In No Particular Order....

* I really felt like shopping Thursday night and so we caved and went shopping! Actually we had a delicious Italian meal first at an adorable restaurant nearby. Not only was the food incredible, they actually had *drumroll please* FULL-sized napkins:

Let me tell you, this is rare here! Usually the napkins are more along the lines of a piece of toilet paper, both in length and quality. :-) After dinner we went to the mall to browse. Now I'll admit up front that I am not a mall person at all, but if I want to find anything remotely my size clothing-wise, we must go to the mall. Which leads me to another random thought: the two articles of clothing I've bought here in Thailand are size L and XL. As in large and extra large. How's that for deflating my ego? :-) But back to shopping. As we walked past a clothing store called A ll Z, I saw some hoodies on sale and found one I actually liked! It was so nice to actually browse a store and even find something. 

* Going out to dinner and to the mall on a Thursday night is a really smart idea. Not as much traffic as on a Friday or Saturday night. The only downside is Nat is usually teaching on Thursday nights (this past Thursday was a holiday).

* It's amazing how cool 75 degrees feels. I'm ready to use that hoodie I bought!

* The power went out tonight two minutes before the meatloaf was done cooking. Dinner was delicious.

* As I was cooking potatoes, two bugs came to the surface. Yum? At least I could scoop them out before I made mashed potatoes. :-)

* We're currently dog-sitting and it has been very entertaining. Paul loves to play with the dog and I love to hear Paul's little giggles!

* Ellie loves to roll over on her belly but sometimes gets frustrated with the squeaky toy on her play mat.

* Apparently socks are amazing. I'm starting to pull things out for our trip to the States and I found some socks for Paul. When I put the first pair on him, he danced around the room for a few minutes shrieking with joy over the socks. Oh my. Isn't that how everyone acts in the morning when they put socks on? I guess it's been too long since the last time he wore socks.

* I can't believe November 6th will mark one year of us living in Chiang Mai.

* The first restaurant I want to go to in the States is Chick-fil-A. Seriously. Olive Garden is a close second. I can almost taste it... mmm, mmm!

* My little baby smells so good after her bath. She's also very ticklish.:-)

* I am one blessed lady!

How's that for being random?!?

The Letter E

I have decided that we have an "e" problem.  All three of us.  And it doesn't look like it is going away anytime soon.

What's our problem? Well it's actually very simple. People often leave the "e" off of my name -- Anne -- and attach it to Nat's name -- making his name Nate. That pesky "e" then migrates over to Paul's name in the form of a nickname, making him... Paul-e.

This whole "e" situation is ironic because it doesn't bother Nat (or Paul for that matter) at all. But it drives me nuts!

For the most part, people generally tag the "e" on at the end of my name nowadays.  Ann Williams just doesn't look right to me, so I always do a double-take when I see it and then I figure out why yes that *is* meant for me.    There are also the few times where I'm called Annie, which is a name I greatly dislike for myself. I have no problem with the name if it's an actual name for another girl. :-) Only two people in this world can call me "Annie" and for some reason it doesn't bother me when they call me that. Two older gentlemen in my church got into the habit a long, long time ago and to this day they call me Annie and so that's that.

Now when it came to Paul, I honestly didn't think a nickname was going to be derived from Paul because it's so basic and straightforward. So I was a little surprised the first time I heard someone say to him, "Hi Paul-eee!  Paaaaaul-eeeeeee!"  All I heard was "Polly" and I was horrified that my son was being called a girl's name.  Then I realized that little 'ole "e" was tagged on the end of his name, and I felt slightly better. But I still don't like the "Paul-e." :-)

But I'm genuinely confused when it comes to Nat's name because he'll introduce himself as Nat, spell it out, hand out a prayer card with it spelled out on it, and he'll still be called "Nate."   I'm not sure where the confusion comes from. :-)

In fact we were in one church recently that took it one step further and had in their bulletin, "Welcome Mat and Ann Williams." That takes the cake. :-)

Now it's second nature for Nat to introduce himself and say, "Hi, my name is Nat. You know, like gnat" as he slaps the back of his neck as if he's getting a gnat.  What's funny to watch is the people with a look of confusion on their faces before it dawns on them a few minutes later.  "Ohhh! I get it!!"

