YO YO from Bangkok!

OK let me try this out! So glad we are a apart of this. Love this clocks!

Jessa I am praying that God would give you a friend that gives you freedom. Freedom to be Jessa. She is there in New England. And one for Adam. I understand though. Sometimes I feel a little stuck in the middle on the race. It is like yes these people know me, but they didn't know me before. But God has just been saying--let them love you. Let them in too. Don't be afraid to make new family. God wants me to be bold and start the process of vulnerbility. EEE!

Love you girls so much. Just sitting in Bangkok suppose to be flying to the next leg of the race in South Africa. There is a riot in the Bangkok airport, so our flight has been cancelled. I guess some bombs have gone off too. We are about 30 min away, so we are safe. Not to worried. I guess there are some protesters against the Thai minister. He was flying in today.

oh was able to see my foreign exchange student yesterday. I think Amy might remember Peach. It was awesome to see their family. I went shopping with her aunt for 7 hours. I couldn't buy much considering I am still living out of a backpack. She kept saying "oh nothing in that store will fit you>" They all think us americans are HUGE! And they don't mind saying it. Kinda funny. I get over it quick. NOthing personal. We all just laugh and I told them about the time we all went to the woods and made FATTY jokes for 5 days straight. they loved it!

Ok love you girls and think of you so much. Katy love the car! I can't believe it. GREEN TOO!

Kristen--one word Prego!!! Yeah. AHHHHHH!!! love it. lets see some pics.

Talk with you all soon. i have been posting more on the other site. http://tarastephenson.theworldrace.org oh and you should read a blog at www.sethbarnes.com about human trafficking. Quite Crazy! Seth is our adopted parents this year as well as the founder of AIM and the world race. Love you all and please eat some pumpkin pie with a lot a lot of cool whip.!

I can't help it!

I love this song by Beyonce', yes I know...cheesy but copy and paste this link and soon you'll be a lover too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VJFWH8vxcg
Oh and Jessa remember when you bought the first Destiny's Child cd? Remember what I bought??? Sysco " Let me see that thong!!" hahahaaa

A new hobby I suck at...

Hey ladies, so I tried golfing the other day. Me and David and our friends Emily and CJ went to a golf course last Saturday to try to golf. And by golfing I mean me and Emily driving the cart with Coors Light in the back making fun of the guys golfing...I tried to play a little but I seriously suck. David is actually really good. He went to Nationals back in high school (back in '95 baby!) so he's been trying to pick it back up. Would be a nice hobby we could do together if I wasn't so incredibly horrible. Pictures are of us at the last hole pretending we golfed...

So I was talking to David yesterday, one of those deep talks where you find out more about yourself in 30 minutes than you have for 20 years. And it made me reminise back to my quality time all of you ladies. Whether on the back yard trampoline, cow decorated room, bunk beds at camp, college dorm room with no where to sit but the floor, endless coffee shops...I miss our conversations. Like Jessa's last blog I second the feeling of missing true friends. Friends you don't think "oh man I'm going to sound crazy" when your talking, or misinterpret what your saying. Friends who know exactly what to say to make you feel better, all over a cup of chai. Those are the days I cherish, and will always. I pray for each of you. That you will find godly Christian women, who like coffee (be it with foam or sprinkles) deep talks, and an occiasional frisbee toss together. I pray you can find that one friend. I know we all miss being together, and I think that will always be. But God wants us to be exactly where we are, with the people we're with. Life is difficult and at times painful. But God is drawing us nearer to him in our days of desperation. Of loneliness. In those times I pray you will reach out to him, call his name, and he will answer. He is our truest friend. Our closest companion. Know that your loved by me, that I do pray for each of you on your journey in life. Know that your missed incredibly. During this time of Thanksgiving I thank God that I had the time I had with each of you and the moments we all remember sharing. The friendship I share with you all is enough to last me a lifetime. Thank you :) Enjoy your turkey!

Katy

it was so much better...

So, this weekend Chase Willsey came up to New Hampshire on a business trip to spread the word about his organization, Sower of Seeds within our church. It was so good to have him up here and hear about his life, his wife, and his passion. I forget what it is like to have people who know Jessa beyond our life at the church. I forget that there are people like me, I forget that there are people who like me for me, not what I do (or what I can do for them). Having a good friend up here was in a sense detrimental, because it made me realize how alone we are. It made me realize that New England is getting to me...and maybe not in a good way. I am forgetting how to have true, honest, deep conversations. I am forgetting how to be optimistic... I am not telling you guys this so that you can feel bad for me (what is that going to change?), I am telling you so that you can pray for us. Adam and I are lonely and becoming worn out. Pray that we are fed and feel full, pray that we can see our friends (both new and old) more often, pray that we can know Christ more. Thats all and thanks for praying.

Dream car!!!

So this weekend was insaaaane! David and I have been looking for a car for nearly 6 months. We just sold David's Jeep Cherokee last month (finally). I don't think I've told you all that story which is pretty funny. Trying to sell a 1990 Jeep Cherokee with over 200,000 miles on it is not an easy task. Plus people around here aren't really into off roading vehicles as much as back home. So we had it on Ebay, Auto trader, newspaper you name it...no sale. So one day we got a call from a lady from ARKANSAS who wanted to buy it! She said she already bought it on Ebay and would wire the money to us immediately. Then she said she had a truck in the area that would pick it up the next day. So after trying so long to sell it we sold it in 2 days!! Miracle truely.

