I may be a dork BUT...

Can someone please tell me how to get a picture at the top of my blog??? The one where when I leave a comment it will show up. Please help.

Almost the End

I can't believe my time in Thailand is almost over. It is Saturday afternoon here and we will be leaving Chaing Mai heading to Bangkok tomorrow afternoon. We will be spending the night in Bangkok and heading to Tokyo, Chicago and then home on Monday.

This has been an amazing experience. I have gotten to see and do so many neat things. I am tired and will enjoy getting to see my family, but would not trade this for anything.

Yesterday was family day for the M's, so my kids were picked up at 12:00 and then we got to go out and have some sightseeing. We went to the elephant farm and it was unbelievable. We rode on the elephants and got to feed them. They were just walking around. It was amazing. We then got to go the orchid and butterfly farm. AMAZING. I got a lot of good pictures.

The kids in my room are doing so much better. They are finally getting use to us and the routine (now that is almost time to go). They are really sweet and it is amazing to hear some of their family stories.

I am on break right now and need to get back. Thanks again for the prayers. I have felt them. Please continue to pray as we wrap up tomorrow and head home. I can't wait to see and talk to you. I have lots of stories.

Talk to you soon.

I'm Here!

Hey everybody. I'm in Thailand and everything is going really well. The flight was as uneventful as possible. Long - but really good. We didn't have any problems and everyone from our flight got their bags without any problems. It is so neat here and I still can't believe I am half way across the world.

Yesterday was my first day with my kids and let's just say it was a day. A lot of these kids have never been away from their parents. I ended up only getting about a 10 minute break all day. Let's hope today is better! The kids are precious and most of them did fine. Some just got a little extra love ALL DAY LONG!!

Last night a big group of us went to the night market. It was a sea of bargins and unbelievable things. I could have lost myself there. My mom and aunt would have been in heaven. It was like a huge flea market. I bought a few things. Everything is so cheap - NICE!! On the way home we rode a tuk-tuk. It was amazing! I have pictures. Tonight we are going to the Gem Market. That can only mean trouble!

Thanks so much for your prayers. They are truly felt and I appreciate all your support!

More later from Thailand....

Rach

If There Was Ever a Doubt...

Doubt no more. This girl is for sure mine. I know Hannah has had a Krispy Kreme donut before, but I guess I have denied her the blessing of eating one in the resturant. Shame on me. We had some time this morning before her doctor's appointment, so we went to Krispy Kreme. She loved every minute. They were making fresh donuts and she thought that was really neat. She waved to all the employees and loved the fresh donut. I am sure we will be back - Man, I hate that :)

My Tribute

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I wanted to take a few minutes to love on my mom. For those that know her, you know how amazing she is. I could give a bizillion facts about her that would prove my point, but I will do to the highlights. She is such an example and there is no doubt in my mind I would not be the person I am today without her. She has left a heritage that I only can pray I leave with my family. She is the strongest, nicest, most humble, put others before her person I know. She has stopped to give medical advice at church, in the grocery store, at all hours of the night - because that is what she does. She has taken care of my countless relatives and friends going through health problems, etc. Including staying up with them all night and then going to work the next day. She put me through college with NO student loan and no help. She is the one I call when I am sad, sick, proud, happy or just in the car. I love hanging out with her. I am proud - very proud - to call her my mom and even prouder to say she is my friend.

Happy Mother's Day - I love you.

I've Been Tagged...

I am so excited...my friend Ashley tagged me and this is my first time. For the two people who read this...here's the deal.

Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. You need to choose seven people to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. When I was growing up my mom (who is a nurse) wouldn't let me ride go carts because she took care of a girl in the emergency room who had long hair (so did I) and let's just say...she didn't have long hair anymore. We will leave it at that.

2. I went to the same church for 19 years and the same school for 13 years (Kind. - 12th grade). There was a lot of consistency in my life :)

3. When I was young, I busted my chin because I was standing on my tricycle in our basement and I fell off - then, I broke my arm because I was standing up in my red wagon and riding down the hill in our backyard and I fell out. I have learned to sit down and ride on things.

