Jesus Is Watching You

Thanksgiving has come and gone, all that remains is a refrigerator of leftovers and an expanded waistline. Even though Katie and I had family in town we had to work early on black Friday morning. As you could imagine it was a crazy day but we got off early and were able to enjoy the rest of the evening.

It was fun having my little sister and brothers here. They are all developing into their own hyperactive and witty personalities. Timmy for example, when I was correcting him one time gave me a serious look and in a bold tone said "Jesus is watching you." To which I replied "you know, he's watching you too." At that point he looked suspiciously over his shoulder and quieted down.

On Thanksgiving night we all sat down in the living room and brainstormed on how to entertain ourselves since we didn't have a television. I decided to entertain the kids with some impromptu stories involving a fart maker. Here are some videos from that night, including Timmy's attempt at storytelling.

Sunday Katie and I decorated for Christmas. We are really looking forward to Christmas break this year. Only three more weeks of school until we can take a real break. I still love school, but my reservoir of creative energy has been run dry for this semester. The three and a half week vacation coming up should provide just enough relaxation to energize next semester, which is sure to be much more intense than the former.

Katie and I hope your thanksgiving was filled with good food and grateful hearts, and hopefully your Christmas is looking as appealing as ours.

Happy Thanksgiving

The day after our last post we got another two inches of snow. It made quite an impressive accumulation but is now melting away. There is hardly any left on the grass but our back porch is still blocked off. The forecast calls for even more this Wednesday. Perhaps when my family arrives on Wednesday night they will be greeted by a white layer on the ground.

Thanksgiving is upon us, we've bought up all the necessary ingredients for the first thanksgiving at our house. Everyone that hears it is Katie's first time cooking a turkey is overzealous to share their favorite tips and tricks. Very kind of them, but we'll have to keep it simple this year.

With school out for a whole week I've been doing some things around the house, relaxing mostly. We will be putting a few extra hours in at work for Christmas money. After the break is over we have only three more weeks of school before our real vacation. I'm looking forward to Christmas this year like never before.

Katie and I hope thankfulness has filled your heart in a special way during this time of year. Happy thanksgiving.

Second Snow

Early Sunday morning it started snowing for the second time here. We saw flurries for most of Sunday that didn't amount to much, then it stopped for most of Monday. Monday night is when the real snow came. We woke up this morning to about 1.5 inches of snow on the ground. By the time the snow stopped on Tuesday we had about 4 inches. Katie and I both love snow and weren't willing to pass up this opportunity so after school and work were all done for the day we threw on a few layers of clothes and headed outside. First on the agenda was a snowman. It didn't take long to figure out that the snow was too powdery to amass a snowman of a decent size. We built him as high as we could, then got bored and moved on to snow angels. Time flies when you're laying in the snow and it was dark before we knew it. We headed inside and cleaned up for a dinner at Burger King and an evening walking around Wal Mart.

A surprise after opening the front door

Digging out the car to drive Katie to work

Wish that were our house

There's our house!

I'm disappointed that our snowman has turned out like E.T.

His looks don't seem to bother Katie

They're so cute!

This seemed like an interesting picture at the time...

Suiting up for the Appalachian adventure

Right at this point a snow angel doesn't seem like such a good idea

Tuesday I finished my largest project yet which was also my last big assignment before thanksgiving break. With that out of the way I'm almost done for the week. I wish I could say thanksgiving week was going to be a vacation but for the most part it isn't. Katie and I decided to take the days off school and get a few extra hours at work in the beginning of the week. At least we have Thursday off and will be spending all day with family and friends.

