I have wanted a Digital SLR camera for many years. So, earlier this year, I decided that I would save for one, and for the last 4 months, I have. All money from birthday and Christmas went into this camera. I ordered it on Cyber Monday and it arrived last Saturday. I’ve been having fun getting to know my new camera.
Here are a few fun pictures from the last few days.
Daisy
Donald
I realise that I kinda disappeared from the blogging world. To some extent that has been purposeful. I’ve missed it. I’ve also had a lot going on, and several things in life have been frustrating and I haven’t wanted that to take over my blog. I’ve been journalling (yes, with a notebook and pen) again a lot more. This has helped me get some of my thoughts in order and I feel a little more like if I decided to blog about them, they would be less of a rant and more thoughtful for the sake of my readers.
Anyway, moving away from that subject, but don’t worry, I will come back to it at some point…
Evan and I are going to Kenya. To Nairobi and surrounding areas in December/January. We need to book tickets this weekend, but we plan to leave December 26th and return January 10th. This came up at the last minute, because there was a trip going and several people cancelled, so my boss asked Evan and I to go.It will be a great trip. E91 currently supports a couple of projects in Kenya, and we will get a chance to see two of those. We will also see a number of other projects that we do not currently support, and so this trip is a number of things for E91. It is a chance to see the outcome of some of the money we have sent over, and a chance to consider new projects.
Here are two things I am excited to see:
The CMF Hope Partnership -this is work taking place in the Mathare slums in Nairobi. An area of less than a square mile with more than 1million people living in extreme poverty.
The second is a remote village, Mbita, that will take a day of travel to get to, but there is a school and orphanage that E91 gave $1500 to renovate the school for the children. These kids were sitting on a dirt floor, getting bitten by bugs day after day, just so they could learn. Simply giving $1500, they were able to put in cement floors, so the bugs can no longer get in through the dirt and each child now has a desk and chair to sit at while they do their work. The school was also able to build a kitchen to provide better meals for the children. We now want to establish a way for them to become more self-sufficient by providing a chicken coop and chickens for the eggs that they can eat and sell to other local villages.
Evan and I need to raise around $3500 for this trip. We are also taking over childrens tylenol and vitamins for the orphanges we will be visiting. I am excited. Not just because Kenya has been on my ‘to visit’ list for a long time, but because I have been hearing about these projects for the last 18 months, and I can’t wait to see them first hand. And now, I definitely want to get a Digital SLR Camera for Christmas! Hopefully, I can save enough before we leave to buy one!
I haven’t blogged for a while, and I have missed it. I’ve thought about it, logged on, and it just never went any further. I have found a new time waster, and if you are my friend on Facebook, you what what it is: www.mylifeisaverage.com Three days running, I have laughed until I had tears in my eyes. They aren’t all funny, but when you find one that is…
Also, next Thursday, 5th November, is Bonfire Night in England. Evan and I are going to have a party to celebrate, with lots of English traditions (or at least as many as I can come up with). If you live around here, please feel free to join us, we will start around 6pm. We will have snacks, but you might want to eat something before you come.
Is it wrong to pray to win a competition? I am seriously about to pass out at the possibility of winning this scrapbook storage system:
This is called The Workbox and can be found on The Original Scrapbox website: http://www.theoriginalscrapbox.com/
One of the blogs I read on a regluar basis is running a comptetition to win one: http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/2009/09/28/who-wants-to-win-a-workbox/
I don’t have time right now to enter the competition in all the ways described, but over the next few days, I will be following up!
Edit: I have entered the comp in several ways now!!
I’m also adding tags for The Original Scrapbox, Scrapbook storage, Workbox.
Today I got to hold Isaiah for the second time. My roommate from college (and her husband) just had their first baby. I went to see them at the hospital, and today she stopped by my office. While I was holding him, I whispered to him several times that I am his favorite, non-related, Aunt. He gave me two of the cutest smiles ever! I figure if I tell him enough, by the time he can talk, he will believe it 
I am posting this particularly for my other roommate, MN, who refuses to comment on my blog and instead remains anonymous. Hear that? I’m his favorite…and he’s less than two weeks old :)
Ok, so when I said watch out for change on here, I didn’t mean that I was going to suddenly disapear. However, that is what I did…but maybe I’ll be back more regularly now that my life is settling back into more of a routine.
My mom’s fiance sent me this link this morning, saying it was Sam’s interview with Fox 59!!! Seriously??? Wow, I had no idea my kid brother was going to be on TV. At least I got to watch it online, and now you can too.
