It Never Stops!!!

Currently I'm spending my Christmas Eve fighting w/ this little guy, baking cookies, and decorating ziploc bags. All of the girls spend the night at a friends house last night and are planning to do the same tonight. I had to come home to bake cookies b/c I told some of the neighbors I would. I got home a few hours ago and realized that I didn't have my cell phone. That causes a lot of problems but mainly b/c we need our oven to bake dinner tonight and everyone thinks I'm bringing it in a taxi later. So without my cell phone I have no one's number to call and give them a heads up. On top of that little dilemma this little guys showed up and won't leave, so I'm not scared to leave my house. Just watch the video and you'll see why.

The third dilimma is that I painted on the ziploc bags that I was going to put the cookies in with glitter glue that won't dry. You maybe thinking, just use the blow dryer...yeah, I tried that for 10 minutes and they still won't dry. Honestly that isn't the problem. The problem is that I painted on the only unused bags we have. Plastic bags are banned here so we have to get them sent from the states and we usually wash and reuse them. I can't give out cookies in used ziplocs!!!

The good news is that the cookies are yum!!!!

PEACE GUYS!!! and HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I'm tired of looking at that cat!!!

That's what my Mom just told me, so I decided that it maybe time for me to update. We've been insanely busy, so I'll claim that as my excuse for not updating as often.

If you've been wondering, we still have cat problems. Around 10 last night a cat came in and ate some of our bread that was out from dinner and he also clawed the butter that was next to it. We didn't know it was inside until I came downstairs and it ran past me up the stairs. Funny thing is that I didn't even see it, but my roommate Diana did and screamed. She jumped off the couch at chased it up the stairs while I ran and screamed to the other side of the house.

Also on our last trip out we saw a leopard walking on the side of the road. I'm not joking. It was insane and really pretty. It was about the size of my sister's lab, but shorter.

I know the picture is random, but its one of my favs of the guys. This was Thanksgiving morning and they were cleaning the chickens. I think touching chicken is one of my biggest accomplishments since I've been here. If you've lived w/ me you'll remember that in the past I would only touch raw chicken while wearing gloves. Now I'll touch it and cut it without gloves and without gagging. I feel like such a big girl.

Hopefully I'll post some more pics after Christmas.

Bible quote: "Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. " -Matt. 23:26

Elf quote: "What about Santa's cookies? I suppose parents eat those too?" -Buddy

We had a cat fight...

And I'm not talking about Abby and me!!!

Last night around 3:30am I awoke to cats screaming and hissing at each other. It was so loud I thought they were in my room. They were making horrible sounds; it was all around horrible. Of course, I was too scared to see where they were. Well, Diana wasn't as scared as me. Her room is downstairs and she said she got out of bed to see where they were b/c she heard them pouncing on the dishes in the sink!!! When they saw her they ran upstairs and out of our house. You maybe thinking how can they get outside from upstairs? Well, we have a huge gap in our roof that is covered by a tarp. It doesn't make any sense to us, but that's how our house is. We're just thankful it wasn't a monkey. One lunged at me this morning while I was trying to run it away from eating our trash. I'm not a big fan of guns, but I'm looking into my options.

I love it!!!

I guess Baby Heath read my blog and saw that I was suffering from a little nasal congestion.

I nearly wet my pants laughing at this. I think my parents kidnap him to take pictures.

Here's one of him just being precious:

Fav. Scripture Quote of the Day:

J said, "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For our of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. There are what make a man 'unclean,' but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean." Matt. 16:17-20

Fav. Elf Quote of the Day:

"I just like to smile. Smiling's my favorite!"

The Bible and Elf...there is no need to ever quote anything else.

7 Reasons Why Marriages Fail

I don't have a clue, but I like what Pastor Perry Noble has to say about it. You can click here to see what I'm talking about. It's short.

The Halls are Decked!!!

Well our halls aren't exactly decked, but our fridge sure is:

This is my new manger scene that I bought in Thailand. That's why the people look a little different, but its also why I love it. They said it was child proof and I said perfect b/c I break just about everything.

I love decorating for Christmas!!! Hope you guys love it too!!!

When we get bored...we

Have fun with a Neti Pot!!!! I'm fairly sure when my mom sees this picture I'm going to get a "I cannot believe you!!!" email. Yeah, I debated whether or not to blog about it, but we think its so funny I decided to share. I absolutely have no reason to ever wonder why I'm single. This picture pretty much sums it up.