Around Town

Friday we received our third care package, this time from my dad. It was a very nice surprise to dig into after we got off work at 8:00. They sent all sorts of holiday decorations, candy and nick-nacks.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas just down the road. We have one more week of classes and then a full week off. You may have guessed from our extended silence on the blog that times have been busy. Teachers are fitting in the final projects and exams before the break so schoolwork has been especially taxing on my time but still rewarding. With great anticipation Katie and I look to next Friday when we can finally rest for a few days. I look forward to having at least one day when there is no school or work, a day that has not occurred since the beginning of September. But more than looking forward to rest, we are eagerly awaiting a time of giving thanks with family and friends for what God has done with us this year. Of course a feast of turkey, mashed potatoes and assorted deserts is an added bonus for this time of year.

Since our last post Katie has blown through two more books. We have spent some time getting to know new people at our church this week. The people of Appalachia are a little reserved at first, as most people are. But once they get comfortable, you are inducted into their family. We are blessed to see people we know all around town. That may be because “around town” is a small radius and there’s nowhere else for all these people to go, but oh well. Hope everyone is eagerly awaiting thanksgiving.

Cocaine, Communists and Conversions

Our missions conference this week was incredible. It was my first, obviously, so I had no idea what to expect. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we enjoyed several missions oriented messages in chapel. On Tuesday and Wednesday we also attended class sessions taught by visiting missionaries on a topic of their choice. On Tuesday I attended a session on discipling and one on Columbia entitled “cocaine, communists and conversions.” On Wednesday I attended a session taught by a missionary who is translating the bible for the remote village he ministers in and one by an older gentleman who broadcasts Bible messages to Muslims in North Africa.

I really could say so much about what I’ve learned from this missions conference but I don’t have time to type nor memory to recall it all. I will say that the greatest challenge God put on my heart was that I wasn’t fully open to the idea of being a missionary. I never have felt called to missions and I still don’t but I can say that at the beginning of the conference I wasn’t even open to the idea. Regardless of whether or not God wants to use Katie and I as missionaries, I do know he wants us to be open and willing to serve in any area he calls us. The second greatest challenge I received was to be willing to witness to anyone anywhere. One of the speakers presented the idea that “missions” and “evangelism” don’t begin when you arrive in a foreign country, nor do they cease when a missionary retires. It is our duty as followers of Christ to share the hope of salvation that is in us at any opportunity we receive. Overall this week has been a very helpful experience. Thursday we returned to our normal school schedule to do the same things we had done before the conference but this time with more zeal.

As I write this on Thursday night Katie is attending a cooking class with some friends at our church. I sit at home like a lonely bachelor in a large house, just tapping away at the keyboard. With Katie gone I had nobody to talk to so I settled for you…no offense.

By the way, we did manage to get the clean your room video from coffeehouse. Unfortunately we could not successfully upload it to the internet. After many failed attempts I decided to put it to rest for now.

I Has Coffeeee

Coffeehouse was a blast on Thursday night. The turnout was obviously much greater than even the hosts expected. It was held in the school’s dining hall, whose walls seemed to buckle due to the large crowd. The theme for this years coffeehouse was a triathlon, because it was composed of three main parts. The first part was the showing of a “clean your room” video. The deans wanted a way to illustrate how the dorm students should clean their room, so at the beginning of the year they encouraged the students to make their own instructional videos. Creativity ran wild and instructions were bare minimum but it sure was fun to watch. I wanted to have the video to show everyone but I haven’t had a chance to ask the producer yet.

The second part was an assortment of skits performed by our theatrically inclined classmates. We were able to captures a little bit of the skits and we now make them available for your viewing pleasure.

Unfortunately we don’t have a camcorder so we couldn’t do any hardcore videotaping, just what could be done on our digital camera. The third event was an artwork judging. Every table in the room was lined with paper when we arrived and it was our duty, before and during the ceremonies, to doodle, draw and create whatever we could with crayons. A picture of the winner is featured at the top of the post. Here is what Katie and I drew.


That was the highlight of the end of our week. Saturday afternoon begins our weekend because we always work on Saturday morning. We are looking forward to relaxing this weekend and the beginning of next week because there are no classes Monday, Tuesday of Wednesday.