To Wherever And Back

We have been having a wonderful time being in Tennessee! We have been super busy! We stayed in Nashville with Ryan's parents the first couple of nights we were home. We went to our niece's Christmas show on Sunday night and our nephew's Christmas program on Monday morning. We've had tons and tons of fabulous food. We think Ryan has gained 5 pounds this week (and that's a good thing)! Ryan got to go hunting for the first time on Tuesday with his brother. They didn't kill anything, but still had a great time. While they were out hunting, I got to roam the Green Hills Mall and Target with a Starbucks in my hand. The first few days we were home we were busy going to appointments (doctors, optometrists, dentists, eye brow waxer, hair dresser, etc.). Ryan took Adam and they went to the farm on Thursday night. Ryan was so happy because a lot of his friends stayed at the cabin this past weekend. Ryan even helped Adam kill his first deer! Twice! Adam got two deer in two days. Ryan was pretty excited about that. We have also been able to lay by the fire and watch Christmas movies...it's been a great week! One bad thing...I got sick. :( Saturday night I woke Ryan up to tell him he better get in another bed because I was sick and he didn't want to catch it. I was so miserable all night Saturday and most of the day yesterday. I had to miss church and I had to miss our family Christmas in Martin! :( I was SO disappointed! I started an antibiotic yesterday morning and am feeling MUCH better today! I've got my appetite back and am getting ready to go bowling for the annual Warren/Short Christmas Eve bowling tournament. Tonight we are having our candlelight Christmas Eve dinner with my family...fillets and crab legs! Can't wait! Tomorrow morning we will leave early to have breakfast in Nashville at Ryan's grandparents' house. We are so blessed this year. Ryan got his grades back and even though he doesn't like me to talk about them, I have to tell you that he did fabulous! I'm so proud! His good grades and getting to spend a few weeks at home with friends and family is all the Christmas present I need! Merry Christmas!
Love,
Ashley & Ryan

