{Embrace} and {Small Style :: Birthday Girl!}

Good morning!

I am so so excited about today's post!  This has been a big work in progress for me and I am thrilled with how it turned out.  More importantly, Emilia loved it!

We celebrated Emilia's THIRD birthday this past weekend with a "Tinkerbell Party", at E's request.  The only catch was that she wanted to be Rosetta, Tinkerbell's fairy friend, because she wears pink.  My MIL found an awesome deal on a peachy colored fabric which matched our Rosetta doll's outfit perfectly, so I set out to create something fantastic. 

Emilia loves tutus and all things twirly, so I really felt the stress of perfection...haha.  Honestly, I just kind of made up the skirt as I went along...I looked at a couple tutorials for petal skirts and tutus, but ultimately, just kept playing with it until I liked it.  It didn't pass the "Twirl Test", but E still loved it!

I also took a plain white tank and added a small fabric rosette embellishment.  I didn't want anything too over-the-top and I think it turned out great!



She was also very particular about which character each family member was to dress up as...and here is our little family!  I was Tinkerbell and Jason was Terrence- Tink's boy fairy friend.  Such a good dad to get in on the fairy fun! (O:


I am excited to post all about her party details soon.  Please stop back by! (O:

As seen on Emilia:
Rosetta Skirt - Handmade by me
Rosetta Tank - Target's Circo brand plain tank, I added the embellishment
Leggings - Walmart
Wings - Amazon.com

I am linking up with two wonderfully awesome blogs today; please go check them out!:

Small Style :: Emilia's Stylings

Our little girl gets more and more independent every day and we are so proud of her.  Her most recent venture in independence has been dressing herself, "All by Myself".  That works out fine for bedtime, because no one cares if your pj's don't match...well, personally I twitch a little when her pj's don't match, but I'm working on that.  ;-)  A few days this week, she has gotten herself dressed before coming down in the morning.  As you will see, she has a love for girlie things and bright colors.  It reminds me of how my sister used to dress when we were younger- mixing of patterns, colors, textures was all OK if she *liked* it.  ;-)  Forgive my poor photo quality, but my husband snapped these with his iPhone and had to be quick before Emilia darted off to play. (O:

Emilia's Styling #1:

Emilia is wearing a white long sleeve shirt (Target), layered under a Cardinals shirt (yard sale find), paired with overalls (Target clearance for $4.80!), black tutu (Carter's sale- reused from Halloween costume and 2nd birthday outfit), pink and white striped socks (Old Navy) and the famous Rosetta shoes (Target clearance).

Emilia's Styling #2: 

Emilia is wearing a colorful striped short sleeve shirt (Old Navy clearance), under a Gap tank top (yard sale) and paired with polka dot leggings (Gap clearance).  *I mentioned to Jason that I need to rearrange the drawers in her room because this whole outfit was from our "nice clothes" drawer that only I dress her from when I am with her...but Jason noted that most of the fun, bright colors are in that drawer!  Maybe I need to spread out the love...(O:

I hope you get a little laugh from her outrageous stylings, as we did.  But remember, she is oh-so-proud of herself for doing it all by herself.  So we tell her she did a great job and we love the colors.  I think I will continue choosing outfits and letting her decide which to wear when we actually leave our house, but for playing at home, these are perfect. (O:

I am linking up to Mama Loves Papa's Small Styles again!

Oh!  And guess what!  I actually won one of her giveaways from last week!!  Woo hoo!  I do not have the best of luck with winning things, so I am super stoked about this.  Look at the beautiful pashmina and silk scarf I won!  This will be a great addition to my growing scarf collection, yay! (O:

Manic Monday

I have a friend (who blogs here) but who also had an old blog on which she usually posted a "Manic Monday" post.  This post always seemed so fitting because no matter what the state of one's weekend was, by Monday it all seems to have been a blur.  This past weekend was no exception for me.

After working 6-4 Tuesday thru Friday last week to make up for Monday's sick day, I was totally pooped.  But, Jason asked to take Emilia and I out on a little family date and even agreed to stop at a fabric store for a few supplies I needed (wow!).  We went to the mall food court for dinner because we love Chick-fil-A.  It was a wonderful evening spent together laughing at E's newest quirks and funny statements, holding hands, chicken and fabric.

