Denver here i come

So finally with just under 12 hours before i have to fly my plans in denver seem to be about sorted! God has been as faithful as ever and i wont have to be resorting to staying in some scumy hostel just yet!

Its kinda cool how its worked, i just found out that Clay is still in denver and he said i can stay with a friend on his (well he is just checking) and at about the same time Janae has asked some1 and they have said yes. Now you would think that that is 2 people ... however im pretty sure that they are talkin about the same person!!! Its about 15mins away from the base so pretty cool and i assume that ill be able to get to downtown denver as well so its all good!

So im happy now and am about to teach a few texans the wonderful game of Perduo ... Carmen if your being a good girl and reading this then im sorry that i have to do it ... but im the only person that knows the rules so its gonna have to be me that explains them!!! wish me luck ...

Dallas

Ok, so im sure that i brought the cable for my camera, and i shall look for it, just pretend that there are photos atm

So ... I arrived in Dallas Monday afternoon and was swiftly whisked away from my sister and family by Ryan (My friends Krysta's brother) So since then i have to say ive been having a pretty sweet time!

Monday evening i managed to work my way in, with the help of some1 else's id card, to a 6 a side football team. Was kinda cool since that is what i do at home on a Monday night to be doing the same thing across a little lake! So the result wasn't too favourable think we lost 5-1, but of course i managed to mark my appearance with the only goal, so apparently 4 weeks without kicking a football you dont lose it ;)

Ok so side note number 1 (pic to follow) so i was meant to be puttin a couple of bottles of coke away in the fridge, but i was kinda a taken back by the amount of condiments there were in the stokes family fridge! I mean, im sure for the americans that are reading this you think im being a little strange cause this is perfectly normal, but any good old English people out there ... Seriously like the whole fridge door was full of em! This aint no English fridge either, everything is bigger in texas, and fridges are def included in that statement!

So Tuesday i had a nice lie in, well it was kinda a lie in, wake up, lie in, wake up for a good amount of times, but none the less i enjoyed it! So the afternoon Krysta, Ashley (her best friend) and I grabbed some rather nice lunch at chilli's and then ventured into some sort of upper class shopping out door high street like place! So the afternoons shopping was followed by my second night in a rows worth of a good football game! 4 weeks without ... then 2 nights in a row ... Not gonna lie wasn't un-happy about that at all! This time it was an 11 a side game, which we were victorious winning 8-5, with myself grabbing a cheeky little hatrick. So after that i was pretty much feeling like all i could do was sit or lie, so i did! We just had a chilled out evening in from of a movie.

So Wednesday Krysta had to work in the morning so i just took the time to catch up on a little reading and chilling out, but when she was back it was all go once again! We took a trip to a proper "mall" this time, and not gonna lie, was pretty happy there! a couple of jumpers, a pair of jeans, a t shirt and an ear piercing later i was happy! (yes i did say ear piercing)

So i have to make a side note here about loving the panda! Panda express that is, now if Tommy was still with me im sure he would be able to compare it to alot more Chinese meals as he is some sort of expert, but i personally have to say this stuff was pretty darn good, and i plan to repeat this very pleasant experience again in the near future!

So wed nite was time for a little bowling action. So the challenge was sent by the young Ashley, making claims of having previously bowled in a league and averaging 180 ... well i thought i was in trouble. However i think the pressure maybe got to her and she just couldn't stand the heat hehe :D We had a really good time me thinks, with the perfect number of 7 bowlers - Krysta, Ashley, Amy (K sister), Rett (K sisters BF), Ryan, Natalie (From Month 1 with mercy ships) and myself. So of course there was a little stealing bowling ball action (if you have ever bowled with me you would know what that is), there was a little spinning round 10 times then trying to bowl action and of course there were plenty of high fives and over celebrations!

So this morning Krysta has worked again, and ive chilled out at the house, seen a new show called house which wasn't too bad, and done some more reading! Just about finished this booked called a monkey's orientation and well im still waiting to find out why its called that! im sure it said somewhere it was gonna tell me why ... and well im still waiting!

So next step for me is Denver 2morrow morning, what that is gonna bring atm i haven't really a clue!!! Im just about putting the final touches together of where im gonna be staying so hopefully it will all turn out good and i shall enjoy my time there just as much as i have here so far in Dallas :D

Update is a coming ...