As most of you know, we did not get home Saturday night. After a lo-ong day of traveling to a total of 3 countries, we got to spend the night in the Quality Inn in Charlotte, NC. Saturday morning was busy. We were finalizing our move upstairs, turning in our key to our old apartment, packing our bags and trying to avoid getting carsick on the ride to the airport. Theo picked us up at 10:00. I had eaten (they say you're less likely to get car sick if you don't have an empty stomach) and taken a Dramamine. I rode in the front seat and had the air vents on my face. I still got sick. :( Theo didn't have to stop this time, but I felt very nauseous and he kept saying "Just 5, 10 more minutes." I was just praying that I wouldn't get car sick because I really hate throwing up. I made it to the airport! I was very queazy and a little green in the face, but I made it! There was no line at the check-in because we got there extra early. After we checked in we went to the small little waiting area. Our preacher and his wife were there. They came to the airport to see all of us off. At the last church service of the semester they passed a sheet around so we could write down what time our flight was. They came and brought us homemade banana bread for our trip. Wasn't that the sweetest thing? They had been there since 5:00 AM. Anyway, after a long 4 hour wait in a room that was crowded and had no air conditioning, it was time for our flight to Antigua. Only problem - no plane was there. Ryan was getting very worried. We learned that the planes are like a bus stop. They stop, some people get off, we get on and it takes off again. Once we got to Antigua we had to get in a very long line at Immigration. We had to fill out tons of forms as though we had been in Antigua for longer than 5 minutes. Questions like "purpose for visiting Antigua" and there was no box that said "just trying to get home after being in Dominica for four months". Once we got through Immigration we had to find our bags so we could re-check them. Ughh! Ryan was in a panic when he realized that only 3 of our 4 bags were there. A lady told us that we needed to go to the LIAT counter to file a missing bag report. I started roaming the area and found our other bag across the room mixed in with another flight. Whew! We ran and wheeled through customs and then had to go outside, around the building to the opposite side to re-check in at the US Air counter. When the guy handed us our boarding passes we saw that we weren't sitting together. He offered to change it, but our plane was supposed to board in 10 minutes and there were alot of other students in line behind us that needed on the same plane. We just left it alone and took off running, yet again. We had to go through security again. As we are trying to get through security it is about 2 minutes until we are supposed to board and there is a British lady holding up the line because she is on her cell phone. She can't walk through the metal detector with it, so nobody can do anything. She's in a great mood and is obviously in no hurry at all. In an English accent she says "I'm going to have to call you back. I'm trying to get through security". I was daydreaming about grabbing her phone and tomahawk tossing it across the room into the trash can. I'm telling you, I'm going to have to start taking blood pressure medicine on our travel days. We made it to our gate at 5:20, which is when we were scheduled to board. Guess what? The plane's just landing. We are an hour late leaving. Ryan and I don't get to sit together on the 4 hour flight which, by the way, was turbulent and, in case you forgot, I'm afraid of flying (even though I've been on around 33 planes this year). We arrive in Charlotte late and go through the same routine: immigration, recheck bags, etc. At the recheck counter there was a man announcing that if you were on ABC flights you could recheck your bags and hurry to your gate and if you were on XYZ flights that you had missed them and needed to go to another counter to get a hotel for the night. They told us we would make our flight, but needed to run. We ran like the wind. We got to security and, once again, came to a sudden halt. A foreign man couldn't understand that he had to take his laptop out of the bag before putting it through. Anyway, we waited about 5 minutes on him before we got to go through. I didn't even put my shoes back on. I just grabbed all our stuff, my shoes and Ryan's belt and took off running again. I told Ryan to go as fast as he could and I would be behind him. I'm slipping around on the tile floors in just my socks. I'm running so hard that my left side is cramping up and I'm breathing like a woman giving birth...but still running. We had to go to the furthest gate from the security point. We know because we asked. When Ryan got to the gate he got to watch as our plane backed away...without us. The airline put us on the morning flight and we had to go outside in the freezing cold (in our Tshirts) to wait for the shuttle to the hotel. We were tired, extremely disappointed, starving, and dirty. When we got to the hotel we counted out all of our US money and were able to order a pizza, which arrived around 1:00 AM. Since our bags were on their way to Nashville, we had to get toothbrushes and deodorant from the front desk. However, when we got out of the shower, we had nothing to put on but our dirty clothes that we had worn in Dominica, Antigua and now the U.S. Ryan had packed an extra pair of socks in his carry on. I'm not sure why, but I was very thankful. He gave them to me. I was so happy because my socks had been all over the Charlotte airport. Now that's love. Sacrificing your clean pair of socks after almost 15 hours of traveling. :)

Today is takeoff day! We are on our way home. I just took my last cold (very cold) shower of 2007 (hopefully)!!! Theo will be here in 2 hours. It will be a long day but, at the end of it, we will be in Nashville, TN! :) Here's our itinerary:

10:00(AST) Picked up to go to airport
11:00(AST) Arrive at airport (hopefully I won't have to stop due to being car sick this time)
3:00(AST) Leave Dominica
3:35(AST) Arrive in Antigua
5:45(AST) Leave Antigua
8:48(EST) Arrive in Charlotte
10:20(EST) Leave Charlotte
10:44(CST) Arrive in NASHVILLE!!!

Please pray for a safe trip and smooth flights that depart and arrive on time! See you soon! Thanks for keeping up with us this semester. :)

Love,
Ryan & Ashley

Thanks, Santa! :) I'm all set now! Even though I do have to bring some yellopages back with me to sit on since we can't adjust the steering wheel. We're big time in this car! It has an A/C and a CD player. We're the envy of the island! You can't quite see the racecar seat covers. I'll have to get a picture of those later. A few facts about the car:
1. You cannot reverse with the A/C on. It will die.
2. When it is in reverse it makes the beep beep beep noise. Like a dump truck.
3. The inside lining on the doors of the car has been ripped so that customs could swipe a stick in it and check for drugs.
4. I have to sit on the edge of the seat to see out. (which is why I'm bringing back something to sit on)
5. It is a 1994 Toyota Corolla with either 156,000 miles or kilometers on it.
6. It is everything we could have wanted! :)

OK, we need your help. Because the sun is so bright here everyone has tinted windows and the name of their car across the top. I think we're the only car on the road right now without a name. Any ideas? Here are a few that we have seen driving around:
1. Old Skool
2. Da Bomb 3. Not Out! Said the Umpire! 4. Why U Vex 5. Hard Core 6. Time Served 7. Fugitive
Get the idea? Help us name our car so that we can drive it proudly when we get back in January!