Many of you may be wondering what a Neti Pot is. Well, since you're wondering its a nasal saline irrigation treatment. They help relieve sinus pressure in the nasal cavity. In the pot you mix a saline solution (salt and water) then place and tilt and it flushes out your nasal cavity. It goes in one side and comes out the other. Fun!!!, but don't laugh while you're doing it. It'll come out your throat!!!

I've been a little sick over the past few days and I was talking about how I wish I had my Neti Pot here. Well, Justin, one of the new guys, said his dad just sent one over. Sweet Justin shared his Neti Pot with me. It's team building at its finest.

You maybe wondering where you can get one of these miracle Aladdin lamps. I bought mine in Charleston at EarthFare, but I'm pretty sure you can get them at Walgreen's, CVS, etc.

Photo: Compliments of my faithful assistant Abby.

Breakfast Burrito

Just in case you were wondering, this is what I had for breakfast this morning. I love these spinach wraps that they make here. They call it green roti and I call it green goodness. Our neighbor's house helper brought them over yesterday. They occasionally bring over various food items. Most of it I don't like.

This maybe really random, but recently I've been thinking about integrity. Specifically my integrity or lack of in same instances. The last time our neighbor brought over food, we didn't touch it and I threw it away. You probably would have done the same thing if you would have seen and smelt it. The problem is that when she came back to get the bowl, I told her I loved it. WHAT A LIE!!!! I know I'm not going to hell over it, but it is sort of a bad habit. In the South we hate offending people, well at least I do and I don't think its always right. I mean sometimes when our hair looks awful, we need a friend to lie and say it looks good b/c its one of those days. But overall we need to be honest...I need to be honest. Someone asked me the question, "Is it easier for you to be kind or to be honest?" I answered "to be kind." What does that say about me? These are a few of the scriptures that I've been praying for myself.

"Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." -Prov. 12:18

"She speaks w/ wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue." -Prov. 31:26

I feel so far from these verses. I've got the reckless words covered, but my words bringing healing or having faithful instruction on my tongue, What in the world???? I wish!!!

I just want to mean what I say on all levels regardless of the subject on hand. If I don't mean it, I don't need to say it.

GET PUMPED!!! DECEMBER BEGINS TOMORROW!!!!! LOVE A LOT and EXPECT A LOT!!!

Pics from this Week

Abby's Thanksgiving Plate:

Yeah, that's Honey Baked Ham and Turkey you see. Thanks Momma Kim for brining over the ham!!!! A volunteer brought over a Butterball turkey and the guys fried it...yum!!!!

Abby, Jessica, and a random man that decided to come lay down while we were taking pictures.

This is from our most recent trip out. We were sort of in apple country and this is a basket like the ones women use to bring apples up the mountain. They saw me put it on and ran over and put the their traditional head wrap on me too.

This is a pic of us w/ one of our fav. little guys from the weekend. His fuzzy sweater was awesome. Too bad I didn't get a better picture of it. It's was sort of like Where's Waldo meets the North Pole.

This is him the morning we left. His feet were cold so he tucked them in his mother's jacket. He's pretty much precious!!!

I guess its about the same for everyone...Thanksgiving was crazy!!!, but GREAT!!!! We had 5 guest at our house, two left today and the rest are leaving tomorrow. I'm not going to lie, I'm ready for some, I mean a lot of down time.

Welcome Home Blow Out

Literally when we arrived home we had an electrical blow out. We had been out a few days and hadn't showered or had any sort of heat, so when we came home we cranked up our water and space heaters. Then we smelt something burning, but couldn't figure it out. So, we all concluded that it was coming from a neighbor's house. Then as I was getting into bed, I heard a loud crack and thud and saw a bright flash. I was sure Abby was hurt somehow. But no, our breaker thingie caught on fire and we no longer had electricity upstairs. The picture is the repaired box. When the electrician took the box down it was totally black and melted inside. Thankfully we have electricity now. Oh yeah, no one was hurt. I guess that's a positive too.

Just to let you know how cold I was on the trip. My feet are sore to walk on b/c at night they shivered the entire time. Anyways, we're back and it was one of the best trips EVER!!!! I'll try to post pictures if I can. Right now, we have two guest and three more are coming into town tomorrow. We can't wait for Thanksgiving!!!!

GET PUMPED!!!! and GIVE THANKS!!!!!

Going Festive!!!

So, I decided to spruce up the blog page a little and I decorate it for Thanksgiving. At first when I saw the Thanksgiving options I thought they were so corny, but I caved. It sort of reminded me of kids having the option to have colored bands on their braces for Christmas, Halloween, etc. I think I can safely say after two sets of braces, once in the 4th/5th grades and again my senior year of high school, I never had festive colored bands on my teeth!!!

Anyways, enjoy the new colors!!!

