if you read this blog...

and you don't have your own...and i know there are some of you...you should totally start your own (so that people like me can have more distractions in their lives).  :)  that's all! haha. have a great sunday afternoon! and happy decorating!

The Melting Pot Family

Something that you may not know about me (or rather...my family) is that we are very multi-cultural. I was thinking about this on Thanksgiving as I looked around and also thought about the past couple of years. My grandfather married a woman from Honduras, therefore I have aunts and uncles that are of that descent. But this year there was also a Filipino, and a lot of partial Mexican members of the family. Last year I had thanksgiving at my aunt Jen's, who is my dad's youngest sister (8 years older than me), and who is married to a Brazilian man. Then my dad's other sister is married to a Peruvian, uncle is about to marry a Ukrainian woman, other uncle is married to a Hungarian. Then there are my cousins - one's dating a girl from Russia, one's dating one from Thailand, the other, a girl from South America - I forget where exactly. Some guests that were invited to this thanksgiving meal were a Korean friend of the family, as well as a couple of my uncle's Brazilian friends. 

All of this makes for lots of good stories and I love talking about other cultures and trying to figure out foreign languages with them. One of my aunts (the Hungarian one) has lots of good stories about her escape from the USSR out of the satellite Hungary when she was 6. My Brazilian uncle's parents have invited us to Brazil and Italy multiple times...I used to dream about taking them up on their offers. I really like that my family is like this, a big compilation of cultures, and a perfect representation of America. Most of the time I forget that this is not typical among families. Sometimes I wonder if this is why I have somewhat of an obsession with traveling overseas. Hmm. 

Here is *I think* the only picture taken of us on Thanksgiving...

I am eating THE most amazing banana cream pie in this picture...made by my aunt Cyndi. It has homemade custard, caramel and chocolate sauce, and crust!

YUM.

thanksgiving already??

So, I haven't really had anything to say for the last week since my life has pretty much consisted of doing lots of homework and trying to stay on top of work and sleep. Can't wait til graduation. I have been so exhausted! I know it's because I haven't made time for exercising lately. So bad! Here is what I did today:
-listened to a John Piper talk
-did my nails
-went to staff training
-did research for a paper
-did LOTS of laundry
-cleaned out the fridge for our trip
-cleaned our house so it's not a wreck when we get home
-went to kinko's to pick up our prayer letter
-took our movies back
-got supplies from staples
-went to CVS to get my prescription refilled
-went to the post office
-printed 200 letters and labels
-stuffed envelopes and folded letters
-made dinner
-went to Cru at 6:30
And I just got home. But actually now that I'm writing this it doesn't seem like too much. I guess that's a good thing.

Anyway, so tomorrow morning we are leaving for the Regional Staff Conference in Gettysburg, PA. I am quite excited. But, since it is 9:30 now, and I am getting ready to start my last paper of the week, and I haven't packed yet, there is a lot to do between now and 10 AM tomorrow morning when we (hopefully!) get on the road. I think the conference is going to be really fun and it will be so nice to get to meet some more of our fellow staffers. Plus, all of our meals are covered! YEAH! I'll let you know how it goes. Then we are headed into Mechanicsville for about 5 days which should be relaxing and fun to catch up with family. This is the longest period of time in my life that I have been away from "home" ever! We haven't been there since August 3rd. Needless to say, I am excited. I don't know exactly what we'll do, but I'm hoping we'll get to spend some time with a few friends, too. Well, I guess I'd better finish up my paper so I can go cuddle with the hubby on the couch. :)

House Prints!

So I am finally getting around to printing off pictures to put up in our house...three months later! Ha. So, I am trying to make this collage with picture frames and these awesome black square wirey things I found at goodwill for 75 cents. We will see how it goes. But to go with the rest of our living room I put them all in the antique style on iPhoto. I am loving how they turned out. Now the hard part is going to be choosing which ones to use....which are your favorites!?

This was at boudreaux's on Sunday

Gorgeous!

Jordan and his bro...

My loves!

Jordan and Katie...

A couple from our honeymoon...

These were from a bridal shower in May.

In Jordan's backyard...gotta love Mechanicsville...

These were taken in Venezuela last spring...