School is out!!! Woo-hoo! I have a husband again! :) Ryan doesn't know what to do with all this free time now. He hasn't had free time since he went to Miami in April. He's been working so hard and we've really, REALLY, been looking forward to this 4 week break! Wednesday was the last day of school and we were very excited to go get our new couch. Our landlord also owns a car rental place so Ryan had scheduled to have him bring a truck to our apartment at 5:00 so we could go get our couch. At 5:05 Ryan called to see where he was and he acted like he didn't know what day we wanted the truck. Not surprising! So when Ryan said "Today", he said "ok, give me 35 minutes". An hour and a half later, the truck arrives. Craig, Ralna and the kids were at our apartment so that Craig could help Ryan with the couch. I rode over there with Ralna and the kids. As we were leaving to bring the couch back to our apartment I realized that I had a big problem. BIG! I had walked through the grass and had stepped in an ant pile. They were all over my feet and jeans and were walking on the inside of my jeans up my legs. Yes, I had ants in my pants! Fire ants. I started sweating from the pain and Ralna said "girl, just rip those pants off"! I was very tempted, but am a little too concerned about being ladylike, so I toughed it out til we got back to the apartment. As soon as we pulled up I went flying out of the car, up the steps, past everybody into the bedroom and ripped those jeans off. I had big red whelps. :( It didn't hurt for long. I've gotten pretty tough since I moved here. So now I know what it means to have ants in your pants...I'd heard the saying before, but never understood...til now. I just changed clothes and we all headed to Tomato for a little farewell dinner. I'm really going to miss all our friends here! We've been one big, diverse family. Don't get me wrong...we can't wait to see our friends and family at home! Obviously!!! Anyway, everyone had a lot of fun at the Tomato and it was the first time that the guys could really relax and not feel like they needed to go home and study. Thursday morning we slept in til 9:00 and then we headed out to test drive a car. They drive on the left side of the road here and Ryan was scared to death the whole time I was driving, even though I was doing great. We had made our budget of what it would cost us for taxis next year and bought the car for less than that! And hopefully, we'll get most of our money back when we sell the car before we go to Miami. Having the car has made life much more enjoyable already! I'll post a pic in the next post. We went with the previous owner to change the insurance on the car and the office was right across from Mee-Kee-Dee's. Ryan loved the sign, since he can't wait to get some McDonalds!

Come on weatherman,
Give us a forecast snowy white.
Can't you hear the prayers
Of every childlike heart tonight?
Rockies are calling,
Denver snow falling,
Somebody said it's four feet deep.
But it doesn't matter,
Give me the laughter;
I'm gonna choose to keep

Another tender Tennessee Christmas,
The only Christmas for me.
Where the love circles around us,
Like the gift around our tree.
Well I know there's more snow
Up in Colorado
Than my roof will ever see,
But a tender Tennessee Christmas
Is the only Christmas for me.

Every now and then,
I got a wanderin' urge to see
Maybe California,
Maybe Tinsel town's for me.
There's a parade there;
We'd have it made there;
Bring home a tan for new year's eve.
Sure sounds exciting,
Awfully inviting,
Still I think I'll gonna keep

Another tender Tennessee Christmas,
The only Christmas for me.
Where the love circles around us,
Like the gift around our tree.
Well they say in L.A.,
It's a warm holiday;
It's the only place to be.
But a tender Tennessee Christmas
Is the only Christmas for me.

Ohh, you know I WANNA BE HOME

Well I know there's more snow
Up in Colorado
Than my roof will ever see,
But a tender Tennessee Christmas
Is the only Christmas for me.

A tender Tennessee Christmas
Is the only Christmas for me.



