Yikes!!!

Hey guys,
I feel like I need to write a letter to the editor b/c she isn't doing a good job. The previous post was written a few weeks ago, but I just decided to post it for a friend(Julie). After she saw it I intended to remove it; however, I forgot and a ton of people saw it and I received some funny emails and maybe some sympathy.

I'm trying to say, now that all that nastiness is out of my system I'll stick to the topics you guys love: monkeys, travel pics, and stories of my collapsing house.

I'm heading out of town in a few days to a neighbor country, so hopefully I'll have some new stories and a pic. or two. Also, I'll pick up my power cord from the friends house I left it at, so I'll be back on my compu by Easter.

Can you believe Easter is almost here??? It's my most favorite time of the year!!!!

P.S. I've been off caffeine for 20days!!! I not going to lie, I picked a bad time to kick my addiction, but I'm resisting the bottle like a champ.

"You won't be young forever"

For Julie:

Warning: I haven't had caffeine in 7 days, and I'm totally cranky!!!

I'm fairly sure nothing drives me up the wall more than when people say this to me, "You won't be young forever, so do it while you can." I actually think people are trying to support my decision to come here for two years. People see what I'm doing as a break from the "real world." Really??? As Americans we have no clue what the real world is like. I, Allison, have no clue what living in the real world is like. I'm not even going to start quoting the U.S. v. The World statistics.

It's 2:38am and I just had an epiphany. I'm living my life like its all going to end if I get married. (I feel like I need to clarify that I made that statement as if marriage is a tangible option, and it's not.) Are you following? I think I better visit here and there and do this and that b/c if I get married it'll all be over b/c I won't have the time or money.(I refuse to believe that though). Just a few minutes ago I started to wonder where I get this notion from, and I decided its from random people. Isn't that what the world tells young people?...to party it up while you can. Our landlord told me today that I needed to get married immediately when I reach the U.S. b/c I'm getting old!!! I AM 24!!! I wish I could say that was the first time I've heard that since I've been here. I've had multiple offers from people to arrange my marriage (including a custom's officer at the airport) and one proposal from an ATM security guard. Yikes!!!


Back to my issue, I understand that in marriage you have to give up a lot of personal wants and that its not a party all the time. I get that as much as a non-married person can. I understand that there are societal norms expected of me. I also understand it's completely natural for someone to as a college senior, "What are you going to do when you graduate?, to ask newlyweds, "When are we going to meet So&So Jr," or to ask a single person, "When are you going to get married?"

FYI: No one likes these questions!!!!

Literally asking a single person such as myself the marriage question is as senseless as me asking you, "When are you going to die?"

My problem is not people asking questions. The problem is how deeply I let ridiculous worldly pressure effect me.

I think this is all a result of me hitting the life panic button b/c I'll be home in 5-6 months and I shouldn't be dwelling on what I'm going to do, but I am. I have about a billion dreams and none of them make sense or fit together. Sweet mercy, I'm going to regret posting this in the morning, but for now I'm doing it. This is what happens when I'm up late at night and everyone in the states is at work, so I can't call them.


Maybe this insanity will help you pray for me. I'm not above soliciting prayer.

Where is Nigeria???

Here it is:

This is a little random I know, but do you sometimes feel overwhelmed when you try to pray for the nations? Maybe not, but I do. I don't even know where to start sometimes. There are awesome books that lay out prayer plans for the nations, so over a year you'll pray for the specific needs of each country, but I don't have one of those. So I try to use what's available to me. The News!!! It has pretty good prayer request. Right? It shows us how to pray for our leaders and politicians. More importantly it gives us a glimpse of what's going on in other parts of the world and spells out ways we can pray for them. Today I came across an article about Nigeria that lead me to pray for them. Click here and read it and pray for our brothers and sisters.

I guess the point of this is to encourage/challenge you next time when you're watching the news or reading the paper not to complain about one of President Obama's choices or think I'm glad I don't live there, etc. but instead pray for the needs that are being presented to you.

Peace Guys!!!

Oh yeah, pray for Abby and me!!! We haven't have any water in our house the past three days!!! I'm glad you can't smell though the computer b/c...phew!!! Just kidding. Hopefully we'll get water soon.

Holi!!!

It's a little game our neighbor's like to place once a year. It's actually a Hindu holiday, but I have no clue what it means. Our neighbors barged into our house and painted us. (I know this close up is a little scary.)

Neighbor girls; they are precious...sometimes!!! The smallest one is a mess for sure.

They even put the colors on the animals.

Yikes, after the doggie jumped on me!!!

Phase 1 of clean-up

Family's Road Trip

The car we spent a billion hours in:

The kids getting pumped for American Idol in the hotel.

(The nicest hotel I've ever stayed in here; it had a shower head...my house doesn't even have one)

Pretty nice scenery:

Cow eating the trash; its a fairly common site. I like the bird in the picture.

Part of our road trip was cancelled due to a landslide, but they were working hard to fix it.

That's about all.

If I were home...

I would sign up and go to this conference:

All you have to do is click here, sign up and take notes for me. It's going to be pretty awesome if you interested in reaching the lost in the South (our neighbors).

Quilting Equals Insurmountable Fun

Here are pictures from my recent quilting endeavor:

Let's keep in mind this has all been done by hand and I've never sewn before in my life!!! I actually haven't even started the quilting process, so I still have a ways to go before its finished. I've got like 5-6 months, so hopefully I'll finish it. Also, this will be the one and only quilt I make completely by hand...I have no patience even though its the most basic pattern ever!!! I'm a little scared if Baby Heath spits up on it and Mary washes it in the washing machine that it'll fall apart. We'll see what happens.

Fav. Day of the Year!!!

Valentines!!!! Just kidding!!! Actually it doesn't bother me at all. The thing that bothered me this V-day was that I spent 10 hours of it on a bus!!! Yikes!!! However, the next day I received a package from home...YAY!!!

These are the kids on the team. We were all pretty much pumped for cake mix and icing from the states. Cake from scratch doesn't compare to Betty Crocker. Also, I ate so much cake that I got sick. They next day we went out with our partners to teach and I could barely hold my head up. Thanks Momma and Mary for the package!!! The teammates and I love everything in it and I totally learned my lesson: cake for dinner and breakfast isn't cool!!!