So its getting kinda late, and i wanna include a pic or two in my update so im gonna wait till morning when i have a little time cause my friend is at work

But i just wanted to let any1 out there know that im having a great time in Dallas and more details will follow like in just a few hours :D

Goodbye Month 1, Hello Month 2

So im not gonna lie to all you readers out there ... there were a couple of goodbyes that were pretty tough. I guess for me its harder than most of the people here cause for most of them, goodbye was rapidly followed by "so see you in 2 weeks on the ship" For me, not knowing what i have in store i dont know if ill ever see most of these people again. Which is a real shame, cause i feel like ive made some pretty sweet friends while ive been here! I guess i can only be happy with the world we live in and that ill still be able to keep with what they are up2! and i guess you never know ... i could end up anywhere, and so could they, so i might just bump into some of them again!

So month 2 ... It starts 2morrow ... im gonna try and keep up the blogging as much as i can ... here is my rough plan atm ...

July 28 - Aug 1 I shall still be in Texas, just in Dallas this time visiting Krysta, not totally sure what im gonna be doing, just catching up and having fun i would imagine!

Aug 1 - Aug 7 I shall be returning to Denver, I really wanted to fit this in just to go back to my old ywam base. Where i am staying is kinda up in the air atm (everything i plan keeps falling through) Im actually not that stressed about this, Im just trusting God that he has it in his hands and what ever is worked out is his plan. So while im in Denver im hoping to catch up with some old friends, Im not 100% sure who is still left in Denver from my time, but there is only 1 way to find out and i shall indeed be doing that! My very good friend Janae is around and i shall be spending time with her when she is not working. My time in Denver im also trying to set aside just to take some time off, relax and spend time seeking God for what is next for Sam the Manny.

Aug 7 - Aug 25 Its Aaron time! cant say i have much idea what ill be doing with my 2 weeks with Aaron, nor can i say i care too much to be honest! Aaron is like a brother to me, and i will just be happy to see him, spend time with him and if i get more time to just chill out, recharge the batteries then that's good with me!

Aug 26 - Is my return date, Im due to land at 10:00am English time on what i hope to be a sunny Tuesday morning! If it isnt i may get a culture shock after all this heat over in Texas!

So please do keep checking back here as i will try and post as much as i can!!!

To you all that are reading this, if your from back home, some1 that ive met in the last month, some1 ive met is some other month, or some1 ive never met i hope that you are doing well, and remember that if your not, there is a loving awesome God just one prayer away, he is reaching out to you and all you have to do is reach for him, and i promise he wont disappoint!

Almost over ...

So its almost time for me to set sail! Well not really, but i needed to link the photo somehow!

But it is almost time for me to leave my current location and to start part 2 of my trip!

So ... 2day was the last full day with the kids, currently sarah and tommy are taking part in the last part of their course, which happens to be at a swimming pool, from what i know they have to keep a float for about an hour or so then save 4 dieing people from a raft while being dragged down by a 20 ton weight ... ok so maybe not that much of a challenge! im sure really there just having a splash about!

So 2nite is the last nite with some people (mainly due to the fact their leaving 2morrow!!!) so im not really sure what the plan is when they arrive back ... but hopefully we shall partake in some fun activities.

So how am i feeling about the coming departures ... well ... i guess its a whole bunch of mixed emotions! My time with the kids has been up and down i guess, overall alot more ups!!! Of course there have been hard moments where ive felt tired and both boys pick the same 30mins to be as naughty as they can. But overall they have been a joy to be around and there isnt much a little hug, or smile, or kiss from one of the little ones cant fix!

But of course im still gonna have these 2 little bundles of joy in my life, so i guess im not really focusing on missing them right now ... its the friends that ive made while ive been here that are pretty much all departing in the next couple of days (and then most of them onto Africa soon enough) that im gonna miss, so i was maybe gonna do a little tribute to various people ... and maybe i still will ... just after they have left so i dont feel embarrassed if i say too many nice things about them!!! In summary everyone here has been a delight to meet and get to know and i will always look back on this time with a smile on my face!

My most watched film ever ...