We're getting so close! Tomorrow night we get our couch! :) We're also considering getting a car from the same family. To all of you, the car is a hoopty machine that you would probably sneeze at. To us, it's a beaut. It's a beaut Clark! (Just a little Christmas Vacation for you). It's a 1995 Corolla that is white with a lot of paint chips, maybe missing 2 or 3 hub caps, and lot of weather damage to the paint, but it runs! Oh, and it has racecar seat covers! It would make life so much more enjoyable for us. I'll let you know what we decide. I've been making our budget for next semester...not fun.
I had an interesting day yesterday. I was going to meet Andrea to go to the gym when I realized I was locked in the apartment. I always lock our bedroom door because we keep our computer, passports, checks, etc. in there. I'm the only one who has a key to the bedroom. So I'm hurrying to meet Andrea and I try to open the front door and realize that Ryan locked the dead bolt. I reach in my bag to get my keys and see that I don't have them! I try to open the bedroom door (realizing I left them on the bed), but too late! I already locked the bedroom door! Basically, I'm locked in the living area/kitchen. At least I had food! I can't get out! I didn't want to bother Ryan in the library because this is an important week for studying so I was determined to figure it out on my own. I could hear the maids outside, but couldn't see them. I didn't want to start yelling "HELP! I'm trapped in my own house and I can't get out!". I kept calling Andrea, but she was on the other line and was not clicking over! This is why you should always click over...someone could be trapped. I called Rabbi (lives below us), but he wasn't home either. I called Ralna and she answered. When I told her what was going on she died out laughing and jumped in her car to come to my rescue. About that time Andrea called me back and she was outside my apartment. I could hear her as she was trying to explain to the maids that I needed them to let me out. I felt like such a moron. So that was my mini-drama yesterday. :)

I feel like we are almost home and, at the same time, I feel like Saturday night, December 15th, 10:30 PM will NEVER get here! The best part of being home will be seeing all of you! Here are some other things we are really looking forward to:
1. Being able to spend time together. When in Dominica - Ryan must study! We have to travel 4,000 miles to be able to have time together!

2. Sleeping in a bed that is bigger than a full and that is very, very clean!

3. Being able to walk around barefoot on carpet.

4. Being cold! We've forgotten what that's like! (It was 86 here today- with 1,000 percent humidity, I think)

5. Not having bug bites

6. Being able to do our own laundry (or even better, having someone do it for us!)

7. Sitting by a fire. I apologize in advance for the gas bill, Mom & Dad.

8. Christmas music and lights and trees!

9. Brentwood Hills and Skyline

10. Being able to dry and curl my hair (rather than the usual: jump out of the shower, clip it up and go)

11. Driving

12. Not having to cook everyday, all day

13. I might not have to wash one dish for a month!!!

14. FOOD! Oh the food! Other than the wonderful home-cooked meals we are so excited about, we are also looking forward to: PF Changs (or Pei Wei), Longhorn (or any steak place), Bone Fish Grill, Panera, Star Bagel, all Italian restaurants and then, of course, Ryan is more excited for Taco Bell, McDonalds and Dominoes!

15. Hunting for Ryan

16. Maybe not seeing thousands of ants everyday

17. Having the guarantee of taking a hot shower everyday

18. Not having to smell what the cows left along Moo Cow Trail

19. Not getting caught walking in the rain EVERYDAY! Even though you have an umbrella, sometimes it rains sideways and really hard! Plus, the trails get so muddy and, by the time you get home, you have mud splattered all the way up your legs.

20. Just being HOME SWEET HOME!!!

We are moving to our new apartment on the third floor on Friday and we are getting our new couch on Wednesday! :) We bought it from a family who is about to leave the island and they have only had it for 4 months. Here is our old couch...
And here is the new! Way better! It is also a futon, so we can put a full size sheet on it and it can be a bed to any visitors we may have. Yesterday was the 4th semester sale, where all of the students leaving the island sell all of the stuff they don't want to ship back. It was pouring down raining and I was very muddy when I got home. Ryan and I got up early to go to it and bought several things we need so that now we won't have to take up room in our suitcase to bring them back. We got a colander that can sit in the sink (the one I have now you hold by a handle so I burn myself pretty much every time I use it), some deodorant and shaving cream for Ryan (all unopened, of course), some tupperware, clorox wipes, a sharp knife, a cooler, a water purifier that goes on the faucet and a few other things. My mom started laughing when I told her what we got and said "Did you ever think when you got married that someday you and Ryan would get up early to go to a yard sale and buy deodorant?!". She's right! Life here is very different, but we have adjusted well! Still, this Saturday can't come fast enough. Our friends, Andy & Courtney, are going to be on our flight into Nashville, so there will be 4 very happy people at the airport!

