it's official. . .

youtube hates me. i can't watch carsen's videos and i can't upload. i have a wonderful video i've been wanting to share with everyone and i can't put it on here for you. so i've done nothing. sorry about the no posting thing, but it's youtube's fault. please contact their service desk immediately.
thank you.

okay

if the really cute kids, the no running water, the lack of constant electricity, the complete absence of mc donald's or starbucks aren't luring enough for you, how about this? i have been sunbathing everyday this week. it's staying lighter later and i've been eating dinner on the porch. it is currently 10:11 pm and 73 degrees outside.

come visit!

bia. . . oh! i mean mia!

the long-awaited after shot! so long, in fact, that's she's changed her name and gained a family! my God be praised!

chicola!

well, bia and i (as we are best freinds) definately colored our hair red together tonight! it was maybe the highlight of her year so far ( i know it's early).

godspell

tonight i went to the dress rehearsal of "godspell" at st joseph's. i have been to many of their rehearsals helping read lines, cue music, etc. but this was amazing and i hadn't really been here for the 2nd act rehearsing . . . anyhow, walnes (who plays Jesus) got me thinking: what a horrible day when Jesus died. i mean, imagine what that time was like when the world was dark, the hour Jesus died. the love, the peace that had always existed between the Father and the Son was not . . . the constant communion that it was when God turned His back on Christ. in the play they turned out all but one red light over the cross and the mourners carried Jesus' body away in the darkness. i believe that the communion of the Father and the Son effects us here on earth today. God makes the sun to rise and fall on us all, right? it just seems that when He died all was not "right in the universe." i don't know if my thoughts are making sense, but i was just trying to imagine what it must have been like on earth when the Father's face was turned and the Son of Man was dead.

ah winter . . .

. . . in haiti! much warmer! we made a bit of a mess, but the handprints look great! carsen did one for each kid and made a rainbow. it's really cute!

fool

well, as some of you i'm sure read (my dad kinda blew my story) this fool packed her passport and sent it on ahead of me to the plane. i said a tearful goodbye to noah and brendie and then stood in line for security. then i realized the foolishness of my actions!! as though i never travel internationally!! c'mon, you-you! so, i had to talk to the ticket man and tell him that i had my passport only it was already on it's way to the plane without me. he had to get a baggage handler to go after my bags. he sent noah, bren (who graciously waited for me), and i down to baggage claim. we hung out there for about an hour and then they suggested we return to the ticket counter. well, the ticket man was surprised to see me for a third time, but was incredibly helpful and got my bags for me. swiftly i took out my passport and re-checked-in. at this point he told me that everyone on my flight had been rebooked onto a flight for ft. lauderdale. whatever. so, i hugged noah and bren for the 11th time and got on my plane and came home!

praise God He got this fool safely here!

look what i did!

noah took me for a ride on his motorcycle today before i have to go home! it was so wonderful! i loved it. he's taken me before, but it was before i moved to haiti; that was a long time ago. i really had a great time, but i did pray that the Lord would keep us safe so i could get home to my babies. not that noah wasn't incredibly safe . . . he had me riding with him, but still . . . i prayed!

tomorrow!

oh i can't wait to hold them again! i don't even care that noah pees in my bed! i really just need to get home and be with them again.

saturday . . .

is really far away. and i won't get there 'til sunday! oh i miss them so much!

aftermath

clearly, we had a good time!

masquerade balls . . . glass . . . slippers

okay, put down your remotes, pause jack bauer for a second and listen to this tale of . . . whoa! last night, as you know, was our 4th annual martini party. always a good time! this year was a masquerade theme and we were out to make the most of it!



we transformed the living room and it was a wonderland. we had a much smaller crowd than last year, but sometimes that's a really good thing. so, we talked, we had some martinis, we danced.




we wore crazy masks! it was a lot of fun! bradley, of course, was the life of the party with my top hat and the cane rocco the great made for him out of bamboo and electrical tape!

although i will say it was a bit hard to see out of my mask! but it was a great night! we were having so much fun.








at midnight we popped poppers and blew little horns with sparkly things; we watched the ball drop. it was perfect!










see? a little after midnight my brother called me and we were just getting into what a pleasant night it was when i heard some commotion downstairs. i looked out the window and some little punk without a shirt on (and missing a slipper) was yelling at some of my friends outside. i can't remember if i hung up with elias then . . . it gets a little foggy here because so much was happening at once. i called the cops, but noticed a lot of others were already calling, so i just hung up. the little punk actually hit both jeff and noah in the face!! he was high on something and possibly drunk too. he really wanted a fight. he was going off about missing a slipper . . . so brendie went up to her room and got one and threw it outside!! noah and jeff got everyone inside to wait for the cops AND THEN THE PUNK KID PUNCHED A HOLE THROUGH THE LIVING ROOM WINDOW!!
after this bren kinda got worried that noah would go back outside and hurt the punk so i sat with her on the stairs for awhile to calm her down while rocco and bradley cleaned up glass.


when the cops came noah, bren, and jeff had to make a citizens arrest. one of the nice cops threw bren her slipper back. yes, the punk did put on her slipper and walk away with it on. thankfully, since we had a small crowd and everyone kept their heads, that was pretty much the end of the night. i called my brother back to let him know everything was okay and we all sat around and discussed glass in our pajamas until i fell asleep on the couch. i came upstairs to go to bed and the others talked about watching 24 . . .

this morning while cleaning the confetti and what not up in the living room i found that punk's blood on the slipper...



so, it was an eventful new year's eve for us, but it worked out well. the quote of the evening goes to bradley of course. at about 1 or so he was sweeping up glass on the front porch and paused to say, "i just realized it's an hour into the new year and i've already swept like 4 times. i hope this doesn't set a precedence . . ."