I love these girls!

These are my friends.... the ones I referred to at the bottom of the blog entry below. Meet Jenn, Lauren, and Katy. They're great. These pics were supposed to be on the other entry but my computer was being dumb. But, better late than never. This is them being crazy. What funny, silly girls!

A little more of Aggieland!

I just found a wonderful surprise on the Hendrick's blog... I was laughing so hard and then when I read what everyone thought I would do, I laughed even harder... head back, knee slap, and all. So funny. I'm just glad those bedrails and the tent were in the way so Heather didn't get an even closer picture of me in my beauty sleep. I'm usually not a drooler, but sometimes I do like to breathe through my mouth while sleeping---- probably not that attractive. ha! I'll be driving back to Fort Worth tonight. It's been so, so, so wonderful to visit one of my favorite places in Texas.... but most importantly some of my favorite people in Texas!

Here are a few more pics of our exciting campout! Come to find out... only Heather and I like eating roasted marshmallows. The boys liked to throw and burn them... of course. Homey joined in on the fun too!
I know I'm a super exciting person and all---- but the boys mostly loved their glow sticks. We played with them in the dark, wrote their names in the air with them, hung them from the sides of the tent, and then fell asleep with them gripped tightly in their hands. They're are the cutest boys ever! Ashton loved his glow stick for about 2 seconds and then decided to go back to his bag o' cars. He loves those cars and especially likes to fill his ziplock bag with them! Look how cute he is!

The next picture is mostly for my Claire Elise. Yesterday, as I was leaving Mikey and D.O.'s house I looked out my window and saw our friend Mikey opening up his mail. He looked so precious... after he discovered he had 3 fun pieces of mail from 3 fun people, he plopped himself right down on the front porch. He was so happy, I just had to take a picture to let my Claire see his face! This is right after he opened your penguin card.

I also had a LOVELY time with my sweet friends Lauren McD, Katy, and Jenn. We met up at Sweet E's--- our Phi Lamb officer weekly meeting spot. They're crazy girls and lots of fun. It was so great to see them and catch up on life. BUT, we dearly missed Ally, Marfee, and Gina! Don't worry girls... we didn't eat a crepe without you.

The first part of my B/CS Tour

College Station--- just those two words make my heart happy. (Of course, we can't leave out Bryan either) :) I drove in Friday evening and have had a wonderful time. I've been bad about taking pictures.... so I'm gonna work on that the next two days. However, I do have a few random shots for you to enjoy. I'm staying at my friends Gabe & Megan's house. They've been out of town so it worked out well for me to dog-sit while I was here too! :) Cameron (their doggy) and I have had quite a lovely time. I think she likes me now. Anyway, I've got to spend time with lots of fun people liiiiike.... the Hendricks, Derrick, Lauren McDaniel, Katy St. John, Stephanie DeSutter (and her fiance, John---or Jon--- one of those), Erin Rogers (and her fiance, Matt), Sybil (the mom of a friend from New Orleans), Mr. & Mrs. Ramsey (my neighbors a street over from our Eagle Pass house), a brief visit with Mikey (I'll be back Mikey---don't worry), and then I got to see a lot of fun people I love at Living Hope. Thankfully the list will continue to grow as the next couple days go by with fun plans in the works. I'll be having a backyard campout with the little Hendrick boys (which should be funny) and then visit with some more friends. OK... this next picture is for Heather. She told me she'd raise money for a cute Vespa for me to ride in Thailand.... I just thought she might want to see one so she knows what the goal is. Now, this one is a little bit older---- but still super cute. Derrick and I found it in the Denny's parking lot and I stopped for this picture. I can TOTALLY see myself on that. ha! OK--- I'd rather not receive any comments about that.
On my way to the Ramsey's house I had to sit through the horribly long light crossing Texas from Sulphur Springs to Eagle Pass.... some of yall remember those days. I had quite a while to take in the surroundings and take this picture too!
My favorite part of this picture is the fun bridge out front..... you only use this bridge when walking to LJS (which I only did once in my life) because that's how you get there from the street. One thing I haven't missed was the fried air we breathed outside our home.... thank you to those who strategically placed LJS, KFC, and Church's within smelling range. Once that lovely light turned green I visited the next thing in our life that evoked our sense of hearing--- the beloved Shammy. I really need a sound clip on here to do all of those noises justice. If you really want to hear a sampling you should call Lauren Helton. She's good at it (especially the dumpster pick-up at the crack of dawn).Next I drove by the chicks' humble abode (for the 2nd time of my stay here) and SURPRISE! this is what I saw...
It looked as normal as could be... it felt so right to drive down that driveway. I concluded that the only way that someone would know the chicks were gone was to see that the lawn was actually mowed. I'm currently typing this at Sweet E's... I'm not a college student... I'm just a plain ol' single... weird... but, I think I like this crazy stage of life... and I really like remembering the great parts about the last stage with some of my favorite people in the entire world---- who will remain some of my favorites when I move to the other side of the world... in 10 days.

