up on our two month mark, I can feel time just slipping through my fingers, and so many questions welling up in my mind (sometimes coming out in the form of tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat). Can we really do this? What will our lives be like in Kenya? What impact will this have on our family? What all are going to have to sacrifice that we don't even realize right now? What all are we going to miss out on?

I remember at Harding, not ever wanting to do a study abroad semester, because who would want to miss out on everything going on at Harding for a WHOLE semester? You might get back to school and be totally out of the social loop!!! Ha...that was my concern over being gone for 3 months. Needless to say, we will be out of the social loop when we get back from Kenya.

There are a lot of things I am looking forward to about our move, but I just feel like right now I want to take time to mourn what I am leaving. Maybe it's the rain or the fact that I just noticed where I still have Emory's birthday marked on Google calendar, but I am feeling a little sad today.

Steve and Tobias

2011-08-17T01:09:00.000-07:00

There are two security guards that work at the Nyanza Club in Kisumu. This is kind of like the Kenyan's version of a country club...ish:) Every morning that I go to work I walk up to the Nyanza club to catch the shuttle to take me to work about 10 miles outside of the city. I can't remember when or how, but at some point I just started talking with the two security guards at the front gate of the Nyanza club. Steve is 27 and Tobias is 25. They arrive at work at 6am and work until 6pm or 6:30 everyday, seven days a week. Tobias has not had one day off in a year. Steve has a wife and three-year-old daughter, and also helps take care of his brother. Tobias helps take care of his younger sister, as both of his parents have passed away. Now this is a very typical story of a life in Kenya, but these two guys are just amazing and God has put them on my heart so strongly that I can't stop thinking about it. Every morning they greet me with a huge smile on their face and they are always talking about how good the Lord is and how they desire to do what's right. They wanted so badly for me to come see where they live before I left so I told them I would yesterday and mom came with me, thankfully. We headed over to Nyanza around five in the evening, and first took a tuk-tuk to Tobias's house. He lives by himself in a part of town called Manyata, and suffice it to say it was quite the adventure just going to his house. He called some of his friends over to greet us and went and bought us all some cokes-he wouldn't let us leave until I finished my whole half liter of coke. We were so touched by his desire to welcome us into his humble home, but at the same time we were also getting so tickled at the whole situation. We would say something that we thought was really nice or normal, and sometimes, for no reason we could understand, they would all get so tickled at us and laugh really hard, which made us laugh because we had no idea why they were laughing and then they would laugh at us some more. The conversation was good, but also humorous because in Swahili, the word for he and she is the same, so he would be talking about his sister but I'm trying to figure out which guy he is talking about because he keeps using the masculine pronouns. Well they finally decided it was time to go to Steve's house, and I said it would be okay to take a motor bike because, of course, they said it was "very close." So we hope on a motorbike with the seat slightly too short so I'm sitting on a metal piece in the back and we head off over a glorified foot path and onto a very busy road on a bike with no rearview mirrors and no helmets (don't ever tell my children I did this). Steve and Tobias were on another bike which kept dying so we would pass them and I was thinking where is this guy taking us and I feel really nervous, and then they would catch up and pass us with huge grins on their faces. This happened several times until I was really getting tickled at the whole situation. We finally made it to Steve's house and met his wife and daughter and brother. We sat there and talked by the light of a lantern (no electricity) as they shared with us their life stories and told us how strongly they believed in God and his goodness. I just kept thinking, these are two amazing men. No bitterness, just a desire to make life better for their families. When it was time to go home, it was pitch black outside, so Steve used the light of his cell phone to help guide us around the mud puddles on the path from his house and Tobias drove slowly behind us on his motorbike to shed a little more light. They were going to put us in a tuk-tuk to go back home but I asked them to come with us the whole way because I don't feel safe out after dark, so they took us all the way back (which was quite a way) and we said goodbye.

We spoke to them again this morning and assured them we would see them again soon. I don't know why but neither mom or I can stop thinking about them. I want so badly to help them. I'm praying that God shows me how. What an amazing way to end my time here for now. Kwaheri Kenya, nitarudi December!!!

Last day of work

2011-08-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day of work in the lab at Kisian. I was hurrying the whole day to get everything done that I needed to get done before leaving...taking inventory of all the supplies, finishing up some experiments, gathering things to bring back to the states, and giving out some small gifts to the people that have helped me out since I've been here. The people I'm working with here really are so great. I will surely look forward to seeing their smiling faces when I come back in December. Tomorrow I will say goodbye to the children at ringroad, and wednesday we head back to the States. It's such a weird feeling. Just thinking about leaving those children makes me have a huge lump in my throat. There is one girl, Diana, that I love so much, but every time I have to leave she cries and cries until my heart is so broken. It doesn't seem fair that I am leaving them. They need someone there all the time. One of the older girls gave me a purse. She was so embarrassed to give it to me that she gave it to mom to give to me. It touched me so much because I know that she has nothing, but she still chooses to give something to me who has everything. I can't explain the way these gestures make me feel. I am learning more and more that the best thing I can give them is time. They need someone to sit and listen to the thoughts they have as if they matter. We all take this for granted, but there are people who really don't have anyone to talk to.

Well my computer is about to die, but I'm having trouble getting my thoughts together anyway. Maybe I will have more luck later. I'm anxious to be back with the people I love in Atlanta, but my heart will remain here when I am gone...

Out to the field

2011-08-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by the pace of the blog posting, work has really picked up in the last few weeks (and at work is the only time I have internet). I'm working on wrapping things up in the lab and finally feel like I can start to relax a little. There has been a lot to do, and I'm not exactly sure how productive all my hard work was, but I'm trying to be optimistic about it. I can truly say that I did all I could and gave it my best shot. I have gotten to know the people in the lab even better now that I have had the chance to work along side them, and they are all really great. I'm really looking forward to coming back and being able to work with these wonderful people. Today, since we had a little bit of time, we got to go out to the field to see what it is actually like at ground zero- so to speak. I was really impressed with our field coordinator, Bernard. You could just sense that everyone he was working with really loved him, which is pretty good since he is always coming to get their blood:) I met a few people that provide assistance with keeping track of who gets in the water how often and getting everyone together for the blood draws. It was nice to be able to thank them for their work.

We met one mama who was a sand harvester (most of them are men). I was really amazed at her. She stands all day long shoveling sand from one pile to another, moving it away from the shore to make room for the next boatload of sand coming in off the lake, and when I met her she had a huge smile on her face and seemed incredibly happy. It was a rainy day so most of the workers were not out, but there she was working alone, as hard as ever. I joked with her about how she was so strong and I would never want to get in a fight with her and she laughed and said no she wouldn't fight me because I would shoot her with a gun (she was really laughing as she said this so it isn't as morbid as it sounds, but it was very odd-Bernard explained that many Kenyans think all white people carry guns). As we left I noticed that Bernard gave her some money and she was extremely grateful (she is not part of our study so there was no conflict of interest here). I can tell he really cares about the people he is working with which makes me so glad to know he is the one who will be handling our field work.

The shuttle that takes me home from work is about to come so I can't write any more now but I have so much to say. This has been such a good trip. It was so hard to say goodbye to Chris AGAIN yesterday, and I am very anxious just to be with him for a long time. My mom and our friend Caroline, from Mauritius are here with me and they are wonderful company. Caroline suggested we make crepes tonight, and when a French woman offers to make crepes for me, I don't turn her down! We even found some Nutella here in town. Life is good...more later...

No longer alone

2011-08-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

Finally, Chris, Cody and my mom arrived...YAY!!!! I think the moment I saw Chris's red bandana and knew it was him coming off the plane was one of the happiest moments in my life. It's not that the first three weeks here were particularly bad, it's just so hard being in a foreign third world country by yourself. So Mick and I picked them up from the airport and headed back to the Davises, where they made us an amazing breakfast of pancakes and strawberries and bacon. Next we headed out to the orphanage to see the kids...Chris was so happy to see them, and they were even happier to see him. It was so cute to see their faces light up when they saw he was here. They got to meet my mom and Cody, too...which they really loved. The girls just took to my mom so quickly, asking her a million questions and gathering so close around her. She is amazingly kind and compassionate with them. I feel like they see her as the mom they don't get to have. I'm so glad that my mom is here spending time with them. And what can I say about Cody, he is a NATURAL. I kept thinking, where did Cody go? and then I would find him surrounded by children with their undivided attention. He and Chris are quite the pair. They can talk to anyone and make an immediate friend. It's like the cultural walls just dissolve in front of them. Anyway, the three of them make a great team here, and I think they are having a lot of fun. I love hearing about their adventures when I come home from work...work...hmmm...well, things have been REALLY busy for me at work, but I'm getting the hang of things and figuring out how to manage my time so I don't feel quite so stressed. Tomorrow night we have been invited to go eat with one my coworkers, and I am really looking forward to that. Several other coworkers have expressed interest in having me and Chris over and I have told them I plan on doing the same once we are in our new house. I'm really excited to get to know everyone in the lab better.

Oh yeah, for lunch on Saturday we had the meal I had made and it was actually really good. The second try on the beans and the banana bread were huge improvements and everything else was a success. I know you were all worried about this:)

Sunday was church in the morning, then we took three 9-year-old-boys and one of their 3-year-old sisters out to lunch. Chris took the boys to the bathroom to wash hands and said they couldn't get over the automatic hand dryer-what a thrill! The little girl's name was Diana, and I fell in love with her. She was beautiful and sweet and polite. She just sat in my lap and ate whatever I put on her plate so neatly (well, she wasn't too crazy about the kale-I guess kids are the same everywhere:) Anyway, I was in heaven holding her, but she got a little heavy for me after a while since we were walking all over the city, so I had to pass her off...to who?...to a 9-year-old-boy of course. He just put her on his back and carried her forever like it was nothing. Anyway, after lunch and walking around town we went to a Kisumu soccer match, complete with its own vuvuzella, and then we had burgers at the Davises with a mission team from Amarillo. We met a great missionary family from Kitalli (couple hours away from Kisumu) and are really excited about spending more time with them...maybe even this Christmas?

Life here is somewhat like a roller coaster. I have to admit, I am kind of ready to come home. Work has been stressful, and I still don't have a 'home' here of my own and that is getting old. But I'm growing more and more excited about our future here in Kenya. It still gives me butterflies in my stomach when I think that I am going to be LIVING here...are you sure about this?....WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?...You must be crazy!....these are all thoughts I still have daily. But the sense of adventure, the personal growth, the ministry opportunities, and the opportunity to share this special piece of the world with our friends and family are all calling me forward into my new life in Kisumu, Kenya with A LOT of excitement. The next time I come here, I will be coming home!!!!!

Burned beans

2011-07-29T01:53:00.000-07:00

OK, so the beans were a flop. I was so determined to make a really good meal for Chris, mom, and Cody when they got here. I had soaked the beans and followed all the instructions but after several hours of cooking, they still weren't soft...so I decided to cook them overnight. I woke up this morning to the smell of death wafting up from the kitchen. I hadn't added enough water to the pot and the beans were charred. Poor Jen can't get the smell of burnt beans out of her mind, as it seems to be on our clothes and skin and in her backpack (thankfully she is being a really good sport about it), but I haven't given up. I will try to make the beans again tonight, and if it doesn't work, I will try again. I am determined to cook something good here!

I have somewhat hit the wall in my trip like I did last time. Last night, I had leftover indian food for dinner and it was not good, so I had a piece of strawberry yogurt bread that I had made on Tuesday and it had somehow turned bitter. Then, I decided to make banana bread which turned out ok, but it's like the baking powder wasn't mixed in well or something and I kept getting these little glimpses of a tangy taste every few bites. Then, the beans....not to mention somehow I got bleach on my clothes because I was decontaminating the counters after cutting up the chicken. My clothes are looking so incredibly dingy after being washed a few times here. I don't know if it's too harsh of detergent or what but most everything I brought is turning into a muted brownish version of whatever color it used to be. It makes me feel very frumpy.

But at the same same time (Kenyans like to say things twice like that) I don't really feel that bad. I have plenty of food to eat and clothes to wear so I am doing better than most people around here. Thankfully I saved one dress that hasn't been worn or washed here at all so I can wear something nice when I go to pick everyone up at the airport. I think I just keep battling with the feelings of wanting life to be a certain way versus accepting the way things are here. The concept of living in Kenya the way I lived in America just doesn't work, nor is it a healthy goal. I just want to have peace with my life here, trying to make things better, but accepting it when things don't turn out the way I want. I've always thought of myself as being low-maintenance, but now I see that is all a matter of perspective!

Cooking in Kenya

2011-07-27T23:01:00.000-07:00

Chris, my mom, and Cody Kemp are coming to see me in just TWO DAYS!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand myself. These past three weeks here have been really good for me, but I miss Chris so much, I mean so so much. Let me also say here how excited I am that Cody and my mom are coming. I have to brag on my mom here... I mean how awesome is it that she is coming all the way to Kenya to see me? and even without my dad! She is such a strong woman and a HUGE mentor in my life. Kenya is not an easy place to be, but I have no doubt that she will love it here. I have been telling everyone that my mom is coming and that she is super strong. I am so thankful for her and also very anxious for her to have a good impression of our new home! Cody has been a friend of mine and Chris's for about 5 years now. Even though he is a few years younger than us, he has taught both Chris and me a lot about the Lord and about how to love others the way Christ loves the church. He is one of our very best friends and I can't wait to see him.