Ok, back to the present. David and I have both wanted a 2005-2007 Subaru Outback Sport Impreza since we've been dating. And we've been shopping for one for 6 months. There's something about the 2007's headlights and slope of the hatch back that we wanted. But in Florida there aren't many Subaru's available, especially used. Not many people value All Wheel Drive here as much as other places that actually use it. So we've been shopping and shopping, finding 2009's- waaay too expensive, 2005's that are stick...but we then find one two hours away that is EXACTLY what we want AND a 2007!!! So we're so excited but we work opposite schedules so we have to wait to go shopping together. We happen to go this weekend because I have the weekend off to go to a Coldplay concert in Ft Lauderdale (that's a different story!). So we go to the dealership and find our EXACT car that we want, its also green! So after a butt load of paperwork we get our dream car!! We feel so enormously blessed! With the sell of the Jeep we were able to put money down and lower our monthly payment! So I can say that with patience and waiting, we were able to get the car we wanted, at the price we wanted!!!

Votie Voterston

This is my "have you voted today" face...

I finally figured this out!!!

BWAAAHahahaa I finally figured it out...just took me longer! The problem was that I was logging in with my current gmail account which already had a blogger page attached to it. So I attached it to a different email....Eureka moment!
I am so excited to read everyone's blog. And Kristen...amazing 'stash you got going on!
Exicting day today eh? David and I just got back from the voting office. Was a pretty easy, quick process. It was pretty funny voting here, I mean its the first time I haven't voted in Arkansas and the surrounding population is...quite different. I think David and I were the minority age group. But, then again, our polling station was in a country club...so yeah, a bit different. I always feel the most American when I release my voting ballot to be counted. My chest puffs with pride that I am able to be a part of the process (though in the last two elections the popular vote didn't win it) nonetheless its a great feeling!!
Its great to hear from everyone and I do agree that we need baby pictures soon (I guess there almost toddlers now!!!!) :) Love you all!!

hope I'm doing this right....

I'm crossing my fingers this is how I'm supposed to be doing this. I'm a blogger virgin so be patient. This blog was such a good idea I think about ya'll all the time and wonder how ya'll are. A huge COGRATS to Kristen I'm so excited for you and Steven. The first heartbeat appointment is so exciting. Your going to look so cute pregnant. Not going to write alot just in case I got this thing wrong.
Miss ya'll and hope everyone is happy!!!
Shelby

Bats...

So, I had a bat in my house...for a week. It was ridiculous. We discovered it last Sunday, and then it went into hiding. We searched high and low for this thing. We really thought it had just flown away somehow. Well, last night, the dog jumped up rather quickly and ran to our second bedroom. She rarely does this, so wonderful loving husband went to check on her. He ran back into the living room crouched like a scaredy-cat (don't tell him I said that...) Meanwhile, I'm in the living room finishing best book ever -- Redeeming Love. Just as she is shedding layers on her way to Michael for the last time, I see the bat. What a moment killer, huh? Now, I've come across bats before, but I was in their space and it wasn't all that freaky. Sure a little, but not all that much. This one was in MY HOUSE. A lot freaky. So anyway, I spaz out and run to the coat closet to don Adam's winter coat. I pull the hood up and zip the front. Oh, I also put my shoes on...I don't want rabies!! Then I cowered in the corner, like a scaredy-cat. Adam, being manly and all, follows the dog who follows the bat into our bedroom. Awesome. There is a freaking bat in my bedroom. I find the tennis racket and Adam finds a butterfly net which has been loaned to us expressly for this purpose. I guess bats can fly through any other net. Awesome. Adam, being manly and all, swats a couple of times at the incredibly fast bat. He finally hits it with all his adrenaline and it falls with a thud behind my dirty clothes basket. Awesome. We find the screeching bat inside my dirty clothes. Again, awesome. Adam, still being manly and all, digs it out with the butterfly net and traps it with the tennis racket. Finally. Now we have to get it out of our house. Adam wasn't a quick thinker like myself and doesn't have shoes on. I guess he wanted rabies. I have to grab the contraption and let the bat go. Once I got outside (which was a task because we had unexpectedly redo our bathroom so our bathroom sink is in the middle of our kitchen as well as the shop-vac and other various things...it was like an obstacle course. Awesome.) So, once I got outside, I had to undo the contraption. Not all that hard when you're not stressing. Somehow, these things got tangled and I had to undo them. Awesome. I got it untangled (thank you, Jesus) and the stupid thing flew away. NO MORE BAT IN MY HOUSE!!! Hooray! And thanks for reading. Love you all!!!

P.S. you can now come to my house and not see a bat.

Big Changes...

What?

So I should be working but it's Monday and I'm at a coffee shop so here I am posting. So I went to the doctor on Friday and heard the baby's heartbeat, it was crazy. It made all this feel a lot more real, I was putting everything off but I got out of that appointment and was like we have to get ready! Other than being preggo there isn't much going on, Stephen will get really busy with school at the beginning of December but right now its pretty calm. We're going to Arkansas for Christmas anyone else going to be there? I'm really excited to election day tomorrow, I think we're going to go to a big watch party in Denver, of course there will be free booze and I won't be able to partake, but Steve is loving always having a DD.
Well, Love you all!!