disclaimer: I'm aware I used a ridiculous amount of ( ) and ... and ---- in this entry. Sorry, mom. I'm sure they're all in the wrong places.

Heading Back to Tejas

I really can't believe tomorrow is my last day here in Virginia. It's really been a great time and I'm going to miss all these people SO much! As most of us know, I'm not much of a crier until these kind of situations (which get more and more frequent these days) come up. Mixed emotions are everywhere around here.... sad to leave friends I've met, excited to see friends back home, ready to move to Thailand, and a little overwhelmed by all I need to get done in the next two weeks and the good-byes I have yet to say. It's really hard to express all the Lord's taught me the past 7 weeks in a little blog entry. But, one thing I have to say is that I'm desperate for Jesus---- really desperate. He's shown me this week that even when I want something, think I need an answer from Him, or desire discernment in an area.... I need to spend time with Him--- not to get what I need or what I want--- just to listen and let Him speak. I want Him to speak to me what HE wants to say, not what I want to hear. Don't you think the One who made me knows exactly what I need to hear and when I need to hear it? Hosea 10:12 says, "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you." I will treasure the lessons and memories the Lord has graciously given me at orientation. Tomorrow is my commissioning service along with over a hundred other m-workers and their children. How incredible to know that in a matter of weeks we will have a network of prayer warriors and fellow servants of Jesus that I love all over the world. I think it's pretty awesome.

(We're gonna miss our American sweet tea!)

The Release of the Crickets (and a fun video)

I just thought I'd fill in everybody on the next part of our fish story. Like I said in the previous post, we planned on going fishing the following night (which is now last night). So we went and bought some crickets from the pet store because that's what Bobby said we needed to fish. Upon our return to campus, we found out we were too late... it was already dark and so our third planned fishing trip went down the tube. So Giggles and I had a bright idea to do something else with the crickets! We snuck into his room, wrote a nice note, and then released all 40 crickets (38 live and 2 dead) and then shut the door so they wouldn't hop into the rest of their apartment. The funniest part was dumping them on his bed (cricket poo and all) and then watching them swiftly jump all around his room----- it was hilarious... we quickly scampered out of the room and he and Corey ended up sleeping with them. They're pretty hard core. I think they like their new pets. Below you'll see a few moments after the crickets were released.... they quickly began to hop about the room.

Now... the following video is for my favorite little Hendrick boys. I decided that yall needed a video dedicated just to you since you're my faithful blog video watchers. I had a couple friends help me with it. We made it tonight in the library. Now, I know libraries are usually quiet places to fill your mind with educational stuff. But, here we like to spice things up a bit. However, don't try this at home, at the library, in your room, or anywhere--- ever.

A little fishy...