Our never-ending battle with an "e."  It's the little things in life. :-)

Friends And Bargains.

Two of my friends are expecting so it's been fun to go through pregnancy together:). We were talking two weeks ago about taking a picture and we finally got around to doing it last week!

(Paula ~ November, Saritha ~ October, Anne ~ August)

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In addition to being due within a few months of each other, Paula and I also share a love for yard sales. This morning there was a huge one in a local development nearby, so Nat and I got up early to see what we could find. As a side note, I'm quite impressed with myself for willingly waking up before 7 AM three Saturdays in a row! Each week has been profitable and made it worth getting up early on the only day of the week to sleep in. :-)

Last evening Nat and I were praying for some specific items to find at a yard sale today and the Lord answered that prayer. It always amazes me how much the Lord is in the little details of life. In fact, He delights in doing so!

Paula snagged a dollar deal for me on a booster/high chair seat for Peanut. Since we'll be doing a lot of traveling, I've been keeping my eye out for things that will travel well and I'm grateful she found the seat... that's going to be a life saver on the road!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are now two weeks out from Peanut's due date, although I'm thinking I will go late. In fact, I'm planning on going late. :0) If Peanut arrives early, I will be very surprised!!!

Sweet Seasons.

Summer is coming to a close.

We joined some friends in playing volleyball this evening, but I know summer is just about done because we could only play until 8:10. That included straining our eyes to see the ball fly through the air and counting every ball that went over our heads as out.

Yep, summer is ending.

After church was over last night, I walked home (in the dark of course) and felt the slight chill in the air. We don't run our air conditioners anymore; just open windows and the occasional fan. I have lived in Pennsylvania my entire life so I know that we'll get one more hot spell before summer slips away for good.

I enjoy the fact that here in Pennsylvania, we actually get all four seasons. Just about the time I tire of the current season, the winds of change blow. I'm not tired of summer yet, but the kids are back in school, the fair is going on this week, the weather is changing - it's time to move on.

Besides, autumn brings joys of its own: sweaters, candles, tree leaves changing colors, and hot apple cider. Mmm, mmm!

Ecclesiastes 3:1 ~

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

Home Sweet Home.

Nat and I were often asked on Sunday at church, "are you glad you're back home?" and of course the answer was a big yes! As much fun as living out of a suitcase is, there really is no place like home! One of the joys of coming home was finding fresh fruit at the store. Plums, peaches, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, apples, bananas, and mango made our weekend:).

We have been using jet lag to our advantage and we're trying to be more disciplined with our morning routine. Easy for Nat; not as easy for me! One perk is getting more accomplished and still having the whole day ahead of me:).

Yup, it feels good to be home!

Hurrah For Spring!

Spring has sprung, much to my great joy! The trees are blooming, the smell of freshly cut grass is in the air, a few walks have been taken at a gorgeous park nearby, and the glorious sight of a volleyball in the air has returned (twice this week)!

My darling husband bought two pairs of sandals for me while we were away a few weekends ago, and the timing couldn't have been better! There was enough dew on the grass Sunday morning to make for a wet walk to church, but that's a small price to pay in exchange for this weather:).

We leave in a week for our road trip and will be going all the way to South Dakota.... I just hope the weather is as gorgeous out there as it is here!

*Achoo*

Hubby has written on his blog again, and has even made it official by putting his blog onto a new site: Williams Witness. Not to be outdone by him (who's supposed to be the blogger around here anyway?), I'm scraping together a poor excuse of a post. :)

Ever trying to live up to the vows we made last July 10th, Nat and I have shared a cold. *achoo* NyQuil, tissues, cough syrup, and lots of water have been my faithful friends between yesterday and today. Cough drops made their appearance too, although they have failed in bringing about the soothing relief the package boldly proclaimed they would. Rather than take up my grievances with the cough drop company, I chose to fight this sickness from the coziness of the recliner. My husband came home for lunch and was sweet enough to go to the bakery to pick up some chicken pastina soup for me. I must be sick if I'm willing to eat soup!