I had high hopes of sleeping in LATE on Saturday, but Emilia had other plans for me.  She was in our bed by 7...but after waking at 4a.m. each day last week, that was still technically sleeping in.  ;-)  We bounced downstairs, arms full of all the supplies we needed to start working on her "Rosetta dress"- which is actually a tutu style skirt.  I really had no idea how I was going to put this thing together, but I knew I wanted it to look similar to the skirt Rosetta wears in the Tinkerbell movies.  So far, I *love* how it is turning out!  Unfortunately, my borrowed sewing maching started acting up with only 2 layers of petals remaining to sew...bummer.  But, I at least had it somewhat constructed and one layer of petals attached so Emilia could test it out after naptime.  Success- she loves it!  She says it is a beautiful Rosetta dress, so I think that is a win.  I want to wait until it is finished (as well as a coordinating shirt) before I post photos, but be excited.  Her fairy party is going to be SO fun!! (O:

Saturday afternoon we headed for Cape Girardeau for two church visits on Sunday.  We were very fortunate to have a Warren relative (don't ask my what relation..) open her home to us so we didn't have to pay for a stay in a hotel.  She was actually out of town for the weekend, but still let us stay.  It was weird but great.  Weird to be in a home we had never been to and felt odd searching for the right rooms to sleep in as well as tracking down the linen closet (luckily, it was IN the bathroom). ;-)  But nice to have a quiet place to ourselves for the night as well as an all-family naptime between the morning and evening services on Sunday.  Not to mention the amazing Barbie dream house she had in the play area of her basement (for her grandkids).  This wasn't a cheap-o plastic house, someone constructed it out of wood, complete with working Elevator!  Emilia (and I) were in awe!

Sunday was a whirlwind of a day, but we definitely feel blessed to have had the opporunity for these visits.  The morning church, Connection Point Church in Jackson, MO, was so welcoming and friendly.  We added 17 new committed shares, 7 additional prayer partners, as well as a substantial amount in donations to the general fund (which covers our plane tickets, shipping, etc.)  We were taken to lunch at a local BBQ place (yum!) and had just enough time for a quick nap before heading to the evening church in Scott City.   1st General Baptist Church was holding their Association's local meeting that night and had a youth-oriented service after dinner.  It was so refreshing to see all the young people of these churches coming together and putting on skits and other dramas for God's glory.  I love seeing passion in our youth!  Jason was given 20 minutes to speak and he did a great job.  We had a number of people come back and take Share Cards to look and pray over at home.  We left Scott City around 8:20p.m. and after one dinner stop (me) and one potty stop (Emilia), we made it home close to 11.

I am dragging this morning, but feeling incredibly blessed.  I am often asked if I am scared about moving so far away.  But honestly, I just feel honored and very very blessed to have been called to Saipan.  God is teaching me to trust His will and follow where He leads.  I cannot imagine being scared of these wonderful things God has planned for us.

Embrace The Camera: March 1, 2012

Another awesome challenge I have recently come across and I am super excited about!  Emily, of The Anderson Crew, has extended the challenge to bloggers/photographers/mommas/etc. to not only take photos but to actually Jump IN them.  Thus, Embrace the Camera!  I think the part I love about this the most is that by forcing myself to get out from behind my camera, I will ensure that Emilia has many, many photos of us to look back on.  I have very few photos with my mom and want to do what I can to make sure Emilia has plenty- she may even say Too MAny. (O:

My husband, Jason took this one for me on Sunday before church.  He just got back home from a two-week leadership seminar in Abu Dhabi two days prior and brought me this gorgeous scarf!  Maybe it is just me, but I think I look super tired here...maybe I was tired.  But, tired eyes aside, I will embrace the camera and post our shots! (O:

Head on over here to check out all the others who are embracing their cameras and join in the fun!

Have a great day!

Small Style: All About The Jacket

As I mentioned here the other day, Emilia and I took full advantage of the wonderful, unseasonably nice February weather we have been having in the St. Louis area.  We decided to head to the park and I had already planned her outfit, since I knew I wanted to snap some updated photos of her while she played.

