Cute things kids say…

When Jake was around 2 years old I kept a piece of paper on the fridg so I could quickly record the funny things he would say.  I kept it and used the funnies in a scrapbook for grandparents a year ago.  I was so glad I had written them down.  Between sleep deprevation and the brain cells that I lost after childbirth, I would have been unable to remember “accurately” his sayings.  Paige turned 2 a few months ago and she now has a list on the fridg.  I thought it would be filled with things she was rambling, and it is, but I have found myself writing things from Jake’s mouth too.

Here is a sampling:

Paige’s first word “Hi” at 9 months (yes I said 9 months!!!)

Also at 9 mo she said “Bye, bye”, “Dake” (for Jake)

9.5 months “Baby”

10 months “uh, oh”, “cup”, “pretty, pretty, pretty”, “kitty cat”

11months “mama”

1year “tickle”, “bubba”, “eat”, “no, no”

1.5yr “Dada”

(We moved and got busy and I didn’t write anything from 1.5 yrs until 2yrs)

2 yr. I asked her what she wanted to color and she said “whoo, whoo, ha, ha” I misunderstood a few times then I saw the Curious George book and I grabbed it and she said “Yes!” like…”Mommy finally figured it out!!”

“Pops says I’m princess” and “I’m pretty” I think we are going to have a vanity issue…

So for Jake I found his 4yr old list, too funny!!

At 4 yrs. “Paige has 3 muscles on her arm”(baby fat rolls)

Jake: “I’m 4, I’m a grown up”

Mommy: “not really” ( i like to keep it real)

Jake: “ok, 1 more year and I’ll be a grown up.”

“Now that I’m 4 I can work on the computer and watch Scooby Doo.”

I killed a spider and Jake said without skipping a beat “God would you take that spider to heaven?”

Jake: “I’ll be a grown up, big like Daddy, when I’m 20″

Jake sings a song  “O is for obey O is for obey, obey is doing what you should, O is for obey” one day I heard him singing “D is for disobey, D is for disobey…”

4.5 he said “I love Mommy, Daddy and Paige, I am the best lover in the whole world.”

5.5 he just said this this week “Can you put a list of the rules for school in my uniform pocket so I don’t forget? There is a pocket, right? I don’t want to do too many bad things and get kicked out of school.”  he must have been listening Ken!!

I had asked him why he couldn’t remember to put his PJ’s in the drawer in the morning and he said he didn’t know.  Then I asked why he could remember to eat his yogurt every morning but couldn’t remember to put the PJ’s away.  He said “If I do it everyday then “BAM” I remember the next day!” This is truly genius!!!

Thanks for humoring me…

Love, Nicole

All kids are funny!!!!  Write it down!

My trip into work and two colleagues are going home

I will give you a tour of my commute to work today as I snapped a few shots on the way…

I start with the elevator ride down… when I first arrived, I could barely fit me and my two pieces of luggage in there, that small!

The front door of my apartment building…

Just outside my apartment building, notice the graffiti, it is everywhere!

I pass by the neighborhood market, it is called Carrefour and it is a two story grocery store… very interesting buying things here!

A little girl sitting by this flower stand that her mom worked in, she was eating some sort of bread…

A woman that sells flowers on the street taking a break…

The red light means DO NOT CROSS!!!  The green light means CROSS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

They use the sidewalk as parking spots here… I am not joking, this happens all over town.

Check out that little truck, he was laying on the breaks heavy!!! I would be rich if I owned a chain of brake shops in this town!

Signs all over the buildings… not sure why that dude is smiling… wonder if he knew I was snapping this shot, I was trying not to look like a tourist!

I stopped at this place for lunch, had a grilled panini type of sandwich…

This is the entrance to the metro station, Piata Unirii (Unirii Plaza)…

Very crowded…

The guy in the blue hat walked by and the hat caught my attention… it read “I ‘heart’ Jesus”…

The subway just pulled up and the door was about to open…

We were packed in there…

Just got off and it was away in a flash!