In anticipation for them coming, I have been trying to make preparations for their arrival. I thought I should cook a really good meal for them when they get here. But with me working all day and nothing being available pre-prepared, I have been working on this meal in stages. Wednesday night I started soaking some black beans and made some flour tortillas. Tonight I will finish making the beans, make some banana bread, and cut up the chicken so that it can be marinating. Saturday, I will just have to cook the chicken, warm up the beans, put together the yogurt sauce that goes in the burritos, grate the cheese and chop the lettuce and...voila... chicken burritos in Kenya! As you can see, cooking here is a little involved, but I am really enjoying it and since I don't have internet at the house I am really thankful I found this book- "How to Cook Everything" in the flat. It really has a recipe for everything starting from scratch which is what you have to do here. The only short cut I took was to buy some really expensive boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Maybe when my mom is here she can educate me on how to cut up a whole chicken from her days in France. I don't know if I could ever bring myself to do the killing of the chicken, but we'll see.

Anyway, the meal might turn out to be disastrous (if you read the blog on our previous trip to Kenya you know all about that:), but I don't really care because I will just be so happy to have the three of them here with me. Hurry up, saturday!

Pics from Ringroad

2011-07-24T05:06:00.000-07:00

500,000 friends

2011-07-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

I was walking around Kisumu by myself yesterday, so I had a lot of time to think. I won't bore you with everything that's been going through my mind with no TV, internet, or ability to go out after dark (which is 6:30pm), but here is one thing that was pretty cool. By many people's definition in America, a friend could be someone you don't say much more to than "how are you?" and "fine." The funny thing is that here, every single person I pass asks me that, I mean EVERYONE. So in a city of 500,000 people, I have 500,000 friends. This is a very good thing because sometimes walking around alone I start to feel very vulnerable, especially when a group of guys come up and start asking me a lot of questions and walking along beside me. I have found that in this situation, the best defense is to make friends with as many people as possible by smiling and talking to people so that I don't feel like I'm alone and I don't feel as scared. Yesterday, as I was walking, a woman came up behind me and just struck up a conversation with me. She was very nice and it made such a difference in how I felt when I was walking with someone else. We just chatted along the way, and right as I was about to arrive at where I was going, she turned off to go see a shoe man about fixing her shoes. I think God sent her to me at that exact time so I didn't have to walk the whole way by myself.

Anyway, yesterday I got to go see the kids at ringroad again. They weren't really doing anything in class because most of the teachers were gone and the term was finishing, so I just hung out with them and laughed with them and took some pictures. I don't know how to explain it, but there is something truly special about these children.

Kwa sababu ni mzuri

2011-07-22T05:51:00.000-07:00

I have officially made it through two weeks without Chris... one more to go!

Things have been going pretty well and I am starting to get the hang of things at work. The samples are going to be coming in a lot quicker next week so I will be very busy. The Kenyan workers here are very eager to learn so I am always explaining to them what I am doing and letting some of them help me so that when the work load increases I can count on them to help me process all the blood samples. I can't really think of any people in the world that would be more pleasant to work with. They are also eager to help me learn Swahili and are constantly saying how good I am doing and how quickly I will learn. I think I could really get used to all this affirmation;) Tonight I am going to a worship night with some of the other missionaries in town and I am really looking forward to being with a lot of Christians and just worshipping the Lord.

I have been doing a lot of worshipping by myself to help me get through this past week. I love the song, "Oh Lord, God of Isreal there is no God like you in heaven or earth below..." For some reason just singing that song gives me an incredible amount of peace. Chris also made me a playlist on my ipod of Christian songs and I have been listening to that a lot. Here are some of my favs:

Beauty for Ashes- Shane and Shane
Healer-Kari Jobe
Psalm 13- Nate Hale

It's amazing how comforting music can be.

Tomorrow I plan to go back to ringroad and see some of the kids again. I am supposed to be teaching some classes, too, so we will see how that goes;)

Being pruned

2011-07-20T02:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just have those days where you feel like God is really pruning you. That is what I feel like right now. It's kind of like when you have a bad dream and you know it's just a dream, so you know you will eventually wake up, but that still isn't much comfort. I've been going through some extremely difficult things, and I find myself thinking, "this is what God was talking about when He said we would have trouble and we would suffer, so I know I will make it through this." But you still just feel incredibly sad. It's not the worst thing in the world, because as Christians we have hope. This is something I learned when I was in middle/highschool and I would get sad all the time. Eventually, by the grace of God, I learned that although there would be sad times, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. It was ok to be sad, but i never had to reach the point of, as Anne of Green Gables would put it, being in the depths of despair. There aren't depths of despair for a Christian, there are valleys of sadness, but God's hand is always there to catch you at the bottom so you don't keep falling. I'm really so thankful for that.

9 more days until Chris, my mom, and Cody come...

Weekend Njema

2011-07-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

Well, last weekend was a really good one and very welcome after the long week of work. I got to go to see the kids at Ringroad on saturday and also visit with the teachers/staff. The people and children at that place are just amazing and I always love to be with them. They welcomed me back with open arms and I went around to each classroom where they sang for me and then I got to tell them how much I missed them and loved them. I just can't wait to get to know these kids better, because I think that they so desperately need to know what it feels like to be loved. I think they were very happy that I was back and surprised that I remembered some of their names. On Sunday I went to church at ringroad by myself (the day before one of my friends came with me to see the kids). It was really weird walking back through the slums by myself with everyone staring/yelling/pointing at me and trying to get my attention. I knew that they wouldn't hurt me, but it was still a little intimidating. I always try to smile back at them and say hello even though that is not always the first response that comes to mind to the things that they say, but I always want to represent Jesus and the hope that he offers. It's not that they say anything particularly mean, it's just that it makes you feel so incredibly "apart" which isn't really a good feeling. At church they asked me to get up and say something and I told them I looked forward to the day when they wouldn't count me as a visitor anymore. I hate the thought that I will always be a foreigner, but I'm excited to see how the power of God can transform that into something wonderful. I was looking at a verse in John that says that Jesus would not leave his Disciples as orphans, and I wondered how the sweet children at Ringroad would interpret that. The way I see it, if God's power can transform their situation as orphans then He can definitely transform mine as a foreigner. Getting to know the Kenyans has really deepened my relationship with the Lord and my understanding of His word. Some of the conversation that takes place between Jesus and His disciples has always seemed a little odd to me, but when I hear a Kenyan voice saying the things the disciples said it kind of helps me understand. They don't necessarily ask a question when they want an answer, and communication is seen as a process that occurs over time, not in a single conversation. Communication is done in stages, a little at a time, and not necessarily with words.

Things have been a little tough at work lately, but nothing ever comparing to the troubles people have around me. A verse that has been helping me so much lately is the one that says in this world you will have troubles, but take heart, Christ has overcome the world!

One week

2011-07-14T05:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been almost one week since I left Atlanta. Time seems to be going slow and fast all at once. It's been really hard being away from Chris, but I'm trying to keep myself busy and enjoy the people I am with. Work is going pretty well, and tonight we are supposed to be going to a local kareoke place, so that should be pretty interesting. This weekend one of my bosses comes into town and wants to have some meetings, but I'm hoping I can squeeze in some time to go see the kids at ringroad-I still haven't gotten to see any of them yet.

I've been sleeping better and better at night, and I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit with me all the time so I am never alone. I am definitely clinging to the Lord right now because it is so easy to feel lonely in a foreign country, even if you are surrounded by some really great people. I have been able to talk to Chris everyday and that has helped, but at the same time it makes me really miss him. The cool thing is that all the ex-pats here are really nice because they know we are all going through the same thing. And of course the Kenyans are super nice, too.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23

Thoughts from a jet-lagged mind

2011-07-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

Today is my second day in the lab and so far things have started off much better than last time. For starters, I already know a lot of the people here and they all act like they are so happy for me to be back so of course that makes me feel good. It's so funny because last time my favorite person was the security guard at the front desk, and he has now moved elsewhere on campus but the new security guard in our building is already my favorite again. I wish I could explain how much he smiles and how big his smile is, you just can't help but love this guy. Again, no one else seems to really talk to him much, so I always try to ask how he's doing or just chat a bit when I walk by. I guess maybe the Kenyans see the security guards as being in a different social class or something.

I'll be getting my first blood sample today so I can start my experiments. I'm starting to get excited about my role in the lab in December. We are doing a lot of planning for the future and the people that I will be working with are really great. Hopefully I can use this time to start training some of the Kenyans to do the experiments I am doing so when I come back in December we can really get going.

I brought a lot of things to keep me busy in the evenings because without Chris I don't feel very comfortable going out at night. We were able to ship over a guitar and I bought a cheap book on how to play so I am trying to teach myself. So far I have learned three cords and it is harder than I thought, but I am loving it. I really just want to learn the cords so that I can play along with worship songs if we ever have groups over and we can all worship together. I used to play the piano and I think I just forgot how much I enjoy playing an instrument, so we'll see how this goes. I also brought a lot of books, movies, and my Swahili lessons so hopefully I can back to learning that.

Last night I was having a really hard time falling to sleep, and so I just started thinking about all the things I have to be thankful for and I was really overwhelmed at how good God is. I realized that I got sad last night because I let myself think about what I didn't like about my current situation instead of all the things that God is doing through me. I prayed and told God that today would be different, that I would really think about the joy he has given me, because that is the only way that people will see Jesus through me. And I am so thankful that I have time to do things like try to play guitar, read some books, and learn Swahili, because I never have a spare moment when i am at home. So this post is me trying to practice what I prayed last night. Am I missing Chris? yes. Am I missing my dog and sad every time I think that she won't be at home when I come back? yes. Do I get a little lonely? yes. But these are all temporary things, and compared to the blessings God has given me they are nothing. The travel went great. The people I am with (both Kenyan and American) are very nice. I have two really great bosses, and the weather here is absolutely perfect. So far, I have even enjoyed the food pretty well! (However I am still VERY thankful for the cliff bars, slim jims, fruit rollups, cheese crackers, peanut butter crackers, and cow tails that I brought-when would I ever eat all this stuff at home and not feel guilty about it?)

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. Psalm 145:18,19

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:8,9

Thanks for the verses, mom;)

5 minute post

2011-07-09T19:57:00.001-07:00

I have made it safely to Nairobi and got about 5.5 hours of sleep last night, so that's pretty good. The flights went well, and on the first one I ran into an AWESOME friend at the airport who totally hooked me up and I got to fly economy comfort which means I had lots of leg room and just extra room in general. Thank you so much Jay! I can't tell you how much that encouraged me!

The next flight-different situation-Cramp-ola! but when I stepped off the plane celebrity style (meaning we had to climb down the stairs onto the tarmack) it was totally worth it. I'm so glad to be back in Kenya. Today we are catching an 8:30 flight to Kisumu where we will have the day to run errands such as getting a phone, money, water, etc, before starting to work on Monday. The two girls I am with, Jen and Laura, are very sweet and I'm thankful to be traveling with them. Our taxi driver to and from the airport is so so nice and reminded me how much I love Kenyan people, but it was hilarious I'm sure to see the three of us girls with all our luggage (two huge suitcases and a carry-on per girl) crammed into this little hatch-back car. We had to give the front seat to one of our duffles of lab supplies.

As a side note, Chris and I packed a grey rubber bin fulll of some stuff for our house. We secured it with zip-ties and duck tape. The driver asked me if it was a bomb...ha:)

Let the blogging begin

2011-06-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

So I kind of decided not to worry about blogging while we are in the States, because I want to spend as much time as possible with the people here before we make the big move to Kenya in December. But, I'm heading back to Kenya in 1.5 weeks and will be staying there for 6 weeks, so expect some posts while I am there!

This trip will be much different than the last for several reasons:

1. I am going sans Chris (he loves to make fun of me for using the word 'sans' but I love to use it-that is the only plus to going without him:)

2. No dilly dallying around this time. My project has got to get rolling pronto. I will arrive on Sunday and start in the lab the next day. I have six weeks to collect some kind of meaningful scientific data, and if you know anything about the world of science, you know this won't be easy.

3. Chris will be coming out three weeks after I arrive...YAY! And he will be bringing with him my mom...YAY! and Cody Kemp...YAY! Cody and Chris will be staying two weeks and my mom will stay until I leave (thank you so much mom:)

4. This time around we will have already secured a house for when we come in December, so we will be commissioning different furniture makers around town to make us a few things we will need for our house, so by the time we arrive in Kenya in December we can just go and pick it up (in Kenya, well-made plans such as these are like a guarantee that it won't actually happen, but we are hopefully optimistic)

5. This time I know a little more of what to expect, I know how to get around town, how much things cost, what the culture is like, etc, so there is a smaller 'black box' for this trip than the previous one.

I'm starting to get really excited about going. By far my biggest concern is being away from Chris for three weeks, followed by overall nervousness about completing my job in a satisfactory manner. I'm trying to practice trusting the Lord in both of these things. I'm reminding myself of ALL the ways He has come through for me in the past, never leaving me hanging. It will be an adventure, that's for sure, but there is some definite fear involved.

One thing God has really been teaching me through this is that it is good to do something that scares you every once in a while. So that would be my encouragement to you-the next time a good opportunity presents itself in your life that scares you, go for it. The Lord will surely be with you, and it feels so good once you're done (at least I hope so-I'm counting on that:)

Home again home again jiggedy jig

2011-03-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

So I guess everyone has figured out that we are back in the good ole US of A.

As an aside and to explain my post title, you may or may not know that the Jones family has an unquenchable silly side that is present in various levels in each Jones family member. We tend to get a little "sloppy" in our language, shortening words that don't need shortening, and sometimes adding onto words or phrases (fellow Joneses, feel free to chime in and back me up here). Chris particularly likes pointing out my abbreviations (presh for precious, delish for delishous, awes for awesome, redic for rediculous-that one really doesn't sound right) and some of my other friends (Kim Tomlinson) have picked up other strange sayings like bursay wersay kinana pumpum (when it's cold outside, of course). We have other words like din-din (dinner) dee-dee(dessert) ee-oh (hot). I can't explain why I have the urge to take a name like Levi and shorten it to Leaves, or why it seems more appropriate to say home again home again jiggedy jig than just to say, we're home, but it does, and that's all there is to it.

