I'm in New York!
Mood:  spacey
Today I started the final leg of the journey to get me to Africa. It started with one last hurrah in Atlanta traffic and ended with me arriving in New York this afternoon. The wind is blowing hard and the lakes are all still frozen over. It made for a pretty, yet bumpy plane ride. I arrived safely however and with all of my luggage intact. I pray I can say the same after my journey to Namibia.

There was nothing planned for me today except to say my hello's. It is a nice switch from all of the goodbye's that I have been saying for he last few weeks. Of course I get to say a few more Wednesday but I will deal with that when I get there. Tomorrow is full of meetings and making sure last details are all in place. Then Wednesday I take to the open air!

Better than 'Finding Nemo'!
Today my friend Teresa took me to the new Georgia Aquarium! It was like 'Finding Nemo' only so much better! Check the website for the cool photos!
(http://photos.yahoo.com/thekimmieconnection)

Happy Valentine's Day!
Mood:  happy
On this beautiful Valentine's day I get to spend hanging out with my big sister! I am so excited! We are going to make the day all about her (since it's her birthday coming up too) and enjoy ourselves! I'll let you know what all we ended up doing!

Well, the day is over and boy did we have fun doing not much at all! After joining Val's husband Jimmy and son Erik for lunch we went to Sears to have our photo taken! I thought it was a good Valentine's/birthday present for the two of us. They turned out great (at least I think so). The other thing we ended up doing was going shopping. Not for anything in perticular and we didn't end up buying anything but groceries... but we had fun doing it!

Happy Birthday to us!
February brings not only my birthday but my sisters as well. To celebrate on my dad's side of the family we went out to eat at the Texas Roadhouse Grill. Since it was a Saturday night it was loud, but the food was absolutely worth it! I had a steak to die for. Their cinnamon butter for the bread was great too!

For our birthday our Auntee Elaine made us this cute cake! My favorite color is green and my sister's is yellow. And, since my big sister is following in my footsteps and becoming a nurse both bears have on nurse outfits! She did a great job on decorating and the cake was delicious! For those of you wondering what the 06-09 is, it stands for this birthday as well as the birthdays that my family will miss while I am gone! Thanks for thinking ahead Auntee E!

Also at this restaurant for your birthday they bring over a saddle that you have to 'ride'. Attached is the picture of my sister Val being too chicken to get on it and standing behind me instead! For more family pictures remember to look at my website!

Ashton is the best nephew ever! (but I'm not biased...)
Mood:  cheeky
Yesterday I was lucky enough to be able to baby-sit my nephew. We had a great time! We played with his Leap Frog Touchpad, read books, danced, watched his favorite show (the Doodlebops), did his favorite activity- vacuuming, played outside in the sandbox and of course took a long nap. While playing with the Touchpad his favorite was the number four sheep, which sang the last ‘baa-baa-baa’ of Mary Had a Little Lamb and played music.

He is still a music playing fool. He loves to dance to every kind of music. At one point I had my laptop up on the kitchen counter and I was playing music on it so we could dance. When the song ended, he walked up to the counter, pointed up and said dance. Being as well trained as I am I quickly turned the music back on!

My favorite part of the day however, was when he would say my name and command me to do something. "Kim come. Kim eat. Kim vaccuum." One of the hardest things about living so far from my family is that Ashton doesn't know who I am. So everytime he would say my name it made my heart sing with gladness. Of course that means anything he would tell me to do I would jump to it! He definitely has me wrapped around his finger!

Ashton's 2nd Birthday!
Yesterday was my nephew's birthday and I was blessed enough to be able to spend some time with him after my arrival in NM. He is so beautiful! I haven't seen him since April of last year. Since then he has started talking. He's such a smart little guy too!

I sat in amazement as my brother asked him all sorts of questions and he sat in his lap and answered them. I was quite surprised when Reed asked Ashton if he had a girlfriend and he answered! Apparently her name is Abby and she is the daughter of a friend of Reed & Trish. She is 6 months younger than Ashton. I hope to have pictures of them after his birthday party on Saturday!

Where are we going for the party? Just ask Ashton... he'll quickly tell you 'Chuck-e-chuck-e-chucky Cheese'!

God's provision is amazing!
Mood:  silly
It has been amazing to see over the last month how many people have stepped up to support me. It is often overwhelming that I have so many people that love me and are willing to support what I am doing. That or they really just want me out of the country... I'll hope for the former! I still haven't received my medical or financial clearance but am confident that God can do it in the next few days. Even if He chooses not to I am still amazed at how far He has brought me and will continue to sing His praise!

Yesterday at church they had this verse on the powerpoint. It was a great encouragement to me and I wanted to share it with you.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

the joys of moving
Mood:  caffeinated
Hello all! Today held good news! I am in the process of trying to sell my car, which is never fun, but I got an offer from the dealership for $600 over what I owe! Praise God! Especially since I went to Carmax and they were offering me over $1000 less than what I owe!
Other than that I am beginning the exciting journey of saying goodbye to sentimental items and deciding their fate. Most people would call it packing up my apartment! Tomorrow I am hosting a vulture party where my friends get to go through my things and take what they want! Of course this is with the full knowledge that some of it will only be on a 3 year loan. :-)
I hope this finds you all doing well. I leave you encouraged by the memory verse from my girls class on Tuesday nights:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1