So im not really one to watch an awful lot of films ... I mean dont get me wrong im down with a good movie, i just dont find a lot of time to watch them, am just always too busy. I guess because i dont watch too many, watching the same films over and over has never really appealed.

So today as i was asking Tom which movie he would like to watch while Joshua was asleep it kinda hit me ... the film that he picked 2day could well be my most watched film ever!!! Now when i say ever i have to exclude my time as a little one cause i really cant remember much from then! So my count in my head would make this the 5th time of watching this very film ... The little toaster goes to mars!!! Now im sure this isnt normal for a 24 year old male ... i knew this nanny business was gonna mean some changes ... guess i just wasn't expecting this one ;)

So apart from trying to ignore the tv this afternoon i shall be trying to get some energy back that i seem to have lost! Yesterday was a very long day, due to sarah and tommy having to leave at 6am to do some fire fighting (see their blog for more info) For some reason i wasn't tired at all, and even decided when i had an hour or so free in the afternoon to walk around the lake a couple of times ... well i think its all caught up with me now!

Saying this however the week is going well, tiring, but good none the less! I hope that you are having a good week yourself whoever you are that is reading this!

The week ahead

So the week ahead for me is gonna be the hardest i feel ... each day has been stretched in time which i have to look after the kids! I also didn't really have a good start last night, I'm one of those people that really needs sleep i feel ... and well last night i just couldn't get to sleep for a while, there was just too much thinking going on to even consider sleep! ... then finally when i did get to sleep i kept waking up ... 4:30 ... 5:30 ... 7:00 ... 7:30 ... Thankfully God has sustained me so far today and i feel awake still and my illness seems to have almost fully left me so that is a positive!

Ill give you an example ... this is 2day ...my day started just before 8 today instead of the normal 8:15 and still goes through until 12:00. Then Normally they have a hour for lunch which gives us time to eat and for either Sarah or Tommy to put Joshua to sleep ... but this week its been cut to just 30Min's so i get the kids from 12:30 and have to take Joshua to bed whereas he would rather be staying with mum and dad, today he seemed quiet happy about it all, which i have to say was a relief cause Ive had a bit of a nightmare morning! (Tom being naughty and Joshua just being grouchy) So now i have the kids all the way through till dinner at 5 instead of the normal 4!

2morrow I'm trying not to think about, but lets just sum it up with the fact that Sarah and Tommy have a practical in the morning starting at ... 6:30! so goodness knows what time ill have to wake up :(

EDIT: i just found the rough schedule on my sisters blog and have nicked it ... so here it is ...

Monday 7.45-12.30 and1-5 fire fighting instruction
Tuesday 6-10.30 Fire fighting practical, 1-3 fire fighting test, 4.30-5.45 meeting
Wednesday 7.45-12.30 and 1-5 CPR/first aid
Thursday 7.45 -12.30 personal safety, 1-5 survival
Friday 7.45-12.30 and1-4 survival, 4-9 water survival practical/dinner

So please do think about me this week, it means alot to know that I'm in peoples thoughts and prayers.

Hopefully next time i post i will be able to tell you all how wonderful its going!!!

Weekend

So this weekend was a little more chilled out for me which was nice. I still wasn't feeling too well at all so was nice to have a bit of a rest. Saying that i still managed to cram a few things in!

So Sat morning there was class, so it was almost just like a week morning taking care of the kids, but the afternoon off brought a trip to a nearby zoo!

So i think my fave animal of the day was prob an ant eater, have never seen one before and i kinda liked its strange nose thing! I guess if there were some chimps i woulda liked them more, but on this day the ant eater won my fave animal contest! We as always tried to have as much fun at the zoo as humanly possible, by playing such games as seeing how many photos we could get our bandannas in and by pulling an animal pose here and there! (see below)


With many of the people off out and about on sat nite it left me just with some time to chill out with Sarah, Sarah and Tommy which was nice, which was followed by an early night ... which was also nice!!!

So Sunday was the first day in a while that i felt a little more like myself and getting closer to being fully well again! So we went to church just over the road as per normal, and Tom always seems to have had a good time in his little class which is cool, maybe its just cause he knows that he is always gonna get a lolly when he leaves! After some lunch and a quick swim, we ventured off base for a little American bbq round Taylers parents house. (see pic at the top) So i think everyone that went would agree that they have a beautiful house and we all had a lovely time!!!