AAAAAAnyway, we are really glad to be back. When we got to Atlanta we were greeted by my sister, Anna, and her two oldest boys, Jon David and Luke, my brother, David, and his wife Eryn, Chris's sister, Amanda, and both my parents. It was such a warm welcome and made us feel so loved and honored. To be honest, I don't feel like I have gone through much culture shock since we have been back. This may be because I had already spent some time in Togo, West Africa, a few years back, so I already knew what to expect, but I'm going to give all the glory to God and thank him for protecting both Chris and I from this heart-ache that many people experience.

Don't get me wrong, I have definitely had my moments of thinking, wow, the American culture is SUCH an EXCESSIVE culture-I mean people here think they are living as simply as they can and don't realize how much excess they really have. Then I look at myself and see the same thing in my life, and I think God is teaching me just to accept his children no matter where they are. Whether those children are bogged down by what they don't have or what they do (and both are equally as cumbersome!). And the only way to learn this lesson is through love, because once you truly love a person, your whole perspective about them changes. Chris and I love so deeply our friends here and also our friends in Africa, and while I still can't fit all the pain and hurt and the whole spectrum of circumstances into my brain in order to make any sense of it whatsoever, God commands me to love all of his children, and I have found that when I do that, everything else seems to fall into place.

Do you know a man called Jesus?

2011-02-21T09:39:00.001-08:00

God has filled our cup to overflowing over the last few days, and I really want to share some of the things He has done for us.

Last week, I had a really cool conversation with one of the security guards at work. We have slowly been getting to know each other over the last few weeks, and I ran into him in the break room while he was eating lunch. We chatted just a little bit, and as he was walking out of the room, he paused and looked at me. He said, with a huge grin on his face, "Do you know a man called Jesus?" What a perfect, simple question! I think he really cares about me and wanted to make sure that I knew the same joy he knows. I felt so honored and touched. I said that I did and that I loved Jesus very much and I asked if he knew him. He still had a big smile on his face when he told me that Jesus was his personal savior. It's like we exchanged something that transcends all cultural and socioeconomical barriers, the love of Jesus Christ! Today, he asked me if I was happy when I walked into the building. I feel like he just wants to make sure I am ok, and I'm so thankful for his smiling face every day.

Last friday, I took off early to spend some time with the kids...they have game day on friday afternoons, and I hadn't been able to be there for one yet. I have never had a more captive audience in my life! They gathered around me, from first grade to seventh grade, and they just waited for me to do something. I practiced all the Swahili that I knew, which they got a HUGE kick out of, I sang them a song, and I tried asking them a lot of questions. Some of the younger ones are so shy that if I even look at them they start to laugh hysterically. One girl, named Susan, I absolutely LOVE...she makes me laugh so hard. When I address her, she gets so tickled she can't pull herself together enough to make a response. As soon as she recovers, she looks at me again and her tickle box gets turned over all over again. After a while they wanted me to tell them a story, so I told them the story of the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. They listened to the whole thing, and when I finished, one of the older ones immediately said, "Oh the lion is kind of like Jesus Christ, dying for that boy." The girl who said this is named Grace, and we've gotten to know each other pretty well. Her English is excellent, and she asked me to teach her a song, so I taught her a song about casting her cares on Jesus. I got to know another girl, named Sharon, who is like the class clown. The next day I went into the first grade class to read them some books, and they started singing some songs for me. Videlis (the one who had malaria last week) sang a beautiful song in Luo, and my heart melted! Then some of the girls showed me how they can dance, and they've got some serious rhythm. Next, I was informed that I would teach the fifth grade for the next period, and of course, the topic was HIV/AIDS!!! I did the best I could. And my friend, Molly, helped me out by teaching some on Schistosomiasis. Chris was there, too, and we tried our best to explain that people who are HIV positive shouldn't be rejected or treated any differently. We know that 30% of these children are positive and they are terrified to take any medications because they don't want anyone to know they are sick.

Everyday here brings new challenges, uncomfortable situations, and also really sweet memories. Those kids are really growing to love Chris and feel more comfortable giving hugs...Chris said that children who don't know what love feels like have to learn how to be loved. I hope and pray we can teach them that.

Time of Wonder, by Robert McCloskey

2011-02-17T01:01:00.000-08:00

I answered my own question! I found out on-line that the quote in my previous post is from a poem called Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey.

It has been on my mind a lot lately because I have such mixed emotions, both about going home in one week, and about coming back here for four years. As far as flying home next week, I am a "little bit sad about the place I am leaving." I will miss all the natural beauty that surrounds us here. I will miss the people we have gotten to know, the people from my lab, the people from Ringroad, the Davises (who have already become like family to us), and the new friends we have made in the missionary community here, Matt, Peggy, Brad and Ellie, and all their sweet kids. I think I will miss the feeling of adventure that comes with everyday living here. I will miss having someone to do my laundry and clean the dishes (come on, who wouldn't love that!) I will miss the laid back pace of life. It really is hard to worry here...which is a really good thing for me. I will miss the tea and yoghurt, both of which are really tasty here. I will miss THE WEATHER!!! I think when we move back to the states the only place I will be able to stand is Florida (there you go Dan and Mel...thought you would appreciate that one:) I just love wearing sandals everyday and no sweaters or coats.

I'm also "a little bit glad about the place I am going." I will be happy to be back in Atlanta with all our amazing friends! I will be happy to see my family, and to spend the time we have in the states this next year traveling to see Dan and Mel in Ocala, to see Anna and Don in their new home in Perry, to spend some more time with my girlfriends from Harding. I am also really excited to see our dog Emory. She is so sweet and I really miss her a lot.

I think it will be somewhat of challenge this next year to be "fully present" in Atlanta in the midst of all our preparations for moving to Kenya, but that is something I will pray for and strive for. I always want to be fully present wherever I am, because God may have put me there for a reason.

It's hard to think about how much we will miss out on when we move to Kenya. Our nieces and nephews will continue to grow up in our absence! We will miss birthdays, school plays, ball games, performances... I hate thinking about it, but it's true. I love reading my family's blogs, but it's hard not to get a little sad about what we are missing, and knowing that we will be too far away to be active participants in the lives of our families for huge chunks of time. This brings me back to being "fully present" once we are in Kenya, which we are also really praying for.

Dear Lord, please fill our lives here with family and friends that will be dear to our hearts like the ones we will miss in the US. Help us not to dwell on what we aren't present for, and focus on all the amazing things we are present for, while we are in the US and then here in Kenya! Help us also to strengthen the bonds that we have with people in the US as we are far away. I'm not sure how this can happen, but I know you can do it. I ask for this because I know that feeling close to the people we are away from will help me feel at peace in the distance.

Quotes

2011-02-16T23:48:00.000-08:00

Does anyone know where this quote comes from???

"A little bit sad about the place you are leaving, a little bit glad about the place you are going..."

Not sure if I quoted it quite right, but it's been in my mind a lot lately... anyone know where this is from???

Hitting the wall

2011-02-16T05:01:00.000-08:00

I knew it was bound to happen at some point, and it happened today...or maybe it was last night. Anyway, the way I see it, any time you spend a significant amount of time in a different place with a culture you're not used to, language you don't know, customs you don't understand, etc., you first find everything very exciting and interesting and adventurous (especially if you're Chris Nicholson, but also, to a certain extent, if you are Sarah Nicholson). Then, you reach a point where you become used to it and start to find it familiar and comfortable and even like the "different" way of things. But, I believe, between those two points, it is very common to hit a wall. And I think this happens various numbers of times for various people before reaching the "comfortable" point. All this to say, I have hit the first wall.

Yesterday, we were out all day (which was supposed to be a couple of hours) involving hours of driving over extremely bumpy roads, loud staticky radio blaring in Swahili, listening to community health workers receive their training, and most of all, NO LUNCH!!! Now some of you may not know this about me, but when I do not eat, I get very cranky (don't worry, Chris has already pointed out to me how I eat 10 times as much as most of the kids he is with all day, and I felt guilty about that like I thought I was supposed to), and I really enjoy eating things that taste good (Kenyan food tends to have very little taste, which, admittedly, is better than bad taste). Anyway, we finally got home and I was so hungry I thought I would pass out. But cooking over here is no trivial thing, so I started to cook the meat that we had been marinating all day. Chris helped so it didn't take quite so long, and when we finally sat down to eat I was really excited for this wonderful meal. Unfortunately, this meal went about like all the others I have tried to cook since we have been here...not so good. Cooking here is, as our new friend, Peggy put it, experimental. Everything tastes and cooks just a little different, and for some reason, I got really discouraged about not being able to cook a good meal for my husband. We ended up pulling out some leftover brownies and having more dessert than we really should have because we hadn't been satisfied with dinner. Chris said, either we will get really skinny while we are here, or we will become diabetics.

Now this experience seems like a small thing, but it has put me into a funk. Today I went out to the field to help collect some data from some children. And, being the only white person on the team, all eyes were on me. There is something demeaning about people getting your attention by calling you "white person." (I know I know, it seems ironic for me to be feeling this way considering that our fellow Americans that happen to have dark skin have felt this multiplied times 1000). They want to say "how are you" but say it very nasally on purpose because they think thats how we sound. I just started getting so annoyed because I was tired and hungry and over it. The other thing they know how to say is "give me sweet." Very endearing, I know. Anyway, I got to thinking, maybe I was struggling because this was a new place where I didn't know any of the children and they didn't know me. There was no relationship there. I just began to look at all their faces and thinking, God, how can I really love all these children? I've past the point where they look the same to me. They all look very different. But how can I have enough love to look at each and everyone and, even though they do and say things that annoy me, still love them because I know they are precious children of God, and they are hurting and starving? I found myself thinking that love can be very cumbersome. It involves getting to know someone, caring about that person, and hurting when they get hurt, and I just don't know if I can handle that for all the children in Africa, or in Kenya, or in Kisumu. Then I was very thankful for God's infinite love, and thankful that I am not God. I realize that he knows my limits. I'm still trying to understand what He wants from me here, but I think I will start by loving people that best that I can. I love the people that I work with, because I have gotten to know them, and I think they see that I am genuinely interested in their lives. As I get to know the children at ringroad, I am loving them, too. The relationship changes when they see that you are not a "catch-and-release" friend, but that you come back, day after day, week after week. This is when you see the ugly side of things, but also when you experience relationship and love that can bring mutual transformation into God's image, as you understand, a little better, who God is (a relationship between Father, son, and Holly Spirit) and how He desires to commune with you.

Anyway, Chris and I are going to the supermarket to try and find me some snack food for during the day to keep grumpy Sarah at bay, and I'm going to give myself a break from the cooking experimentation for a few days. I find myself thankful that my job does not involve going to the field everyday, where I would likely have the above experience over and over again. Instead, I can come to lab where I can build relationship with people here because I see them day after day. I guess the Lord knows what He's doing after all;)

Ringroad!!!

2011-02-11T06:13:00.000-08:00

Kisumu, part II

2011-02-11T05:46:00.000-08:00

Temporary home

2011-02-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the field with one of the field teams to collect some samples for one of our studies on schistosomiasis. My job was to give the children some jewis (juice) and biskwit (cookies) after they had their blood drawn. The man taking the blood, Boaz, is very good at it, but it is still hard to see the children get so sad. Children everywhere hate needles! (and grown-ups, too, for that matter). I have really enjoyed going to this school and interacting with the children, but it has also been a challenge for me. This school happens to take in disabled children, which many schools do not, so there are a lot of children there with unique challenges...as if living in a third world country, sleeping on the dirt, drinking water that makes you sick, and not getting enough food to sustain you aren't challenges enough. I've really struggled to process how one child can be asked to bare such heavy burdens their whole lives. Sometimes I just try very hard to look deep into their eyes and smile to show them I love them, and they smile back in the sweetest way! Lord, shower your grace on these special children, help them through this life so that they can enter the next where they will be beautiful, perfect, graceful, and strong!

Also, one of the sweet little boys from the ringroad orphan day school (where Chris works) has absolutely stolen my heart. Chris told me yesterday that he has malaria which is worse for him because he is HIV+. Sweet Chris went to see him and sat with him for a while since he was laying there alone. I am trying to remember everyday that this world is not their home. A Carrie Underwood song comes to mind: "this is my temporary home, it's not where I belong, windows and rooms, that I'm passing through, this is just a stop, on the way to where I'm going, I'm not afraid because I know, this is my temporary home." There is a home waiting for these little ones where there will be no more tears or sickness, no more hunger, no more sadness. Just think how overjoyed God will be to see His jewels finally shining the way He meant for them to! I try to keep thinking about this.

Oops, I was going to try not to make this blog about poverty, so I guess I slipped up with this one. I guess what is important is to know what can I do to help? I ask for prayers to help me answer this question. Even as I write this request, I know part of the answer. God wants us to see something good to do and do it. I want to live like that, just finding something good to do in each minute and doing that thing.

Blessings: Last night, we had dinner with a wonderful missionary couple that live here in Kisumu. We are sooo excited to get to know them better and to have some like-minded friends here with us. What a blessing! Tonight, we will look at another potential house for us to rent when we move in December. We have several good options for housing, but nothing that we are sold on, so the search continues. Another blessing- we found out through our new friends that their is a place in Kisumu that sells ice-cream which tastes JUST like homemade ice cream! I tried it and it's true! YAY! By far one of the biggest blessings of life out here is seeing the beauty of God's creation every single day (and night-the stars are unbelievable).

Overall, life is good:)

I will try to post some more pictures and videos when I have a better connection. As of right now my camera is dead and I can't find the charger! Hopefully I can find it so I can continue to document our trip.

Kisumu, part I

2011-02-06T10:33:00.000-08:00

Rural Kenya

2011-02-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

Chepkong' ony

2011-02-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is the house Chris lived in for one year.