I was feeling decent enough to make dinner and even had some energy after dinner to go do the laundry. Now I'm debating between taking NyQuil or not, since it knocked me out for twelve solid hours last night! I have things to do tomorrow, but I'm weighing that out with the option of getting better. :)

Since I did spend most of my day sniffling, sneezing, coughing, and wheezing, I decided to do some research. I figured I needed to be useful in some way! We have a very exciting trip coming up in May that involves my dear husband graduating (yay!) and so we're turning it into a min-vacation since we'll be in the great state of South Dakota. My research included searching hotel prices, but then I was drawn to national park websites - namely the Badlands and Mount Rushmore. I've been to both of these places before, but I am a lover of history and so I spent some time absorbing as much information as I possibly could. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's some random news: the weatherman said we were supposed to get snow, but now the weather channel is saying, "no significant snow accumulation" which is a happy thought indeed. I for one would like to think spring is here. :)

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In other random news, have I mentioned my growing affection for a place called Swagbucks? I recently had enough swag bucks to redeem them for (2) five dollar gift cards to Amazon.com. Using the gift cards, I only paid shipping for a book I've been wanting to give as a gift to a friend. I'm just about ready to redeem my swag bucks for (3) five dollar gift cards to Amazon.com and I already have my eye on what I want to get. :)

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By the way, I've decided against the NyQuil. Maybe tomorrow night. :)

New Year's Ramblings.

Well, hello, 2011... it's nice to see you! 2010 went out with a fun bang, although this past week made me forget that we were ending the year. Camp does that though.... miles from civilization (ok, so it's really only a mile!), excited teens crammed into one small space (a coach bus looks soooo much bigger from a distance!), and lack of sleep round out the list for a fabulous experience that happens twice a year.

We returned home from camp Thursday night and promptly tumbled into bed ---> a real, soft bed!!! <----- and woke up this morning at 11:30. We both came home from camp with sore throats (forgot to include that in my list of fabulous experiences) and I could tell Nat was sick because he took two naps today and was so completely out of it, poor guy.

I eventually got motivated enough to grab some groceries for a little get-together we're having at our house tomorrow, actually today, but that's about all that I have to show for the last day of 2010. We did had a great time at a New Year's Eve service at church. I think we're one of the few churches that doesn't have a Christmas Eve service but has a New Year's Eve service.... I personally think it's a great idea:).

We also talked to my mom-in-law for a whole year:) which actually turned out to be only 25 minutes. She lives in Texas and wasn't planning on staying up to see the New Year in central time, so we just had her celebrate with us in eastern time. Such interesting lives we lead, I know.

I do have a particular rant/soap box I would like to address because I honestly think there's laziness and then there's pure laziness. Ok, so here's the deal: do you ever go into a bathroom stall and notice a roll of toilet paper sitting on top of an empty roll? That's a pet peeve of mine and I experienced it several times this week at camp... girls apparently go through the rolls! It's not that hard - taking off a cardboard roll and replacing it with a fresh roll is just a nice thing to do. *SIGH* First rant of the year:).

Well, Happy New Year!

'Tis The Season...

..... for cookies.

Oh yes, working at a bakery means tons of cookies (and pies, and cakes, and brownies.... I'll stop there)! I don't make the cookies at the bakery, but I do box them and I must say that cookies aren't high on my list:). When people come into the bakery and look at all the food and goodies, they usually say something like, "oh, it must be so HARD to work here! I would eat everything all the time!"

Well no, not really. You know, that phrase "familiarity breeds contempt" is very true. I'm not too tempted (usually) to sample every single item at the bakery. That's a good thing!

I know bunches of people get into the holiday spirit by baking cookies.... I won't be joining them though. Too many cookies!

Confession.

Apparently confession is good for the soul, but I think that might have more to do with some church of old being steeped in tradition. Regardless of the origin of that statement, I shall do a little confessing on this blog of mine!