Happy Birthday Jenny!!!

So yup yup yup ... Happy Birthday Jenny!!!

Ok, so i need to do a little flilling in for a few of you i feel ... So any1 that is reading this and knows Jenny wont need to have this explained to them cause they all ready know it!

But to the rest of you ... Ok so Jenny (as a friend of mine says about himself) "Is kinda a big deal"

So Jenny has the enourmous pleasure of living on a hallway with my sister and her family and ME!!! ... well and her husband John! Who i would like to add, is a bit of a legend himself, i saw him just wearing a shower curtain the other day, very strange!

So anyways back to Jenny, she is the mother of 3 lovely kids. Ok so im saying this not having ever met her kids, but from what i know of Jenny its pretty much a given that she is a fab mother so her kids wouldnt have stood a chance but to be anyting other than lovely!

As well as being a great mother Jenny is just an all round delightful person! The family dorm would not be the same without her, and i think everyone would agree that it is a better place when she is around. Some1 even said to me the other day that Jenny is one of there all time favourite people! I questioned what had taken them so long to work this out but hey ... were not perfect!

So would be rude not to say it once more ... Happy Birthday Jenny! I hope that you have a wonderful day :D

Under the weather ...

So unfortunately i have to report that im a little under the weather at the moment. I started feeling a bit ill on Tue night, but was having such a nice time that i thought i had got over it, guess i was just a little distracted for a while! So yesterday i was feeling pretty rough for most of the day. I had moments where i was feeling alot better so i knew that it wasnt anythin too serious!

So this morning im feelin better yet again, but when you eat like a horse like me, when your body goes without food for even just a day its all a little confusing, so im now in some sort of limbo between feeling ill and wanting to eat ... so i shall try some toast me thinks!

Ok so i have something a little more important to blog about so gonna do that ...

UPDATE: so im doin alot better now :D feelin almost 100% and have eaten just about normally today ... maybe a little less than normal but almost there!

A new experience ...

So this morning was my first ever Mothers day out :D

I think i qualified via some loop hole in the system and my title as "Nanny" i guess was a big factor!

So Tom, Joshua and myself were taken to a pretty cool play ground about 25 Min's away from the base. Its strange how even a play ground can be different from country to country. This i feel was a "top of the range" play ground, they obviously took very good care of it, and was designed with trees all around and it in, meaning that it was very well shaded which meant the kids could enjoy themselves without getting too hot! I think poor little Joshua got tired towards the end after trying to keep up with Tom all morning and i think he is prob sleeping pretty well right now!

So the thing that i found rather funny was how each thing in the play ground was sponsored by some person, company and churches! for example there was a Baptist churches sandpit!

So the overall trip i feel was a sucess, i have to admit from a personal point i didnt really join in on many of the conversations, mainly due to the fact i dont really have any knowledge of being pregnant or anythin like that! But none the less i enjoyed my first mothers day out :D

Rodeo

So i guess im the laziest of all of the people that are blogging here, cause im pretty sure they all have things about the rodeo already ... but i know that there are people that would just love to read one more persons view on it, So here is mine ...

So, i guess i was kinda looking forward to the whole event, i had some friends that went to something similar a few months back and really enjoyed it ... me however im not sure if enjoyment is the right word ...

We took a little photo just to show how we felt about the rodeo ...

© Carmen Radley, 2008

So i think i was going for a little confused/scared look ...

Ok so the event ranged from (these are just what i think, im sure others feel other things, and i can see that maybe it just a culture thing ...) So there was the ...

... entertaining - poker with a bull running at the guys playing
... kinda boring - women riding horses doing line dancing for 4 1/2 hours
... bizarre - A monkey riding a sheep dog herding some sort of goat/sheep
... poor standard - men trying to throw ropes around bulls, and mostly doing a poor job of it!
... mixed - Bull riding, was kinda verging on being entertaining until one guy got kinda crushed and suddenly it wasnt so entertaining
... darn right awful - Ok kids age from 4 years old riding sheep, most of them made it about 2 feet before taking a face dive into the dirt (see below)


But lets not make this whole event a complete flop ... now i always like to find a positive or two ... and well this photo contains 5 of them :D (and there werent just 5 positives either! we had a two 15 people van loads of people!) these were just the lucky few that had the pleasure of sitting near me!

(left to right ... Amy, Natalie, Sarah (my sis), Carmen, Me and Miriam)

I spoon, Do you?

So last night was the first ever (that we are aware of) Mercy ships extreme spoons world championship!

Competition was fierce, and as was the stature of the competition competitors came from far and wide to try and win the title. Of the field of 15 highly motivated spoon players there were players from England, Scotland, Holland, France, Switz, Germany and all over America.

Now for those of you that dont know what extreme spoons is ... well shame on you ... but ill enlighten you just in case you want to have your own extreme spoons competition!

So pretty much the deal is this ... Everyone trys to get get four of a kind (cards are passed around) and as soon as someone gets four of a kind then they can take a spoon. Once one spoon is taken, everybody attempts to get the remaining spoons. The difference with extreme spoons is that is it played in a gym hall and there are limited spoons in the middle of the group, the remained of the spoons are spread around the gym!

So the first few rounds were pretty "tame" due to the amount of spoons around. But competition soon hotted up ... There was a huge shock when with 5 spoons left when pre tournament favourite "Dan the Destroyer" lost out.

With just the "hardcore" spooner's left it was decided to go to a line and let people hide the spoons behind with without having any knowledge of where they were ... which i have to say was a little interesting cause you really did at some points feel you was running around without a clue where they were (they were pretty hard to see!)

So the final 5 ... Sam the Manny, John the Giant, Carmen the Classy, Miriam the Magnificent and Amy the Angelic

So with the elimination of the classy and the magnificent there were but 3 ...

So the 2 spoon round for me was pretty successful for me, i saw what i thought was a spoon in the far corner so made a little dash in that direction ... was feeling pretty happy but a little confused cause the giant and the angelic were looking rather confused as to where the other spoon was, it was then that i decided to take my spoon. Well i thought it was a spoon ... infact due to clever placement it was infact both spoons, so taking my spoon then left a dash for the last spoon, which the giant won!

So it was the manny v the giant ... what a tense final ... and due to clever placement again, we were running around like headless chickens for a good amount of time ... until outta the corner of my eye i saw the spoon on a yellow line ... and with it victory was mine!

So thank you to everyone that played, in what can only be described as sweltering heat! And maybe just maybe there will be have another game sometime ... maybe we shall just play round a table like normal people ... but then me for one i know has never really ever been described as normal!!!

The story so far ...

So ive been in Texas for exactly 2 weeks now ... and i have to say ... its been a rather lovely time so far!

So an average day for me ...

8am - I get woken up with a little knock on the door ... So i pretty much have about 5-10mins between this knock and when sarah and tommy leave, so its my job to try and wake up in these few mins so that im ready to go with the kids!

i have my own little room here, it has 1 bunk bed with a desk and a walk in wardrobe (which i have to say is pretty cool) - Sarah, Tommy, Tom (4 years) and Joshua (1 1/2 years) live just across the way, so their never far away!

8-12pm - Is class time for S+T so its time for Sam the Manny to kick into action. What we do depends on the day really, how the kids are behaving etc. We normally start off with just a little 30Min's program on the tv so i have a few more Min's to wake up and they can have a little sit down if they want so they have lots of energy for what is coming!

Some morning we may go swimming, which i can tell you is not an easy process! having to get 2 little boys (well 3 if you count me) ready for swimming, all sun creamed up etc well its not a quick process! Its a really nice swimming pool here, and the kids seem to enjoy it very much!

Other times we may venture out to the farm. Its run by mercy ships so all the people there are very friendly, and if we manage to catch one around they are always very keen with the kids :D So far the kids have managed to hold warm eggs that have just been layed, walk in with the chickens, play with the bunnies and chase a cat around :D - This activity also takes up a surprising activity. Once again you have to start with sun creaming the little ones (you do for most things! its pretty hot here!) then walkin about 2 miles with 2 Little ones is quiet a task! and of course there is always a need to check the warmth of the swimming pool water on the way home for some reason!!!

