i heart october

October is my absolute favorite month. Autumn is my absolute favorite season and alas October is Autumn to me. I decided to make an 'i heart October' list to bring in this wonderful month...enjoy.


-The humidity drops and is sometimes almost non-existent. This really only applies when I live in NC cause there seems to almost always be humidity in FL and hardly ever here, but growing up October brought great relief and the ability to straighten my hair with ease.

-Fall clothes are the best. I love to layer and my favorite is wearing jeans and a short sleeved shirt with flip flops and being so comfortable. Then throwing on a comfy sweater in the evening.

-The smell of clean, crisp air.

-The leaves changing color. The middle of October in the NC mountains is heavenly. I've never lived in the mountains (ok, well I do now but I meant in NC) but I remember lots of Fall time drives there as a kid. Or maybe I just made them up in my head, either way, it's the best. I'm seriously trying to plan for us to make it to NC in October during our first trip back to the States so Stan and I can have a weekend getaway in the mountains. I quite possibly might schedule the whole 6 months just around that. Grommy and Poppy, go ahead and mark your calendars now to watch the boys. Thanks.

-Stan and I met in October 10 years ago and started dating in October 9 years ago. Is is possible that Stan and I have been a couple that long!?!? I guess so since we started dating when I was 20...wow. I really wanted to get married in October but my love of the month wasn't worth putting the wedding off 7 more months.

-The State Fair. I love the crowds. I love the rides. I love the exhibits (even the animal ones believe it or not). Most of all I love the FOOD! Another great reason to make sure October 2011 is spent in NC.


There are so many more reasons but I think that is enough for now.
Happy October!

2 things

I need some help with a couple of things. I'm in desperate need for some workout DVDs that I can do in the morning from the comfort of my own home. We have a gym (it's actually a hotel gym that lets us pay to workout there) that I was all set to start visiting again but they don't open until 1:00 pm. I'll be real honest and tell you that when 1:00 rolls around and the boys go down for their nap and Judah follows after he eats I want to join them. I'm usually exhausted and that's my only time of total quiet in the day. What works for me is getting up early, working out, showering and settling down for some Bible time with a cup of coffee. This is how I most like to start my morning. I have some great ab and strength training DVDs but no cardio. Does anyone have something that they whole heartily recommend? I'm going to order some and get my mom to mail them to me. A fellow blogger endorsed P90X on her blog, and while it looks like a great program, in all reality the look of those poeple scares me. I don't know if I'm ready for that intensity. I'm thinking that might be good in a few months but I need something to get me started and work my way up. After this c-section I'm experiencing more discomfort and healing issues than ever before so I don't want to jump in too fast. Any ideas???

Also any good meal/snack ideas that are easy, family friendly and most of all healthy? Cooking here is too complicated and time consuming to prepare myself completely separate meals so I've been working on portion control. What would be great is if I could enjoy a delicious meal that I can feel totally guilt free about. Don't worry about ingredients, they are limited for me, cause I have learned how to make substitutes. I'm just in major need for some fresh ideas.

OK, blog friends. Leave me comments, send me a FB message or an email. Just send me something cause this 30 by 30 is happening!

fellowship

If you know me at all you know I'm a very social person (that's my nice way of calling myself a 'talker'). I'm pretty sure there isn't anyone out there who will deny that. So when we started this journey--meaning starting with our time of preparation/application back in the States--I began to pray that God would send me just one friend. I just knew I could survive if I had at least one friend. I mean this was committed to SERIOUS prayer. This could seem trivial and silly to some but it was totally important for me. I am a person who has a few special ladies that I am very, very close friends with (read:my sisters from another mother) and then also many other ladies that God has given me a blessed connection with, and let's not forget my amazing mom that Stan is sure did not give birth to me but rather was the subject in a cloning experiment that was successful.

But let me just tell you that God answers prayers. I mean many of you know that but sometimes He just blows me away. I have several ladies here that are that answer. And I'm not just talking ladies that live here and since there really is no one else we'll be friends, I'm talking ladies that I would meet in the States and quickly connect with. There are several that are in my same life stage and a few that are a couple of steps ahead that have amazing wisdom to share. In addition to that we have this fantastic team that we get to work with. All of these people with hearts that long to love and serve in the same way we do not to mention a pretty fun bunch. Like laugh until my stomach hurts fun.

It's weekends like the one we just had that make being away from family and friends just a little bit easier.

this weekend

I don't have much to write about this week. Our out of town team members are all traveling up and we are having some goal meetings so really all I've been able to do is prepare for that. In between the meetings we are gonna have some fun. If you happen to think of us in the next few days just pray for our fun, fellowship and most of all our goals for how we are feeling led for the work. We are so blessed to have a wonderful group of people to work with. Getting together and sharing ideas is fun and productive. More to come soon.

paper towels

Last night while I was cooking dinner I went to grab a paper towel to do a quick wipe up and my heart jut burst with thankfulness for those paper towels. I know, that sounds completely ridiculous. Let me give a little back ground for you to understand.

There are a lot of times I give myself a little mental pitty party about what I do without in terms of convenience. To be honest sometimes cooking can seem like such a chore here because we do without a lot of things that make cooking in the States so much easier. Every once in a while I like being able to pop open a can of green beans and be done with it. I like going and buying my ground beef in its nice sanitary little package. And I like being able to have cereal on demand (especially during my WIC days) to give the boys for breakfast. But life is just different here. The green beans must be bought at the market and then soaked and washed to make sure to get all the pesticides off (which have no regulation on them so they are most likely harmful to humans as well as insects). I have to go to the Muslim beef seller, pick out a cut of beef and have it ground up by the grinding lady. And cereal must either be brought or ordered from the capital city.

Things are just different. I have access to a lot but it isn't always in the most convenient form. And I forget to be thankful that I even have access to it. I have co-workers in different parts of the world that can't get even half of what I can and when I looked at my roll of paper towels last night I was reminded of that. I can scoot on over to the Wal Mart, though very different from American WMs, and buy my nice tidy three pack of paper towels any day of the week. I can buy sliced cheese. Diapers and wipes. Shampoo. Even a new cute purse if my wants get ahold of me. The Lord reminded me that life isn't supposed to be convenient. Being a Christian isn't convenient. So when I start to whine to myself next time I'm gonna go get my roll of paper towels and carry them around until I stop feeling sorry for myself. I am blessed beyond measure and I don't want to forget it again.

Thank you Lord for paper towels. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18