• Vacations are horrible, horrible, horrible in one area: weight. I'm so sorry to admit this, but both Nat and I gained weight on our little vacation to the mid-west. We're chalking it up to too much junk food and not enough veggies and exercise. We are very glad to be home now and I have stocked my fridge full of yummy fruits and vegetables. Now if I could just get rid of the chips, pretzels, and chocolate that found their way into our kitchen.
• Ironically enough, I did enjoy three little chocolate-covered black licorice bites that were simply delish! For our engagement anniversary, my husband bought two 1-pound bags of chocolate-covered pretzels (in a word: fabulous!) and a pound bag of those licorice bites that are too tasty. I'm going to have to have some family or friends over to finish them off!
• When the Kohls envelope comes in the mail, Nat and I play a little game of who has the bigger discount. He won yesterday by scoring 30% off (compared to my measly 15% off), but I think I actually won today by finding some boots on sale at Kohls! Teamed up with his discount coupon, I was very satisfied with my shopping. I also bought him a package of dress socks to celebrate our 4-month wedding anniversary because I'm romantic like that;o).
• I promised pictures of our apartment but was waiting on some curtains for our bathroom to be hemmed (yet another confession: I don't sew. GASP!) Amanda finished the curtains (thank you muchly, Amanda!), but I haven't taken pictures yet. I don't remember why now, but it sure was a good excuse this afternoon:o).

I better stop there because the little orange light is blinking so I think that means my battery is going to cease to exist soon. 'Night!

Up...

.... and I'm not quite sure why! Hmm, must've been that cheese dip we had for a snack after church tonight.

Since I'm not in the land of sleep being oh-so-productive, and since I just heard the cuckoo clock from my neighbor's house downstairs strike one, I figure some late-night musings and ramblings are well in order! I'm actually procrastinating on a project that needs to get done, but that's what tomorrow is for, right? Umm, right.

In random news, Sunday evening our blissful sleep was interrupted with a 12:51 AM phone call. I must say I was almost patting myself on the back for being strangely alert through my sleepiness when I saw the name on the caller id: *very pregnant friend*. One quick return phone call to her and hubby and I were out the door to pick up her two-year-old son and bring him home with us. One very quick hour later, she welcomed her daughter into the world. Yeah, that's the kind of delivery I want to have: quick and well, not-so-painless, but at least quick!

Since the baby was three weeks early, that meant things were nowhere near as ready as my friend hoped to be in making the transition smooth for her son to come to our house. So we dutifully grabbed a pack-n-play, which turned out to be quite worthless that first night:). Little two-year-old boy was a bit disoriented and strangely enough (ha!) did not take too well to being in a newish place. We were bordering on sleep deprivation and chose to take the sanity route by bringing him to bed with us. Who knew that a two-year-old boy could actually take up the entire queen size bed, leaving us to cling to the edges? I finally got smart in the wee morning hours and moved said little guy to the one side of the bed where he had exactly 6 inches to sprawl:o).

Our plan for night #2 was to wear him out before bed, which my husband did quite well. We thought we had the system beat... until we put him in the pack-n-play and began our prayer time. Let's just say prayer time was sprinkled with lots of "Mommmmmmmmmmy!! Dadddddddy!!!!" With the hope of him crying himself to sleep fading away, I went to the pack-n-play and made sure little guy knew Mommy and Daddy would be seen.... tomorrow. The sniffles and tears subsided and 9.5 hours were passed in peaceful slumber, much to our relief and in answer to prayer!

Although definitely not planned for this week, I'm glad that baby girl is born and little guy has been babysat. I'd rather have everything be completely busy in one week (case in point: this week!) and leave next week wide, wide open:).

Later today Nat and I are going to Philadelphia and Sight and Sound, making for a very full Thursday. In a twist I still don't understand, we're following the school bus from our Christian school to a museum in Philadelphia. Apparently there is no parking available for buses at this museum (what a concept), so Nat is going to drive the bus from the museum to some parking lot half-way across town. Strange. Since we planned weeks ago to go to Sight and Sound, the school principal suggested the idea of bringing our own car so we can take off for Lancaster County once Nat has returned the bus to the museum - where the principal will take back over in driving the bus back to school.