Ok, moving on from my bragging…I could upload all the links of when he is in the local paper, but I won’t do that to you. I’ll leave that to my sister.
Now, back to what I said before…about change…well, I finally figured out how to personalise and fix the coding on Blogsome so that I can design my own template. I asked Evan if he could help me, and he said yes. So, I posted it on my blog….then, Evan got like 4 jobs for his consulting business and now suddenly, being paid to design logos and websites for people is more important than doing a free one for his wife. Oh well, I don’t complain at spending the money, so I guess my template can wait for now. But…it will come one day, so just wait patiently with me for it!
On to other stuff. I am finally harvesting veggies from our garden. Not too many, but we didn’t plant all that much. We planted really late in the season, so we were not sure we would even get anything. However, we have had at least a couple peppers per week and about 5 or 6 cucumbers off of 1 plant this week, and lots of tomatoes from our 3 plants. So, really not too bad for a very late planting of only about 8 plants total.
Well, I need to get to work, and then off to the Lapel Football game again tonight.
Last night was the first game of the season for the Lapel Bulldogs. This year, my brother is a senior and playing Quarter Back and Safety. The Herald Bulletin ran a story on their WIN last night!
I am excited for this football season. I understand a lot more than I did last year, so the plays actually make some sense to me now and makes the games more enjoyable. However, the weather last night couldn’t have been worse for this early in the season. During the second quarter is starting raining, but by half-time is was pouring with rain. The weather has said a 30% chance of scattered showers. We were prepared for that, not for driving rain for more than half the game. Yuck, we were soaked, and I was very glad to get home and into dry clothes.
be prepared for a little bit of a change around here….
and no, i am not pregnant
As I was on my way out of work today, I called Evan as I always do and he suggested that we meet somewhere for dinner to celebrate our Anniversary. I was momentarily confused, because we got married in January. Then I remembered, it is our 1 year anniversary of having moved to the States. For the first time since 1989, I am calling America "home" and yes, I used those correctly. Any TCK or ATCK understands what I mean by the concept of home…for more of that rant, see this post.
So, in honour of this anniversary, I tried to think of something fun to do on my blog and I really didn’t think of anything other than a quick reminder of all that has happened in the last 12 months.
3rd July 2008 - pack up and sell my belongings in England and fly to America
August 2008 - I got a job at E91. I bought a car and totaled it two weeks later when I hit a deer coming home from my little brothers football game.
September 2008 - Purchased a new car, a Mustang GT. See pictures here. I never did name this car…suggestions welcome!
October 2008 - I turned 27. I also flew back to England and finished the process of becoming a British Citizen. I still have not sent off the paperwork for my passport, maybe I should do that.
November 2008 - I cut my hair and donated it to Locks of Love for the second time
December 2008 - I went to Costa Rica on a missions trip. I also celebrated Christmas with all 3 of my siblings for the first time since 1999 (I think that was the last time all of us were in the same place for christmas, but please correct me if I am wrong).
January 2009 - Evan and I celebrated our 5th wedding annivesary by going to China Buffet on request of our 5 year old neice. She loved it, I’m not so sure about us, but we did enjoy the company! It also snowed in January, a lot, and I hated all of it.
February 2009 - We closed on our very first home. Nestled on 6.3 acres with a silo, a pool and a wrap around porch, it was all we wanted in a first home!
March 2009 - We spent the ENTIRE month working on our house: http://autumninengland.blogsome.com/2009/03/ Thankfully, Evan’s truck did not have to be replaced that month, even though at one point, we thought it might.
April 2009 - We MOVED IN to our own home after spending 9 months living with Evan’s parents. I am not sure we can ever express the full gratitude that we feel towards them for allowing us to live there. I do know that as grateful as I am to them, I am loving having my own home again!
May 2009 - I trained for, and walked a half marathon. Wow, never again, I say. Occasionally, if I have sat for a long time, my knee still hurts me after walking 13.1 miles in 3.5 hours.
June 2009 - Evan was ordained at the end of June. This also completed the 6 month contract he had at Brady Lane church and he has started searching for work again. I know he loved working there, and is sad to leave, but I also know God will lead us to the next step. We also held an open house following the ordination.
July 2009 - I don’t know what this month holds for us, but I am excited to see what comes our way…I am going to see a dog on Sunday, so maybe that is what I will post about this time next year…who knows!
Thanks to anyone who vited for Blakedown Primary school the other day. THEY WON!!!
Get free blog up and running in minutes with Blogsome
Theme designed by Chris M