Others times we might just go for a walk around the rather large campus or do some activity!

This morning last week i was invited by some mothers to take the boys to play football with them! this was a really good idea in theory, however in practice very not! Tom being 4 was prob youngest by almost 2 years and he really doesn't have the confidence or the love of football yet to pull him through. Which was a shame really cause the people were all lovely! I tired this morning to see if he wanted to try it again, but i could see in his little eyes that he really didnt, so i didnt push it ... so this morning we have just seen some strange music video film thing! But in a little while we shall go to the swimming pool and met the kids after they have played football.

12-1 - LUNCH!!! so lunch here is good i would say! for havin to cook for a fair amount of people they do an amazing job and if you dont look at the list i dont think you could ever predict what its gonna be so its always a nice surprise! Lunch also gives me a little breather if they boys have been hard work in the morning.

1-4 Normally that is - Now joshua has a little sleep until 3 so me and tom just have a bit of a rest together. We will just chuck on a film and see how it goes,of course it always gets made alot longer with toilet, drinks and snack breaks! (and even a phone call or two from nanny!) If tom is feelings a little more active we will have a bit of a draw or play while watching the film. Then when joshua wakes up its normally time for a bit of a cuddle with him for a while till he wakes up properly then a little play and its time for mummy and daddy to come home!

5-6 DINNER!!! so pretty much see lunch if you wanna know what this is about!

On a side note though, dinner and lunch are really good times cause you get to sit next to people of very varied ages and from very different backgrounds. Which i think is a rare thing, and only in this kinda environment would it work! And i have to be honest ... i love it!

The whole task of looking after the kids would be a heck of a lot harder without all the lovely people that there are here! Maybe ill start naming a few sometime, but right now they know who they are :D

6-onwards - So the evening are normally freeish for me, Saying that i really dont mean it! So nights s+t have had meetings to attend so i still have the kids. But most evening i have my job as "Family dorm social sec" - So as a group of family dormers and some added friends we find ourselves doing various fun things!

just chillin out - you can work out what that is
family dorm games - now the most popular games are perudo (will prob expand on this later), 7 up 7 down, Some game about a river, Nertz, Speed scrabble, and taking the mick outta americans.

walleyball - Yes im sure you are thinking ive miss spelt volleyball, but for once i havent! Now its kinda like volleyball ... buts its played inside in a racket ball court and your allowed to hit the ball off the walls, which is all a little confusing at times, but very good fun none the less!

Out activities - Like this weekend i have the cinema and goin to a real texas rodeo planned! So far ive done other things like July 4th fireworks and goin to the largest flee market in America i think!

So ive been a little distracted by the kids for a while now, and ive kinda lost the flow and have no idea what else i need to write!

So im gonna leave my little story so far here, but if you have any questions or anything please let me know! and im sure ill add other stuff along the way as i think of it :D

Some background info

Ok, so thought i best give a little background info just incase anyone doesnt know who i am or what exactly im doing.

So for the past (almost) two weeks and for the next two and a half weeks im being a nanny to my 2 nephews.

Why i hear you ask ... well my sister and her husbands(1) are doing a training course in texas, USA. There long term plan is to go onto the African Mercy(2)

What does that involve i hear you ask ... well a normal day starts by being awoken about 8am by a little knock on my door and from there its all go! Sarah and Tommy are in class till 12 when we met them for lunch for a hour. Then there back in class at 1, and i have the kids again till 4. Then after that its all a little vaired (well dinner is normally 5-6) but some nights they have meetings as well ... so they keep me pretty busy!

(1) - You can check out their blog on my left menu, they are Sarah and Tommy.
(2) - The african mercy is a part of Mercy ships ...

MISSION
Mercy Ships, a global charity, has operated a fleet of hospital ships in developing nations since 1978. Following the example of Jesus, Mercy Ships brings hope and healing to the poor, mobilising people and resources worldwide.

VISION
Mercy Ships seeks to become the face of love in action, bringing hope and healing to the poor.

Rocking and Rolling ...

So ... its time to work some angles on the whole blog idea!

So this is just me saying hello ... but its time to sleep now ... but never fear ... 2morrow will bring mabye a little back ground info and a summary to get everyone uptodate :D