When I asked Ryan what he wanted to do for his birthday I said that first we should decide who he wanted to include. As the list got longer and longer I knew it would be hard to get everybody into one of the few restaurant choices we have around here. Plus, it would have taken forever! I thought the easiest (ha!) thing would be to have everyone to our house. Actually, even though I get stressed, I love being the hostess. I'm thankful that Ryan had so many friends that he wanted to invite and he actually told me later that there were others he wished he had invited. I'm also thankful that our friends are so nice that they stayed and cleaned up! After the last person left our kitchen was all clean and I didn't have anything left to do! :)
Sophia and John Walker being a little camera shy.

Everybody...but me!

So this is why I don't have 19 people over for dinner every night!!! I cooked 3 lasagnas, which meant I had to make a lot of ricotta cheese. I had to make 5 separate batches of ricotta. By the last batch I was so sick of the smell that I starting feeling a little queasy. These pictures were taken on Wednesday and the birthday dinner was Thursday. I cooked pretty much non-stop for two and a half days. The menu: 3 lasagnas, lots of spaghetti, 2 pizzas, homemade garlic breadsticks and pizza dip, veggie tray, and a salami, cheese and olive tray. For dessert: funfetti cupcakes (Ryan's favorite), mandarin orange and pineapple cake, something chocolate with cream and peanut butter cookies. Thanks to Andrea for the cookies, Marissa for the salami & cheese tray and Ralna for helping cut the vegetables and loaning her serving trays. I think everyone had a great time. I'll post pictures of the party next.
Not good having broken glass in the kitchen when all you have is a broom! I needed a dust buster to get the small pieces.

Thanks to everyone who sent cards. He had fun reading them this morning. Some were hilarious...you know who you are. We have been enjoying the puppy chow and have displayed the pictures we received around the apartment. The picture Brooke colored is on the refrigerator. I have been very busy preparing to feed 15 people dinner tomorrow night for Ryan's birthday dinner!

First of all, please continue to pray for Joseph and the entire family. If you have not done so, please visit http://www.prayforjoseph.blogspot.com/.

Secondly, today is December 3rd and the last day to donate money for supplies for Clifton Primary School is Friday, December 7th. Please consider donating! I will be personally delivering the supplies to the school.

