I heart Kenya

Go here. Read this. I am LOVING it here.

Sorry to all those of you about the UGA game. Sad sad sad times.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Mosquito Nets

I mean, we probably didn't need to use them, but we did anyhow just because we were here and they looked cool.  I actually woke up in the middle of the night all wrapped up in mine like one of those gymnast people that climb up those pieces of fabric and then fall down and do all sorts of cool things.  It was not cool at 4:00 a.m. in the morning.  I was feeling a little claustrophobic so I tried to take it down (at 4:00 a.m. this wasn't really working) so basically when I woke up this morning I was SNUGGLING the mosquito net...rendering it completely useless to keep mosquito's away from me.  Oh well.

We're leaving in 30 minutes to drive for 2 hours to Nakuru and start planning for the week.  I'm SO excited to see the Kenyan country side in daylight.

Blessings!

~A

NAIROBI!

Well we made it to Kenya!  So we were all loaded up on the plane in Amsterdam and miraculously, I had an isle seat with NO ONE next to me...an EMPTY SEAT!  I was trying not to jinx it, so I just looked down and prayed that if someone did come...I was hoping that it would be a small woman because whoever it was, I was definitely going to drool on.

So literally, the plane doors are closed and I think that I've made it...but as soon as I thought I was in the clear, this large, sweaty man comes RUNNING down the isle.  I knew he was sitting next to me, I just knew it! And sure enough, he looked at me and raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Welp, that's me!"  He was German, so his English was a bit of a struggle but we did end up chatting.  This chatting happened AFTER he sweat all over me and coughed/hacked up his left lung.  Those that don't know me, I am a bit of a hypochondriac so you can only imagine my stress level.  Everyone on the plane was looking in our direction because his coughing was so ridiculous.

Anyhow, after the hacking and the sweating and me thinking that I had contracted some deadly disease we chatted.  He told me that he had boarded his plane in Munich and they were about to pull away when 3 police dogs and 6 policemen ran into the plane and ARRESTED two men in their seats!!!  Everyone had to get off the plane and then re-board the plane (hence the sweating and running and why he was late).  He was actually very nice and I'm 100% sure that I drooled on him...mouth open and everything because when I woke up it felt as though I had shoved 200 cotton balls down my throat and up my nose.

So we leave tomorrow morning for Nakuru, Kenya where we'll be teaching at Mountain Park School.  We got to meet Mama Robi tonight, the woman that runs the school.  She is very funny and full of life, and I hear she's a good cook...however, I'm totally afraid that I'm going to get Montezuma's Revenge (if I don't have it already) **Remember, I'm a hypochondriac**

The team is GREAT and I'm very excited.  I feel like I was made for this, even though I don't even know what we're doing exactly.

I love you all and I'll do my best to update while in Nakuru. ")

Amsterdam

Well I made it through the first half of the trip to Kenya...8.5 hours later and sitting in the Amsterdam airport.  It was an easy flight all things considered.  Watched lots of TV and some movies...slept and people watched.

I need to go brush my teeth and wash my face!  We'll be leaving soon for Nairobi!  I'm sooo excited.

Packing is Hard

I leave for Kenya today! Yaaaay!!! Remember to follow this blog while we're over there. I don't know much about the blog, so I might update my own as well.

When I got to Atlanta, since I'll be doing other things here after I get back from Kenya, I had to unpack and RE-PACK for Africa. So Hershey, my dog from childhood, didn't so much want me to leave. I thought you'd enjoy this picture. Don't think I didn't consider trying to fit my hubby in that suitcase too!

See you in Africa! (Or Afreaka as my brother calls it). ")

I love Jesus but...

Please watch this. It WILL make you laugh.

"The Jing"

We got a postcard from RACHEL today!  YAY!  I was elated when I opened the mailbox and saw that someone had thought to mail us a card all the way from "The Jing" as she likes to call Beijing.

It was a welcomed study break for Mark, (Thank you he says) and we can't wait to see you!!

(*Is anyone surprised that Mark does NOT have a shirt on in any of the pictures I ever post?!*)

KENYA BLOG!

So when I'm in Kenya (Sept 25th-Oct 7) Follow us around on this blog!

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!!!

15 Items or Less

I'm in Ralph's.

Carrying (no buggy - it's not needed for 3 items) bread, celery and butter.

I see that there is only 1 lady in line for the 15 item or less line.

I get in line behind lady.

Lady pulls 25 things out of the shopping cart.

*I am a little mad, but whatever, obviously this poor soul can't read.*

Lady proceeds to break her items up into two different orders.

*Now I am really angry, but holding it in*

Now let me set the scene for you here.  This lady, that can't read, has on spandex pants, a "I heart FL" shirt, looks like she hasn't showered in maybe a week...and to top it all off, she has on a fanny pack. Yes people, I just said fanny. pack.

Now what comes out of that fanny pack? 4,000 COUPONS!

WHAT.

Someone needed to let her know this was the FAST lane at the grocery store.