Did I mention that the European Championship for soccer was going on?  They even have beer cans shaped as soccer balls.

This was just outside the metro station, the office is just down the street… lot of construction going on.

Today was the last day for me to spend with my colleagues that I introduced to you earlier in the week.  Martin from the Czech Republic, who has been here for 6 weeks, Juliana from Brazil, who has been here for two weeks and Felix from Germany, who has been here for just a week are all leaving!   Martin was my tour guide when I first arrived and I am very grateful for his help, he is looking forward to being back home after such a long time away.  Juliana has two kids and her and her husband had their 14th anniversary yesterday (I promise to never take a trip like this on our anniversary Nic!), she too is very excited to get back home.  Felix… he was just hear for a week and it takes him two hours to get home… he did miss his daughter’s birthday today though!

Here is Felix and Juliana saying goodbye…

And now saying bye to Martin…

It was great to get to meet these three, I have worked with them on and off for the last 7 years and never had met them in person. Tonight, I will be sending and email to the four colleagues that will be here on Sunday and see if we can meet for dinner.  It is now my turn to make sure the new ones get acclimated to the city and be hospitable!

Hope you all have fun with your weekend coming up, root for the ‘Stros (and hope another player does not strangle the GM), have fun at the leadership meeting, keep it real in Iowa, have fun with Jake in Austin, keep on learning about rewards in heaven and for all of you that do not understand what I am talking about… have a great weekend with whatever it is that you are going to do!

Dumnezeu sa binecuvanteze! (God bless!) and Noapte Buna! (Good Night!)

ken

My day at work (in Bucharest)…

I am in Bucahrest to provide training to a team that will be taking over some the roles in my organization at work.  The Bucharest office supports all of Europe and Spanish speaking customers.  The customer account that I manage is based in Europe and we have locations in Mexico and Brazil as well as the one near Austin, so the team I am training works a later shift to be on Central Standard Time.  As a reminder, Bucharest is 8 hours ahead of CST, so working the 8am to 5pm is 3pm to 1am here.  Needless to say I am very messed up on adjusting to the time difference in general, doing this late shift is really confusing my body!

There is much walking to be done here, most of the people I work with do not have cars (yet, there seems to be an abundance of cars on the roads and in the parking lots) so at lunch we walk to go eat.

Today we went to a walk up place to order Shaormas, which are Turkish pitas with grilled chicken and onions, sauce and cabbage.

Here is Felix to the right and the walk up window in the background. We stood at tall tables to eat.

I arrive back at my apartment by taxi around 1:00 am, it is late, I am tired, yet it is hard to go right to bed!  Tomorrow I will try to take pictures of the subway (or metro) which I ride to work on.  It is very interesting to take the subway, very crowded and if you are a people watcher (or observer, like me), you would like it!

I will have to share in person with anyone that is interested on how I have been impacted by this trip so far.  I have tried to type it out to post here, I am just not satisfied with how it comes through (must be my writing skills), so I would prefer to explain in person.

Dumnezeu sa binecuvanteze! (God bless!) and Noapte Buna! (Good Night!)

ken

A day in the city…

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. local time when the sun came through the window… that was 6 hours of sleep after a long two days of travel.  I could not go to sleep, so up out of bed and cleaned up, dressed and out the door of my apartment (I am staying at an apartment instead of a hotel, so I feel like I live here) and off to a cafe for some breakfast.  I brought my friend Oswald along…

Then back to the apartment to determine when I would meet my colleague Martin who is here from our office in the Czech Republic.  We would meet at noon at the Urini Plaza just a block away. While I waited, I took some pictures of my place…

The living room…

The kitchen…

The entry way…

I met Martin at the plaza and we walked over to a cafe called Terasa Doamne. Here is the entrance…

Here is Martin (he likes beer very much, drinks it like we drink Dr. Pepper… well, maybe not how I drink Dr. Pepper…)

I am very thankful that Martin was here, he has been in Bucharest for six weeks (he is single!) and is very familiar with the city, places to eat, markets to go to, which taxi cabs to take (wish I would have visited with him before the ride from the airport on Saturday), where the subway stations are, etc. He as been a big help, thank you Lord!

