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!!!