Home for Christmas

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! :)