P.S. THANKSGIVING IS IN 8 DAYS!!!! and Make your kids wear their retainers b/c having braces as a senior isn't cool!!!

The Great Khali!!!!

Today was so much fun...Abby and I saw The Great Khali!!! I'm hoping not too many people know who he is. If you do, stop watching WWE Smackdown...it's ridiculous and you're a loser!!! I knew him as the 7 feet tall giant guy in the movie The Longest Yard. Anyways, the boys on our team found out he was coming to our town, so Abby and I decided to go see him. The boys are so jealous b/c they had to go out of town this morning. He was born in the state that I live in now so that's why he's visiting.

Here are some pics from this great day:

Just a few men showed up to see him:

(Guy in the bottom right was taking pics. of Abby and me the whole time. It's sad that we're used to it now. We might slide into a depression when we move back and men aren't whispering, "Gorgeous" in our ears as they walk by and trying to sneak pictures of us)

Here he is...Abby said he looked a little scary:

This is my attempt to be in a picture with him. Abby thinks its funny; its not my best for sure.

We got a fist pump from him. He winked at me too; its a shame I missed that picture.

I initially could have cared less about seeing his guy, but when we got there Abby and I got so excited. It reminds me of the time Whitney, Abbie, and I saw Andy Roddick play tennis in Charleston. We stood outside the stadium afterwards to see him up close and Whitney got pushed back and reprimanded by a security guard. It was hilarious b/c Abbie and I were the ones acting like idiots and pushing to get closer to him and Whitney was just standing behind us. Maybe you had to be there, but we thought it was hilarious.

Pictures!!!

Here are a few pictures from last month:

This is us on the way to see South Asia's Largest Water Fall:

The Warning Sign:

The Mammoth Fall:

So, it's wasn't really South Asia's Largest Fall, but we still had fun.

My friend thought I didn't see her sneaking a picture of herself w/ my camera:

This is just a random picture of a cow leaving a liquor store...No, I wasn't visiting the store. My friends were shopping in the next store and I was standing out front and watched the cow walk in and walk back out of the store.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Food Crazy!!!

I'm posting this because I just heard Abby yell from downstairs, "Oh my gosh!!! They're showing hot dogs on tv!!!" You know you're not in America when someone in your house yells that. We get a travel channel on tv and sometimes they visit the U.S. I guess they were at a restaurant that was serving hot dogs. That incident just made me think of our dinner conversation from last night.

Just about every night one of us cooks. Our menus are fairly limited b/c we have to make everything from scratch and we can only get chicken or goat. We stick w/ chicken though. Well last night at the table I asked the question if you could have one restaurant from the states in our town which would it be. We all pondered the question for awhile. Then these were our conclusions:

Diana chose a Japanese Steakhouse b/c she loves Japanese food:

Abby chose A Panera Bread

b/c she loves soup and sandwiches:

And I chose an IHOP! Do I even need to explain? Seriously I chose it b/c I love breakfast food and I think they have regular food on their menu too, I've just never tried it.

We're waiting for our cab to get here to take us to work for the next few days. It's been raining and I've been freezing. I have skied in less clothes than I have on now. I'm pathetic!!!

Tebster's 20!!!

My little sister, Trudy, turned 20 today!!!

I talked to her today and told her that my gift for her was a ticket for her to fly over here and stay w/ me this summer. She didn't think it was funny. She's probably not going to think this picture is too funny either. However its a little payback for the "mug"shot picture she and Whitney posted of me on facebook. Hopefully not too many of you know what I'm talking about.

Hope you have a Great 20th Year of Life TEB!!!

Bear's A Believer!!!

I'll assume most of you know who this guy is. He's Bear Grylls!!! The Man v. Wild guy. On Man v. Wild he's dropped in the middle of no where while and a camera crew follows him around as he survives with usually only a knife, rope, etc. He's pretty much my hero, especially now because I found out that he's a believer. They show all of the old shows over here and the other day, Will Ferrell accompanied him on one of his journeys. It was hilarious.

Abby, Diana, and I are thinking about starting a show called Girls v. the Wild. We think it would be a hit and super easy. We would just need a camera crew to follow us around. It would take much more than that.

Anyways, I just finished a good book called "Where Men Win Glory" by Jon Krakauer. It's about Pat Tillman's life. You know the NFL player that walked away from his million dollar contract to join the war only to be killed by friendly fire. Maybe you remember hearing about him. Well I thought the book was really good. I'll probably blog about it more tomorrow only b/c my roomies are tired of hearing me talk about it.

Once again...have a great day!!!

We've Got a Problem!!!

He's Growing....

His handwriting looks just like my Moms.