I was so excited for them to show me their science lab. I snapped a few pictures of their chemicals and supplies...

Kenyan food, scenery, and travel

2011-02-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

Our sweet driver Joseph, and his precious little boys...one of the many blessings on our trip!

"The Nest"- an orphanage in Nairobi for abandoned babies

2011-02-06T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hii ni nini?

2011-01-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

I know everyone would rather see pictures than read text, but I'm very sorry, there is just no way for me to upload pictures right now. I'm using the internet at work and trying to be discreet about the fact that I am blogging during work hours.

So we had our first Kiswahili lesson last night. It is such a funny language. The phrase Hii ni nini means "what is this" and so far is my favorite thing to say. There is a lot of repetition in this language:

me-mimi
you-wewe
father-baba
slowly-pole pole
what-nini
brother-kaka (this is an unfortunate translation in French, although the spelling is different...)
sister-dada
he/she(they don't have gender)-yeye
we-sisi

We asked our Swahili teacher how to say you are not fine if someone asks you and you don't want to say "fine." She didn't know. They just don't say anything negative. It is really amazing.

Everyday, Chris and I are amazed at the way people live here, and I have wanted to write about it several times, but I have decided that I won't be doing that. For one thing, you really can't understand it until you see it for yourself, which is what I want everyone to do so they will come visit us:) For another thing, I never want to treat the plight of any people as a way of me having something really cool to talk about. I never want to enter a competition of who has seen the most impoverished people, you know? I want this blog to reflect the great respect and love I am developing for the people of Kenya. So when I talk to you in person I will share these things, but not here.

Tonight, we will be attending a worship time with some local missionaries. I'm so excited to have time to start making friends here and to worship the Lord with fellow Christians that speak English. Sometimes you need that!

We have started to miss home a little bit, but we are so happy to be here. We were talking this morning about how we are annoyed at some of the aspects of life over here, such as the shower having a switch on the head so you can choose either cold water or scalding hot (during my shower I just switch back and forth when it becomes either too cold or too hot to bare). Chris says that it's ok to be frustrated at times, but we need to be careful never to let our frustrations trump our thankfulness for everything we have. I have such a wise husband!

First Day of Work

2011-01-26T06:19:00.000-08:00

Today was my first day of work in the lab. I caught the shuttle right down the street from where I stay and they took me all the way out to the lab. This is one of the benefits of being associated with the CDC...I get free transportation to and from work, which is a huge blessing! So far, everyone we have talked to has given me the impression that housing is extremely difficult to find here and very expensive. I'm trying not to get discouraged about this, but sometimes in these circumstances you start to feel things weighing you down more than you would ordinarily. I think everyone thinks that living in Kenya should be really cheap, but it really is not. Cars are expensive, houses are expensive, food that reminds you of home is very expensive, appliances are expensive (you get the point). I'm praying for God to teach me to trust in Him. Even as I write this I know that I will look back and wonder what I was so worried about. After all, hasn't God always taken care of me?

End of Phase I

2011-01-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

So we are approaching the end of our 10 days with our team here in Kenya. Greg and Suzy Williams are getting on a plane to head back home this evening, and the Kahn's will be with us for a couple of more days. Tomorrow is my first day of work in the research facility in Kisumu, so I am a little anxious about it. It's like the first day of work all over again! I feel somewhat torn because after seeing those precious children at the orphan school, I want to spend as much time with them as I can, but I know that I will be going to work everyday. I'm praying that God gives me peace about my job, that I feel comfortable there and, mainly, that I feel like it is where I need to be. It's hard to look back at how I came here and think that God doesn't have a plan for me in this lab, so I trust that he will show me what that plan is. At the same time, there is so much need in the slums and I don't want Chris to have to face all that by himself everyday. But God can work that out, too!

Yesterday we went on a safari and saw a leopard, 6 lions, a bunch of rhinos, zebras, giraffes, impalas, water buffalo, baboons, monkeys, flamingos, vultures, and lots more! It was amazing to see these beautiful animals in the wild. I've never seen such beautiful landscape in my LIFE!!! I can't believe that we are going to be living in this place. We can go see these animals any weekend we want!

I remember the second night sleeping at the Conway's house. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't stop thinking about what I had gotten myself into. Why in the world had I agreed to move to this crazy place? Don't get me wrong, I still have those feelings a lot, but now they are mixed with feelings of excitement, because now I know some of the things I have to look forward to. The beautiful weather, the amazing scenery, the wildlife, the adventure, and more than that, the fellowship with these loving, generous, wise people. I think about getting to play with those sweet children, and spending time with people in the village where life is so simple. Chris and I also talked about how rewarding it will be to be able to see transformation in the people that come visit this place. We've already gotten to witness God using Africa to change the hearts of the Williams and the Kahns, and that is only the beginning. I think about the college students coming over for eight weeks, like I did 5 years ago, and knowing that their lives will never be the same. This is such a wild, strange, unpredictable place that often brings a lot of heartache, but along with the terrible pain comes some moments of unspeakable joy. The Conway's guard/yard man shared some of his wisdom with us this morning. He prayed for rain and last night it rained! He said because of this some of the people who heard this will believe. He said he is thankful for every good thing because it comes from the Lord, even just a little rain.

Here is another lesson in Kenyan culture: Instead of saying they are joking or kidding (which I have never heard any of them do, so they are usually speaking about one of us, and usually Chris) they say we are cheating them. Also, they don't have boyfriends and girlfriends, and if you use this term, they think it means a sexual partner... we learned this the hard way after asking the girls at Chepkong'ony if they had boyfriends...oops!

What you need to know; part I

2011-01-21T06:17:00.000-08:00

Here are some interesting things we have learned that help us communicate here:

When you say thank you, a Kenyan will say, "Welcome" and when you arrive somewhere, a Kenyan will say "you're welcome." So just the opposite of how we say it.

If you say hello, they tend to answer back "fine." And if you say how are you, they tend to say "thank you."

If they say something is sweet, they mean it tastes good, not necessarily that it has a sugary flavor. Kenyans tend to like very bland food, and would never like the cakes, candy, and ice cream that we like.

Kids, on the other hand, love to get candy from Wazungu (white people). But they immediately throw the wrappers on the ground. So I have gotten into the habit of unwrapping everything before giving it out. They are NOT worried about the germs on your hands (or anything else for that matter).

If they say something is OK, it means it is very good. I still struggle with this, because if I ask if I can do something, they say it's OK, and I think they don't really want me to do whatever it is. Joseph explained to me that when we say OK, we mean 50/50, but when they say ok they mean "Eet eese vedy goood." (that was my attempt at typing out their accent, which takes a while to get used to).

"Just there" can mean to the right, to the left, around the corner, straight ahead, far away, or close by, and this is generally their way of giving directions when you ask where something is.

"Very close" can mean any distance away from where you currently stand, and this is generally their way of explaining how far away something is.

Interesting experience of the day: I took my first ride on a piki-piki. This is basically a motorized bike that people drive around like taxis. There are no helmets available for passenger or driver, and I was wearing a skirt, which made for a really interesting experience. I wish I could have remembered the driver's name, because he was really nice and made me feel as safe as you could feel one of those. He was my age, and his parents had died when he was 13, so he couldn't afford the fees to finish his schooling. His brother and sister live with him, and his brother was able to go to school at ring road orphan school (where Chris will be working) and was therefore able to go on to University! I thought this was really cool!

Caribu!

2011-01-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

Caribu is the Swahili word for welcome, and I have heard it so much since I've been here. I have never met a more welcoming, generous, hospitable people in my whole life!

I'm sorry for not uploading pictures, but with the internet here I'm lucky to get some words up...don't worry, I'm taking lots of pictures and videos... although I forgot to ask someone to video all the Kenyan girl students doing the electric slide with me as I held up my ipod to play the music. When I asked them what they do for fun they said...we like to take a picnic. Ahh, the simpler things in life.

How can I even describe the things I am witnessing? I can't encourage you enough that if you EVER have the opportunity to come to Kenya...TAKE IT!

Yesterday we spent the day in Chepkong'ony. This is a rural school where both Chris and my brother Daniel spent significants amount of time teaching and ministering. I can only say that it was very surreal being there with those people and meeting teachers that remembered my brother and my husband. WOW. They took us around the school showing us their science lab and the water spout that was made possible by a fundraiser I participated in while at Harding (Texas vs the world). They were so proud of this water spout, and they showed us how they almost had electricity. The wires on the poles came right up to the school and then stopped. They made us chai tea and it was AWESOME. We listened to the children sing and Suzy, Cindy, and I took the girls aside and talked to them. They asked us a million questions about America and wanted to touch my hair and my skin. They fixed us a HUGE feast which I'm sure they could not afford, and we talked with the teachers about the school, life in Kenya, the bleak job prospects for their students, the culture...reading this I realize that it is a very boring story, but I just wish you could have been there. They had not had any American visitors since Chris left five years ago. The small children in the surrounding villages had never seen white people. They were so eager to talk to us and learn everything they could for us. I've never felt so honored and valued by total strangers.

Let me say again that two of our biggest blessings here have been our driver, Joseph, and our friend, Boaz. They have gone everywhere with us and helped us translate and answer cultural questions.

Today we drove to Kisumu. My stomach had butterflies as we approached the city that would be our new home. Every city we have been to so far has been soooo different. And I think Kisumu is my favorite. It is not too rural to be uncomfortable, but not too urban to be unsafe. We drove around today, trying to take it all in. We stopped in the slums and walked into the heart of them to see the orphan day school where Chris will be working every day. This was a bit overwhelming. I'll never forget walking down those dirt streets the first time. So many children came out around us yelling Wazungu! (white people) or how ahh youuu? or hallo (this was done as if holding their nose because they apparently think we sound very nazzly). They all wanted to shake our hand or touch us.

This is definitely a special place, and I'm still processing everything. Tomorrow we will go to look for housing and cars and such. Friday we will spend more time back in the slums with the children...at least we didn't see any kids high on glue like we did so much in Nairobi, although I'm sure they are there. As we drove past some children on our way they were waving, and Joseph told us they were very hungry. I don't know how he knew, but I know he was right. They are all very hungry. His comment took the wind out of our sails for a little while. What do you do with this?

Jambo

2011-01-17T05:42:00.000-08:00

Jambo from Kenya!!! We made it here safe and sound and God has blessed us so much so far. We made all our connections, got all our luggage, stayed with some of the most hospitable people I have ever known (thank you to the sweet Conway family for opening your home to us) and have an incredibly nice driver taking us around Kenya. His name is Joseph, he has a wife named Mary, and he was born on Christmas day! Pretty cool.

I'm writing from a cyber cafe in Eldoret where we will stay the night tonight and tomorrow. We spent yesterday in Nairobi holding sweet babies and going to church with some of the street kids. The trip is going very well and we are learning a lot. The Conways were a hugely valuable source of information on life in Kenya, both in Nairobi and Eldoret, which is a much smaller town. I am anxious to see Kisumu and picture what life might be like there. We are all feeling very well, and we are working on getting over jetlag.

I will keep you posted as often as I can. Thanks for the prayers!

The Nicholsons...chapter 2

2011-01-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have not blogged in quite a while, partly because we have been really busy, and partly because I didn't feel too inspired to blog, but the time has come again. To sum up what has happened since my last post, I have accepted a job with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studying a parasitic disease and Chris has started to form a nonprofit organization bringing college students to third world countries to do mission internships using their majors. We feel so strongly that God has lead us to the place we are right now, and looking back, we are overwhelmed at the pieces God has put into place which bring us to this day, the day we go to Kisumu, Kenya! On our first trip, we will be spending a total of six weeks there. The first ten days will consist of Chris, myself, Greg and Suzy Williams, and Cindy, Roger, and Eli Kahn taking a sort of survey around Kenya. We land in Nairobi, spend a day there with the Conway family, and head to Eldoret. We will spend a day in Chepkong'ony, the school where both Chris and my brother Daniel each spent a year working with the kids and teaching some classes. I am really looking forward to finally seeing this place and more importantly the people I have heard so much about. Then it is on to Kisumu, where we will spend three days looking at hospitals, housing, cars, groceries, etc., to understand what it looks like to live in this place. We will also get to spend time with our friends the Davis's while we are in Kisumu. Finally, we head to Nakuru for a quick safari and back to Nairobi to see off our friends while Chris and I head back to Kisumu for another 5 weeks. I will be working in the lab full-time and Chris will be working with an orphan day school and a medical clinic located in the slums of Kisumu.

The intention of this trip is to make preparations for us to move to Kisumu in December 2011. Our hearts are full of the love that has been poured out by our friends and family, and our souls are eagerly looking to the Holy Spirit to guide our steps along the way. Leaving the people we love (and our sweet dog:) is by far the hardest part of this step of faith. We hope to keep in touch as much as possible with all of you over the next six weeks. I will be posting updates to our blog so you can be on this journey with us!

Girl's Weekend 2010

2010-03-10T17:27:00.001-08:00

So after the concert, Sarah, Chris, and I headed back to the ATL, and the next morning we went to one of my favorite spots for breakfast, Rise n Dine. For the record, Sarah coming home with us was a last minute decision, and the house was a MESS!! I'm still working on not stressing about stuff like that, but of course, Sarah said it wasn't bad at all:)

After breakfast, Sarah and I headed to Memphis to meet up with Lindsay Trotter, Kim Tomlinson, and Melissa Higgins. On the road trip I tasted my first cowtail, and it was AWESOME! Of course, we couldn't find them anywhere else after that.

We had such a great weekend- I love these girls so much, and it feeds my soul to spend time with them! Saturday, we ate a big breakfast, took showers, ate crepes for lunch, shopped, had some ice cream, shopped some more, cooked pasta for dinner, and went to the melting pot for dessert. Do you see a theme here? What can I say, we love to eat, and we are REALLY good at it :) We laughed a lot, too, which hopefully burned off some of those calories.