Currently, this is her favorite pose! ;-)

There is a back story about this adorable little coat- basically, I am obsessed with it.  I watched and waited, watched and waited at Old Navy for it to go on clearance (the only way I like to shop!).  Even once it went on clearance, I waited a little while longer for it to drop lower...and it was a glorious day when I stopped by, checked the tag and YES!!  It's finally the price I want to pay!! ($7, if I remember correctly.)  But, the story doesn't end there.  I purchased the coat a size up so Emilia could grow into it for next fall/winter...little did I know my family would be making a huge life changing decision to move overseas to become full-time missionaries...to an island called Saipan.  There is no need for sweet polka dot jackets on a tropical island, nope.  That is why I knew I had to get some shots of baby girl in one of my favorite ON finds, even if it is still a little big! (O:

Emilia's favorite shoes; she calls them her "Rosetta" shoes.  For those of you who speak Tinkerbell, you know who this is. ;-)  Another awesome clearance find, only $4.54 at Target!



As seen on Emilia:

Jacket:  Old Navy~ Clearance $7

Jeans:  Old Navy straight leg~ Yard Sale $1

Shirt:  Carter's~ Clearance (You cannot actually see this shirt because E insists on buttoning every button to the very top!) ;-)

Shoes:  Target~ Clearance $4.54

I am linking this post up to Mama Loves Papa's Small Style.  Check out the other great entries and join in the fun!  Today they are celebrating the 1 Year Anniversary of Small Style- including some cute giveaways!

Photo Challenges

I have recently started following a number of new blogs- mostly ones that inspire me to photograph life.  I may not participate every week in the challenges, but I want to try and push myself to join in as often as I can.  I also love that most of the new blogs and associated challenges I have chosen revolve around family- more specifically, around children.  I am excited to hopefully iron out extra time with Emilia each week to capture the fun little things we do together.

This past Sunday, Emilia and I had a few hours all to ourselves.  We spent part of our time twirling in a tutu (E twirled, I watched), then added a superhero cape and played outside.  After naptime, we headed to the park for even more fun and more new, wonderful photos of my sweet baby girl.  One of my favorite photos of the day is the one below.  Emilia's independence grows daily and she insists on doing everything by herself.  The shoes she is putting on are at least one size too big, but she loves them and wears them as often as she can.

Show off your Shot Challenge by Then, She Snapped:

Same photo, but in Black and White for Paper Mama's challenge:

(*I could not get the button for Paper Mama's challenge to work, but you can see the challenge here.)

Here are a few of my other favorites from our fun day.  Enjoy! (O:

(It is very hard to get a superhero princess to stand still with a decent background!)

Have a great day! (O:

My T-Shirt Ruffle Refashion (PDLB!)

My latest Pinned It, Did It, Loved It, Blogged It moment.  Enjoy! (O:

I have been dying to make one of the several ruffle tees and/or tanks I have pinned over the past few months.  I have a great love (borderline addiction) with all things ruffly and actually have a stack of about 10-15 tees and tanks just waiting to be refashioned with ruffles.  Last week I decided it was TIME.  I have waited long enough.  I have worked on enough projects for others.  It was time to work on something just for me.  (This is also the same day I worked up 3 new scarves, one of which can be viewed here.  The others to follow sometime soon.)  I haven't seen any other ruffle refashions done this way using a patterned shirt, and I am really happy with how it turned out.  I hope the ruffles curl up a little in the wash; they are a little big for my liking.  But overall, I am pleased with this shirt and it really wasn't very difficult to put together!

Being a fairly Plain Jane kind of girl, I didn't stray from this color palette when choosing my buttons.  I did throw in a little funk by alternating squares and circles...I'm such a risk taker. ;-)

(Please forgive my sideways photos...My editing software and blogger are not agreeing today.)

Note:  I did not use the technique of sewing my buttons on with my machine.  I simply sewed them by hand while I finished watching Bride Wars. They didn't take long and I could hear the movie better! (O:

I am the first to admit that I am not always that creative- my strong suit lies with executing ideas.  So to give full credit where credit is due, I used the following two tutorials for my wonderful new shirt:

My first Pin links to a tutorial at Bunch of Scrap.  She is down to earth and lays out detailed instructions and helpful hints.  Her refashion is made up of 2 short sleeve shirts found on clearance.

