Reasons to Love Africa

Someone sent me these pictures in an e-mail. I thought they were pretty funny. Hope they make you laugh too!

This vehicle was seen near Makerere - and its not full. Did you notice where the electiric pole is located? It was seen in Buru Buru, Nairobi - the electricity company was not paid money by the roads dept. to remove the pole, so they left it there. Human ingenuity? Painting the swimming pool! Must be Zimbabwe.

Procrastinating Packer

It's about 24 hours before I'm supposed to be leaving on a month long trip that will take me from Charlotte to Houghton, NY on to Toronto and then back to Charlotte before I finally return home. You might think that I've got everything packed and ready to go especially since I'll be gone for over a month. Now I'm going to share some shocking photos with you my friends. Yes, that's right my suitcase is sitting completely empty behind my door and my carry on suitcase is sitting empty on my floor except for that one shirt that I didn't unpack from my weekend trip two weeks ago. I can honestly tell you that I haven't packed a thing yet!I guess you could call me a procrastinating packer. Since my college days I have always been a last minute packer. The night before I leave I am up until the wee hours of the morning getting it all together. What can I say? I like the pressure plus if I don't pack maybe I won't have to go. :)

So what's your packing style? Are you a prepared packer or a procrastinating packer like me?

What I'm currently reading...

I just got finished reading a great book by Linda Nichols, who is rising fast on my list of authors I love, called In Search of Eden. It's about a young woman who was forced by her mother to give up her child for adoption. After her mother's death, she goes on a search for her child which leads her to the town of Abingdon where she learns more about her mother's past and begins to understand why her mother acted the way she did. I highly recommend this book along with the rest of Linda Nichols books. Check out the link I added on the side.

Now I've moved on to a book called From the Belly of the Dragon. I'm hoping I can finish before I leave tomorrow because I checked it out of the library.

Happy Reading!

Making Cards

What did I do for fun before I was introduced to card making? (Read books...of course!) But back to card making...which just happens to be the perfect hobby for me since I love writing letters.

I think it was really my mom who introduced me to the joy of letters. When I went off to first grade at K.A. my mom would write me amazing letters. Of course, there were letters from my parents but then she would also write letters from my cat, Mischief. She would tell me all about what Mischief had been up to and then she somehow captured that wild thing and stamped its footprints on to the letters. Since I had to be so far away from my parents, these letters really communicated their love to me!

Now my first experiences with writing letters were pretty traumatic. Every week we had one day at school which was set aside to write letters to our parents. I missed my mom and dad so much that each time I would sit down to write my letter I was brought to tears. My first grade teacher didn't really understand what was going on and so it was a bit of a struggle...God knew that I was having such a hard time because my dad came down with Hepatitis and my parents had to come to the rest home so my dad could recuperate. I was able to talk with them and they were able to talk with my teacher and first grade was a thousand times better after that! Anyway, I digress. :)

I think I really began to love writing letters because it was one way that I could communicate with my best friend Karen when I was away at school. Then when I moved back to Canada and she was still in Niger, we continued to write letters.

E-mail has changed a lot of things but an e-mail still does not compare with the joy of going to my mailbox and finding a letter from a friend! Sending letters and cards, has become a way for me to express my love for my friends and family and it's even more fun now that I've been introduced to the art of card making.

My mom's birthday is coming up and since she inspired my love of letters, I decided to make her a few cards to pass on to others. Don't worry! I can post these pictures because my mom is in no danger of finding out since she doesn't use the internet. :)

Thursday Night Dinner Club

Two years ago, before I headed out to Niger, a group of about 10 people from LAC would meet every Thursday night for dinner. Stephen was the chef extraordinaire and he would usually whip up the tasty main dish while the rest of us would pitch in for sides. We gathered around a couple of tables in his dining room where we ate, laughed and fellowshiped together. I don't really know how it became a regular event but I do know that we formed some amazing friendships out of that time.

It's three years later and several of us have moved on to different places or churches but we wanted to try and get together so we decided to cookout at Mark and Amy's this past Sunday. Unfortunately, we were missing the Stantons, Sandy, Christie and Jenny but we did have a good time chatting and playing games together! Here's the gang enjoying our burgers.

Heather Visits

The last week of school my friend Heather came to visit me. Heather and I were roommates at Toccoa Falls College. I tortured her for a year or more! It was good fun...at least I enjoyed it...she might tell you something else. :) Anyway, she came to visit me for a week so I guess it wasn't all that bad. Unfortunately, since I was in the middle of a busy last week of school we didn't do anything too exciting. She hung out at my apartment, caught up on e-mails and took a little trip up to Toccoa to see our old stomping grounds. We went out for ice cream and I introduced her to Bride and Prejudice which just happens to be my number one favorite movie at the moment. I really enjoyed the chance to catch up with her and see what God's been doing in her life. She has been a real example to me of how to trust God even through the tough stuff!

My Brush with the Stars

You may or may not know this about me but I LOVE figure skating! This year my friend Chell was the athletic therapist for the Stars on Ice. Of course, when she shared the news about this job with me I was really excited for her. For my birthday, she and her sister got me a program signed by all the stars of the show and then she got Kurt Browning, my personal favorite, to sign a picture for me which she and her sister framed. What a cool birthday present! But to top it off, she took me along with some other friends to the Stars On Ice show in Toronto. We got to sit about 15 rows back...happened to be in the row right behind Kurt Browning's wife. :) After the show, we went to a hotel nearby where we got to meet the stars and take pictures. So thanks to my friend Jennifer who had the camera, I got my mug shot with Kurt Browning and Brian Orser and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. What a great birthday present!