After church on sunday we got our nails done and relaxed at Kim's house. We made pizza for dinner that night and Kim made her famous "Little dude" cookies. This is a recipe she made up herself when she was little and it is really good. I hated saying goodbye to my friends- I love you girls!

Brad Paisley Again!!!

2010-03-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

I know I know, we've already been to see Brad Paisley once, but he is so good and I LOVE to see him in concert. Last time Taylor Swift was the opening act... she wasn't even the second act... she was the first!!! It's so crazy to think about how HUGE she is now. I'm glad I got to see her in concert then, cuz tickets to see her are pretty high now I'm sure. Anyway, the openers this time were Justin Moore and Miranda Lambert. Pretty cool, because I love Miranda Lambert. Her song, "I've Given Up On Love, 'Cause Love's Given Up On Me" was my theme song senior year of college. It was very traumatic to leave Harding without a ring on my finger or even any prospects, sigh, yes, love had given up on me (please, I had never even had a relationship for more than two months... can we say that I have my dramatic moments:)

We drove to Greenville, SC to see the concert with Ryan and Sarah Lassiter. We love spending time with great friends like them! We also love people watching at a concert that brings out the country crowd (no Obama shirts, please, Chris:) All in all, it was a great concert and tons of fun. BP always does really cool stuff with graphics for his shows and he is and AMAZING guitarist. Two interesting moments of the night:

One, he sings a song about heaven, and showed all the famous people that had died this year. Who was missing from the slideshow? MJ! Far and away the most famous person we lost this year.... hmmmm

Another song he sings called "Welcome to the Future" about how far we have come. Last verse talks about civil rights and mentions a woman on a bus and a man with a dream... the graphics behind him had been showing pictures of everything mentioned in the lyrics, but at this point, no Rosa Parks, no MLK, and DEFINITELY no Obama.

Sigh, I guess you just got to know you're audience. Anyway, I sure am proud that our country won't keep a man from being president because of his color.

Our New Puppy

2010-02-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

Here is our new puppy... Did we really need a new puppy? No, but how can you say no to that face? She is half lab half plott hound... going to be a big girl!

Here is our annoyed puppy. Emory wears her emotions on her sleeve, so she let us know very quickly that she did not approve of the new addition. (Please ignore Chris in his boxers, as a general rule he doesn't wear pants in the house, so no surprise visits please:)

In Emory's defense, we made the puppy stay in her crate because she didn't cry when she was with Emory, when we came home from church the puppy had peed all over Emory's crate! I would probably be grumpy too.

Don't worry, we didn't really get a new puppy, we just fostered her for one night (this was Chris's idea and I informed him that I couldn't do it again... I felt like such a horrible person giving her back). Let's hope that she found a really great home, and for now our diarrhea dog is keeping our hands full :)

It just occurred to me that two posts ago I entitled "Snow Day" which is ironic because there was hardly ANY SNOW AT ALL that day, and the following post was about Salt Lake City where the snow was up to our waist but everyone went about there business as usual... the joys of living in the South.

Salt Lake City

2010-02-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

So Chris has to go to Salt Lake CIty every other month or so for work, and this last time I got to go with him! It was soooo fun. We haven't really taken a big vacation since our honeymoon (I don't know if this really counts since Chris had to work during the day, but it was great fun for me :). It just so happened that we were there during the Sundance Film Festival, and Chris's boss's wife was able to get us into one of the movies called Happythankyoumoreplease. The director who was also the main character came out afterwards to answer questions about the film. It was really fun and then we ate dinner with Chris's boss and his wife afterwards... a very fun night. It was so fun to see all the snow, and one day we went sledding on some big intertubes. The pictures show us being pulled up the hill by a tow rope.

Snow Day!!!

2010-01-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

Today, all of Atlanta shut down due to ice and wintery conditions, so I finally have some time to put up pictures from Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas together, Chris and I. On Christmas eve we went to the candlelight service at church, which Chris did a wonderful job planning. After we got home we had fondue, my favorite meal ever! Christmas morning we slept in, lounged around, and hung out in the kitchen together while we both worked on preparing our Christmas dinner. You can see the menu for the day written on our kitchen chalk board. We had to eat in shifts because I couldn't fit all those 13x9 pans in the oven at once, but it was still great. A few glitches in our meal: accidentally bought healthy choice cream of chicken soup for the poppy seed chicken casserole- DON'T DO THIS, i also forgot the poppy seeds. One highlight from the meal- I added strawberries to the apple crisp which was very delicious. For Christmas dinner we had our friends Dominique, Roseanne, and Cody eating with us. In the afternoon we just played cards and other games and let our food digest. We were blessed with wonderful company on Christmas day.

6th grade girl sleepover

2009-12-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I took on a very ambitious endeavor. Thankfully, I wasn't alone, my friends Rachel Roe and Melea Connett helped me host 9 sixth grade girls for a sleepover. To sum up the night, squeals, giggles, and LOTS of silliness. We played games, ate pizza, watched movies, and decorated cupcakes to bring to the firehouse down the road. Me, Rachel, and Melea went to bed around midnight, and I think the girls stayed up till 4. They fell asleep and set their alarms for 30 minutes later because they did not want to waste valuable time on sleep, but unfortunately they slept through their alarm and got a whole 3 hours of sleep. I was very impressed because I got them all to church on time and only one item was left at my house!

Thanks to Chris for a TON of help cleaning up the house. This was the beginning of a week of hotel Chez Nicholson. Thursday and Friday night I had a friend, Carolyn, stay over at our house, while she was there on Friday night our friends Stefan and Ivana arrived (they are from Serbia but have been living in Ohio for 3 months). We had so much fun with them this weekend. We miss them a lot and they made Serbian pancakes for us which were AWESOME. On Friday night my wonderful sister, Anna, her husband, Don, and three boys, Jon David, Luke, and Caleb, are coming to spend the night with us. We love to have people over and it feels good to put our house to good use. If you are coming to atlanta and need a place to stay, you are welcome at our house, but prepare yourself, there is only one bathroom and it is about the size of port-o-potty!

Our Second Christmas

2009-12-14T17:48:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics of our christmas decorations this year. We have one big tree inside, with this year's new additions being lights with GREEN wire (a huge step up I must say), some green and blue wooden flowers, rafia bows, and the wheat stalks at the top. I was going for a natural theme. I think my favorite decoration is the butterfly we got from Callaway Gardens. My plan is to get two more for next year. Chris decorated our little artificial plant and it was so gaudy but it was really cute, and then we had the outdoor tree with big colored bulbs. We inadvertently got led lights which gave a neon feel to the lights (you can see our outdoor lights from 20 houses down).

We took Emory with us to Low's to get Christmas decor, etc. She was quite the hit at the store, but we could only bring her in if she stayed in the cart :)

Emory in action

2009-11-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

I was kind of bored tonight and missing Chris so I took this video :)

Friday Night

2009-11-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

Last night Chris and I had a super fun date night to an Atlanta Thrashers game. The game was really exciting. We were sitting on the fourth row from the ice (we did not pay full price for these tickets, don't worry, we scalped them, now you might be worried about something else, but that's what we did). Anyway, the game was really exciting. The thrashers scored 4 goals in one minute, and things got really heated. Shortly thereafter, a huge fight erupted involving every person on the rink at that time. Can't say that I enjoyed that very much, but everyone else seemed to. We took MARTA (public transportation) to the game, so getting there and back was an adventure in and of itself, and as always, very entertaining. When we got home I crashed on the bed with Emory... a great way to end a great evening!

Harding Homecoming

2009-11-14T18:33:00.001-08:00

I got to go back to Harding this year for homecoming weekend, and I got to spend time with two of my best friends, Lindsay Trotter and Kim Tomlinson. I LOVE being with old friends, and it's even more fun when we get to spend time together at the place we have the most of our memories-Harding! It was so fun to walk around and reminisce our good conversations at Midnight oil, the spot where I was egged while riding a bike, our favorite lunch place. Lenny's, our glory days, etc. I was also blessed to spend time with the Trotter family. They are so much fun to be with and always make me feel like part of the family. Lindsay has an adorable niece and nephew. Since we were there during halloween, we got to see them in their costumes- fairy and train conductor (they were ADORABLE).

What brought me to Searcy this weekend was an invitation to give a talk to the Biology department about the work I've been doing in grad school. Lindsay's parents (Jay and Shelly Trotter) both came to hear me speak, as did my wonderful Aunt Cheri, this made me feel really special. I got to catch up with family (grandma and grandpa, aunt cheri, uncle scott, cousin claire, grams) and this was really wonderful. I love my family so much! I also had some special time to catch up with all my Harding teachers. This was a hugely uplifting time for me. They made me feel like a celebrity! Every once in a while, we all need a little confidence boost :)

Bumble dog

2009-10-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

This is us at the church's Trunk'n'treat event. Maybe next year we can dress up a real child :) Don't get excited people, we're not pregnant. Some of the cute little girls got the biggest kick out of calling her bumbledog... pretty creative.

One of our friends was the "discount" girl from progressive. We thought that was a really good idea. She just went around saying "discount!" Wish I would have thought of that;)

Weekend away

2009-10-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

Chris and I just spent a wonderful weekend away at a friend's lake house. (Thank you so much for those people who so generously share what they have with us). It was a much needed escape. We cooked together, baked cookies, watched TV, walked outside in the crisp fall weather, took naps, studied the Bible, and watched a movie. Doesn't that sound awesome? I could have handled about a week more, but I'll take what I can get;) I want to express how thankful I am for the blessings God has given me. We have had a rough year in terms of witnessing suffering in people we love dearly, but I know that I have so much to be thankful for. First, we have Chris's mom and she continues to recover... praise God. I am endlessly grateful for Chris. He is an amazing husband and he teaches me so much about how to love others and how to love God, and mostly how God loves me! Thank you Lord!

This sounds silly, but this weekend I was also really thankful for Emory. She is so much fun and always gives us something to laugh about. This morning Chris and I were waking up (actually how it happened was that I woke up to the sound of Chris calling my name in progressively louder tone until I responded and he asked if I was awake). When I opened my eyes, he was looking right back at me, and as I was laughing about that, a third face appeared, also checking on the status of "wakefulness" of me. Emory just looked back and forth with her face about one inch from each of ours as if she was asking, so what are we going to do today? huh? huh? huh? Later, Chris took a deer head off the wall to show it to her and she became so terrified... I've never heard her bark and growl so viciously... she might be a good protecter after all. Even when Chris put it back she kept looking at it and barking. In the other room she wouldn't stop looking up as if she know thought wild animals sprung down from ceilings. Poor thing. But it was really funny.

Dance party with the Strines

2009-10-06T10:19:00.001-07:00

We've been getting to spend more time with Amanda, Daisy, and Grant lately and LOVING it. Amanda is an awesome sister-in -law, and the kids are so much fun... they keep us laughing non-stop. The first couple pictures are of a dance party we had at our house with the kids. Daisy Strine can really break it down (so can Daisy Jones- they would make quite the dance team, those two). Then we had some fun time at the dog park. As a side note, if you are thinking about taking small children with you to a dog park, make sure they finish their ice cream cones BEFORE getting out of the car (they were quite a hit with the dogs :)

The next night Emory had some girl time at the park together, and I was feeling sorry for myself because I was missing Chris, so I took pictures of me and Emory like I would have of me and Chris if he was there. The result was pretty funny. My lab friends think she looks like big bird in that picture. She is pretty big!

Here is a little teaser to peak your interest in our next post: Last night, Chris came home with a bumble bee halloween costume for Emory. She looks ADORABLE in it! Pictures to come!

DC and back to Lubbock

2009-09-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Chris and my first anniversary. We had planned a trip to DC for the weekend, so we left Lubbock on Thursday, spent thursday evening with Ryan and Cheryl Touchton and Justin and Bethany Bagwell, and then left for DC on Friday morning. Ryan and Cheryl kept Emory for us which made me feel SOOO good because they are taking really good care of her. I think she likes being with them more than us! They work in the yard and she loves to be outside with them and then they take her for long walks in the evening so she is worn out and ready to go to bed. We had one really good day in DC. We were able to make our whitehouse tour which was really cool (no cameras allowed so I have no pics of that). The next day we went to the mall where we took the pics of the Washington monument bellow, and then we went to the Smithsonian museum of American History, where of course, Chris took a picture of Obama on the presidential timeline. We were in the museum about 30 min when we got a call that Cindy was doing really poorly, so we headed back to the hotel and made arrangements to get to Lubbock ASAP.

We are in Lubbock now in the hospital waiting room. Since we have arrived, we have gotten some good news. This morning, her lungs looked better, and her body on the whole seems to be making positive steps towards healing. It's like she hit rock bottom and then has since started to finally heal. We just aren't sure how long it will take, but we are thankful for every bit of good news that we get. They are hoping to wean her off the ventilator in the next few days. Please continue to pray, because the power of God is working in her body and He is listening to all these prayers that are being sent up.

Jesse and JoAnne Long are a couple that live in Lubbock and found out about our situation. They have truly been a godsend. They offered for Chris and I to stay with them last night. They found out that it was our anniversary so when we got to their house, they had set up our room with champagne glasses, sparkling cider, two pieces of cake, and a note that said Happy Anniversary Chris and Sarah. It was so sweet and much needed. This morning they had set out homemade muffins, strawberries, cereal and coffee and juice. They also cooked lunch for our whole family. I'm so touched by their kindness, and I really hope that God gives me the chance to minister to somebody else the way they have ministered to us.

