hahahaha

is it just me?

imagine blonde wavy hair instead.

Southeast Asia

if this post sounds odd, i apologize... i am simply posting the support letter that was written for my aunt, her friend and myself.
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Family and Friends,
We pray that your holidays were fun and filled with lots of love and sugar cookies! We had nice visits with family and enjoyed a couple of days off from work.

We look forward to the New Year, celebrating with friends and family on New Year’s Eve, and seeing what God has in store for our life. We want to take a moment of your time and share about an opportunity that we have to serve and ask that you might pray about how you can be involved!

As the winter approached, we, Nicole and Lora, began seriously discussing the possibility of visiting Lora’s daughter (Nicole’s cousin, Roslyn). Both of us desire to encourage Roslyn while she’s working in Southeast Asia and thought that it might be a grand adventure to try it out. Neither of us has either traveled like that without a group, so we talked about all of our options. After hearing about some of the opportunities that we might be given while going to visit her, adding a third friend, Shelly, an RN, to the team seemed perfect!

Our plan is to fly out on March 13th and return Easter Sunday, March 23rd. While we’re there, we have a main focus goal of loving Roslyn well and seeking to encourage her by spending time with her, praying for her, pampering her and seeing what life is like each day so that when she returns to the States, she’ll always have a sounding board who can somewhat understand.

Also while we’re there… we plan to reach out to some other groups and do what we can… There is a national couple in Roslyn’s town that does a lot of ministry work. They have a center for slum children (they help to take care of them, make sure they’re in school, etc.)… They aren’t orphans, their parents are just having a hard time. They also have a sewing center for the moms. With that said, we hope to be able to visit the children and love on them, visit the slum where their parents live and take advantage of some ministry opportunities with the moms.

There is a need for training and teaching with these women (about 100-150) about things like hygiene, malnutrition and eating properly. We will also be able to share with the women about how they should value and care for their children. We may even be able to visit another orphanage, and have a parents' night out for some of the other friends living there. It will definitely be an eye-opening experience in many ways.

Of course, this kind of trip has costs attached to it as well as other needs like collecting items for the women and children. We are gathering a list of these things, so if you feel that this is a way you can help, please let us know. If you are able to help financially with the expenses of this journey, it is most appreciated! It will cost each of us around $2000 for flight and other travel expenses. If you can help, you can mail a donation to any of the three of us. Please make your check payable to Bat Cave Baptist Church. In the memo line, write “Southeast Asia Trip.”
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For obvious internet reasons, I'm not actually posting my address (or theirs) on here... but would be happy to send it to you if you are able and interested in helping us.

Thanks!

a few reasons why i do what i do on Sunday mornings...

Thankfully, God provided an opportunity for me to teach this year (and hopefully for a long time to come) in the Older Infant/Young Toddler classroom at our church.

Don't you want to squish them? So fun!

My first Martini

i know it's silly. and i don't have much to write about it... but just thought i'd share that i had my first martini. what you see is pretty much how i left it, too. ha.

pretty, huh?

Well, since I'm almost 30...

... I decided to make a new blog.
I'm not getting rid of this one - but you're welcome to follow some changes in my life/home, etc by going here:

I Am Almost Thirty...

enjoy!

I wish I had posted this a week ago...

love it. so sad i missed it this year.
:o(

it's back.

i can't believe it.

she's back. and all her files are there.

i can't believe it.

i feel a little bit of redemption.
wow!
** update - sorry if this wasn't clear... my Millie (the black mac) isn't back... but a lady at work and her husband were able to recover all my files from Della and put them on a new hard drive. So for now, I'm using Della... but I'm super happy! :o)**

Just so you can go back and read...

I've been updating...

http://livingmercy.blogspot.com/2007/07/28-years-later.html

the memories are starting to get more detail! ;o)

~nicole

I keep getting tagged...

First it was Ronnica.
Then it was Adrienne.
Next, the Raffertys.

The tag? A "7 Random/Weird things" meme. (here's the definition of that word, by the way... A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another... so basically, i blog about it and ask you to blog about it - and so on)

Rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share seven random or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My Oddities:
~1~ I don't really mind if my food isn't hot. I mean, I want everything to be cooked, but as long as the "chill is knocked off of it" I'm good... even with soup.

~2~ I always always always catch people around me driving who are picking their noses. It's strange (I guess that's the point of telling you)... but seriously, almost a day doesn't go by without me seeing someone going for it.

~3~ I remember really random things from the past... i.e. - once when I was really young (like 7-8) we were playing Trivial Pursuit (my family, by the way, has always loved to play Trivial Pursuit) and there was some question about a type of paper that someone developed... and no one could think of a good answer. I said "let's just say toilet paper." I was right. I also remember what I wore my first day of 2nd grade. It was a bright hot pink tank top. We had to draw pictures of ourselves and I remember searching the room for the perfect color crayon to color the tank. It had to match perfectly.

~4~ I love real mail. I love to get it. I love to send it. There's something about getting an envelope in the mailbox with handwritten addresses... it means someone took a moment for you. I always have... I had penpals really early on in life... some I still talk to (or have in the recent past).

~5~ I really love novelty snacks. i.e. - Capri Sun (the juice isn't THAT great, but the pouch is!), Snack Crackers (with the little cup of cheese and red spreading stick), Big League Chew, etc.

~6~ I could watch things like this every day:


~7~ I love my birthday. I don't know why. I always have. And I get super jealous if the focus isn't on me. I guess this one is more of a confession because it really can be a problem! :o( Don't feed it, please... just be patient as I get over it the morning after each year.

I'm not sure that these were the oddest things about me, but they were what came to mind at the time. If you know me, feel free to point out any of my other idiosyncracies in a comment, as long as it is with love! You can also go read here about some other oddities... I was tagged back in January, too!

I'll be tagging:
The Shef's (all three please) - :o)
Molly and her family
Roslyn
Casey
Mischia
Tyler
Zack and Stephanie

Can't wait to read!