Ok, now to update everyone on our lives for the past few days. I wanted to have a song playing while you read this, but since I don't know how to do that, just imagine that "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is playing in the background. Only 11 days to go. We can't wait! Last week Andrea and I started exercising. We're planning to continue going to the gym a few days a week. I really don't like it, but I feel good about it afterwards. Thursday was the big earthquake - 7.4 on the Richter scale, which, if you don't know, is a big one! ("Off the Richter - steady, are you ready?" - just a little black-eyed peas for you there) Ryan had finished his anatomy practical at 3:00 and had just gotten a seat in the library when the earthquake began. There have been several small ones lately, but this one was much stronger. He said everyone started looking around at each other, not too sure what to do. All of the sudden, one guy jumped out of his seat and yelled "We gotta get outta here!!!!" and people started sprinting towards the doors to go outside. Ryan said there wasn't a lot of time to think, so he grabbed his phone so he could call me and his glasses in case he needed to look for me. He said the scene of the guy leading everyone out of the library was pretty funny. He called me and asked if I was ok and I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Marissa and I were leaving the beach, just walking down the sidewalk and didn't feel a thing. Apparently, we were the only people on the island who didn't feel it. For the next couple of days, everyone has been exchanging stories about what they were doing when the earth started shaking. The guys were pretty excited about it, sort of like little kids might be.
Friday morning we had an RSO board meeting at Ralna's and she fed us breakfast. The meeting lasted about 2.5 hours and afterwards Andrea and I headed to the gym. We're getting serious about working out! (Trying to, anyway) Ryan and I went to Kyle & Andrea's to play cards Friday night. Growing up, our family played spades very often and took it very seriously. Dad was always my partner and there was no goofing off - we had to win! Ryan does not share this attitude towards cards. I was getting so frustrated because he would get lost in conversation, rather than focusing! Like father, like daughter! We won anyway, thank goodness! We got home a little after midnight and I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning because Andrea and I were babysitting 5 kids while there parents did an all-day hike to Boiling Lake. We babysat for 13.5 hours and the children were ages 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7! By the time I got home Saturday night I was too tired to try to find my keys. I knocked (weakly) on the door and Ryan opened it and I slowly scooted into the house. Since yesterday was the first Sunday of the month, we had to get our birthday bags ready. We needed to make 17 bags for December birthdays, so we were each going to make 2 desserts and put 4 in each bag. I started to cook and, of course, I'm out of propane. I tried to make my desserts inthe microwave. The no-bake choc. oatmeal cookies turned out great, but the other dessert was pretty terrible. I ended up having to go to Andrea's before church to finish baking and making the bags. Ryan and I were going to watch a movie Saturday night (after the UT disappointment) but as soon as I got out of the shower I fell sound asleep. Speaking of the UT game, moments before Ainge threw the interception to throw the game, our TV switched to a home decorating channel. Imagine Ryan's frustration. He ran into the bedroom and was listening on the internet. When the interception happened, Ryan started yelling at the computer (I had never heard him get so mad at a TV/computer). I was in the kitchen washing dishes and was getting ready to give him a talk about yelling when he came into the kitchen with big eyes and a surprised look on his face and said "Did you hear our neighbor yelling? Oh my goodness!". I didn't fall for it, but it did make me laugh so that I couldn't be mad. :) Yesterday was church, lunch with friends at Subway and then Sophia's birthday party (she turned 4). After the party it was nap time for Ashley!
This morning I got up early to get the laundry ready and realized - I only have to get the laundry ready one more time before we go home!!! My next goal was to get a new propane tank so that I could cook. I also had to buy electricity to last us the rest of the semester. I met Ryan at school for lunch and then came home to start making our sandwich bread for the next 11 days! Woo-hoo! I think this will probably be the last time I have to make bread this semester because the recipe makes 2 loaves, so I'll just freeze one for next week. My next project is getting ready for Ryan's birthday! Please keep us in your prayers because the next week and a half will be full of exams and finals for Ryan. We are also going to be moving to a new apartment and packing to come home! :)

My cousin, Jenny, started a blog specifically to update everyone on Joseph's condition and progress. Please keep him in your prayers and visit his blog: www.prayforjoseph.blogspot.com
Thank you!

I got the below article from foxnews.com. We had an earthquake today that was felt on campus, but not on the beach. Marissa and I were on the beach and Ryan called to see if I was alright. I had no clue what he was talking about because we did not feel anything. Sorry to those who have been calling and calling. Our phones were down for about an hour and a half and it never crossed my mind that it would be on the news at home and scare y'all. Once again, we're fine and if someone hadn't told me that there had been an earthquake, I would have never known.

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > WORLD

Earthquake With Magnitude of 7.3 Rocks Caribbean
Thursday, November 29, 2007

ROSEAU, Dominica — A powerful earthquake rocked the eastern Caribbean on Thursday, sending office workers and shoppers fleeing into the streets of several islands. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.4, was centered 26 miles southeast of Roseau, the capital of Dominica, where the shaking lasted for about 20 seconds. The quake was felt hundreds of miles away in Puerto Rico to the west, and Venezuela and Suriname to the south.
Radio hosts at Radio Martinique said the earthquake caused some damage on the French island and urged people to evacuate buildings.
"My house shook so hard I thought it was going to fall," said a caller who identified herself only as Fannie. "The door, the windows, everything shook."
The quake struck at 2 p.m. EST at a depth of 90 miles, according to the geological survey's Web site.
"I wouldn't expect major damage because the quake has some depth," said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said the quake was too deep to generate a destructive tsunami.

In Trinidad, the shaking sent workers streaming out of office towers into the streets of the capital, Port-of-Spain.
Thousands more ran outside in St. Maarten. Flight's at Princess Juliana International Airport were briefly suspended.
In Antigua, islanders said the shaking lasted about 30 seconds.
"I haven't felt one like that in a while," said Jessie Kentish, a resident of the capital, St. John's. "It was a long time."

