Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas time!!! :)

I just found some old (and new) pics from the past 2 months...what a crazy past 2 months! :)

Enjoy :)



After the Christmas play


During rehearsal



our little angels :)

Me and my friend at the Christmas party at the center

At the St. Nicholas party...we had lots of fun learning about this holiday

Our first (and only in this country) new theature! :)

Visiting our friends and her family during their holiday

The last picnic of the season

Playing spoons with our friends

I won this game!!! :)

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! :) (well a day later)

It was a great Thanksgiving that made it easier to be away from home.

My day started out early at 7am going down town to see sheep being slaughtered for the Ead (celebration) that is going on right now. They do this to remember that God provided a ram after Abraham was failthful and was going to sacrifice his only son.

We also got to see a cow being slaughtered in front of us. What an experience!!! Kind of crazy actually but really neat to see in a way. It made me more in awe of God and how He has created every thing, and He knew how every thing should work and made it that way. It was actually very beautiful! :)

we came home and slept for an hour...then got up and Sarah and I decided to dress like Indians :) then we came down and made name tags.

We spent the morning with the team over here playing games and having fun. We ate a HUGE meal full of traditional thanksgiving food! :) we then spent the rest of the day playing games, watching movies, eating left overs and more games. The last team members left at 11:30 last night. :)

what a day! what a full amazing Thanksgiving day!

I truly had so many things to be thankful for!!!! :)

Fire! and other exciting things....

Last night I went to bed wearing more clothes then I ever had....I had 3 pairs of pants on, 2 pairs of sox (one being wool), 5 shirts on, and one hoodie....and I was still cold!!!!

good news....we will have heat in 4 days!

last night I heard something sound like it fell down the stairs and then hear the voices yelling "GET OUT!!!! THERE IS A FIRE!!!!!"

So I grabbed my passport and ran!

when I got out side I saw our transformer box in flames! the flames reaching to the top of the second story......all the neighbors came running up to us and some brought fire extinguishers....

it finally went out but we had no power...

we went to class and came back and we did have power. Then at 11 we had goverment but only in Sarah and I's room....but none of us could use the heaters....

so that is why I had to wear many many layers of clothes and had 3 blankets on! haha

<-- this is a picture of the damage we saw this morning.

today they are working on the power and say we can not use our heaters for 4 days because they cant come to fix it until after the holiday (Jezhin Korban).

so....here Sarah and I sit, back at the cafe, staying warm and drinking yummy coffee!! :) I dont mind, I feel like we get more things done this way

In other news....the women in our morning class taught us how to be ready to get married....cook good food!!! they taught us how to make this Arab dish...oh how yummy it is, and very very greasy!

We also got to spend time with them as they remembered one of the ladies father and brother that were murdered 3 years ago. It was just women...I loved it! They all took off their head coverings and litterally "let their hair down". We ate a lot of food and then some more. It was a good time of fellowship with these ladies.

We also had fellowship time with them the other day when one of the ladies invited us to her house to have class. There we ate a lot as well haha..food food and more food. It was great fun.

Yesterday we hung out with Papa Rasheedie. He is our new 70 year old tutor. We had about an hour of hearing stories and 30 minutes of actual language learning, but it was good. His wife passed away and his children all moved out of the country. He is the cutest little Kurdish man I have ever seen!!! so sweet! :)

Classes have been going great. We only have 2 weeks of classes left, then break in December.

Now I am back to working on the Christmas play for our church....

3 months later....

I am sitting in a cute little cafe drinking a cup of hot coffee trying to stay warm....who would have ever thought I would freeze over here?!?

I have been here for over three months now...and I have yet to write a blog from this side of the ocean! So I decided...today...today is the day I am going to write in my blog!!!

So I have my coffee, good tunes, and many stories running through my head.

There are many things that I love about Kstan. Really they are all the little quirks that make me love this country so much. The roads for one....some times I feel my stomach will switch places with my brain because of all the bumps on the roads. When you are going pretty fast (no real speed limit on the way to the villages) every "little" bump becomes a dramatic one.

My favorite stretch of road is from the city into one of the villages that my friend lives. Somewhere between the bumps and bruises, the cattle running free on the side of the road, a man sitting on a lazy boy in the field watching these cattle, the rolling hills, woah! another big bump, more cattle, wedding parties on the side of the road and another and another and Enrique Inglesias blaring loud through the speakers in the truck.....I realize...I love this place!!! :)

What I love most about this place are the people. Honestly. They are so friendly and loving. (and very good cooks!) I have made many good friends and enjoy spending time with them when I am not teaching.

This is home...for now....and I am enjoying every second of it! :)

Tour Update

Friends and Family,

Tour has begun and it is great! J I am currently in a beautiful house in Roanoke, Indiana enjoying the company of all the ladies on my team watching a movie with our host home. Today was our first “official day” of tour. By that I mean we sang at an alumni breakfast the other day at 7 am!!! PtL He helped us warm up our voices in time! But today we did our first full service for Sunday morning and this afternoon we sang at another church. I have already been so blessed by my interactions with every one we have met.
This past Saturday we had an opportunity to help out at a homeless shelter. It was a blast because we got to serve with other groups that we hadn’t met before. We made hundreds of peanut sandwiches, chip baggies and put them together to make lunch bags. We also organized bread and cans, and other things that they needed help with. What a blessing it was and joy to help them! They have an amazing ministry there.
The other day I also got to meet Cheryl and Darrell who are the main people I am going to be working with over in Kurdistan. It was such a joy to meet them and learn more about what it is going to look like while I am there. I found out I am going to be teaching English at the center and I am pretty excited about that! It really was a blessing to meet them and talk with them. Such an enjoyably couple!! J I also found out that there are 3 other teammates that I will be with for the whole year, one other lady and 2 guys.
Also, ptL, He is still providing for me to head on out in August. He is still providing in 20’s and I keep having to smile….it takes 500 twenty dollar bills to get $10,000 and that is about what it is going to take for me to live in Kurdistan for a year, that includes everything. So far He has provided about $500….so that’s only 475 more twenty dollar bills that I need J that’s pretty sweet!!!
Thank you all again for your support in every way. I truly am blessed by your support! Feel free to email me with any updates in your life as well.

All aboard!

Watching a train go by in the dark is quite an experience...

Silence. Then the light starts to slowly creep across the tracks and then as if the light can not contain itself any longer it bursts forth and you are engulfed with its warmth, the train zooms by, you are over whelmed with the rush of the wind and just as quick as it came, it is gone and you are left in the silence once again.

Breath taking!

The little things in life that are so beautiful.

I am excited about this new chapter in my life and I am glad that you get to come on this journey with me!

Life is an adventure, a beautiful adventure!