I'm a little but grossed out here.... my nose is stuffy to the point where I can't even taste food.... but I could still smell these slimy friends. yummy.
I've got a story for ya Ags! (and non-Aggies)
OK.... so "Giggles" and I have really wanted to go fishing and kept hearing about everyone's lovely fishing experiences in the beautiful ILC Lake. However, we can't do this on our own---- we (esp. I) need assistance in this endeavor. So, we asked our fun friend Bobby if we could go fishing with him. He agreed... we made plans to meet... we stood him up... but not on purpose. We didn't realize that he would be down at the lake waiting on us and we didn't know where he was. So, we made plans to go again last night. Well.... Giggles and I were asked to babysit some of our favorite little munchkins here. We told Bobby we'd meet up with him after babysitting..... well.... babysitting lasted longer than expected. But, keeping our word Giggles and I went down to the Lake in the darkness about 9:30pm.... Bobby was no where to be found. We called his name... searched the dock... nothing. We went to every place on campus (that we could think of) and searched for him. Anyway, the evening went on as usual and we eventually decided we were exhausted and needed to go to bed. I'm in the process of changing into my pajamas when I hear a blood-curdling scream. Giggles was no longer laughing.... she heard a noise coming from her shower and about peed her pants. Upon opening the curtain she found the above seen picture. FISH---- about 15 of 'em in her bathtub. Man, it smelled bad. They were dying. Sick. And then when you looked closer one of them would flip out and scurry across the bathtub. At this point, we started our second search for Bobby.... a bit more adamant to find him this time. Now yelling "Bobby!!!!!!!!!!" at the top of our lungs.... we just knew he was hiding out somewhere laughing at us. We beat on his door and bedroom windows hoping he was in there and would come take these smelly animals away! Bobby was still MIA. So we found some of our married friends who came to our rescue! The wife made him put plastic bags on his arms so she wouldn't have to sleep next to someone who smelled like fish..... he fished 'em out with his hands and a trashcan. As soon as this event was over, Bobby conveniently showed up. The funny part is he really wanted those fish--- he was on his way to tell us he was going to get them, clean them and then cook them... he just thought it'd be funny to put them in one of our bathtubs instead of his own. Funny---- yes, it was. Smelly----- much more than funny. Sadly, we had thrown away the dead fish and thrown back the live ones into the lake. Soooooo, tonight we're going fishing with Bobby... for real this time. I'll let ya know how many I catch.
Here is a picture of Bobby about gagging on the disinfectant cleanser stuff as he graciously cleaned out the bathtub.
Let it be known: As mean as this little joke was, Bobby really is a nice guy. He even cleaned the floor and toilet! How sweet. I think another fish verse needs to be added to the "Bobby Lane" song. Bobby, thanks for the Friday night entertainment! But, watch out... ya never know what might come back to get ya!!!

Another video!

It worked!!! We've been trying to get this funny lil video up and working. Finally, I figured out how to compress it so it would all fit.... it's kinda long. So, the quality isn't as good as it is on my computer, but at least you can all see it now! :) Enjoy!



I'll be back in Fort Worth in 9 days and then I'll be heading to College Station for the weekend. So, if you're there, I'd love to see you!!!

Fun outings!

Last week the group of us going to the same region (Pacific Rim) visited the IMB's main office in Richmond. Besides seeing Uncle Jerry (el presidente), my favorite part was the little Lottie Moon museum area. Lottie was one of the first single female missionaries. While in China, she realized that more women were needed for the work---- since only women could reach the Chinese women. That's when she wrote home and asked for a Christmas offering to be taken. Hence, the "Lottie Moon Christmas Offering." The first offering in 1888 was enough to send 3 more women. You can read more about Lottie Moon here: http://trailblazerbooks.com/books/Moon/Moon-bio.html

Me and Lottie (who was only 4' 3")
Mrs. Beverly!!! She's my mom here and will be teaching at Grace too! Mrs. Beverly is one of most joyful people I've ever met.... so, so sweet. Mr. Tommy is her husband.... he's hilarious. I'll have to get a pic of him to show yall. Now we're gonna head on over to the Short Pump Movie Theatre. Short Pump is the name of the adorable little town that's closest to us. Just the name sounds country. But, they have lots of fun shops and restaurants and a nice movie theatre where 20 of us went and saw Pirates of the Carribbean 2! Below is a video of us waiting in line to get our seats. Disclaimer: I've been kinda sick for the past 4 days, so my voice is a little cracky.... but you don't care. The other two girls are Whitney and Gaby. They're fun. You'll notice how I look like a giant next to Gaby.... she's cute and little. OK, now watch it!