4. My first airplane ride was to London, England.

5. My friend Ashley and I almost died in a tornado on graduation day, because we didn't know what a culvert was. (Ok so we didn't almost die and I don't think there was even a tornado, but there was a tornado warning and on the radio they told you "if you are in your car stop and get in the nearest culvert" Ashley and I hurried home instead because we didn't know what a culvert was.) At that point I must say our parents were really rethinking the money they spent for us to go to private school!!!!

6. I left my favorite sweatshirt in Ashley's car - and then her car got stolen and then was found burned - my sweatshirt was no more. OK - so it wasn't my absolute favorite sweatshirt, but I like the story.

7. I have never had a ticket - been pulled over twice, but no tickets.

Ok so that is it for me. Now, I am suppose to tag 7 people - one small problem...I don't have 7 friends who blog - so I can only tag 1 - Sandra.

OH YEAH

Give Him some praise. I finally got my user account/password figured out and I am back in business (Sandra - you better leave me a comment). For all three of you that actually read this - I am glad to be back. I have had some serious issues with getting my user name and password right and finally I got it. GGEEZZ. I don't even know what has been going on since I last posted. I am still getting ready for Thailand and appreciate the support I have received. I am beyond excited and can't believe it is only a month away. Everything is going good with us. Hannah is keeping us busy and making us laugh all the time. She is so full of life and a handful and funny and and and. Until next time (which hopefully won't be in a month) I will leave some pictures of the girl with you.

Easter at my mom's


Hunting eggs

A Long Time

I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last post. The time sure does fly. We have been busy the past few weeks. My mom had some pretty serious back surgery a couple of weeks ago, but is recovering nicely. She will be out of work for about three months, but seems to be getting relief and hopefully will be back to herself soon. As soon as she is...we're going shopping. Sickness has taken over our family the past couple of weeks too. David first then me this week and now Hannah. That is always nice when everyone shares the love.
I am still getting ready for my trip to Thailand and am getting more excited by the minute. David is also planning to go back to Moldova in July and he is very excited about that too. I am sure we will have plenty of updates over the next couple of months.
I will post some updated pictures of Hannah in the next couple of days.

Until then...

Church

Please allow me to share some things that have been on my heart lately. In our Sunday School Class we have been talking about the importance of Church and if we have to attend church in order to be in obedience. I have had so many thoughts about this, but for whatever reason have not be able to share them in my class. (For those that know me...this is not typical me). However, I need to get it out.
I don't know all the correct answers, but I know how I feel about church and for me that is what I have to go with. Church may not be for everyone and I can appreciate that. If it is not then I feel like you have to find a place and a group of people to truly worship with, pray with and hold each other accountable. With that being said, I do feel like church is the place for me and I have been so convicted lately that I am not giving all of myself in those times nor I am allowing God to bless me when I am there. I think David and I go a amazing church and there has never been a Sunday when I didn't feel like I had been to church and I didn't leave with a feeling of action. However, I also feel like if I truly understood what God had done for me and how much he loves and protects me and my family, I would give so much more of myself in worship. Why do we hold ourselves back? Why don't I allow myself to go at place with God of true worship and thanksgiving? We can all look back and not only see how God has worked in the lives of those we know, but how he has worked in our lives. I feel like church is a time for believers to get a chance to be charged up. We live in a world full of sin. We work in it, drive in it, shop in it, watch it and church should be the one place we can let our guard down and worship. I'll be honest, for a long time in my life church was a social outlet for me. All my friends were there and we had a good time together. Now, it is so much more than that. I need that two hours to be in the word and worship. Now that we have Hannah, I feel it is even more important. When she comes home like she did Sunday to tell us she learned not to be afraid because Jesus would take care of us - that is what it is about. Her learning this at a early age. I wish she didn't ever have to face the real world, but we do. Don't get me wrong, I don't think those two hours a week is all God requires and I think we get sucked into that too. We can go every Sunday and never pick up the Bible any other time - that's not what it is about either.
I don't know what I am trying to say other than I think we don't allow ourselves to go to a place of true worship because we are afraid of what others will think or we have not been raised that way. I just don't want to be like that anymore. That's all.
Thanks for allowing me this time to get it out. Blessings.