We actually spent the day in Philadelphia two months ago and did the touristy thing, so I'm not exactly sure what we're going to do for the four hours we have to kill while waiting for the students to go through the museum. I'm sure it'll involve food and chocolate though:o).

I get to work Friday and Saturday and in the midst of all of that, I'm helping with preparing for a banquet for Rachel and her family. They head out next week for Botswana, so my church is doing an appreciation banquet on Saturday night, which means prep work on Friday night:o). Sunday will be a busy (and emotional!) day as we hold a sending service called, "Light the World." This type of church service is only held when we send a missionary family to the mission field, but they have been some of the most impacting church services I have ever been in.

Missions has always been the heartbeat of my church, and right now we have missionaries coming and going. One missionary family to Chile has been home for a month and they leave tomorrow to go back to Chile. Of course Rachel's family goes to Botswana next week, just as another missionary family -- the Wilhites -- return from 8 months of furlough travel around the USA. Then they will return to South Africa sometime in November. Another missionary family to Chile is planning to return to the States on furlough sometime within the next 3-4 months. I feel so blessed to be a part of a church that is active in missions and sending families from our own church. Of course we greatly miss these families, but technology has greatly improved over the last ten years that it is so easy to stay in contact with our families... almost too easy sometimes. All these communication tools and methods at my fingertips and I still sometimes fail in keeping in touch with missionaries.

So I said all that to say it's going to be a busy weekend! For now though I think I better go try to get some sleep or I'm not going to be very productive through this busy weekend:o).

Rain, Not Snow.

It's raining. I'm not complaining, just mentioning a fact. A friend at work and I were talking today about the ratio of rain to snow in inches and realized if all this rain was snow, we could potentially have 30 inches of snow. That thought made me happy, until my manager commented that we would both still have to go to work since we're within walking distance. Oh yeah:).

But it is raining, not snowing. For some reason, that makes me think of lists, but I'm not sure why. So here's a list:

• I am happy to be at home with my husband, although he is in the other room diligently working on his Bible Institute course.
• I'm grateful for a cozy, little apartment to call home.
• We had some friends over after church on Wednesday and we enjoyed the fellowship so much (hopefully not enough to keep Amanda and her family up though!).
• I'm terribly excited about going to the Bloomsburg Fair! My family and I have gone for the past 20+ years (give or take a few years!) and I knew it was something I wanted to introduce to Nat:o). We were planning on going today until we saw the weather report that used words like "heavy rains" and "accumulating" and "2-3 inches" all within the same sentence. That was enough to make us change our plans until Saturday when it's supposed to be sunny and 67 degrees. Bring on the funnel cake and sausage sandwich!
• Bath and Body Works has come out with some incredible candle scents that have made me happy! This one is my absolute favorite! (And my husband loves it too:o).

In short, it has been a delicious fall evening that's just about to get better... we're going to have ice cream:o).

Purging.

I was up early (that's code for 8 AM... which is early for me!) anticipating a walk with a friend, but a cancellation phone call changed my plans for the morning. The one challenge I have found since being married is maintaining a balance between home and work. I do work part-time as well as babysit often enough to turn it into a side job (without pay:D), so I try to make sure I stay on top of grocery shopping, laundry, and cleaning. With some unexpected extra time this morning before work, I decided my challenge would be to clean our cute little home.

I always want to run in twenty directions at one time and started 4 or 5 projects before I finally settled on one :o). I tackled the kitchen first, which was extremely easy, since I'm OCD about keeping my kitchen clean! The bedroom was next, which was almost just as easy. Dust manages to get into all sorts of places!

I hit a wall when I entered the living room though. Approximately 11 boxes were in the middle of the room and while that added an interesting flair to the decorating style, I decided they weren't going to become permanent fixtures:o).

I'm doing a yard sale tomorrow morning with my brother and sister-in-law and I chose to be ruthless in purging our house of stuff. I know we just got married and couldn't possibly have accumulated stuff, but in reality we have. Most of it was a carry-over from when I lived at my parents, so I don't feel bad at all at selling stuff I'm just not using anymore. Nat contributed a couple of items too, and yet our goal isn't to make money ~ it's to get rid of the stuff! Goodwill is going to be the last stop if they don't sell at the yard sale.