Once in the theatre we saw a real, live pirate! So we had our picture taken.... he was a nice pirate.

Fireworks!!!

This is a trial---- let's see if I can post this fun lil video.

Independence Day in D.C.

Hey friends!!!
I've been trying for the past hour to upload a video of my fourth of July fun. But, I think it's too long of a video. Eventually, I'll get it to work. Anyway, I spent my fourth of July in our wonderful nation's capital... Washington, D.C. (as if you didn't know that). Ok, well it was quite a lovely experience. Our group loaded up on 4 charter buses with the kids, strollers, maps, and all. The bus ride started off with story time. Bobby and Mr. Jimmy were very entertaining and had everyone on our bus trying to hear their hilarious stories. I have a very fun video of that experience as well... funny part being Bobby impersonating Big E. In D.C. we were unleashed and our first mission was to eat at an ethnic restaurant. We were instructed to divide up into small groups. I went out on the town with Mr. Tommy, Mrs. Beverly, and Caleb. After a nice metro ride and a few interesting conversations, we found our Thai restaurant... and it was closed. So we got back on the metro and headed across the city to another Thai restaurant.... it was absolutely wonderful! Many of us had opportunities to help internationals and share Jesus with people. We were given tracts in Thai for when to talked to people at our restaurant. It was fun to get back on the bus and hear everyone's experiences of internationals and others they had conversations with. After eating, we traveled over to the Mall and visited the Sackler Art Gallery where they had an Asian art exhibit displayed. We lasted for about one floor... then Mrs. Beverly went off to the bookstore, Mr. Tommy followed and Caleb and I decided to go see some of the sites. He was a little ambitious and wanted to see all of the major monuments, buildings, etc. Soooo... we were off: I'd like to say it was a nice leisurely stroll... however, we didn't have much time until our bus left and I did not want to be left behind. So on this extremely hot day, with my face glistening to say the least, we hi-tailed it over to the White House... upon where he said, "that's it???" He wasn't impressed.... I thought he better like the rest of these places b/c I'm not hikin' around this city for nothing. However, we fought the crowds (which really weren't bad at all), saw people playing ultimate frisbee, others laying out out the Mall grass, one lady selling mango, some u.s. army planes, smelled nasty port-a-potties, and finally made it to the Lincoln Memorial (where the above pic was taken from), the Vietnam War Memorial Wall, and the Korean War Memorial. The Jefferson memorial was a little too hard to get to since there were fences and security stuff up everywhere. So we walked back up the Mall to the new World War II Memorial. I was super excited to see this since it wasn't there last time I was in D.C. It's a fun circle fountain with the name of each state listed on the thingys around it. Ok, I'll attach a pic.... that'll be better than trying to describe it. There were a ton of people there with their feet in the fountain to cool off. It was a fun one. That was about the end of our adventure since we had to head back to Union Station to meet up with everybody. However, Caleb was determined to see the capitol building. So he ran, literally, up the mall to see it before we left. I happened to run into one of our groups and headed back on the metro with them. At Union Station I went to Ben & Jerry's! Surprise!!! Jimmy was kind enough to buy my kiwi strawberry smoothie... incredible after a long, hot day. As our bus drove off, it began to rain. We drove back to our little town of Rockville with our sack dinners, better described more like trick-or-treat bags with random edible items. Upon returning home, the singles hit up the booming metropolis of Richmond and chased fireworks. We saw a couple of these colorful explosions in different parts of the city and then ended our last 4th of July in America (for at least a couple of years) at good ol' Wendy's. I'll miss those fries.

I hope you all had a superb holiday and realize how blessed we are to live in a free country! Just give that some thought--- it'll do ya some good.