After lunch, we walked around downtown. Here is a view of the building that has a mall and market (with the McDonald’s sign), my apartment building is behind to the left.

Here is the Parliament Palace (Palatul Parlamentului), this is the capitol building built by Communist Party leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, the colossal Parliament Palace (formerly known as the People’s Palace) is the second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon. It took 20,000 workers and 700 architects to build. The palace boasts 12 stories, 1,100 rooms, a 328-ft-long lobby and four underground levels, including an enormous nuclear bunker.

Here is a park that we walked through, similar to Central Park in New York City.  It was a very big park with concerts, a small lake with paddle boats, winding pathways and a bunch of people.

After this excursion, we came back to our apartments around 3:00 p.m. and I took a much needed nap! I had to get some rest before we went back out and met two other colleagues for dinner.

At 7:00 p.m., Martin and I met Felix (from our office in Munich, Germany) and Juliana (from our office in San Palo Brazil). We went to a restaurant that Martin had been raving about, it was a very great experience.

Here is the entryway, I cannot remember the name of this eatery…

Here is a picture of all of us, from left to right: me, Juliana, Felix and Martin.

(no comments about the white legs ok… that would hurt Martin’s feelings!)

It was a very exciting place with many locals, part of the excitement was two couples from the restaurant dancing to various types of music in formal costumes.  They danced to big band music from the 40’s, disco music from the 70’s,80’s music ( I know some of your are envious!) and also classical arrangements. Then they started they started picking people out from the tables to dance (I went “oh no!” silently!).  One of the guys came and picked Juliana…

I looked at Martin and said I hope that one of the ladies does not come and ask me and he said “me too!”… a few songs later one of the them came and asked me to dance, I said no, no, no!!!  Then she asked Martin and he said NO, NO, NO!!! (in a Czech accent), then she asked Felix, he said no (in a German accent), however, she was not going to be denied a third time…

After all this excitement, we had tiramisu and an espresso for dessert. Dinner was wonderful, the only complaint was that just about everyone smoked, they do not have smoking ordinances in Bucharest. Martin said that it was “very fashionable” to smoke here.

It was now 9:00 p.m. and I had to let the group know that I was finished for the day.  Martin and I walked back to our apartments and I crashed on the couch!

A very nice day with some colleagues that I have known only over the phone for several years.  Now time for bed to rest up to go back to work tomorrow!

I will let you know what I happen upon tomorrow and share with you!

Buna Seara!

Jesus asks… “do you love Me?”

I am catching up on my devotional reading, I just read the June 19th My Utmost for His Highest and Oswald reminds us of a question that Jesus asks of us… “do you love me?”  Take a few moments to read this and let it sink in….

Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate . . . , he cannot be My disciple” ( Luke 14:26 ). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”— that is the source of devotion.

Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not really want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started. Jesus Christ is deeply offensive to the educated minds of today, to those who only want Him to be their Friend, and who are unwilling to accept Him in any other way. Our Lord’s primary obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of people— the saving of people was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of that life is its seeming insignificance and its meekness. Yet it is like a grain of wheat that “falls into the ground and dies”— it will spring up and change the entire landscape ( John 12:24 ).

Jesus, I love you… bring forth a passion to show You that I do!

ken

I made it to Bucharest!

I posted my schedule for the trip to Bucharest yesterday and after 19 hours I am finally settling in to my home for the next two weeks.