My mom called this afternoon to tell me that my cousin's son was diagnosed with having a brain tumor this morning. The following is a post from my cousin Jenny's blog. I borrowed the pictures from her too. I know that many people from many churches read this blog. Please put Joseph on every prayer list you can. "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

"Please pray for my nephew, Joseph. He was diagnosed this morning as having a brain tumor on the stem of his brain. This is totally sudden and unexpected. He is my brother Allen's oldest child and turned 3 in August. I am distraught over this sad news as I await to hear more about the details of this terrible thing. They plan to do a biopsy on Friday and another MRI this afternoon to see if any other spots exist. Please keep little Joseph in your prayers.





Joseph has been admitted to the hospital for now. Another MRI will be performed tomorrow to check the spine for further spots (please God, let there be none). The biopsy will take place on Friday. It will be a very long & risky surgery as the tumor is wrapped around nerves on the brain stem. Please pray for skill & wisdom on the part of the doctors. Both sets of grandparents are on their way to Atlanta to be with Allen & Gillian and care for Holly. I'll keep everyone posted on any changes. I also included a couple of pictures I took of Joseph over Thanksgiving. The first one shows how silly he can be - it was taken as he was eating a cupcake on Winnie Kate's first birthday last week. Anyway, Allen & Gillian are holding up and I know are looking forward to have their parents with them.The world feels to me as though it is off its axis. It is surreal at times to actually believe this is all happening. We won't know until a week the results from the biopsy but they have been told by the Dr. that there is "a chance it is benign". Scary stuff folks. Even as I write, the wall behind my computer seems to tilt backwards." (Jenny's blog)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9625353579

I talked to my mom and she said we have received many donations for Clifton Primary School. Thank you, thank you, thank you! She is going to cash checks on Thursday, so if you are wondering if we received your donation, you should see the check clear this week. If it doesn't clear, you can email me to make sure we received your donation. Thanks again! And remember, you still have until December 7th to make donations. =)

Marissa and I were having lunch at PBH yesterday and this boat floated past. If you enlarge it, it looks like a Viking's ship.

There are these little free papers around campus, sort of like The Rave in Nashville (is that what it's called?). Anyway, there is a section for jokes and I would like to share one with you:

"Tessa was injured in a car accident and fell into a deep coma. After 6 months she woke up and found that she was no longer pregnant. Naturally, she asked the doctor to tell her what happened to her baby. The doctor replied, 'Well, you had twins! A boy and a girl. The babies are fine. Your brother came in and named them.'
Tessa became anxious as she didn't think her brother was very smart. Expecting the worst, she asked the doctor, 'So what's the girl's name?'
'Denise,' said the doctor. Tessa began to feel a little guilty about how she thought about her brother. 'Not bad,' she said. 'I like the name Denise.' She then asked the doctor, 'What's the boy's name?' The doctor replied, 'Denephew.'"

Ha! Ha! Ryan and I got a big kick out of this one! =)

Woo-hoo! We got a package from Raine! And!! We got 5 other pieces of mail!! Raine, THANK YOU!!! I had a smile from ear to ear as I unloaded the box! I already hung our Christmas stockings (perfect to get them the day after Thanksgiving)! We also got a card from Nathan & Kristen (which you mailed a month ago!), a few cards for the soon-to-be birthday boy (I'm hiding them from him til the big day) and we got the bingo cards and pictures from last Thanksgiving! Everyone loved seeing the "Bingo Master" with his wizard hat on! We're ready to play so just call us when the game begins! :)

P.S. If you haven't read the blog in a a while, be sure to read "Everybody in the giving spirit". There are still about 2 weeks left to make donations! If you have questions, email me at childrenofdominica@yahoo.com.
We're getting in the Christmas spirit! I packed some plastic Christmas "china" and a small Christmas tree and some cinnamon scented candles. Can't wait!!!

Marissa (Ohio) and me
David (Arkansas), Rabbi (NY) and Ryan (TN, of course)
Me with Sophia, John Walker and Ralna (Mississippi)

Some of the homemade rolls, hashbrown casserole, choc pie & cinnamon rolls

All packed up and ready to take food to Ralnas!