The amazing thing about our apartment is we have the space for everything, and I have fallen in love with a closet that runs down one wall of the apartment (by the way, pictures are coming of our little home... promise!). But just because we have the space doesn't mean we should fill that space:o). Our future goal is being missionaries to Thailand and last time I checked, we're allowed to each take 2 suitcases (50 pounds each) and a carry-on. There's no use in holding things too tightly.... it's either purge now or purge later!

Camp Closure.

"You're going to camp?!?" I can't tell you how many times I heard that in the days (and hours!) leading up to camp:). Most people were slightly baffled that Nat and I would take off for camp with only a few weeks left until our wedding, but it was such a natural fit for us and so off we went!

Bro. Rufus Edmisten was the preacher for the week and did a fabulous job of dropping quick one-liners and giving me some meat to chew on from the Word of God. I've looked for a site to link to Bro. Edmisten, but alas, I've had no success so I'll just direct ya'll to the messages he preached at camp - here. Bro. Edmisten preached revival meetings at my church 6 or 7 years ago, and I remember the Lord using him in a tremendous way. I was thrilled to hear he was going to be our camp speaker and he left me with a lot of things to ponder...

• I see a wreck, but God sees a great victory.
• I must take sides with God against myself.
• God says, "I love you" and means "I'll take care of you."
• I'm not on probation with God; I'm in!
• In order to walk with God and be in His will, I must abstain from things that displease Him.
• We can't call Him Lord and shirk our duty.
• God requires that we come into His presence with singing.
• Use the Bible as a mirror, not as a telescope or magnifying glass for others.
• A true testimony is not what is said, but what is done.
• There are no tough cases for Jesus!
• Your commitment proves you believe.
• When the ground is prepared, the seed will have no problem bringing forth fruit.
• Sin should wreck my day until I confess and get it right.
• Confession brings caution, helps humility, should lead to victory over sin and brings cleansing.
• Sin makes me dirty before God. God looks through my clean clothes and sees the junk of my heart.
• God would not tolerate sin in a lost person's life so it's not allowed in a saved person's life.
• Sin has a way of silencing my witness.
• There is no security in darkness.
• Get tough on sin!
• Refusing to confess shuts God out. It turns a cold shoulder to the Christ of Calvary.
• No one is too bad to get saved, but some are too good to get saved.
• The security of an anchor is felt through the storm.
• Don't give the devil credit for anything!

What a week! Preaching, canoeing, eating, playing games, encouraging campers, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, sunburn, spending time with my sweetie on a midnight canoe ride, and finally pulling in to the church parking lot Friday night made up our week at camp.

Saturday morning we quickly switched gears and have officially jumped into wedding mode! Instead of having a big wedding cake, I've opted to make 30 pies to serve at the reception. So that's on the agenda for today: buying all those ingredients! Family starts coming in late Sunday night... and next week will zoom by so fast.

Saturday, July 10th has finally come!

14 Hours.

We're leaving for camp at 6 AM (in approximately 14 hours) and the following items still need to be done:

• make a cheesecake for my dad (Happy Father's Day!)
• dry wet clothes
• services tonight at church
• finish cleaning out the spare bedroom-that-turned-into-a-handy-spot-for-a-ton-of-bridal-shower-gifts
• grab items to give to a few people at church
• two phone calls
• pack for camp
• Father's Day fellowship after church (this one is optional... it depends if Dad comes or not!)
• sleep (this one is also optional:D)

But I couldn't just leave you all hanging after I apparently did leave you hanging last time:). I introduce to you the bathroom towels (*insert dramatic pause here*):

And the kitchen towels:

Kohl's is my friend:).

Ok, now it's time to cut and run! See ya all next week... and if you think of it, please pray for the summer camp this week and for the Lord to do a work!

Life In A List.

In no particular order, here are some (interesting???) recent events in the life of yours truly (um, that would be me!)