A Marathon Not A Sprint

2009-09-03T06:03:00.000-07:00

We are sitting in the Lubbock airport today, about to head back to Atlanta. It was very hard to say goodbye to Cindy yesterday. We talked to a nurse for a while last night and she said the main thing was that Cindy didn't give up. We have to keep telling her that she will be fine and encouraging her to fight. More than anything, she needs strength of will... she needs to be filled with conviction that this thing isn't going to get her. We will take our trip to DC and Chris will most likely come back to Lubbock after that. Recovery is going to be a long road. I think if we look at it as a marathon and not a sprint we are in the right mindset.

Keep Praying...

2009-09-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

We are still at the hospital today. Cindy's condition hasn't changed too much. We are thankful that she hasn't regressed, but we are anxious for her to improve. The doctor checked in with her this morning and said that her blood oxygen levels hadn't changed too much, so she is still on 60% oxygen from the ventilator. The x-ray of her lungs looked better than yesterday, so they seem to be healing. We have to stay on these nurses about giving her her medicine on time, it's hard not to get frustrated with them when she is clearly in pain and feeling distressed. Chris's younger siblings, Tiffany and Levi, are on their way here tonight and we are excited to see them. We've gotten many calls from Atlanta and all over and each and every one is DEEPLY appreciated. I don't know how people get through this without the support that we are so blessed to have. Thanks to everyone who has helped take care of Emory while we were gone (Kelly, Niki, and Sky, Justin Bagwell, and John Neiland). This was a huge weight off our shoulders. Thanks to everyone for praying and loving us. We are trying our best to stay positive. Chris and I are supposed to leave tomorrow so we can make our flight to DC on friday. This weekend is our anniversary and we had planned a trip to DC to celebrate.

It's hard to feel good about going with Cindy so sick, and we have struggled with what to do. Thankfully, we can always be just one plane flight away. Keep praying...

Pray for Cindy

2009-09-01T10:46:00.001-07:00

Please pray for Chris's mom, Cindy Nicholson. She is very sick right now, and Chris and I are with her here in Lubbock with Paul, Amanda and Cindy's parents, Ken and Patsy, and her brother, Kenneth. We are very thankful to be here with her.

She is in the medical intensive care unit with a condition called ARDS (adult respiratory distress syndrome). Her lungs need a lot of rest and care to heal from this. That's all she needs... time. So we are gathering around her so she knows how much she is loved and we are trying to encourage her to help her have the strength to kick this thing, which we know she will with God's help. Mostly, we just take turns sitting with her and singing, praying, reading the Bible, talking, or just being there. She is an incredibly strong person and has a very strong faith in God's power. I know that God will take care of her the way she has taken care of so many of His precious children.

I am so grateful to have her as a mother-in-law. I've learned a lot from her and I look forward to learning a lot more and to watching her love on Chris and my kids... loving kids seems to be the very thing God created her for.

Please pray for her very speedy healing. Pray that God will restore her body and her spirits. I know he is here with us, I know He helped us to get here in such a timely manner, and I know He has been with Cindy every step of the way. Lord, please heal Cindy very soon!

Weekend with the Wyatts

2009-08-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the Wyatt family come stay with us. Travis and Kendra Wyatt had worked with the youth group in Greenville when Chris was growing up and he babysat for them when their kids were younger. I fell in love with the whole family and we had sooo much fun. They have 3 kids: Grey, Emory, and Hayden. We felt kind of bad that we had a dog named Emory, too, but what can you say-it's a great name. We love having people come visit us for many reasons. One of them is because we get to do all the "Atlanta" things that we would never do otherwise. Below we are at the Varsity- oldest drive-in in America, famous for servers that say "What'll ya have? What'll ya have?" And they really do say that, only it's more like shouting. If you want a hotdog without toppings you say you want a naked dog, and if you want a hot dog to go, you say you want to walk the dog. We had a lot of fun with this, they give you all Varsity hats, too. We had one of the girls from the youth group, Victoria Garner, hanging out with us, too.

I got to go to the famous Georgia aquarium for the first time with them. It's always more fun to do these kinds of things with kids because they always get such a huge kick out of everything.

The otters were sooo cute. Who ever knew? They swam around on their back like the picture above and sucked their thumb while doing it! They looked incredibly cuddly.

Emory had a blast taking pictures with my camera, I have include about 1% of them. Let's just say the event was well documented :) Anyway, we had a really fun time.

Point of the story: if you come to Atlanta to see us you can just picture how much fun you will have by inserting your face in the pictures above... aren't you excited!!!

3 Things

2009-07-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I have three things to post about today and NONE of them have to do with Emory! For all you Emory Fan Club members, I am sorry, but, believe me, she is getting cuter every day.

#1. I did it, I actually got my nose pierced! I know to most of you this must come as a shock, but we can get through this together. It's definitely not like me to do something like this, but I have always talked about wanting one, and I finally decided to put the words into action. Why has it taken me so long? Here is a convo I had on the issue with my dearest dad:

Me: Dad, I think I want a nose ring

Dad: Don't you think that will hurt?

Me: Not anymore than when I got my ears pierced.

Dad: I didn't mean when you had it done, I meant when I ripped it out. (No grin on his face)

I'm sure I will regret doing this when I have a teenage daughter... Let's everyone keep this a secret from her, ok?

See? It's very small, no need to worry :)

#2 Chris bought me these beautiful flowers yesterday. Why? you might ask. Well, I will soon be a published author in the journal Current Biology. This means, one step closer to graduation, one step closer to me finally being done with school after 20 years! I was very excited when I found out that the paper I had submitted to Current Biology was accepted yesterday. We have to make a few minor changes, and then my name will be in print!

#3 I had a lot of fun hanging out this past week with some friends of ours that were visiting from France, the family Verdier. I got to practice my French A LOT, which was good. There was also a lot of smiling and nodding and blank stares going on. While we were in Columbus for the weekend, we went to the brand new infantry museum, and I got to practice shooting a real riffle that soldiers use in combat (it wasn't loaded with bullets, it just had a microchip in it). I felt really cool. Chris shot a bigger gun than this one, but I was too consumed with my own glory to take a picture of him, sorry Chris.

Can you tell that Chris is wearing an Obama shirt? He has so far chosen to wear it in back woods hick town North Georgia and in Columbus, Georgia to an infantry museum. Can you see why these might be inappropriate times for him to flaunt his political leanings?

In the above picture, we are at the Coke museum in Atlanta. I am standing with Nathalie, the daughter of the Verdier family. We were good friends when I was 6 years old living in France.

This is me in front of the BEAUTIFUL orchids. Thankfully, my shirt matches. I think Mr. Verdier is making me laugh. Oh yeah, we were at the botanical gardens in Atlanta. Chris and I already had 4 free tickets to the gardens so we didn't have to buy many more. For the story on how we came by these free tickets, you'll have to ask me in person.

This is the whole Verdier family. They are a bunch of clowns and super fun to be with... even if your French isn't too good.

I just had to show some of the beautiful flowers we saw there. God's creativity never ceases to blow my mind. I love how much he cherishes beauty. His beauty is all around us, and isn't that what we seek when we are at our lowest? When I'm down, nothing lifts me up like God's beauty, a colorful sunset, a breathtaking view from a mountain top, the endless ocean, and my favorite... flowers! I've been reading the book Captivating, and I love how the author describes the traits of God that are only revealed in femininity. One of these is his beauty and his love for beauty. It may have no "practical" purpose in the western worldview, but I believe God created it for a reason. Sometimes we just need to soak it in!

Six Flags, American Idol, Sarah/Chris weekend out

2009-07-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

SIX FLAGS WITH STACI AND JORDAN

A few weeks ago, some of Sarah's old friends, Staci and Jordan, came from Tuscaloosa to visit us (i.e. Go to six flags). Friday night was really fun; we had a great dinner and had a lot of time to catch up. Saturday we woke up early and started the day off with an essential breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. We arrived at DD around 9:00 and the temperature was already in the high 80s. This should have been my sign that the day was going to be very long. I realize now I should have politely pretended to have a terrible head ache and a stomach bug. I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of roller coasters. When we arrived at Six Flags, the park was already packed. The temp was rising quickly and the lines were extending even quicker. We were at SF for a total of seven hours and rode a total of...hhmmmm...4 rides (one of the rides twice). I should emphasize that we thoroughly enjoyed the time with Staci and Jordan but will probably opt to a cooler venue next year.

AMERICAN IDOL

Okay so I did it...I tried out for American Idol. My friend Mark and his girlfriend Jennie drove down from West Virginia to see us (i.e. try out for A.I). I must say it was a very interesting experience. There were a total of about 15,000 people that tried out that day. As most of you might guess or already know, very few people get to try out in front of Randy, Simon, Paula, and the new girl. Everyone registers two days before the tryout at which time you get a wrist band and ticket. On the third day, everyone that has registered shows up ready to be a star. Needless to say we met a lot of interesting people. Some people had flown in from all around the country. For some, this was their 9th or 10th tryout. At 8:00 a.m. (after sitting outside since 5:00) they herded everyone into the stadium.

First they have a song that the entire crowd sings while the cameras pan over faces. Our chosen song was "Oops I Did It Again." We had to sing through this song probably 20 times. The song actually sounded pretty good. There were even some people harmonizing in the crowd. I figured there must be some other COC people among us. After that little segment the waiting begins. There are rows of tables with a couple of producers at each table. As stated earlier, we arrived at the stadium at 5:00 a.m....we tried out at 3:00 p.m.!! With American Idol and Six Flags, I had the longest two days of my life within one week. The judge lined everyone up in groups of four. Once you get to your assigned table, the judge points to a person and says, "sing...okay stop...you sing...okay stop...you sing" and so on. The judge either tells everyone they suck or they let one person move to the next round. As you know if you have seen American Idol many people make it through that are TERRIBLE! These people go through rounds and rounds of producers before they get to see the famous judges. I know people wonder why a lot of these people that are so bad look so surprised when they see Simon and the gang and are told, "they have the worst voice in the world." Well, by this time, they have had dozens of people tell them they are awesome...tragic really.

Here is a bad pic taken with my phone of all the wanna be stars...I was directly in the middle so there is an equal amount of people on the other side.

We had a few days....

Because of the 4th of July holiday Sarah and I rented a cabin in North Georgia for a few days. The place we stayed was called Cabins and Coffee. We had a great time. We got to the cabins late Thursday and went straight to bed. On Friday Sarah, Emory and I spend the day hiking to a couple of waterfalls. The day was absolutely beautiful and the hike was easy but really fun.

Friday night Sarah and I were too tired to do much so we decided to go see a movie with some of the locals. Now remember...we were in RURAL Georgia...very different from Atlanta. I made the mistake of wearing an Obama t-shirt. When we arrived at the theater, I quickly scrambled to find a jacket after observing the company. The movie was very cheap...we got two tickets, popcorn, drinks, and candy for $17.00!

Over all the weekend was great...we relaxed, slept a lot, had fun, hiked, ate comfort food, and enjoyed a heart shaped Jacuzzi (cool i know).

4th OF JULY

So 4th of July happens to by my favorite holiday. I think this is for a couple of reasons. One, the only expectation is to find somewhere to hang out and have fun. Yes, people spend a lot of money on supplies but no one expects presents and people just want to see a good fireworks show. Also the 4th introduces things that I love (cook-outs, fireworks, watermelon, and homemade ice-cream). We spent our second year with the Touchton's. Not only are Ryan and Cheryl the coolest people ever, they also have the ideal place to celebrate the 4th. The live near the Old square of Marietta. There is a parade, lots of people, a pool, and there is an awesome firework show. It was a ton of fun. We really enjoyed spending time with everyone there and we hope that this becomes a tradition.

Happy belated Independence Day!

update - Prathers

2009-06-27T05:15:00.002-07:00

As Sarah mentioned in the previous blog, some very good friends of ours were involved in a car accident this past Monday. The car accident killed the Prather's youngest son, Matthew (15), instantly. However, Jeanette spent the past couple of days trying to hang on. On Thursday evening Jeanette joined Matthew.

I have to say, Sarah and I are both overwhelmed with sadness. Jeanette and Sarah had a very special friendship and we will miss them very much. Stephen, Mike and Jeanette's oldest son, is staying with us and is being very strong. Please pray for this sweet sweet family. As Stephen gets ready to go to college, please pray for Mike as he begins to live in a much quieter household.

Sarah and I really loved Matthew and we really loved Jeanette. We are so thankful we had the honor of knowing two amazing people!

2009-06-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

We love the Prather family dearly. Most of you know that on June 22 they were involved in an accident which took Matthew's life and put Jeanette in critical condition. Chris and I arrived at the hospital in Macon Georgia at about 4:00 on Monday. Thankfully, the Touchton's were more than willing to drop everything and come down with us. We stayed overnight at a hospital in Macon along with five of Stephen's friends, Don and Susan McLaughlin, John and Michelle Neiland, and John and Cindy Lawrence. Cindy stayed the night at the hospital with Jeanette's sister, Mary Lou. The doctors say all that can be done for Jeanette right now is wait. They have her blood pressure and heart rate stabilized and are decreasing her oxygen support which are all good things. Everyone involved in the accident from the people who pulled over to help immediately after it happened to the cafeteria workers in the hospital have been extremely helpful and sweet.