This is a picture of Andrea and me on Ross' campus. To the right is Subway and the bank and to the left is classrooms.
Even though yesterday was Thanksgiving in America, it was a normal day for Dominicans. We went to Savanne Paille and on our way the transport van got a flat tire. Our driver whipped out his machete (seems to be the tool that fixes everything here) and started jacking up the van (with us in it)! About every car that passed stopped to see if we needed help. That is one thing that is very different (in a good way) here. Any time I've been in a transport that overheated or had a flat, tons of people stopped to try to help. We ended up catching a ride with some people we knew so we didn't have to wait for the tire to be changed. This is a picture of Aaliyah. She is 5 and is hilarious! She had me laughing the whole time.
Everyone is in line to get stickers! It's a huge deal to have stickers here!

You know how when you turned 16 you were so excited to be able to drive and you wanted to pick all your friends up? Ralna got a car on Saturday!! She also got cable on Wednesday. They hadn't had cable this whole time. This is the happiest she's been in 3 months! Cable and a car in the same week! Christmas came early for her. :)

As you know, I go to Savanne Paille every Thursday. One of the other spouses has been having her home church send supplies to this school for a while now. This past Thursday after we left Savanne Paille we drove to another school, Clifton Primary. I met with the principal, along with 2 of the K-2 teachers about what types of school supplies are needed. There is a great need for many things. Here is the list we came up with together:
Erasers
Pencils
Sharpeners
Markers
Crayons
Aprons for painting
Paint brushes
Sketch pads
Coloring books
Painting tray
Puppets and toys for creative play
Flash cards with numbers/letters/colors/shapes/math /pictures
Colored chalk
Poster board paper
Permanent markers for teachers
Rulers small and yard sticks
Children’s scissors
Glue
Stickers- motivational sayings or anything
Colored pens
Portfolios and folders for kids
Stencils with letters and shapes
Blank 3x5 cards
Double sided tape
Push pins
Beginning writing paper
Reading books for k-2 grade level
Long list! Now, here's the great news, my mom is willing to shop for the supplies and ship them to Dominica. I will pick them up and personally deliver them to the children. If you would like to help in any way, please email me at childrenofdominica@yahoo.com. If you would like to send a check, please make it out to Martha Warren and mail to P.O. Box 415, Middleton, TN, 38052. In the memo line write "Clifton Primary School". All donations need to be made by Friday, December 7th so that my mom has time to shop and get everything shipped. Please pray about it and let me know if you would like to help! The children here would certainly appreciate it! So would I!!

This is a bunch of us having lunch at Cornerhouse Cafe in Roseau. From left: Larissa, Meg, Courtney, Ralna, and Andrea.
This morning Ralna called and asked if I would help her sell raffle tickets from 11:30 -1:00. All of the proceeds go to 2 local charities. Ryan needed an ironed long-sleeve collared shirt, tie and slacks to wear during a presentation this afternoon. I went to campus to sell the tickets and carried all of Ryans clothes, shoes, etc. It was an extremely windy day. It felt wonderful. The only problem was that I was wearing a skirt. My hands were full of stuff and a huge gust of wind came through and lifted my skirt above my shoulders! I was dropping stuff trying to get everything under control. I did a quick look around and even though there were people around, no one seemed to have noticed. Whew! Selling tickets was fun and afterwards we went to the RSO (Ross Spouses Org) meeting. Today they were forming the new board for next semester. Ralna, Andrea and I are all going to be on it next semester. Not sure if that is a good thing yet!
Ralna's parents, Ernest & Earnestine.

Tuesday a group of 9 of us headed to Roseau to grocery shop for Thanksgiving next week. There are only 2 days a year when 4 cruise ships dock in Roseau at the same time...yesterday was one of those days. I had never seen Roseau so busy! Everyone was trying to take us on tours and sell us souvenirs and we kept telling them that we live here. Ralna's parents went with us. They are hilarious. Her dad kept us entertained the entire bus ride.


Anyone see anything they want??

On Monday I had a craving for donuts. So, since I couldn't run out to the nearest Krispy Kreme, I decided to make my own. Well, actually they were donut holes since I do not have a donut cutter. They were delicious! I made half of them cinnamon sugar (top pic) and the other half were glazed (the white spots are powdered sugar that did not blend well). I gave a lot of them away to friends. Then I got an email from a girl in my bible study asking me to make a birthday cake for her friend's surprise birthday party tomorrow. It's not perfect by any means, but I'm pretty proud! :)