Valentine's Day

Some from Christmas last year...

From when we got engaged...

Some of Jordan's mom...

Here are some old North Africa photos...

The other thing that happened to me this week was that I realized that I was incredibly bored and uninspired. Thankfully, God convicted me of this and so while I was meeting with him on Sunday night, I wrote down all of the good things that happened the past week, so that I could decide if my life was really horrible and boring. The result: I found out that I was being stupid and had lots to be thankful for, of course! Here is what I wrote...

-Monday, I did a halloween candy outreach at EAJ, one of the dorms at Tech. It was so fun giving it away and getting into short conversations with some of the students.

-Tuesday, I had a ton of freshmen girls over to our house for a fall party, where we decorated sugar cookie pumpkins, played lots of games, ate fall baked goods, and got to know each other.

-Cru on Wednesday was AWESOME, and the speaker talked about marriage.

-I had my first conversation with Allie in a long time - yay!

-The election, voting with Jordan, we have a new president!

-Dad's birthday!

-Allie's birthday!

-Leah's birthday, dinner and GREAT conversation with GREAT girls at More Than Coffee (and pita and hummus - yum!)

-I got to share the gospel with my Chinese friend, Jaclyn.

-Isaiah and Betsy visited us - we had an awesome double date weekend.

-Our bible study had a creative date with a great guys bible study.

-I made some really fun jewelry.

-Rock Band!!!!

-Lunch date with Haley and Jerry. Two of my favorites.

-Riding my bike around town - FINALLY!

If only I had started my kitchen garden of herbs. Then my life would be complete.

But really, I can be so silly sometimes with just wanting to move on to the next thing. I need to live more in the moment. This is all lately.

PS: Today my three-hour class got cancelled, which led to a wonderful, overdue, two and a half hour coffee date with the lovely Sarah Strong. 

star wars according to a three year old and prayer

I found THE cutest little you tube video EVER.




*A little note on President-elect Obama. This morning we looked at 1 Timothy 2:1-7, where Paul speaks about the importance of praying for our leaders and our government. It was a great thing because when I think about him, he is just as in need of God's love as I am, and God doesn't love him and more or less than he loves any of us. It really provided a lot of healing for us and encouraged me to continue praying for him and his family as they go through this transition. You can listen or read the passage here.

Fall in Blacksburg

Despite the election disappointment...the past few days have been great!!

This weekend, Sarah, Leah and I went to visit our beloved Anne Parker in Raleigh and we had such a great time together at Roomie Reunion 08. (This means that we must have 09, 10, and so on, just FYI girls, though I know you wouldn't complain). So we got to their new home on Halloween, which prevented costumes this year, which actually I wasn't that upset about. Originally I thought it would be fun if Jordan and I dressed up together, but knowing him, he probably wouldn't have been too keen on the idea anyway! On Saturday in Raleigh we went shopping and had sushi, which was perfect since we just 

got to talk ALL day! Then we watched a classic that night with JM: Hook! It was a short visit, but so worth it. I think with all that's happened and changed this year we needed a time to catch up and get everything out. I didn't take many pictures (actually I am pretty sure JM took all of these!) but here is what I've got:

My sleepmate this weekend - first weekend away from Jordan. Thanks for cuddling with me Sarah!!!

the happy couple :)

love us

Last night I had about 15 freshmen girls in our house for a fall party we threw. I had all of the girls in my Bible study each bring a few freshmen and it turned out well. I think I now know all 15 of their names! I wish I had thought to take pictures...I was so busy trying to make sure they were all taken care of! We played lots of apples to apples and catch phrase and then, depressed, watched the election updates. haha. But really, I am going to have to support Obama because he is going to be our next president and I love America, so I have made a decision today to respect him, at least until he proves me wrong with some major bad decision. Of course I hope that never happens though. 

Fall in Blacksburg is absolutely GORGEOUS! Jordan and I were driving home from campus the other day (separately) and he made me stop to look at this amazing yellow tree on Preston. It was incredible. I took a picture.

Okay well it's late and I'm going to go to bed since we have staff meeting in the morning with the boss' boss. Should be fun. :) Enjoy the pretty weather while it lasts!