Banquet

Last Friday we had a big party for all of the kids who have received heart surgery this year. It was great to see these kids running and playing and having fun. It was also great to spend time with these families who we have gotten close to as we have spent time in their homes with them and their children. Here are some pictures of the occasion.


the girls next to me and Abby both had surgery this year and the girl on the end (to the right) was inoperable. Please join us in continuing to pray for her!


This is the family of Heran. She is the taller girl in the gold dress. She had surgery in May and is doing much better! Her family has really welcomed me into their home - in fact I can't go there without them feeding me, no matter what time of day it is!


Here are all the girls in our Cili Kurdis - this is the special Kurdish dresses that women wear for picnics, weddings and other special occasions.


Here is Jeff with the Dad of one of the kids we sent in February, his son Zana is doing great! Jeff plays soccer with him every time we go to their house.

Fishing

Most people who know me know my love for the outdoors. While Erin and I were in Corpus I got to take her fishing with me. I woke her up at 5:30 on a Tuesday morning and really didn't think she was going to be able to get out of bed. Once she was up I got dressed real quick and went to pick up breakfast for her with a large cup of coffee. When I got back she was wearing her fishing shirt I had gotten for her the night before. (A fishing shirt is a shirt that has vents in the back and under your arms to keep you cool.) Once I got back we headed out to the dock to put the boat in. The place we were fishing was a whopping 45 second boat ride away. When we got there we tied up to the bridge and got our fishing poles ready and began to fish. I got Erin all set up and then set my pole up and then she needed a new bait so I gave my pole to her so I could re bait her line and she caught a trout on my pole. It was her first keeper. (A keeper if a fish that is of minimum legal length to be kept. For a trout it is 15 inches and for a red fish or red drum as some people call it the legal minimum length is 20 inches.) After her first trout she caught some trash fish and then Erin caught a 23 inch red drum. It was the biggest fish on the boat until I caught my 24 inch red. Here is a picture of us with our red fish.

I was so proud of her for holding her fish even though it was slimy. I learned that Erin is an amazing fisher woman. She caught 2 keeper trout and 2 red fish along with several fish that were not keepers. Our fishing trip was lots of fun, a large part of that was because I got to share something I have loved for the last 19 years with my wife. To see her succeed and catch all those fish was a great feeling. I decided that the feeling I had with Erin must be very close to the feeling my dad had all the years that we fished together and he baited my hook and took my fish off the line and fixed stuff i broke before I learned how to do it myself.

I almost forgot Erin wrote a song while we were fishing to the tune of 'Baby Got Back'. It goes like this:

I like big fish and I cannot lie
You other brothers can't deny
When a fish swims up with a real big mouth and some big fins on the side
You get HOOKED like a fish on a lure...

This is all we can remember right now but needless to say the song was hilarious.

My New Family

Last weekend we went to Jeff's annual family reunion. I've never been to a family reunion before - unless this past Thanksgiving counts - cause there are only 8 of my family members still living and it would be a pretty small affair. So, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was SO fun!!! We had a great time and it is crazy how huge Jeff's family is. His dad is one of 8 siblings and his dad's dad is one of 7 - so you do the math. I think there was something like 105 people there! They had a skeet shoot, Johnny (Jeff's Dad) won 1st place and Jeff came in a very close 2nd!


This is Jeff's Dad & Paw Paw at the shoot

Then we went to a big dinner and there was a dance and everything! It was really fun!

Playing with the fake sheep at the restaurant


cow roping....pulling


Me & the Hus


The Priours! =)


me & Jeff at his Uncle's house on his birthday!!! He's a quarter of a century old now!

Weird Things about Jeff

Jeff and I were talking about the things that are weird about me because he couldn't really think of any that I didn't put on the list. The only thing he said he would add to it is 'you put salt on everything', which is true. So, with Jeff's permission, here are the things I told him were weird about him...

1. For as long as I have known Jeff anytime he gets a drink with a lid that has those little buttons on it that tell you what kind it is he always pushes all of them down. And then he proceeds to do the same to whoever's drink he is with.

2. He has a 'dog voice' for when he is around animals, and not a voice that he uses to talk to the dogs but a voice he uses to make the dogs talk to you. He uses his dog voice to tell you what the dog is thinking, wanting, etc. It is actually kind of hilarious.

3.Jeff likes to make faces - or should I say a face. I can probably find a picture of it... hold on... wow, it appears that somehow I've never captured this face on film. I can't really describe it but it's the same face every time and to this day I'm not exactly sure what it means. I think it might be something like 'I'm excited, or I'm happy' but it is used so frequently that I just don't know.

4.Jeff has to cross everything off of his list at the store. Even if he decides he doesn't need something anymore he still has to scratch it off the list.

5. Jeff is in the dark ages a little bit when it comes to technology. He got a digital camera for Christmas this past year and before this was using disposable cameras.

6. Jeff doesn't like to use his windshield wipers. They only become a necessity to him when it is raining so hard he can't see, until that point he doesn't like to use them.