She FINALLY finishes her purchases.

She turns to the poor, innocent person behind her (that would be me) and says, 

"I love Ralph's!  I've been coming here for 32 years...and they finally gave me a free coupon! Pshhhh!"

*I smile, nod my head (like I care) and hand the cashier my Ralph's card*

No lie, I am finished purchasing my 3 items in 30 seconds or less.

I am on my way out the door and the crazy lady is checking her receipt at the door...she shakes her head  turns her wide cart around, almost running me over, and heads back to the cashier.

I heard some mumbling about..."They always charge me too much for that bottled water..."

Did I mention that she had opened a bag of Doritos in line while she was waiting for the cashier to ring up all her stuff??  Oh yeah, don't forget that.

And this is why I will never work in public service ever again.  Because of crazy Ralph's, spandex wearing, fanny pack toting, coupon crazy people.

**Clearly I'm over it now**

These are a few of my favorite things

I honestly can't think of a better place I'd rather be than here...

With this guy....

Reading is one of my favorite things to do.  So the other day when I found myself holed up in a quiet corner, in a fluffy chair, siting across from my Boo at Barnes and Noble I thought to myself ... I love my life.

We spent 5 hours in those chairs...just reading.

If you had 5 hours, what would YOU do?

Cali is a bad puppy part 2

So I'm sitting at my desk and I hear Cali whining (which is strange because she never whines, it's always Cooper that's whining).  So I tell her to "shoosh" from my chair in the dining room.

20 minutes later the she is still whining...now I'm irritated.

So I go in search of the whining puppy.

She is nowhere to be found.

I can still vaguely here the whining, but I am frantically looking all over the house (the very small house mind you) and still can't find her.

Then I stand really still so I can hear her tags jingle.

Then I follow the sound.

Found it.

In the deep bath tub.

Apparently she had jumped in there and couldn't jump back out.

She is a CRAZY dog!

Sugar, flour, butter, peanuts!

Does life get any better than Aunt Sharon's peanut butter cookies with the two sweetest dogs sitting at your feet while you make them??

I submit that it does not get any better.

Please ask me for the recipe if you'd like it!

Upside Down

Why do I always open up bags from the wrong end?  My brother hates it when I do this.  It doesn't matter if it's sunflower seeds, cookies, bagels or Cheetos...always - upside down.

We remember

For that past 6 days there has been one lone guy working at the base of the university setting up white poles.  Mark and I were wondering what was going on and WHY they chose the most prime real estate the school has to do some silly project with white poles.

Well, after today, we realized what went INSIDE the white poles.  There are almost 3,000 flags total...each representing a life that was lost because of 9/11.  There were literally people standing on the side of the road, weeping.  There was one girl running through each row of flags with her hands out.  There was a small group of people praying.  And plenty of people with camera's (me being one of them).  Amidst everything going on around me, there was a quiet peace as if God was saying, "I am."  It was very personal.

We must NEVER forget that freedom, is NOT free.  We should all fight for it.

MacBook

People...it's a new day. After 7 wonderful years with my old laptop computer, I got a new MacBook!! I'm so excited I can't stand it. I can already feel my productivity increasing (or decreasing...however you'd like to look at it - pessimist.) I also got a D80, (digital) body for my Nikon camera, which I am also very excited about.

So I feel like I'm all caught up on the technology for a while. I mean, if I can keep a Dell laptop in mint condition for 7 years, I promise I'll probably have these two things for at least that long! I'm still having a little trouble configuring my Eye-Fi card to download my pictures wirelessly to the new MacBook, but I've only had the computer for half a day, so I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough.

OH! And now I can video chat and iChat with peeps! So hit me up! (Picture of me chatting with brother below via video chat...very exciting. You, you and you I expect to do this with also, very soon! And if I'm super lucky, you.)

Voting

Since we moved, we wanted to be able to vote for the presidential elections in November where we live now, versus driving all the way to San Diego to do it. So our neighbor told us there was someone at the local shopping center registering people to vote. We went, like good citizens.

I went first. Here is my conversation with the lady pictured above with Mark. **Mind you, she is like 105, can not hear to save her life, she can't write very fast and she's a grumpy ol' liberal - which is fine, I can respect that. For this story, we will just refer to her as GOL for "grumpy old liberal"**

