Fresh Books

So I finished Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. It takes place in Kabul and is such a good read. This guy is a doctor here in America but grew up in Kabul so knows first-hand how it is there. Jed is possibly going with his Dad in May and the book did NOT help at all with my feelings about him being in Afghanistan but hey, my mother-in-law sends her hubby all the time (there's a NICS school in Kabul) so I have nothing to complain about. Anyways, it helped me understand the war better!

NOW I'm reading a bit of a lighter book, David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day. He's an incredible writer, a homosexual, and a complete riot. He has me laughing my head off! Seriously, he writes books of short story/essay type writings and everyone must read him. At least google him and read "Go Carolina". It will have you addicted. Actually here's the link to that story. http://www.twbookmark.com/books/49/0316777722/chapter_excerpt10135.html Out.

...and I'll cry if I want to

Post #3!! Friday, as a huge welcome home, Kristin and Meghan, my sweet neighbor girls and friends, threw a birthday bash for me. There was SO MUCH FOOD! These girls are awesome. God knew I needed them and planted them as our partners in our duplex. We had so much fun. The gal on the left is Meghan and on the right is Kristin. Meghan is getting married in September. This picture is of my "entertaining". OK~it's totally posed. Daniel and Lauren are the new friends (the couple in purple and brown) and the other one is Meghan's fiance who is a total sweetheart!
And this is fun with the twizzlers. mwahahahha

This is Bethany...and my side skin...isn't that pleasant?
So the moral is that we had a total blast...there were more pictures and people but i won't bore you will ALL the details. It was a fun party!

Myrtle Beach

The secod post in one day: After we drove back from Memphis last Monday, we spent Tuesday in the Burg and left Wednesday for South Carolina where we met our soon-to-be sister in law Brooke. We love her!! Daniel, Jed's brother (Daniel is the 2nd, Jed is the third) proposed this week to her. They are both teachers at the NICS school in Seoul, Korea. Brooke and Daniel will be married soon and I love my new sis! It was so fun to get to know her. The 4 of us played miniature golf, ate ice cream, went to the beach, played air hockey and other child games at an arcade, ate together, and had many LONG talks, all in 1 1/2 days. This chick is awesome and will make a SWEET addition to the Hale fam....it never hurts to add another girl to the equation.... Here is a random picture of Jed and me on my birthday at Rachel's swim meet. He's taken gals!
Daniel and Brooke together. We love these two and cannot wait for them to be the newest Mr. and Mrs. Hale.
The Brothers...they like each other.

Back!

Well, we're back. Here's a picture of Nikki. Can you guess what happened? Yes, the first day we were there in Memphis, at Mom and Dad Hale's house, she started her first heat cycle and now, 19 days later, she's still not finished. This is a picture of her not-so-adorable diaper that helped keep blood from being on the Hale's floor. Despite the circumsances, Nikki had a great time in the Hale's backyard. Finally, a fenced one! Enough about the dog... This is a picture taken on my birthday. My favorite present, Ashley flew in to the Memphis airport and this group went with us to pick her up.
This is a night at Aunt Lisa's with the Stone girls and Molly. We had so much fun. This is my best friend Rox.
The highlight of the week was the birthday present from my grandmother, Minnie. She took me to see Les Miserables starring Randal Keith as Jean Valjean. This is their last tour! It was so powerful and honestly, one of the best experiences of my life. That man can sing and act like I have never seen.
This is Rachel Elizabeth, my adorable cousin, at her swim meet! She placed fifth and won this green ribbon but it was the sixth place PINK ribbon that really made her happy. She is so stinkin' cute! Her mom coached her on during her races and it was fun to watch the team.


We had an amazing time in Memphis but always leave wishing that we had more time there. I got to see Jed's family (mine too :) ) and see my 2 beautiful sisters. Amy Katherine is as tall as ever (don't tell her...we want the sweet sister to stay sweet) and Ashley is stinking hysterical as always. She always seems to lighten things up in a room. Anyways, we spent some much needed quality time with Jed's parents but only wish that we had more days to be with them. They're amazing. Here's a picture of them playing out Titanic in Tunica where we visited the new Mississippi River Museum.