The the trip started off saying bye to the family:

Then the drive to the airport, flying across the Atlantic and watching the sun go down and see a full moon and bright stars…

To eating dinner and breakfast on the same flight, and viewing some very pretty country side in France…

then to touch down in Paris and listening to the French being spoken in the airport…

Then lifting off once again for Bucharest, to eating another Air France meal, to landing at an airport that looked like it was from the cold war (it was), to having one of the craziest cab rides ever, then having an argument with said crazy cab driver over Rons and Dollars. I do not have any pictures since I have been here yet…. the exhaustion was catching up to me!

Please be in prayer for opportunities to share Christ and that I will notice them! I have been praying that prayer leading up to this trip… I do not want this to just be a “business trip” and not take advantage of being around so many people that need to know the love of Christ!

Today is a rest day and then off to meet some co-workers for a meal… I so need to find me a Starbucks for breakfast right about now!!! Will check in later!

ken

One Year Anniversery back in Hunstville

In all of the excitement of getting ready for my trip, I overlooked that it was one year ago yesterday that we moved back to Huntsville.  Much has changed in a year, Paige’s hair was really short and she was just a baby still, Jake was a little shorter, Nicole’s hair was shorter and my waistline was a few inches larger!

Much has changed in our lives since our move back, I cannot begin to explain how God has worked in us as individuals and as a family, through His providence in bringing us back to a church family and our involvement with College Ministry!  We have been truly blessed this last year and we value all of the old friends that we have been able to reestablish relationships with and the many new relationships that we have started as well. More importantly, I am very thankful for the deepening of my relationship with Christ, He is what sustains me day in and day out and I am very glad that we obeyed the call to move back “home”!

Getting ready to go to Bucharest

I am up making sure that I have everything that I need for my two week stay in Bucharest, Romania.  I will be leaving Huntsville tomorrow around 1:00 p.m. to head to the George H.W. Bush Intercontinental Airport. Speaking of this airport, I have been there three times in the last three weeks.  I had the pleasure of taking and picking up the group from UHBC that went to Russia to spend time with a bunch of kids in an orphanage and to take my step-dad for his trip to Israel. I will see if auto-pilot works! I will be gone from Friday till Thursday July 3rd.

For those of you that want to know, here is my itinerary for the trip to Bucharest:

Take off from Houston on an Air France flight to Paris at 4:40 p.m. Friday afternoon, arrive in Paris, France at 8:45 a.m. Saturday morning (1:45 a.m. local time).  Spend a few hours in the Charles De Gualle International Airport, then take off from Paris at 10:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. local time) and arrive in Bucharest, Romania at 2:20 p.m. (6:20 p.m. local time).  Depending on how long it takes to get through customs and find a taxi to my apartment, I should be dropping my bags on the floor in exasperation around 5:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. local time)!

As I gather my things that I need to function for the next two weeks, I find myself tucking away recent memories that my family has provided:

• the hugs and kisses from Jake and Paige as they went to bed
• the time spent in the big chair tonight with both of them as we played Tiger Woods golf (Jake saying nice birdie… and Paige saying nice birdy!)
• the smile on Jake’s face as he looked up at while riding on the four wheeler out at Bert’s land
• the time I got to spend with Nicole watching the sunset and  ducks flying around last Friday night
• the words “happy Father’s Day” last Sunday from Nicole, Jake and Paige

I will cling to these memories as I am away from them. I hope they know that I may be physically gone, yet my heart is still with them!

So, I go on making sure not to forget my passport, my plugs for all my electronic gadgets, my date book, camera and all of the clothes I will need for two weeks.  I know that I will find something that I forgot to pack, I know this, I will not forget those memories that will make my coming home very sweet!

I will be posting updates here during my trip, I hope to bring a little bit of my adventure to you… all two of you that read this!

I just added Firefox…

I just added the new version of Firefox and I wanted to see how this “clipping” feature works.

clipped from clipmarks.com What can I do with Clipmarks?

How healthy is your heart?

“The best exercise for the human heart is to bend down and pick someone else up.”
Tim Russert

This is a powerful quote and one that reminds me of Proverbs 11:25… “…he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

How healthy is your heart?

ken