quirky...

So today I did probably one of the most quirky things I have ever done...and well, that's saying a lot coming from me. I had a hectic day at work with a computer that is crashing from viruses that were probably contracted from Nigeria. I grow to dislike that place a little more every day. Not only did my stuff get stolen from my bag, but my straightner burned up and didn't realize it until Easter morning and now my office computer is dying. I spent most of the morning trying to save documents to a hard drive in case it can't be salvaged. It's also just a busy time of year doing housing assignments for all returning students and the Board of Trustees are here for two days for meetings. All that to say I was running around all day, non stop, and was ready to leave the office when 5pm rolled around. I knew if I went home I would sink into the couch only to arise for bed at an early time so I decided to pick Matti up and go "out" for a little while. I stopped by our local snow cone stand and got a peach snow cone with cream on top and then drove around looking for an adventure. The local park doesn't allow dogs and the park that does is a little bit of a drive and lets not kid ourselves with gas prices the way they are...I wasn't ready to venture too far. So where did we end up??? A cemetery. Yep! You know you've had a rough day and just might be an introvert when you prefer to hang out with dead people. I just parked the car and walked Matti around the grounds while enjoying my peaches and cream treat. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will probably make this a routine kind of outing. I realize I am weird but you take what you can get in a small town.

Here's hoping your Thursday was not as hectic or quirky as mine. If you're reading this please join me praying for my home state...ALABAMA...that was ravaged by tornadoes on Wednesday. As I watch the news and see pictures I am heart broken for the people who had to start putting what was left of their lives back together as the sun came up this morning. Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama...Crimson Tide...was all but demolished. I never thought I would see the day where this college rivalry wouldn't matter but today was that day. My prayers are with the students, faculty, staff and all those in the community that won't be back to life as normal for a long time to come. Praise be to God that the casualties were much less than they certainly could have been....and may he be glorified in the midst of this as people come together to help and serve one another. "We will praise you in this storm!"

Easter Sunday~Resurrection Day

I love Easter! I feel like everything comes to life and rejoices....as it should. Today marks the day that our lives and our futures were forever changed. Jesus Christ took the full wrath of God in our place...endured a shameful/painful death and then defeated death so that we could be made right with God and live forever in His presence. Praise the Lord for Resurrection Sunday.

When I was a teenager I always chuckled when we sang this song on Easter...the music just always seemed corny to me, but as I have gotten older it has become one of my favorites. In fact Easter doesn't seem complete if I have not heard it or sung it.I actually woke on Friday morning and started singing it as I thought about all that Friday stood for. What song you may ask? Well here are the lyrics and if you got to sing it in church this morning know that I am jealous!

Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior.
Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord.

Up from the grave he arose!
With a mighty triumph o'er his foes.
He arose a victor from the dark domain and he lives forever with the saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior.
Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord.

Up from the grave he arose!
With a mighty triumph o'er his foes.
He arose a victor from the dark domain and he lives forever with the saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Death cannot keeps it's prey, Jesus my Savior.
He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord.

Up from the grave he arose!
With a mighty triumph o'er his foes.
He arose a victor from the dark domain and he lives forever with the saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!


So thankful for this day and getting to spend it with my Pineville family...the Chandlers. Last year we were celebrating and awaiting Noah Lee's arrival. It was fun to have him around this year and I'm looking forward to next year when he is walking and we can hunt easter eggs.

things you won't see just anywhere

Today has been a rough day for me in Lagos, Nigeria but I am trying to laugh my way through as I count the days until we are home. Instead of complaining about all that has gone wrong I thought I would turn my attention to some funny things we've seen during our adventure here and share some laughter with you. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera and so there is no photo documenting any of this so I will try to paint the best picture I can. I call this entry "things you won't see just anywhere" ode to the many funny signs we've seen...

a large billboard in the airport read--
AIDS!!!Now that we have your attention please do not leave baggage unattended and play safe. (really???)

on the back of a public transport bus (which there are thousands of)--
I love my mother

on the side of many walls throughout the city--
Do not urinate here again

on a sign in the bathroom at the airport--
Please do not stand on the toilet
Please do not wash your feet in the wash basin

Tomorrow is the national presidential election for Nigeria...so glad we managed to be in the country for that at the rate all other African elections have gone lately. Here's the irony...their current president who is up for re-election is named Goodluck Jonathan. Yes, good luck to you Mr. Jonathan and please make sure my friend and I make it out of your coutnry alive.

Oh and it's not just anywhere that someone speaking English needs a translator when communicating with someone else speaking English. I've earned my keep translating for Angie this week :)

We brought one of the new tablecloths from LC with our new logo on it...a quite expensive tablecloth I might add and drove up to our first venue to see it tied to a wall flapping in the African wind. OOPS! Chalk that up to things you never saw coming and therefore couldn't have prevented.

And my personal favorite today was trying to be adventurous in my food ordering. I am not really a picky eater and will usually try anything once. The guys we are with continue to comment on us eating the same thing every day so I tried to order something new and different and boy did it backfire. This is the only way to explain how it happened. While I was ordering and waiting on our food Angie stepped away to use the restroom. As she walked back up I was given my tray of food and caught a whiff of something that smelled like poop. I looked at Angie strangely as if to question whether or not she stepped in poop only to realize the smell was coming from my plate. I kid you not...this speciality rice on my plate literally smelled like poop and for the first time I could not stomach it and had to send my order back. I felt terrible knowing that it was a delicacy in Nigeria and I had just wasted a plate of food but I was getting sick just smelling it much less trying to eat it.