The Great Adventure

On the way home tonight I heard a song that took me back to Youth Group at Radnor Baptist Church. The song..."The Great Adventure" by Steven Curtis Chapman. I first heard this song at Centrifuge (a weeklong Baptist church camp that totally rocked my world). But the song makes me think of so many more things than just that. I guess more than anything it makes me so thankful for the times I had a church. It was never a question in my house whether we were going to church on Sunday mornings - we just went. And being southern baptist we went Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night (even for Wednesday night supper). The great thing was...I never wanted to be anywhere else. The majority of my friends were there and we had a good time. During the summer that is where we ended up. Just hanging out. Now, don't get me wrong, we had drama - some serious drama actually, but I wouldn't change a moment of those times. Times like not being able to wait to be old enough to get to go to Sunday School in the "youth house". I think I was in there for one year and then it was condemed. It was really cool to me though. Hosting the youth rally and really feeling the Holy Spirit move for the first time in my life. Having lock ins and then sleeping all day on Saturday. Going to the wave pool for church night. Going on visitation - honestly, what is that???? I just loved it. So driving home tonight for a moment I was back there. To that time in my life where I didn't want to be anywhere else and I didn't know anything else than that. Was I sheltered - no just lucky!! By the way - my first concert was Steven Curtis Chapman and we were on the front row!!!! Back then I just loved singing to the top of my lungs "Saddle up your horses, we've got a trail to blaze." Tonight as I was singing at the top of my lungs, it was so much more... "Let's follow our Leader into the Glorious unknown - this is a life like no other....THIS is the Great Adventure."

A Wonderful Job

On the way home tonight there was a very pretty sunset (not exactly the one in the picture above, but you get the idea). I wanted to share the conversation between me and Hannah on the ride home. It went like this:

Hannah: Look at the pretty colors.
Mom: Do you know who painted this picture for us?
Hannah: Who?
Mom: God. He painted this picture for us to see tonight.
Hannah: Did he have a big ladder to get up there and paint that?
Mom: No, he painted it from Heaven - where he lives.
Hannah: Oh. Well, he did a wonderful job.
Hannah: I love him - he did a wonderful job.

Oh, how my prayer is this is just the beginning of her falling in love with Him and this is just a taste of the conversations to come. I hope I am never too busy to teach her the most important stuff.

SLACKER

OK. I know it has been a long time since my last post. Honestly, not a lot has been going on in our household over the past month. We rang in the new year at home - my favorite way and I think we were in bed before midnight. I had a seminar to do the middle of January and that kept me busy for a couple of weeks. I do have some exciting news. I am going to Thailand with my church in June. Our church is hosting a conference for missionaries and we will be there for a week. I am very excited. It is not what you typically think of as a mission trip. We are going to be staying in a VERY NICE lodge and there are 100 people going. My forever friend Sandra is going so that will make it even better. I am on the hospitality team and honestly I am by far the youngest person on this team. I am already praying God will give me patience with these ladies.
We finally got some snow yesterday and Hannah was beyond thrilled. I would post some pictures however, we can't find our digital camera and I had to take pictures with our old camera and who knows how long it will take to get those developed. If I go with the track record, it will be next year. I will work on getting those in the near future. The sad part - the roll already had pictures on there and it is no telling what the pictures are from. It will be a nice surprise. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend and be on the lookout for those snow pictures :).

What a Christmas!

We started our celebrating on Friday with a Christmas lunch at my work and then the arrival of aunt Lin and uncle Al from Lexington and David's parents from Oklahoma. Saturday we went to my mom and Bill's for Christmas with Brad, Katrina and Dylan and of course Hannah was in rare form. She got far more than any one child should ever get, but she loved every minute of it.


Sunday we went to church and then had Christmas with David's parents and then my aunt and uncle came over and we had Christmas with them. Again, more presents for Hannah to open. I think she could get use to this...


Of course Christmas morning proved successful as Frosty was very good and Hannah was very pleased with what he brought to her house. I think Frosty will continue to be the present deliver of choice...he hasn't let her down yet.



We ended the festivities with a brunch with my family and then looking at Christmas lights with David's parents. All travelers are back home safe and it's back to work for me tomorrow. It was a wonderful Christmas for us and we hope everyone else had a good Christmas too.