7. He loves to laugh and sometimes when he is telling stories he won't be able to finish because he is laughing so hard - lots of times at himself. I don't know many grown men who can do this - it's pretty adorable.

8. Jeff won't take his phone in the bathroom with him when he has to use the toilet and should he by accident he won't answer it if it rings. However, when he is in the shower he takes his phone with him and will answer it if it rings... in the shower.

So - this is the pre-marital list ... do I get to post one afterwards?

Weird Things About Me

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their 8 things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Michelle tagged me, so... here goes

1.I function in a world that has what I like to call 'Erin time'. It runs a little bit slower than the rest of the world and there is not an exact translation for real time. All of my watches clocks etc. are set in Erin time and so whenever Anna Beth would ask me what time it was she knew to add about 5-8 minutes to that time.

2. I get really personal with books. I 'think aloud' in the margins, have my own notation system, and CAN'T not finish a book. It doesn't matter how bad it is, how much I am hating it, how stupid I think it is, I have to keep reading. Now - I have broken this rule about 3 times, but I'm still convinced I will go back and finish one of those books. I have been known to throw a crappy book across the room and then reread it a few years later and love it. But after I've read a book it has its own 'personality' which can make it hard to go back and reread without bias, but it is still something I have to do.

3.I love breakfast. Even when I sleep in until noon (which doesn't happen too much anymore) I will still make breakfast. There's just something a little bit magical about it for me.

4. I like to make lists - however, these lists are not so much for the purposes of accomplishing things as much as they are decorative. For example... I like to make a list before I go to the store, but I never look at it once I'm inside and I never cross anything off of it (Jeff loves this by the way). I have a 3 page list of random things that I love - just to have one. If you know me you've probably received a list of things I love about you. I also have a 2 page list of things I want in a husband - it is color coded. So... lists.

5. I like to encourage people to do stupid things. I can make anyone (just about) look ridiculous in a picture, even when they think they don't want to do that. I tend to bring out the hidden silliness within - and I love it.

6. I hate going to the grocery store. I will borderline starve myself before I go to the store. I will eat cans of beans, crackers, anything that I have before I will go to the store. The only person I can really even tolerate going to the store with is Jeff, and he is pretty wonderful and doesn't make me go with him very often. Poor home group has suffered some random Erin concoctions because I didn't have all the ingredients to make anything so I would just make something up... sorry guys.

7. There are 2 people in the world (and I've heard rumors of others) that look exactly like me. I look just like my mom and my twin sister. People are always coming up to my mom at church to ask her about how her trip was or how she's doing in Waco, even old high school friends will see her and start talking to her before they realize she's not me... it's weird. And then the whole twin thing adds a whole other dimension of confusion. People always stare at us when we are in public together, and I forget that it's because we look alike and think that I forgot to put on my pants or something. Sometimes I will see pictures of us and I can't figure out which one is me.... that is weird.

8. People tend to think my life is weird. I've been told on more than one occasion that "Your life scares me." I tend to like things that most people aren't interested in. I was trying to think of what other people say is weird about me, and this is what I get the most - people just think my passions are weird. I love being overseas, specifically in the Middle East, I loved living in the ghetto of Waco (most of the time), I'm interested in poverty, social justice, fair trade, oppression, and most of all learning to love like Jesus. This looks pretty weird in America but these are the things that I love the most... and I guess that's weird.

Now: I'm tagging Scott B. Jennifer W. Beth G. Chelsea P.

Drumroll please...

I'm getting married!!! Jeff and I got engaged last Friday and are getting married December 28. Here are some pics of the events...


This is the proposal location... the church playground - we spent a lot of time here growing up


This is the scrapbook he made to propose to me - isn't it beautiful?!


And this is my beautiful, non-conflict diamond ring


This is the hilarious poster that our friends made for us. We decided we would hang it in our apartment after we're married and whenever we get mad at each other we will just go stand in front of it for a few seconds until we can laugh again.

For Chelsea

SCATTERGORIES
Your Name: Erin
1. Famous Singer/Band: Elvis Presley
2. 4 letter word: Erin
4. Color: Electric Blue
3. Street: Eighth Street
5. Gifts/Presents: Ear Muffs
6. Vehicle: El Camino
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Earrings
8. Boy Name: Evan
9. Girl Name: Elyse
10. Movie Title: Erin Brockovich
11. Drink: Efes Beer
12. Occupation: Electrical Engineer
13. Flower: El Rosa
14. Celebrity: Ed McMan (that’s his name right?)
15. Magazine: Entertainment Weekly
16. U.S. City: Erie, Pennsylvania
17. Pro Sports Teams: Eagles
18. Fruit: Easy-Peeling Orange ….errrr… no?
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Exxon big-rig ran me off the road
20. Something You Throw Away: Egg salad
21. Things You Shout: Eeeek Eboli!
22. Cartoon Character: Elmo


Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each ...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question...

So, Chels - how many points is this? Did I win?