And that my friends is just some of what you won't see just anywhere. Here's to world traveling and seeking adventure!!

Rapunsel...Rapunsel let down your hair

I know that probably sounds like a funny title for a blog coming to you straight from Nigeria but it's all I've got. I need everyone to refer back to my blog entries from a year ago when Angie and I went to audition for the biggest loser and realize that Angie and I always know how to stumble into an adventure. We have been in Nigeria since Monday afternoon around 3:30pm and have spent almost every waking hour in our hotel room locked away from the world. We have joked repeatedly that we wished we didn't both have short hair as we stare out the window dreaming of Rapunsel. Funny thing is that we aren't really sure why we are being kept tucked securely away inside. There doesn't see to be any major threat to our safety. Regardless, if we aren't teaching a seminary or in route to the airport for flights to neighboring states we are sitting in our hotel room. Tonight we are at least fortunate to be in a hotel with running hot water and wireless internet. We've been laying here reminiscing over our last few days and laughing hysterically. The gentlemen we are here with are nice but have been a little smothering. One of them is always with us even when we are just sitting in our room...at times its a little awkward. Fortunately we've had food delivered to our room throughout our stay...some good, some not. Unfortunately the guys we are with have taken the food police role and are monitoring what we eat and when we eat because they want to make sure we are well fed. In fact today we have been force fed twice. There comes a time where you lose the ability to be gracious and kind and just have to put your foot down...today was that day.
I have made myself notes to blog about our experience, including a time log of just how long we've been locked in hotel rooms so more blogs to come.
For now my tylenol PM is kicking in so I am checking out.

More news from Nigeria soon.

off the grid

Well the world traveler is back at it again. I am leaving in a few short hours for a work trip to Lagos, Nigeria. I will be out of the country for the next ten days and would covet your prayers. I haven't fully recovered from my Uganda trip so the thought of days of international travel and adjusting to different time zones seem quite daunting. I know this trip was God ordained and so I will trust him and his sufficiency. In all honesty, once the travel part is done our time in Nigeria will be at a much slower pace and I will probably get more rest by being away. THANK YOU LORD. The purpose of this trip is to recruit international students to attend Louisiana College. We have a large number of international students coming from China in the fall and so we hope to balance out those numbers with my personal favorites...Africans. Here's hoping for a successful trip, rest and just enjoying a different part of Africa...even though my heart resides in Northern Uganda.

*pray for safe travels
*pray for rest
*pray that I don't come back to the same chaos I did three weeks ago after returning from Uganda
*pray for my Matti girl...she's already pouting now that she's seen the luggage out
*pray for safety while we are there
*pray for God ordained conversations with potential students
*pray for my assistant, Alana, as she holds down the office in my absence

see you soon!

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

That is a hymn I have always loved and been blessed enough to experience throughout my walk with the Lord. This week in a mighty way I have seen the Lord show is faithfulness and provision to me in a time where I didn't even realize I how desperately I needed to see it. About a month ago I posted a support letter that I had sent out to my friends and family asking for prayer and financial support for my summer trip to Uganda. I am pretty sure that in that post I talked about just how hard it is for me to ask for help in that way but the Lord was pushing me to be obedient. Knowing that I raised support last summer to go and was blown away by people's generosity made me feel guilty to ask again so soon for money. Just last month I went to Uganda and knew that I was suppose to take a step of faith and pay for it knowing the money would be provided and that sacrifice on my part was required. The time of the trip couldn't have been more perfect because it's tax season and the majority of my trip would be paid for with my return. However, I still owed $800 for the March trip and then came home to emails that I needed to start sending a large sum of money for the next trip. To say I was overwhelmed a little defeated was an understatement. In addition to all of that I have been processing how to go about seeking monthly donors to send me to Uganda for an extended period of time since the IMB (international mission board) does not appoint missionaries to Uganda at this time.
And then the Lord showed me his faithfulness....
Just this week my mom and I have sold almost enough of the jewelry that I brought back from Uganda to pay off the March trip. People who ordered them from other places received their beads and mailed me checks that far exceed the amount they owed for their merchandise. In addition I got an update email from ISF that I currently had $1500 in towards my trip this summer...that's half already paid for. All of this came after a very significant happening. One of my RAs sent me a support letter for a trip he is taking this summer to Nepal. I was torn knowing how much money I needed myself and being able to put myself in his shoes. The Lord just gave me a peace and a gently prodding that I needed to send money for Cody's trip and so I did. the next day after the check was in the mail was when I got the call from my mom finding out how much she had sold, an email from ISF on how much had been received and a several shoppers stopping by my office buying more beads. On top of that I had a random friend send me a message that they wanted to begin sending me $25 a month to use how I see fit. WHAT?!?! My first monthly donor before I had even made that need known. Lord thank you for blowing my socks off this week. And forgive me where I doubted. Lord I believe, but help my unbelief!

Great is thy faithfulness, o God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not thy compassions they fail not.
As thou hast been thy forever will be.

Great is thy faithfulness.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hands hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

Summer and winter and spring time and harvest.
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above.
Join with all nature in manifold witness.
To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is thy faithfulness.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hands hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth.
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.

Great is thy faithfulness.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hands hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.