GOL::Hello. I was about to leave and said that I would wait for one more person to show up to register. So you're it.
Me::Great! I'm glad I made it in time.
GOL::Ok, sit down. (She pulls out the form to fill out herself, versus letting me fill it out - we begin with my name.) When was the last time you voted?
Me::Umm, the primaries
GOL::ARE YOU PROUD OF THAT?! Why didn't you vote for the Los Angeles elections.
Me::I didn't live in LA at that time.
GOL::Oh. Whats your first name?
Me::Amy
GOL::Middle?
Me::Turner
GOL::Last?
Me:: Cathy
**awkward pause**
GOL::What? NO sweetie, what is your LAST name?
Me::Cathy is my last name. C as in Cat--ATHY.
GOL:: You have 3 first names.
Me::?????
GOL::What party would you like to register for?
Me::Well, when we lived in SD I was registered non partisan. Does that matter?
GOL::What would you LIKE to register for?
Me::Uuuuuuh, republican I suppose.
GOL::Hhhhhhh, I don't even know where the republican bubble is. NO ONE here votes republican.
Me::?????
GOL::Ok, please sign your name at the bottom.
**I sign my name**
GOL::Right, so because NO ONE will be able to actually understand your signature, will you please PRINT you name next to your signature.
Me::????!!!!!!
GOL::Great. Thanks for registering. Here's your receipt. They will mail you where you can go and vote for the general election. Don't forget to vote.

Wow. What a pleasant experience. Mark sat down and asked her if she could just copy everything from my application but his name was different and this is what she said:

GOL::All husbands are the same. Copy copy copy. NO, I'm not going to copy. We have to start all over with you. When's the last time you voted?
Mark::Primaries.
GOL::ARE YOU PROUD OF....oh yeah, you weren't living here.
GOL::What's your first name?
Mark::Samuel
GOL::Middle?
Mark::Mark
GOL::Last?
Mark::Cathy
*awkward pause*
GOL::What? No, I said what's your last na--...Oh yeah. Nevermind.

Needless to say it was the most eventful registering to vote process I've ever had. Mark and I laughed all the way home talking about how ridiculous she was. It's sad that she's grumpy, but she made my day.

GO REGISTER TO VOTE!!!! IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!

How not to be Chaste

So Mark and I are "church shopping" around our new LA home and we went to Bel Air Pres today. Conveniently the series they were doing was titled "Pure Sex". Only slightly awkward since we were there with a guy that invited us that we had talked to on the phone but had never actually met. But whatever, I'm over that. The service was actually very interesting and I was trying to take everything all in because I have never been to a Presbyterian church before. Well the service is ending and I'm sorta "people watching" (which I do often-it doesn't matter that I was at church. It's all part of the experience for me.) and everyone around me is starting to stand up, because the pastor asked them to.

Ok...go with me here.

I stand.
Mark does not stand.
I look to my right and then to my left.
People standing.
I look back at Mark.
Mark makes ridiculously confused and hurt face at me.
Mark jerks my arm down.
Now I am sitting.
Then I realize there are some people NOT standing up.
Then Mark informs me that I just stood up with all the people who are committing to be chaste.

Well, now the guy that we went to BAP with really thinks that I am insane. First, he assumes that Mark is married, so why would his wife stand with all the people that are committing to be chaste until their married?

I suppose it will be a pretty difficult calling for me to remain chaste-because I am married and I do practice pure sex. Thanks BAP for that simple yet important message that I so obviously needed to be reminded of. Oh why is it when you go somewhere and you just want to blend in, you stand up and then your husband sits you down and everyone around you looks at you strange, thus blowing the "let's just blend in" status?

Way to go Amy.

Kenya

Hepatitis B, Meningitis, Yellow Fever shots...CHECK

Malaria Pills, Typhoid Fever pills, and anti-diarrhea pills...CHECK

Nasty bruise where nurse jabbed my vein unnecessarily...CHECK.

Flight to Atlanta September 25th...CHECK

MacBook...CHECK

New Nikon Camera...CHECK

I'M GOING TO KENYA!!!!

Please check out The Kenya Project. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

I leave September 27 and come back October 7. I'm welcoming ANY advice from people who have traveled to Africa before. I've never been so I'm a little afraid, excited, but apprehensive. I know BIG things are going to happen. Please let me know what to do and what not to do if you've been before...or just give me some advice.

****

Oh, and clothing advice is ALWAYS needed. I mean is this a chacos and t-shirt type of place or do I need several pairs of tennis shoes (because they get wet from rain-is it rainy season??) and a hat and cargo pants. I NEED ADVICE!

****

Sister

Rachel is going back to China! Keep up with her travels here. Pray for her! What an opportunity of a lifetime! I'm soooo jealous.

Palin

You know, I'm not one to stick my personal, political beliefs out there on the blogosphere, but regardless of your position you can not deny the power and simultaneous passion Sarah Palin added to the RNC tonight during her speech. She clearly invited anyone to question her validity of experience and challenged those who had commented negatively on her years of service. (She might have completely immolated her barrier of "Oooh, what should we do/say with a woman on the ticket" from her competitors...but I think she adequately, inadvertently said, 'bring it on'.) Her permeable confidence and maternal affection is a HUGE bonus for the RNC.

On another note...CNN's commentators are AWFUL. Seriously, I think they compete in the locker room to see who can have the most negative comments. It's ridiculous. They will find ANYTHING to be negative about. No one cares about what they have to say...I would rather hear Cowboy Troy sing some random "Raisin' McCain" song than listen to them.

My tirade is over now.
*A