My second Pin links to a tutorial at Ruffles & Stuff.  (What a great name!) (O:  Her instructions are equally great.  I decided to go with her 3 inch ruffle strips because I didn't want them too large on my shirt.  Her refashion is made from one long sleeve shirt- using the sleeves to make the ruffles.

Hopefully this might inspire you to try your own version of this, or any, ruffle refashion!  Have a great day! (O:

FB Friends and Saipan Purchases

As I have mentioned before, I am completely addicted to a couple of people on Saipan who keeps blogs.  If I had to pick, I would say Grant and Kara's (Saipan : Teaching, Living & Recreation) is my favorite.  They are very thorough in their reviews and descriptions of life on the island.  Jason "friended" Grant on Facebook at some point (I think a long time ago) and has been telling me I need to look through his photos to see more of the island and also get some more glimpses of the apartments. 

I spent some time this morning doing just that.  The apartments are a decent size- when you walk in the front door, you are in the kitchen then the dining room then the living room- all open to each other, sort of loft-style.  One one side of the apartment (I think it differs from unit to unit), there are 2 bedrooms with the bathroom inbetween.  We have been told our room will have a double bed and Emilia's room will have a twin bed.  The bathrooms have a shower, but no tub.  (I am not exactly looking forward to this with Emilia..the girl who HATES water in her face.  Any suggestions in this area would be greatly appreciated!!  Otherwise I am going to track down a big rubbermaid tub and use it as a makeshift tub for her.  Haha!)

He had also started asking Grant a few questions here and there about what we can expect, what is different than the mainland, what to bring/not bring, etc.  Grant has been Super graciously to always answer his questions and gives great detail.  Even his wife, Kara recently messaged Jason to tell him that I was welcome to message her with any additional questions.  I just sent her a friend request this morning and once she confirms, I have a list of questions ready for her! (O:

In addition to all their kindness and willingness to help us prepare for this move, they are selling us many items that they did not want to ship back to the States!  Grant put together a very detailed list of the items (as well as the tips and tricks for working the blender, toaster, etc.  Love it!) with very reasonable prices.  I cannot tell you how thankful I am to have these worries lifted.  Things like 2 oscillating fans (now Jason will just have to find one, because I will probably hog BOTH of these, haha!), microwave, toaster, coffee maker (J will be glad!), beach chairs, cups, plates, bowls, silverware, baking dishes, blender, laundry basket and a cupcake pan (Emilia and I LOVE cupcakes and muffins--seriously, I'm super stoked about this one!!).  The list has a bunch more on it, but I didn't want to go line by line.  Do you really care that much?? ;-)  Our budget for shipping items isn't huge and this will cut down on a LOT of those expenses for us.  Yay yay yay!!  I love God's provisions in this area!  I think it works out well for Grant and Kara as well because they don't have to sell items off one at a time- we just told them we will take it ALL!

I have also been thinking through the few things I would like to ask Kara...I'm going to list them so I don't forget.

1.  What types of meals do you eat regularly?  Do you eat most meals at home, or do you go out?  What items are better to purchase at the market vs the store?  How do the prices on staple food items (milk, sugar, rice, noodles, bread, peanut butter, etc.) on Saipan compare to the mainland?  (Would it be possible for Grant to do another great review based on this area of topics??  Haha!)

2.  Are there any items (personal, home related, etc.) that you brought that you think you could have gone without.  Any you wish you would have brought?

3.  (This is a pretty superficial question, but I'm going to ask it all the same!)  I noticed in Grant's photos that you started out with shorter hair and it looks like you've grown it out while you were there.  I currently have pretty long hair and have been going back and forth about cutting it short before we move.  Do you have any thoughts about that?  It looks to me like most girls just wear a ponytail, with the exception of Rachel- how can she keep all that pretty hair down so much?  She has to be hot!  I am guessing the humidity is so high that even if I had short hair, it would never keep any styling...I am just curious what your experience with this was.

4.  Are there any other Saipan bloggers out there?

Those are the ones I have come up with so far.  If you were moving to Saipan, what would YOU want to ask?

Infinity Scarf from a T-Shirt :: Tutorial (PDLB)

This is my latest Pinned it, Did it, Loved it, Blogged it success and I love it!!

I have had this idea pinned for a couple of weeks and kept forgetting to just DO it.  As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly which shirt I wanted to use.  It was a super fun patterned shirt I found on clearance, but hardly ever wore because it never kept its shape throughout the day.  Enter: new scarf!  This is seriously the easiest infinity scarf E.V.E.R.!  It is one of those things that will make you go, DUH!  Why did I think of that!?  The instructions are as easy as Shannon @ Madigan Made lays out in her tutorial.

What you need:
One T-Shirt
Scissors

Directions:

Voila!

 

Note:  The thinner and stretchier (if that's a word) your shirt is, the better curl it will provide upon stretching.  My shirt was not very thin or stretchy, so it did not curl very much.  I still really like it and just rolled the ends in a little by myself.  Enjoy! (O:

Personalized Photo Valentine's Day Card

I am a big fan of personalizing cards and gifts as often as possible.  Why mail out cheap cardstock Disney Princess cards for Valentine's Day when I can just as easily create my own card to send?  So that is exactly what I did!  Here is what I will be sending out to Grandparents this weekend:

These photos are from a little session I did with Emilia last fall, to showcase my final product as part of the Scrap Tutu Tutorial I put together.  I wanted to make the most of our time playing at the park, so I grabbed a couple extra props and planned to take extra photos for other projects.  Thinking ahead to Christmas and beyond, I put together the little sign she is holding.  It is just a piece of white posterboard and letter cutouts (both can be found at your local dollar store).  One side, as you can see, says "I Love You" and the other side says "Joy. Peace. Love".  (That side was, of course, for our Christmas photo card.)  To stabilize these against a bouncy 2.5 year old, I taped the signs to either side of one of our wooden puzzle bases.

I love the bright, cheery colors of Emilia's outfit and her bubbly, fun personality really shined during this session.  I picked out a couple favorite shots and then headed over to Picnik to start putting my card together.  (I know I have said this before, and I will probably say it again, but I'm so sad this site is shutting down in April.  I love using it for quick fix-ups- it's super user friendly and quicker than fumbling around in Photoshop.  Take a few minutes and check it out.  You've got about 2 months left to work on ideas!)

So, from my family to yours- Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are inspired to create your own personalized card to send out.  (O:

I am linking up to Fun Friday Finds - Go check out all the great ideas being posted today!

This morning I spent a little time catching up on the most consistent Saipan blogger and found a link to an older blog of someone else who was on Saipan.  This girl is now back in Texas, but I was excited to read every post, hoping for some other tidbits of information about this tiny island.  What did she love?  What should I prepare for?  And so on...the more I read, the more discouraged I became.  This girl and her husband were both in the public school systems on Saipan, so not directly affiliated with the school Jason will be working at, nor did she ever really mention attending the church we'll be part of.  My struggle with this blog was the underlying negativity I felt radiating from each new post.  Even after their first month of teaching, she was already counting down the days until they would be back stateside.  (1/8 of the way done, and so on).  She also had her fair share to say about the heat and humidity on the island.  Don't get me wrong, I *know* it's going to be hot, really hot, and humid, yucky humid.  But the tone of her posts was never really very uplifting.  I felt my eyebrows creasing as the discouragement set in.  I caught myself thinking, "Man, if this girl hated it that bad and she's from TEXAS, how on earth will I survive?"  That is the moment I knew I needed to shake these bad feelings!

Now, I obviously know nothing about this girl other than what she has posted.  She may be super cheerful and optimistic in real life.  Heck, she may LOVE sweating for all I know.  I'm not trying to point a finger of shame, nor am I trying to act like I would be any better in the situation.  But, I do know that after reading her whole blog (that's right, I read it all...are you really shocked?), I need to mentally prepare my mind and heart for this.  I don't ever want anyone to come across my blog and think, "Gee, she must really hate it there...why did she even go?" 

Above all, I will always strive to follow God's will for our lives, but I never want to do it begrudgingly.  Yes, it will be hot.  And yes, I may on occasion lament about the humidity and my sweat levels (gross, I know).  But, I want this blog and I want MYSELF to be more about the good things God is doing through us on this tiny island.  I want to sing shouts of praise as lives are changed and know that because of Him, we got to be a part of it.  I want to find ways to enjoy life on a tropical island, even when the heat index is 105.  I want to be excited about making new friendships and stepping out of my comfort zone, trusting in God to see my through.  I want to lead by example, and teach Emilia how to always look for the GOOD in life, even when it gets really hard.

Life on Saipan will be different than anything I have ever known and that is scary.  It is scary to leave everything you know and love, pack a few suitcases and head to a place you know nothing about.  I worry about how my family will eat.  Yes, I know that is a weird one.  But, with a family as finicky about food as we are, I worry about it.  Add to that the prices of anything not-local and my worries increase.  When I feel my heart getting heavy with such worries, I remind myself that God will be with me, Every. Day.  I may not get to eat the foods I love here in the States.  But I will not go hungry.  I may not have the same level of air conditioned comfort I am used to during STL summer months, but He will comfort me.  I may miss my family and friends on the mainland, but God WILL bring new friends into my life.  I recently heard a definition that I intend to cling to.  SACRIFICE:  To give up something you love, for something you love more.  As hard as it will be to leave our lives in Illinois, we know this is the right step for our family.  There are so many people on Saipan that need to hear about Christ and God has called us to this task.  When I think about the lives He will change, including our own, I cannot help but get super excited.  The triumphs through Christ will definitely outweight our trials.

Sadly, the girl, whose blog I stalked today, did not return to Saipan.  From what I can gather, she and her husband did not return after their first year.  I cannot help but wonder if part of the reason is because she never got past the "uncomforts" and always longed for her "home" in Texas.  This has taught me that there must be a certain level of disconnect from "home".  I do not want to sit around thinking about how I miss Target, Old Navy and AC.  I cannot allow myself to be bowled over with misery of the things I no longer have access to.  I must always keep my mind positive.  There are so many wonderful things about Saipan and it would be a disservice to myself to overlook them.  I have no idea how long God intends for us to stay on Saipan, but I never want the reason we leave to be because I just couldn't get over missing "home".  Saipan will BE my home for as long as God wills.  I want to embrace it whole-heartedly and if the day comes that we must leave Saipan, I hope to ache for leaving my new "home".

Preschooling my Preschooler

There are many areas of life in which I fail, daily.  I'm not always as kind as I ought to be; I have selfish moments; the list could go on.  But one area I never wished to fail was at parenting, more specifically helping my daughter learn.  Recently, I came to the harsh realization that I haven't been keeping up with teaching her new things as much as I should.  This slapped me right between the eyes and I've felt guilty for weeks.  It all came about when a couple girl friends said their children could spell their name by the time they were 2...what??  Emilia has NO interest in spelling her name.  One friend even tried to console me by saying Emilia's name was unique so maybe it was harder...No.  That's not the case.  It is because I haven't actively worked with her on it.  And so many other things. 

Don't get me wrong, Emilia is a very bright little girl (if I do say so myself).  She knows her birthday, can count to 20, knows her colors and shapes, loves to play matching games, knows her alphabet (saying not recognizing or writing), speaks clearly and (mostly) correctly, can reason, and so on.  I'm not saying we have completely dis-serviced her (if that is even a word).  But, I feel very convicted that we aren't doing as much as we should be.  We have had LOTS of changes in the past few months and before we moved she had a great baby sitter who I know was working on different things with her too.  But now she is home every day with her dad- no other toddler interaction, learning skills, etc.  Now, we can't really afford to let her go to a half-day preschool or anything for toddler interaction, but we definitely can amp up the learning activities at home and help her continue to grow. 

On top of that, I am actively working on getting a curriculum together that we can start once we hit Saipan.  I decided not to try and start anything "formal" with her until after we have been on Saipan a month or two.  That is going to be a huge life change for her, and I want us to be a little more settled before starting in on structured learning.  I came across a couple great blogs this morning and I am excited to start getting everything together!  THIS blog has an entire alphabet series, with oodles of free printables, and I think you can even purchase the whole 26-week curriculum as a download for $10, which includes the weekly lesson plans.  She also has older children whom she home schools as well, and there are links to lots of other great stuff.  I feel like this is a step in the right direction.  At least a good starting point.

Is this me saying I'm going to homeschool Emilia forever?  No.  I truly believe she needs the social interaction of public school (or maybe private school)- she is like me and we get our energy from being around other people.  Am I saying I am against homeschooling?  NO.  I see the many, Many benefits of homeschooling and there may come a day when we consider doing it past preschool.  But I'm not there yet.  What I AM saying is that I am committed to helping prepare her for school and equipping her with all the knowledge she needs to succeed.  I know this will be a great challenge, and I am praying all the time that God blesses our time together learning.

For now, I think we will break out our gifted copy of the Letter Factory (thanks Jaime!) and add that to her tv time.  She's really big into Tinkerbell these days and since we don't let her to watch too much tv/movies, she always pick something fairy-ish when she does watch.  So, when she wants to watch something I think we will make sure Letter Factory outweighs good ol' Tink. ;-)

Our Saipan Blog!

I almost forgot that Jason had this blog going...whoopsie daisy!  We(HE) started this blog right when we made our official decision to go and started sharing the news.  It has the story of how we came to understand God's calling and everything that has happened since.  You really should check it out- there are so many little "coincidences" that all add up to one Awesome "God Thing". 

I'm still deciding whether I will keep my personal blog as well as take over the updates on our "Thoughts From Tomorrow" blog once we are on island...I have a tendency to neglect this poor little guy, but I also will have more time to keep up with both of them- I plan to actually mark it as a To Do on my calendar!  I like having my own personal blog to help track my personal growth as well as blog about things I find interesting, etc.  The Saipan blog will be mostly for our support partners to keep up with how our ministry is going.  Plus, I don't exactly have a huge following over here at Love.Laugh.Live, so it's a good place to keep my thoughts separate.  There, it's decided.

Anyway, I hope all 5 of you will check out our Saipan blog, if you haven't already.  And hey!  Tell a friend! ;-)

First Little Glimpse

A while back  Jason came across a couple blogs of other couples who are currently living on Saipan!!  He has been following them for a while now and I finally remembered to have him send me the links.  It has been really neat to read through how their day-to-day lives go as well as catch a couple sneak peeks of what the school's apartments look like!  I feel slightly stalker-ish reading through their personal info, but hey- that's what blogging is for, right?!  One of the blogging husbands (I think it was Brian, of Brian and Rachel, as seen here) participated in an on-island triathalon.  So naturally, Jason is super pumped about training for one once we get there!  I think I may stick to light yogging (haha), but I'm glad he is excited about it.  The other couple's blog is here' their names are Grant and Kara.

Both couples seem really nice and very centered in Christ.  They all attend the church Jason will be working at and we will be attending (duh).  From what I can tell, there is a pretty close group of girls that are all teachers out there.  It would be nice to have some ladies around my age to meet.  I don't think any of them have bambinos, so our idea of "activities" may differ slightly.  But still, we all know I'm a people person and I'm excited at the potential of people!

Either way, I explained it to Jason that it was encouraging to see the closeness those women have.  It encourages me that hopefully this sense of community and togetherness is a church-wide thing.  Hopefully we can make friends within the church quickly.  That was one of my biggest struggles when we moved to Herrick.  I am definitely the kind of girl who needs social interaction regularly and sometimes it's hard to cultivate relationships being the newbie.  My hope is that since there will be other new teachers arriving, that meeting new people and making friends won't be so hard.

On a less inspiring (and kind of vain) note...when/if you look through either/both blogs...you will probably notice quite a bit of perspirartion upon these lovely people's foreheads.  Does this have me worried?  Of course!  It was probably just the gentle little reminder I needed that I'm moving to 24/7 Summer Land.  I've been stocking up on tank tops and bermuda shorts since fall and I think I'm covered there.  I hope to drop some weight before the move--is there anything worse than being sweaty AND feeling fat??  I am easing back in to Lean Cuisines and salads for lunch and plan to start hitting the running/exercising hard after the holidays.  (Wish me luck!)  Also, I noticed all the girls have long, long hair.  It's usually pulled back in pony tails.  So it has taken me back to my original ponder of cutting my hair short before we go.  I don't want to always have my hair up in a pony tail, but I also don't want it to never fit in one either.  How's that for indecisive?  Like I said, this was my vain moment.  Thanks for indulging me. ;-)