My Momma sends me pictures about once a week of him and I promise every week I think he gains 5lbs. My blog may just become a photo gallery of Baby Heath. It's absolutely ridiculous how much you can miss a little kid you were only around for a week. My respect for career people living over here increases daily. I still don't understand how they do it.

Oh yeah, I got to watch the World Series live early this morning. I don't like the Yankees. I think its because they always beat the Braves back in the day. Isn't it ridiculous how much we can dislike a team, actor, politician, etc. without even knowing them? I was pondering that thought as I was watching them dance around on the field after their victory.

I've got one PTL...Jen found a great job!!!

Continue to have a great week guys!!!!

It's Getting Boring...

Sorry guys, but I've pretty much let my blog become boring. Crazy things still happen almost daily, but I think I'm getting so used to them that I don't think to blog about them. The past few weeks have been insane as usual. Last week included 14 hours on a bus that concluded w/ me being as sick as I ever been here. I thought death was near. After many Meds that turned my tongue black, I was on the road back home two days later.

I'm getting super pumped about Thanksgiving!!! I know I've got awhile to go, but we're having 5 friends stay w/ us. Our team is planning for 25ish peeps to join us for Thanksaplooza. We've been planning the menu for the past two months. The challenge of chicken being the only meat available poses some fun challenges. I love allrecipes.com, though.

The weeks before Thanksgiving will hopefully be busy. Since we're in the mountains our travel is about to come to a complete halt due to weather. Hopefully we'll be back out twice before T'giving, b/c that will most likely be our only chance until February. P.S. I'm so thankful for spellchecker, b/c I always misspell February.

Anyways, I hope life is going well for you guys. I guess the weather should be changing. It already feels like January here. I'm always bundled up. Too bad on my last trip I left my new jacket somewhere!!! The funny thing is that I never wore it, so I have no clue how it got out of my bag. I have two other jackets though, so don't worry I'm not freezing...yet.

Peace Guys!!!!

New Kids on the Block

I'm recovering from a great/crazy trip. Two new guys joined our team this week while we said goodbye to one of our teammates, so our team took it as a chance to head to a cabin to celebrate. The 4 hour mountainous car ride options were this little thing or another packed car w/ a two year old and a 6 month old.

I choose the little car. It's a decision I'm regretting b/c my back isn't feeling so swell.

Here's a pic of us doing a little s'more roasting:

I'm home for 4 nights and I'll be back out for a five days. I remembered being bored a few months ago. Definitely those days are gone and I'm definitely thankful. It's almost November!!! That's craziness!!!

Diwali Party

I know I often write about the craziest day ever, but last night has to go on the list for one of the craziest nights ever. Yesterday was Diwali. It's sort of our equivalent to Christmas. It's called the Festival of Lights b/c they celebrate some god's triumph over another god by shooting fireworks and partying. Well we were invited to our neighborhood block party last night and it was ridiculous. We live in a colony with retired doctors, lawyers, etc. so these people have money. Once we arrived the alcohol had already been flowing a little and then I knew it was going to be a crazy night b/c fireworks and drunk people don't mix well. In the beginning it was nice: around 50 people were there, a good fire was going, good music was playing, and our neighborhood association leader, Dr. Gupta(in the pic on my right), was so drunk we were enjoying watching and talking him. Then the fireworks began. I love fireworks and it so cool to see them being set off all over the mountains, but when they are going off 30ft from you it's not so cool. This is when the evening got eventful. There's this one they call the "Rocker Launcher." Well a drunk person lit it and it fell over and hit another drunk person. The man's ankle immediately began to swell and something began oozing out of it. We thought, surely the party is over w/ now. Nope they continued and I began to notice that they were putting the used fireworks' boxes in the fire. I told Katelyn that if one of the rounds didn't initially go off, then it will in the fire. Sure enough one did a few minutes later and hit the injured man's wife in the forehead. At this point we were sort of fearing our lives, but we continued to stay. I think that one party took a few years off of my life. I felt like I was in the middle of a battle reenactment.

Anyways, if you click here you'll see a short video from the tv show, The Office, where Michael sings a song about Diwali. It cracks me up.

I'm on a blogging role huh? Don't worry next week I'm super busy w/ work stuff, so I won't post as much. Try not to miss my enlightening words.

Skating!!!

Today we went skating to celebrate my supervisors' daughter's birthday. While we were there I think I fell in love. I couldn't resist this guys moves. It was love at first sight.

So maybe you don't think it is as funny as I do. This guy kept on flaunting his moves in front of my teammates and me, and we were dying trying not to laugh out loud.

Here's a picture of the girls: