eating=with=your=hands

i know i'm going a bit overboard with posting twice in oneday...but...

there is just something fun about eating with your hands. the culture i live in at the present moment cares nothing for forks, knifes, and spoons...toss them out the window...we eat with our hands.

tonight we went to an Ethiopian restaurant (Ethiopian food could be my favorite food in the world) and everything that was ordered is brought in front of you and then everyone digs in with their hands. (oh yea...we dont believe in napkins either. to get our hands clean we just lick our fingers and go back for more.)

this is the way that we role here...and to be honest i kinda like it..so if i come back home and eat with my hands

please forgive me

.Jamie does not sweat enough.

so i guess i should first say...
i'm very sorry for the delay in blogging...
i would not be suprised if not one even reads this anymore, but if you do...this is for you.

here it goes:

jamie is on this big workout kick. at first he thought that waking up at 5:30 would be a good idea. so for a couple of weeks he began waking up at 5:30 and working out and the days he did not work out he would run. however he began to run into a problem because he would be wanting to go to sleep at 8:30, and this is no good. so after a meeting with the boss man jamie came to another conclusion. that was... that he would work out between 1:00 and 2:00. this has been very beneficial for the both of us.. Jamie gets to work out and i get to see him with his shirt off for a couple of hours. however today i encountered something that i have not encountered before...
i went to the fridge to get my daily liter or two of pepsi when i saw jamie there working out with the fan off...i said to jamie, "you know the fan is off, right" and then he replied back to me "of course, sweat it good, i dont sweat enough.." to which i thought to myself "its Dec and it is still 100 outside...we dont sweat enough...all we do is sweat"
it baffled me to think that someone living here would want to sweat more...i always thought we wanted to sweat less. today i learned that i was wrong.

sweat....its a good thing

:we eat like kings:

so i know that most of you out there were probably a bit worried about my eating habits while away. and to tell you the truth some days i eat more than others. however tonight was one of my favorite nights when it comes to the art of eating.

let me just give you a little taste of what we had:
--fool(beans and cheese and oil and some other stuff that i don't know what it is...
--fish(all smashed up. had a weird texture to it...
--cow feet( the best soup i have ever had..

to top it all off.

--sheep liver(probably the best dish i have had since i have been here...

so those of you who were worried about me having something to eat
you can worry no more
cause when you are here

"you eat like kings"

swimming with gators...

remember watching the croc hunter(he is no long with us) swim with the alligators in the nile. it seemed so dangerous and exiting.

well yesterday i was able to do just that.

a few of us went out to a small village for a little cook out. it reminded me of the old days grilling under the car porch. however the highlight of the night was not the cookout, though it was good. the highlight was when we went for a little dip. since moving to this part of the world i have never felt so good. the water was amazing.

...if only i could go swimming with gators everyday...

...i'm living the life...

...things i miss...&...things i don't...

things i miss...
--katy
--driving my car
--monster(energy drink)
--playing my guitar
--my boys(a couple in particular)
--fast food
--staring at my books
--talking with mom
--playing golf with dad
--did i mention katy



things i don't miss...
--40 hr work weeks
--seeking after the american dream
--everyone speaking english
--wearing shoes

...on the surface you would think that i really miss being home.
but you would be wrong.
even though i have so many things i love about home,
i'm in the place i need to be.

:can't sleep:

...i'm having one of those nights where everything in your body wants to sleep, but when you close your eyes suddenly there comes this burst of energy.
...so it's 4:30 in the morning (for you at home thats 8:30pm) and all i want to do is start the day. however this is not what baffles me...what baffles me is that there will come a time, somewhere in the mid afternoon when all i will want to do is lay down in my bed and sleep-------------why does my body do this to me? why won't it just listen to me? Why? i'll tell you why..........B/C that would just make to much sense...

goodnight...at least i hope.

"its a beautiful day"

for those who have been waiting i am sorry that it has taken me so long to write. i wish i could say that things have been incredibly busy and that i have not had a chance since i arrived, but that would be a lie.
since arriving Father has done some amazing things. i have learned things about myself that i probably never wanted to learn, but thats a good thing, right?
so far my days usually entail trying to learning the language, which might not sound like much, but when you get exited about saying "hello, how are you," you know it is a little bit stressful.
i'm exited about this process and can't wait the see were Dad takes me.
Last night i was able to go to a henna party, which is then followed by a wedding. can i just tell you that weddings here are nothing like we have back home.

other than that i'm just trying to find my way in this crazy world.
hope to see you all soon.

"New Tattoo"

River Fun...

This is what we would do for fun...

...Its over...

i never thought i would see the day in which i would not be in virginia. i remember countless times that i would be counting down the days till i would leave. and though i am so ready to be overseas, i so very much miss my time there. i was blessed by meeting so many amazing men and women, who have challenged me in ways i have never been challenged before. i miss you all so very much and long for the day when we will reunite.

"firepitt"

it has been so long since i have sat by a fire and talk life over with friends, but tonight i did just that. there is something about fire in that i could just sit and stare at it for hours and not get bored. it reminded me of being back in little rock sitting out with my boys. things happen at "firepitts" that happen nowhere else. i remember one of my favorite firepitts that was just Justin and myself. i had just gotten back from conference and we sat up for hours telling stories about things that were going on in our lives. we just enjoyed sitting there. thats when life is at its best.

...short on words...

i have only a few weeks before i leave the great state of virginia. i don't know if i'm really ready to leave. this past weekend was great (with the exception of saturday, which i won't go into). graham and i finally crossed the r.o.d., which we had been talking about for a while. not only that but the rope swing has become a very popular thing to do. its amazing the things you will do to have some fun.

i just hope that these next two weeks will be just as great as the first six...

..."single issues"...

today we split up between the couples and the singles. for the couples, the class was called "how to stay in love." for the singles it was called "single issues."

so let me get this straight... couples stay in love and singles have issues. its a bit funny how this is worded. i understand what is ment by this, but i don't think that i have issues...do i?

:hear i am...send me out:

there is a worship song that was written by michael bleeker that has become the theme of my. the chorus goes something like this.

"hear i am, send me out. let me shine for Your glory.
i will read, and i'll live out and proclaim your word.
take me now, show me how. i need to live not for me, but for You and Your glory"

every part of my life is given for and to Him. so many times i think that we are ready to go but we never go through with it. i want the theme of my life to be to go where ever He wants me to go.

"the harvest is plenty but the workers are few"

maybe He was going through the same dilemma that i am going through now. i see so much need for the nations but its rare to find others who are willing to go. i think my favorite part of that song is when it says "i need to live not for me, but for You and Your glory."

i hope my life reflects that...

...the art of waiting...

we live in a world in which waiting is inevitable. its a game we play with each other. some of us are better at it than others but we all play it. i feel that the last few years of my life i have become very entwined with the waiting game. there is always something that i'm waiting for that takes my attention away from the here and now. the question that burns deep within my soul is this. am i ever going to be at a place in which i am content? not content in that i have nothing else to learn but content in that the grass will not always be greener. do you ever have this thought?

i have a month before i leave the country. its so hard to focus on the now, the things right in front of me, and i have some great things right in front of me.

but here is my fear...i'm looking forward so much to leaving. however one day, leaving will be today. when that time comes, will i be satisfied in where i am at....or will i want the pasture that waits my return.

...every so often...

i'm at a place right now that i have never been. living in rockville, meeting some of the most amazing people i have ever met. you hear about men and women who long to do Gods work, but you don't always meet them. these past few weeks i have met individuals who want to see the kingdom of God grow. they want to see every nation worship the one true God.

every friday night i have to pleasure of going to dinner with three of the most amazing men i have ever met. i like to call it "date night", however graham preferrs "savage night." basically the night is full of guys just talking about what the Lord is doing in their lives. we want to change the world. so peyton, matt, graham, and myself will continue to meet every friday night at "fridays" in hopes that throughtout these next couple of years we will get to see the world changed...

...home...

since graduating i feel like my car is the only home i have had. i have lived in six different places in the last two years. i kind of like it this way. picking up and moving whenever i want. i find that i enjoy moving.
however in the not so distant future i will be making the biggest move of my life. sometimes i don't know if i am ready for this move. you would think with all the moving i have done it would not be that big of a deal. you would be wrong.

:the gardens we keep:

we all have them! whether we want to admit to it or not. places that we do not want others to find. places that we do not want others to see. we are creatures who long to be hidden. who long to look as if it is all together. but what happens if it is not. what happens if things are not what they seem. what do we do then...
i call these places gardens. the reason for this is because gardens can be little or quit large. and for the most part(i understand that some are not)we keep them for ourselves. you see, to me gardens cover up the very things that we dont want people to see. the things that people will not like about us...
but what if...what if we let the gardens go...then people might see us for who we truly are...