The reason I really wanted to write this post I think is just to share what a sweet family the Prathers are. Chris and I used to go to their house every Monday night for dinner. Jeanette is an excellent cook... she never made us the same thing twice. I remember countless evenings standing in the kitchen with Jeanette telling her about my confusion over my feelings for Chris. She would listen, sometimes give advice, share a funny story from her and Michael's dating... no matter what she was always there with a listening ear. She never made me feel like I was weird for feeling or thinking the way I did (even though I was). I watched her serve and love her family with all the resources that God had given her. Matthew was a genuinely sweet boy. He loved and looked up to his brother so much. All the girls in the youth group loved him because he was very handsome and for some reason was not at all afraid to talk to girls. I remember talking to him about various girl woes and trying to give advice. He was very conscious of the way his actions made other people feel... he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. He and the boys in his class at church were very close and it was always so fun to watch the hilarious things they did on youth trips. One time at winterfest when it was very cold they were all huddled in a circle to keep warm... only ninth grade boys in this circle... but they did let me in for some reason... I was honored :) He always gave me a hug and made me feel special whenever he saw me at church. Chris and I had so much fun playing games with their family, watching 24, making fun of bad acting, and even being included in some family Bible studies before Matthew was baptized. I cannot say enough how much we love them and are hurting with Michael and Stephen right now. Matthew... thank you for being a part of our lives, we cannot wait to see you again We continue to pour out prayers for Jeanette's healing.

2009-06-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Emory is spayed!!!

If you are tired of hearing about Emory, this post is NOT for you. I decided we hadn't posted in a while so it was time, but all I have on my camera is pictures of Emory... what can I say, it's time for us to have a kid (just kidding all future grandparents... all in good time). Many things have happened in the exciting life of Emory Nicholson, and since her life is currently going better than either of ours, we will focus on her. She got shaved for the summer as you can see below. I must admit, I liked her long shaggy hair better, but she was getting sooo hot, so we had to do it.

She is a very good helper. She follows me everywhere I go when I am doing housework and pokes her head inside every cabinet that I open. She also loves when I water the flowers. She is definitely a water dog.

As you can see in the pic above, she loves to ride in the very back of our car with her face plastered to the back windshield. I can't imagine what this looks like to the people behind us. We got her to turn around just long enough to take the pic and she then resumed her watch.... At least we haven't had anyone ride our tail while she is in position.

These are pics from the beach. Melanie did such a good job writing about it that I will refer to her blog for full details of the trip- thelifeofadaisy.blogspot.com. I will add a few pics of Emory. She loved playing in the waves and would be so exhausted that she just had to curl up and go to sleep. I love this picture because her hair looks so curly and cute.

More Emory

2009-05-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

This is Emory cheering me up after a bad day...

Thank you so much to everyone for your concern about Emory. She is doing MUCH better, and as you can see, her growth seems to be unimpeded by the sickness so far! We put her on a new food which is ridiculously expensive, and that's helped a lot. Of course, it's no fun spending twice as much on your dog's food as your own, but it sure beats scrubbing poop off the walls and carpet every week. She is getting to be very feisty, and makes herself clearly known when she is unhappy because we aren't paying her enough attention... just what I need... a diva dog! Oh well, I have to admit I still love her and she can brighten up a bad day any time!

Coldplay

2009-05-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Coldplay!!!

Pics O' Emory

2009-05-07T07:24:00.001-07:00

These were taken from our friend's i-phone... Thanks Nikki!!

Emory is sick

2009-05-05T13:07:00.001-07:00

So, I know we probably think way too much about our dog, and if you are not dog people, I can totally understand you thinking we are ridiculous (I would think that, too, if I were you). But nonetheless, here it goes. Emory is really sick. It seems like just about ever since we've gotten her she has had diarrhea on and off. Lately, she has been throwing up, too. Yesterday I took her on a 1 mile walk and she was WORN out afterwards. This just isn't normal for a 4 mo old dog. I know it shouldn't, but it is making me so sad. We've taken her to the vet, changed her food, made sure she doesn't eat any foreign objects (which is really hard), tried giving her pumpkin every day, several rounds of antibiotics, tested for every parasite possible, and nothing seems to be working. I am so sad, because she's just a dog, you know, and we can't spend thousands of dollars on blood tests and surgery and crazy treatments. Obviously, we would do all of these for one of our children... but she is just a dog. All the same, the thought of losing her makes me extremely sad. I start to think, how long can she last without absorbing any of the nutrients from the food she eats? The past few days she has done nothing but lay around the house. She is the sweetest thing, ever... she loves to cuddle and when we come home she gets so excited that her whole body is thrown back and forth by the weight of her tail wagging. She never barks, never bites, and mostly leaves alone things that aren't hers. I can't imagine us ever finding another dog like her!

If anyone has any suggestions, we are open to anything that doesn't cost us tons of money!

I'm at school right now and I don't have my cord to post pictures, but I will post some tonight.

2009-04-15T16:57:00.000-07:00

Emory and Me

So I don't have any pictures to go with this post, which I know probably makes it totally boring, but sometimes I have these moments where I can really relate to the movie "Marley and Me." So if you have seen that movie, you may use the mental images you have from it to serve as the pictures for this post.

Today I got home, and Emory had been in her crate all day, so as soon as I took her out she was about ready to jump out of her skin. I knew I needed to take her for a walk, but Chris had the leash in his car, so I was going to have to go buy one. Since it was sort of his fault that I had to go buy one anyway, I decided to go ahead and get a leash I liked... a girly one... which for some reason Chris opposes on our GIRL dog. Anyway, I left her in the car while I bought the leash, because she would tear up that store if she came in without one. She always rides in the back of the car, but when I came out of the store I saw her sitting in the driver's seat looking right back at me as if I would just get in the passenger's side and let her take the wheel. I, on the other hand, got in the driver's seat, trying to move her over, which has harder than I thought. Since the park wasn't far, I decided just to try to drive with her in my lap... also harder than I thought. My arms were in this terrible tangle around her body trying to control the steering wheel, straining my neck to try to see the road over her. I'm sure I looked ridiculous.

We finally made it to the park, and she started playing with these two st bernards and two dogs that looked like their hair was made out of shag carpet. All very cute, but a bit large for Emory. She eventually went off on her own and I thought, whew, I don't have to stress about her getting eaten. And then... she assumed the stance... of course, I had brought no poop bags, and here were all these dog owners watching her do her business out in the grass and thinking, "I hope she is going to pick that up." Thankfully, this sweet lady came to my rescue and offered me a bag. Of course, Emory seems to always have diarrhea, so that was fun to pick up. I never could find the second dropping, but at least everyone saw me pick up something, so I figured I was safe.

Then, I got into a pleasant conversation with some people, and when I turned to glance at Emory she was jumping all over this little boy. She would never hurt him, but I think she scared him pretty bad, so I ran over and grabbed her and put her back on her leash.

We found some other dogs to play with at the end, and a woman who had brought some water for her dogs to drink (strike two against my ability as a dog owner). Emory ran over and started drinking the water. The woman said it was fine, but probably didn't expect her to polish off the whole thing!

Emory's a little hard to control when there are distractions around. These distractions could include anything from a leaf, a blade of grass, another dog, or her tail. But now that we are home, and she is curled up at my feet sleeping, I can remember how sweet she is.

2009-04-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

I never went to prom

We got more awesome 80's prom pictures so I had to post them. It's kind of funny... I never went to prom when I was in highschool, so I guess I finally got the experience after all. At first we didn't know very many people, so we stood around awkwardly and nobody danced at first (apparently similar to real prom experience), and we even got to take the classic prom pose picture in front of the tacky backdrop. I feel very fulfilled.

2009-04-08T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dinner Affair

So Chris and I discovered this fabulous place near where Chris works called a Dinner Affair. Basically how it works is, you order what meals you want to make before hand from a list of meals available for the month. We made twelve different meals including ricotta stuffed chicken, ranch chicken, italian beef croquettes, cuban pork tenderloin, etc! It's all so good, and they had everything there for us so all we had to do was follow the instructions. We put everything into zip-lock bags and put it in our freezer. It's like we have a gourmet meal every night. We went with our friends Kelly and Chrisanne. They are both a ton of fun so that made it even better. The only downside is that we had to wear goofy looking hats... I guess the upside is that we didn't have to wear hairnets!

Update on Emory

She is growing so fast and she is so incredibly smart! Unfortunately, she hasn't been feeling well lately. There was a night last week when Chris and I found ourselves awake at 2:30am- Chris was bathing the dog and cleaning poop, throw-up, diarrhea, etc. out of her crate in the freezing rain and I was mopping up the mess in the kitchen. I thought to myself this is what we get for having a dog. Then, friday, Chris and I took off of work to spend some time together and we watched Marley and Me, and then I cried because we have such a sweet dog. If I'm this emotional with a dog, how will I be with a child! Today we took her to her first day of doggy day care. We decided she might need some extra exercise during the day and interaction with other dogs. It was basically a huge warehouse with about fifty huge dogs running around like mad. When I went to pick her up, I looked through the window and she was swallowed up in the sea of dogs. It made me so sad, because she seemed really sad and stressed. She has been sleeping all evening from the moment we got home, and she has also been shedding a lot, which she only does when she gets nervous. Anyway, here are some more pics to show how much more she has grown, and like every dog, she loves to ride in the car with her head hanging out the window. She can now sit, stay, lay down, and almost roll over.

80's Prom

And finally, last saturday Chris and I went to a friends birthday party. He was turning 40, so the idea was to relive his prom (which happened in 1987). It was so fun... I found this hilarious dress at Goodwill, and Chris wore an awesome mullet. There was plenty of 80/s music including, of course, Thriller.

2009-03-30T10:09:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay, I know this is by no means original, but I couldn't resist. I am so excited about my early birthday present... a new MacBook! I had to take the obligatory funny pictures which is one of the coolest things about a mac. We've been talking about getting a new computer for me for a while. I had finally talked myself out of it and resigned myself to my old HP, when Chris called me at work and said we should go pick up my new MacBook that evening!!! I was so pumped! Apparently he had been thinking about it for a long time and talking to different people about it and finally decided that was what we needed... he couldn't wait any longer. So I have been having fun with my new "toy" and spending way more time than I should on it at work. Which reminds me, I'm at work now and I should probably start doing things productive.

as a side note: I feel like I've joined some kind of elite group of mac users... when I ask people how to do things that I used to do on my HP and I want to do on my new mac such as delete forward, two people have responded this way, "I don't know... that's a PC thing, I have never wanted to do that anyway." Come on... wouldn't you rather delete forward than use the arrows to move forward and then delete backwards? Give me a break.

another funny side note: Chris usually calls me baby and Emory girl, but sometimes he gets mixed up and it comes out like this, "Hey will you get me a glass of tea, girl?" haha, not very endearing.

2009-03-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

The Chorus Line

Yikes, we havn't posted in almost a month, I guess we're still getting the hang of this blog thing. So I have to brag on my precious husband who bought us tickets to go see The Chorus Line this past weekend... it was a total surprise! For those of you who don't know, this is a broadway musical, and it was playing at the Fox theater in Atlanta. If you ever get to come to Atlanta to visit us, you have to try to see something at the Fox... it is the most beautiful theater I've ever been in (well, the theater in Vienna where we saw the Symphony was pretty amazing, too). But it really makes the shows even more exciting, and this one was amazing. How you find so many peope that are so incredible at both singing and dancing is beyond me. Anyway, we had a great time... and sweet Chris let me get all dressed up and he even put on a tie for me (if you know him at all, you know that this brings him no pleasure at all-he only did it for me).

We took Emory to the dog park for the first time on Saturday, too, and I didn't have my camera!!! I was really mad at myself because she was so cute playing with all the dogs. The funny thing is, she didn't interact with the dogs nearly as much as she did with the children there. She seems really drawn to them and they love her. This makes me really excited because of course I want her to be so sweet with our kids. After the park, she was so exhausted she slept the rest of the day. We took some pictures of her later on that day, so you can see how much she has grown in just a month!

She really is so sweet and you will love her as soon as you meet her!

2009-02-10T09:00:00.001-08:00

Wilmore, KY

So I totally dropped the ball on taking pics this past weekend, but thanks to Chris we have a few. I count it my own fault that there is only one extremely unflattering picture of me, below.

However, the lack of pictures does not reflect the lack of a good time. We had so much fun hanging out with Anna, Don, and the boys and checking out their new town. We got to take Emory with us, too, which I think the boys really enjoyed. As you can tell by the picture below, she has not mastered walking on a leash yet. If me and her are both attached to the leash and I am the one holding her, who is really in control?

Chris and I stayed in a bed and breakfast about 1/10th of a mile from Anna and Don's house. For any of you planning to go visit the Caulleys, the cost of "the homeplace" b and b is 50 dollars a night, and 52 if you want a queen bed instead of a double. So, as Chris would say, we splurged and got the queen. What the heck, you only live once, right?

Saturday morning, Carol fed us a delicious breakfast of french toast with berries, bacon, fruit, juice, and coffee, and we ate with Carol and her husband, Art. Following breakfast, they taught us some Jewish folk dances, and then we were ready for the day. We walked with Anna, Jon David, Luke, and Wendy (Don's mom) to go see campus. We met up with Don and ate at the one Mexican restaurant in town, which was surprisingly good and authentic tasting. I guess with a name like Jose you have to make good Mexican food. I would definitely recommnend it to anyone visiting Wilmore. There's also a really cool coffee shop (ahem... dad).

Mostly, it was just really nice to be with family and hang out. Anna and Don have some really cool neighbors, and I can already see God helping to build a network for them while they are there.

Overall, Chris and I thought that Wilmore was a really neet town. It's small, but the people there are not backwards, they are just simple. They live simply- which is surprisingly not easy to do, especially in Atlanta. The seminary in town gives the whole place a very Christian feel. It was a breath of fresh air.

Emory

2009-02-02T10:48:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday, January 29th, Sarah and I got our new puppy Emory. Emory is a 6 week old Labradoodle; half lab and half standard poodle.I am not sure if it's because she is ours, but Sarah and I think she is cuter, smarter, and more fun than any other puppy we have ever seen or has ever been born. We have had very few "potty" challenges the past couple of days. Sarah especially loves how much Emory loves to cuddle. Emory will play for 30 minutes to every 1 hour of sleep. We realize this behavior is short lived so we are really taking advantage of it.

