Georgia Friends

A Group Picture

Of some of our GA friends.

(Andy was out of town for work, so is not in the picture)

Indiana

Pictures to be added soon.

WICKED

We were able to see WICKED while we were in CA. What an amazing show. Some people are just so incredibly talented. We had a great night with Andy's family, and missed those that weren't there.

A.R.M.Y

A Righteous Mormon Youth

Girls Camp was a blast. The Girls were AWESOME, the weather was perfect and I had a great time. It was wonderful being around so many quality girls for the week.

Andy (aka Mr. Charis :-) was asked to come up for a day, as they needed men at the camp at all times. It was great to have him there with me.

Lindsey & Me at the Waterfall on the hike.

Half way up the 425 stairs

Still looking a refreshed. The first day at camp.

Crazy Cute Girls

1st and 3rd year hike

Georgia STORMS

A few weeks ago we had the craziest THUNDER & LIGHTNING storms. I have seen quite a few storms but nothing compared to that one. Andy and I both woke up to the same lightning strike. The sky was alight for a few seconds at a time and it was the craziest/scariest thing I've seen in a while. Well after talking with my neighbor (okay, her name is Kate - so I don't have to keep calling her my neighbor) I come to find out this is not too uncommon for Georgia. Since then the weather has been pretty calm...until last night.

A crazy storm came through our area, and this is what we woke up to.

And this is ONLY a picture of the tree that fell on our property and is our responsibility.

Now this may not seem all that big but the root seriously stands about 10 feet tall and HOW ON EARTH ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET RID OF THIS THING!!!!!!! Not to mention we quite like having the trees and love our lot. Now as soon as the wind blows I get paranoid that another tree is going to fall down.

You know you ARE in the South when...

Your neighbor asks you if you want to go in on a calf with them. No more buying our meat from the friendly grocer. No, we go straight to the butcher and we (together with our neighbors) order a WHOLE cow, we tell him exactly how we want the meat cut and we go pick it up and bring it home in our own containers.

That's what we'll be doing for our meat supply next year, well when our neighbors run out of their $1500 worth of meat ;-)

Inspiring Quote

Sometimes (well often times ;-) I need a little convincing. Maybe you do too.

A quote from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity:

God's work in our lives can be painful, but His ultimate goal is to transform us into something better. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of — throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but he is building up a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.

Blog Therapy

If you thought blogging was a time waster you can rest assured it is not. Not only is it NOT bad, but some actually believe it is a GOOD thing.

Take a look at this article.

So, BLOG AWAY

3's

Have you ever heard that things often happen in 3's?

Well this week I've received 2 pieces of good news.

1.
I got into UGA. I'll start in the Fall. You'd (well I'd) think I'd get automatic admission seeing as my husband is on faculty and well I can't really go away to school. But I don't, but I did get in all by myself. That's good news.

2.

My Green Card finally came, it only took a whole year. I assumed my ten year one would be approved but still you want the card in hand to know for sure. Well it arrived today. Yay. No more renewing and paying attorney fees and going to appointments. Next step - CITIZENSHIP. It's not that I want to give up my SA Citizenship, I just won't renew my SA Passport when it expires (in 10 years ;-) Renewing a SA Passport in the US is a hassle.

3.

I am still waiting for that one :-)

You know you are NOT from the South when...

You want to call 911 or at least the push the alarm, when you see a tiny flash outside. Nope, no burglar in our backyard turning his flashlight on and off.

Just a LIGHTNING BUG

Courage

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I will try again tomorrow". 

Mary Anne Radmacher

Ferndale

The world does not seem that big when you have Google Earth
But it does when you have to buy a plane ticket to visit home

Ferndale High
In all it's glory....

Stressed?

Take a look here

Happy Popping

How's your bracket?

I can't say I LOVE Basketball but Andy really does. For the past few years I've been filling out a bracket. I know nothing about the teams so I just guess who will win. It definitely makes March Madness alot more fun... for me and Andy. For the sake of our marriage I've picked UCLA to wih the championship ;-)

My Picks

HAPPY 100 POSTS

99

That's my final grade for my math class :-) That may not be a big deal to most but I barely passed Standard Grade Math in Matric, so I'm pretty happy... oh and this is my 99th post!!!

Enjoy Your Hot Chocolate

Anything with the word Chocolate grabs my attention!!!!!!!!! So of course I read this forward when it appeared in my inbox.

Thanks, Charli :-)

Enjoy Your Hot Chocolate

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortmentof cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: 'Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

And enjoy your hot chocolate.

Worth of a Soul

Here is the video footage which inspired the picture.

The Worth of a Soul

If you've read my blog over a period of time, you'll know by now that my brother and and sister-in-law have adopted a little black girl. I saw this picture on a blog and I just love it. Perhaps even more so because of Jessica.

When I first posted this picture I did not know the story behind it. Take a look here if you are interested in reading more about the picture.

New Neighbor

One of my neighbors just sent me these pictures. This otter lives in the pond in our development - I've said before that we live in the middle of nowhere :-) These kinds of neighbors remind me of that :-)

UTAH

Andy attended a conference at the U of Utah this past weekend. It was a working/skiing/snowboarding conference :-) So while he worked and played I shopped, visited with friends and got my hair done :-) It was a great weekend.