During this trip, we found that we will be able to make a trip to Seoul, Korea with Jed's entire family. Words cannot describe how excited we are. This means that all 6 of the original Hale's will be reunited along with all wives, fiancees, and children. I am pumped about this but also about seeing the place where my husband was born and raised. He's always told me so many stories and I cannot wait to see all the places these stories took place.

The Jet Plane

So here we are...packed and ready to head out the door for a drive to Memphis. I have to run to the school to drop off my final test and then it's off to pick Jed up and drive drive drive. I am so excited about seeing all of my friends and family and cannot wait to partay all week wink wink. My birthday is Thursday which should add a lil twist to the Memphis trip. The only thing I want is to see Pirates 2. I know I know, but I LOVED the first one. Anyways, we are ready for some serious fun and as an added bonus, my sisters are both going to be there next weekend. Talk about exciting! We will have party with the Stone gals night (twice in the 3 day weekend I believe) and I am PUMPED. (For those of you who don't know, Roxanne is my dear dear long-time friend in Memphis that I long for daily :) and her sister Jessie is Ashley's (my sister) good friend. Aly is the youngest of the Stone girls and is like a sister to me. These 3 gals rock my world and have since 6th grade...that's getting to be a long time.) So~off we go into the wild blue yonder...hopefully we will arrive safe and sound....mwah!

The Sentence of Death

"To come to Christ as a saint is very easy work. To trust to a doctor to cure you when you believe you are getting better is very easy. But to trust your physician when you feel as if the sentence of death were upon your body, to bear up when the disease is rising in your skin and when the ulcer is gathering its venom, to believe even then in the efficacy of the medicine-that is faith . . . then, even then, especially then-as a sinner, to trust Christ is the most daring feat in all the world"

~from Charles Spurgeon's pamphlet "Faith", on Christ as the substitute for sinners

Highly recommend this book. A friend gave me one and I'm struggling my way through it with her....ouch!

Evolution of Dance

Guys~you must go to this site. My mom send this to me and it's hilarious. Makes me want to dance.

www.evolutionofdance.com

Enjoy!

Campers

We spent last night camping at a state park with our friends Emily and Steve. Needless to say, it was certainly a good break from school, work, and Lynchburg altogether. These are pictures of Emily and I in our tent laughing (as usual) and Steve and Emily together.














This morning the gals slept in a bit while the boys went fishing and then we made Boxcar Children Pancakes. We then loaded the car only for Jed and I to combine efforts and break his fly rod and a rod of Steves. Fortunately, the reels are okay but the ends of the rods must be replaced. This is another extra thing we get to pay for on top of a few other unexpected mishaps in the last few months. I was so frustrated and then sat back in the car only to be shown that this was another reminder that my control freakishness when it comes to our budget is a bit out of hand. OK~a bit might be an understatement at this point. We are so blessed and fortunate to have food on the table every night, our bills paid, and money leftover for occasional fun things. I have become obsessive about saving for our future and it was good for me today to remember that a few hundred dollars is nothing for God. He is going to provide financially for our future on His own and no amount of my own planning will decide that. SO~I sat up a bit straighter knowing that HE was on my side and everything was up to Him, not me. Seems like this works a lot better because I suck at planning evidently. On our way out, the boys fished awhile longer (we were down to one rod:)) while Emily and I took a hike with Nikki around the park. It was beautiful and so good to enjoy nature for awhile and, of course, pick ticks off of us for the rest of the day.















This week will be my last week of summer school. I will have completed 9 credits this summer and am pumped about Friday afternoon when the beginning of an entire month off of school will begin. As soon as class ends , we head to Memphis to be with our family and friends. We're pretty excited about going and I know Jed is ready for a week off of work. He's worked so stinking hard this semester and summer that I cannot wait for him to enjoy some serious relaxation time. We're both pumped about spending 12 hours together on the way there and back and even more pumped about being with the family. We haven't spent much time with the Hales since Thanksgiving and a whole lot has happened in this family. I am so thankful for in-laws that I get EXCITED about seeing. I love being in their home and cannot wait until a week from now. Aight~I'm out for a few days.....