The coolest thing about Emory is...SHE DOESN'T SHED! Because of the poodle in her, we don't have fur around our house or on our clothes. I am not sure how big Emory will get but her mom was 75 pounds and her dad was 70. I was of course hoping that she would grow to be 90 lbs but I guess 75 is okay too.

I wish I had some fun stories about Emory like...

the other day Emory was so excited that she ran through the yard, kicked a football which hit a boy with a broken leg and knocked him down when all of the sudden she saw an old lady being mugged by... well a mugger... and Emory ran over, scared the bad guy away and was the hero of the day for saving the old lady...the next morning we ended up on the Today Show where Emory showed Matt, Meredeth, Ann and Al all of her tricks....

But for now she is still a very young puppy so all she does is eat/drink, play a little, pees/poops, and sleeps. We are sure the fun stories are soon to come however.

Below are some pics of me giving Emory her first bath. I don't know if she liked it or not but she did convulse so probably not.

2009-01-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

January!!!

Chris blogged about several things in his last post that I have some pictures for, so here is the last month of our lives at a glance... with pictures:

Here is sweet Daisy at Grant's pirate birthday party. Behind her is the toy parrot that would repeat everything you said, except in about one octave higher voice. This was very entertaining, and Daisy's giggles turned into sounds created in a decible I had never heard before.

And I got to paint a cool pirate mustache on Grant A.K.A. "Ladies Man"

Let me just pause and say that if anyone knows how to add pictures without them automatically going to the beginning of the post, I would love to know how... who writes their blog in reverse order anyway?

Okay, so the pirate ship is the cake... amazing, I know, and we also had a cake for Amanda, who's birthday is Jan 20. Quick funny story about the cake for Amanda: When Chris and I went to pick up the cake, they first brought out one that said "Happy Birthday Christopher" which is ironic because his birthday is the day before Amanda's. Second, when we went to check out, the woman bagging the groceries asked if the cake said Happy Birthday Aquanda... no... we told her it didn't say that... it said AMANDA. Well, she said, they must have messed it up and then they couldn't really fix it... bummer

Well, onto Chris's birthday. We went to RuSan's (a sushi place) with a bunch of friends and had a great time. The waiters sang happy birthday and then made Chris stand on his table while they sang something else (we have no idea what) and everyone clapped and Chris ate up another chance to be the center of attention. (Just kidding Chris, I know you love to be in the background).

Friday night, Amanda called us and said that her and Vince had two extra tickets to the Diamond Rio concert at Wild Bill's (apparently the biggest honky tonk in America) so I got to go and wear my new cowboy boots and totally fit in... although I was a little too fully clothed to completely fit in, but anyway, here is the best pic I could get of the band. We had a lot of fun hanging out with Vince and Amanda and people watching. All I have to say is, be careful what you do, because you never know when one of your highschool teachers is standing behind you!

One last story, on saturday, Chris and I went to tour Oakland Cemetery, which has so much history surrounding it. We got to see all the graves from the confederate soldiers and learn a lot about Atlanta history. It was really fun and a beautiful day to be outside. It's amazing to think how far this country has come, when we go to a cemetery where all the black people are burried in a separate plot in the back. On top of the grave of Atlanta's first black mayor was a newspaper with Obama's picture on it... pretty awesome!

just so you know..

2009-01-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

I thought I should post something since we haven't posted anything since January 6th (i know, we're losers).

Things have been pretty slow here in ATL. I think now that the holidays are over people have started doing more boring type stuff again...work. My mom flew in from New Mexico on January 14th. January is a pretty big month since it's my nephew Grant's birthday on the 11th, my birthday on the 19th and my sister's birthday on January 20th. I must say I had an awesome birthday. For some reason, this year, we had a few days of celebration.

On Friday Sarah and I went to this great restaurant next to our house called Valenza. It really is one of the best Italian places I have ever eaten at. When we first moved to Brookhaven, our really good friends Kelly and Niki gave us a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift card (thank you guys). There's is nothing better than eating an amazing dinner for free. Since it was the only night that Sarah and I had alone, Sarah went ahead and have me my birthday presents. She bought me this really cool book called "The Tipping Point." I have read the first couple of chapters but don't really want to explain and you'd probably be bored anyway. She also bought me this really cool leather fossil watch. It has one of those thick leather bands and it makes my wrist look much cooler than it really is.

On Saturday we had a birthday party for my nephew Grant. The theme this year was pirates. Sarah was in charge of tattooing the kids (I tried to help her but had to stop after making this little baby cry. I didn't realize babies didn't like their foreheads tattooed). We ate hot dogs, had a ship cake, played games, and really "went over bored" with the fun...ha. Sunday their were more festivities. On Monday (my actual birthday), Sarah planned a party for me at Ru Sans. It was really fun eating sushi with our friends. I love telling people that we are sushi eaters. It makes Sarah and I sound really cool...However, the kind of sushi we eat is really not that out there. We try to always look for the sushi that is half way cooked, with cream cheese, and flash-fried. Leave it to Americans to find a way to even make healthy Japanese food calorically ridiculous.

Even though Sarah and I haven't had a extremely eventful January thus far, we have some exciting things ahead that I will be excited to blog about. To preview those things in order to keep you on the edge of your seat...

On January 30th, Sarah and I are going to the Killers concert. Sarah got me really awesome seats for Christmas and I am really excited.

The second week in February, Sarah and I are going to see Anna, Don, John David, and Luke in Wilmore, KY. Facts about Wilmore:

- Wilmore is home of the Icthus Festival

- Wilmore is 2.6 square Miles all of which is land

- Population 5,905

- There are 3 banks, 4 Dr's offices (2 GP. 1 dentist, and Animal clinic), 3 grocery stores (1 in a

chevron gas station), 4 motels/hotels, and 7 restaurants...glory

and Lastly, Sarah and I are about to get our Labradoodle. I know she is going to be amazing and i can't wait for you to see her...actually I can't wait to see her either.

OH Yea --- We are very proud of our new President!!

Trip to Charleston

2009-01-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

On New Years day, Sarah, Buddy, Maurine, Cody, Wes and I went to Charleston, SC. We rented a house about 10 miles outside of downtown called the Lord's House. When arrived, Sarah and Maurine cooked an awesome fondue dinner which included a side of chicken and greenbean bundles; the food was really delicious. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out playing catch phrase, apples to apples, and our new game, Befudiom.

The next day (Friday), we went to Ft. Moultrie. The fort has been around since the revolutionary war and is really cool.

This is a picture of me and the boys pretending we are climbing over the walls to attack the fort. Don't we look intimidating?

A photo for the front cover of our new Album...

This is me riding "shot gun" ...HA! Can't you see why Sarah married me?

Sarah, Wes, and Cody pose for a nice family photo (above). Sarah thought this was a really big telescope...turns out it was a gun.

After Ft. Moultrie, we all went to downtown Charleston. We shopped, ate fudge, walked to the battery, played on the Charleston swings and had a lot of fun. That night we ate dinner at very rustic fish joint.

On Saturday, the 6 of us chartered a boat out to an island that has the 6th oldest lighthouse in America. The man who charted the boat was Captain Gresh. Captain Gresh gave us a lot of information on Charleston, lots of history and had a lot of really cool stories about the land and water around Charleston. The ride on the boat was very cold. Poor Sarah had on lots of layers and still froze. This is a picture with our "we are miserable" looks on. While we were heading back to land captain Gresh scooped up this jelly fish. For some reason, this particular kind of jelly fish does not sting. We also came across some dolphins. It was difficult to get a good picture of them, but it was really cool watching them swim and play. I asked Captain Gresh if I could get out and ride their fins and he said that in Charleston, messing with a dolphin is a $20,000 fine and up to one year in prison...Glory bE!

So that's our trip to Charleston, SC. The city is really cool and a lot of fun...and now that we are gone...it will never be the same...

Goodbye 08...Hello 09!!

2009-01-06T07:31:00.000-08:00

After having such a fun Christmas break, we decided to continue partying into 2009. For New Years Eve Buddy and Maurine drove to Atlanta to hang out with Sarah and I. We had a great dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then headed back to the house to bundle up for a night on the town. Buddy came down with a chest cold so he stayed at the house and watched football while Sarah, Maurine and I put on our long underwear, jackets, scarfs, hats, and gloves and headed downtown.

For those of you not from Atlanta, here Georgia, instead of dropping a large nice lit up ball, we drop a big orange plastic peach. Once we got downtown and pushed through at least 20,000 people to see the stage, we noticed a lot of commotion up ahead. The lady next to us started yelling "tighten up everyone, we's about to have us a fight." Sure enough, right in front of us 3 guys started punching each other as hard as they could. I was just thinking, "Glory, we dragged Maurine out past her 9:00 bedtime only to be caught up in gang activity. We finally found nice spot to stand in and waited for about 45 minutes. The time flew by since we had people all around to entertain us by...well being themselves. Once 12:00 came Atlanta put on a great fireworks show and had a grand old time. After we left Five Points we headed back home on MARTA to get some rest from such a crazy evening.

2008-12-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

The Touch A Life Story

Our wedding got a shout out on the Touch A Life blog!!! To check it out go to www.touchalifekids.org

2008-12-29T10:39:00.000-08:00

Chris got to have his first holiday with the Jones fam this year so we tried to make it really exciting for him. Half of us were missing, but we had fun with mom, dad, Daniel, Melanie, Daisy, and Isaac. We carried on the tradition of going to see the Festival of lights at Callaway Gardens, and also the tradition that dad tells us it's going to be really cold and we say no it won't and he brings blankets and coats anyway and we all use them because it gets really cold. Here we are on the trolly with the icycle lights behind us... the show really was beautiful!

Here is a new tradition that we started this year upon Daisy's receiving a new game for Christmas (can't remember what the game is called). At the end of a round, the winner has to do a funky dance, which is too much fun for one person to do alone, so we all joined in on cutting a rug at the end of each round.... I think Daisy wins the best dancer award... at least the most enthusiastic :)

Dad was, of course, the best builder of tall tall towers among us... so he built and Daisy and Isaac quickly knocked down each time. Once, I made the mistake of attempting to build one for Daisy to knock down, and she instructed me that I could build one, but I needed to be really serious, like B-pops. Tower building is no laughing matter.

After a day of shopping (so fun) the girls took the kids while the boys played. We spent the morning bouncing at Monkay Joes. I felt so sorry for the other girls because they weren't as cute as Daisy or even anywhere close to it.

And while we're on the subject of being cute, look at these precious cheeks...

Mel and I both took turns sliding down the steep slide with Isaac. I really just took him so I had an excuse to ride the slide... it was really fun, but climbing up the bouncy ladder with Isaac on my hip made my legs feel like jello.

Isaac found every toy with a steering wheel and had to try them all out. He can already shift gears and everything!

Baby Shower - Indian Style

2008-12-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I had the honor of going to our first Indian baby shower for our friend Hemali. The event was formal so Sarah and I decided to wear our normal church attire. It is our understanding that in the Indian culture that first babies are a huge deal. Hemali's family came from all over just to celebrate. The baby shower was a lot of fun and made our baby showers look like an afternoon tea party at the local 7-11.

The shower was in a ballroom which was beautifully decorated. When we first arrived there were very little people there. There were a few Indians but most of them were dressed it normal clothes. Sarah and I thought we had been pranked. Luckily after a few minutes a lot people arrived sporting the same type of dress we were wearing. The afternoon began with a nice appetizer which would have been more appetizing if it had not been like eating fire (can someone help me understand the correlation between spicy food and runny noses). For those of you don't know me, I don't really like spicy food. Really the spiciest thing I like is ketchup.

After sharing a small meal it was time for the games. The first game we played was baby B-i-n-g-o which I happen to win. I then embarrassed Sarah by grabbing the microphone on the way to retrieve my prize to thank my parents, producers, etc. After baby b-i-n-g-o we played a "couples" game with three other couples. This game was set-up as a relay and involved Jello, a baby bib and a large adult diaper...yes Sarah had to put the diaper on me. Just the thought of those pictures getting out gives me a stomach ulcer.

After games Hemali and Chintu were sweet enough to have lunch provided for the 100 or so people that were attending the shower. Oddly enough the lunch looked very similar to the appetizers. To my delight, however, this time the food was much spicier. The waitress stood next to my chair in order to refill my water glass that I downed after every bite. Even after drinking all that water I think I was dehydrated because the food caused me to sweat and for my nose to continuously run. To top it all off, I knew i could brave the spiciness for some nice tender pieces of chicken. The problem was the "chicken" wasn't chicken at all. It was smashed together squares of tofu...Glory be!

I must say...as you can tell...Sarah looked really beautiful. I am always amazed at how beautiful Sarah looks no matter what she is wearing.

Our First Christmas!!

2008-12-22T10:53:00.001-08:00

This is our beautiful first Christmas tree. At first we weren't going to put one up since we wouldn't be home for Christmas, but the some friends of ours loaned us one so we decided, why not, and it has brought me much joy ever since. Chris laughed at me while I was decorating it because he could just see the shear joy in my face when I was pleased with the placement of a decoration as I put them on the tree. Anyway, it's a humble start, but I just had to show it off for its sentimental value...improvements for next year: lights with the green wire instead of white.

We had fondue for our "Christmas Dinner" ...ahemmm Chris is just pouring us some sparkling grape juice.

We had fun eating the fondue and then we opened gifts. Chris did so good on my gifts... and he wrapped them really well, too! (I felt the need to don a fancy dress for the occasion)

Afterwards, we went to Cheesecake factory and ate dessert... It was such a perfect first Christmas and we are so excited to spend Christmas day this year with Mom, Dad, Dan, Mel, Daisy, and Isaac (Anna, Don, Jon David, Luke, David, and Eryn... you will be very sorely missed)

Just think, this time last year I was trying to plan a wedding while studying for quals... ahhh the relief