Thanksgiving

Although I am thankful a lot, it is this time of year I guess we really reflect on all we have been blessed with. I love Thanksgiving and spending time with my family. Although we don't have a large family or any set tradition, just getting together and eating is so great. I remember the first year David and I got married and we went to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. I acted like a huge baby. I missed my mom and my aunt so much that I basically cried the entire time we were gone. Although David and his family celebrate Thanksgiving the same way I always have, there is something about being with those you love more than life itself and have loved you unconditionally your WHOLE life. Although there are so many that are not with us anymore and we miss them, I love this time of year. So here is to Thanksgiving - food and family. For us as Christians though, I think it extends so much farther. Don't we have SO much to be thankful for???
Father: Thank you for my family. The family that I love so much and has been such a constant in my life. The heritage that has been passed down and will continue to be passed down hopefully for generations to come. I thank you for the comfort of knowing I have people praying for me daily. Thank you for wonderful friends who have seen me in good and bad and love me anyway. Thank you for a precious little girl you brought into my life three years ago. I can't imagine life without her. Thank you for her personality and the way she brings smiles to people - even those that don't know her. Thank you for blessing me far more than I deserve. Amen.
Happy Thanksgiving!!

Back in Time

It's amazing what you find when you move and start cleaning out drawers, etc. I just took 4 rolls of film to Walgreens that I found when we moved. One of them was a disposible camera we had left at Hannah's daycare when she was in the Toddler room. This would have been between her 1st and 2nd birthday. It's hard to believe she was this little only a year and a half ago. It makes me smile to see what a good time she has at "school" with all her friends. Enjoy.

Sickness and School Pictures

A call from daycare, a fever and a trip to the doctor...Hannah has an upper respiratory infection and tonsillitis. So, we are home today. However like any child who gets a little medicine in them, today she is wired and has not stopped. But going home with a fever from daycare means no daycare the next day. By Monday we should be good to go. You gotta love this time of year. Below is Hannah's daycare picture. She did so good. She was so proud of herself and keeps looking at the pictures saying "these are so cute."

Happy Halloween

Tinkerbell has gotten lots of candy and has had a big Halloween. David and I had a Sunday School party on Saturday and all the kids dressed up and played games. And of course got lots of candy. Tonight we went around our neighborhood. Beside the scary site next door and the big dog that ran out of the house, Hannah had a good time. She wanted to get more candy. Nana and Papa came over to enjoy the festivities with us. It was a big day. Hopefully Tinkerbell won't be up all night on a sugar high, but the jury is still out on this one. More pictures to come (I'm having trouble uploading them).

Marriage

So Hannah has decided she is getting married. She puts on her cinderella dress and her purple high heal shoes. She has her cinderella wand in her hand (this is her flowers) and then she announces that she is getting married. The lucky groom...Dylan (her cousin). Too cute.

I honestly don't know where the time goes. I feel like I just posted something and it has already been a month. Nothing much has been happening around our house the past month, but I guess life just gets in the way sometimes. Hannah is doing good. She had a little trouble with her asthma a couple of weeks ago, but seems to be doing good now. She has decided to be Tinkerbell for Halloween and trust me...this was not an easy decision. She said for the longest time she wanted to be Ariel. I went to Target and got a mermaid costume (they don't have "real" ariel costumes in her size). I didn't show it to her because she would probably never take it off. The next day she decided she was going to be Snow White and I decided she was going with me to pick out the costume. After a trip to Party City and changing her mind (only once though) we came home the proud owners of a Tinkerbell costume, crown and slippers. It is cute and she thinks she is something in that outfit. Pictures to come.
I am so happy for the weekend. I am going tomorrow to my friend Sandra's for a good time of scrapbooking and then we have a Sunday School social tomorrow afternoon. I am sure the day will end with a good cheering for the Volunteers and then church on Sunday. We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Wink at Me and All My Faces

We finally have high speed internet and I am so happy!!! The nice cable man just left and I couldn't wait to get on the internet. It is so fast. I may never leave. I love it. I have posted some pictures of Hannah - now that I can do this at home it will be so much easier. Hannah is trying to get the winking thing down and it so cute to watch her try. She holds a hand over one eye and then blinks with the other. That is how she winks. She also loves to show you her "faces". Enjoy. I am off work for the next two days - just because. It is so nice.

Wink





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