• I got my engagement ring cleaned yesterday and can't stop looking at it today! It's so shiny:).
• 25 days until we tie that knot! Ok, I realize this is a future event rather than a recent event, but the countdown is faithfully noticed each and every day:).
• Nat and I got together with my brother and his family last Thursday night and had a great time! It's so nice to be able to hang out as "couples."
• After a huge decision-making process, I've decided what towels to go with for our new bathroom and kitchen. Riveting, I know! Ya'll just about fell off the chair from fascination, didn't you?
• Amanda had a birthday today (technically she still has it since there is another hour left in this day) and I've delighted in reading the various facebook messages that have been left for her, especially ones from Nina and Rachel. My funny bone has been tickled by these two gals!
• For the first time in almost six months, I didn't have a lunch table come in to the bakery on Saturday. None. Zippo. Which was rather saddening since I like to interact with the customers so much!
• So I'm looking forward to serving at a catering party tomorrow night for 45 ladies - all members of a sewing club. Kudos to them for sewing and getting together! Perhaps their talent will rub off on me???
• Sunday night the babies in nursery decided that was the night to do some "whoopsies" which resulted in some "boomsies." Very, very technical terms.
• Nanette's little cutie had us in stitches towards the end of the night when she couldn't make up her mind to laugh or cry. Her face would scrunch up in preparation for the cry, but at the last minute would be turned into one of her super-adorable smiles, courtesy of a nursery worker making some faces:).
• My sweetie and I are joining a crew from church and heading off to summer camp next week. I'm in unofficial camp mode since we're doing the games for camp and have started planning them all out. I'm having a blast and can't wait for next week!
• I just figured out that the sound coming from the kitchen is not the shuffling of papers caused by the air coming from the fan; oh no --- it sounds like a mouse to me. Oh joy!

'Tis The Season...

... for volleyball!

I mentioned a few months ago how I was lured outside with visions of volleyballs in the air and now it is definitely official:).

We played volleyball on Sunday afternoon for several hours. And on Monday night with a impromptu pick-up game. And we played again tonight! I'm expectantly looking forward to Saturday with the potential of some more volleyball being played afterRachel's graduation:).

After living in Thailand for over a year and only playing volleyball one time during that whole year, I've been so ready to play again! A pesky little detail called winter got in the way of me playing much since I came home from Thailand, but my heart has been so blissfully happy that I've been able to play again now that spring/summer is here!

Well, that and the fact I get to marry my sweetie in only 36 days!

Countdown!

My sweetie sent me a picture of something the high school boys at our Christian school so kindly put in his office:

The countdown's getting lower every day:).

Some Results.

I did get to the doctor this morning, but before I go on I just wanted to express how truly blessed I am with the man God has given to me! He not only persevered in finding a doctor for me, but he also pretty much put his whole schedule for the morning on hold while he drove me over to the doctor's office. Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted me driving!

The doctor confirmed my suspicions of having a cornea abrasion. When he first examined my eye the pain was pretty fierce, so then he gave me what the nurse called "happy drops" which basically meant the drops numbed the pain:). He did say that most likely my eye never healed when it was injured in February 2009, and to this day I can't figure out what caused the injury back then or on Sunday. Oh well! I am thankful that I can still see (albeit things are a tad blurry!) and that the doctor did say I can still go on my trip and have a follow-up visit next Monday. Thanks for praying!!!

Would Ya'll Mind...

... praying for me? In February 2009, I had a week of fun in going back and forth to the hospital in Bangkok for what the doctors told me was a scratched cornea in my right eye. I've experienced occasional pain in my eye off and on over the last 16 months, but nothing like what I experienced today. It was like going through the whole experience in 2009, minus the hurried trip to the ER room late one Tuesday night:).

My wonderful sweetie is so full of compassion and went looking for a solution this afternoon in trying to find a doctor in the Lehigh Valley who could have a little look-see at my eye. I would really like to get an appointment tomorrow with the doctor and would appreciate any and all prayer towards that end!

I'm also supposed to be heading out on a trip on Wednesday to the mid-west to see my niece graduate from high school, but obviously plans are subject to change. I'm reminded again of the verse that says all things work together for good!

Just waitin' to see how things unfold this week.... good thing the Sunday School lesson this morning was on rejoicing!