what kids say

its the season for "sickies" as I call it with my 3 year olds from preschool. just about all 7 of my preschoolers and i have some version of the cold this week. so, anyway, our preschool christmas program was today and "mary" and "joseph" both were from my class. avery was to be "mary" today. avery, the usually dramatic and energetic child, came in quite pale and lathargic this morning. she laid around all morning on the beanbags but told me that she still wanted to be "mary". at one point she looked up at me and said "ms. jamie, I am pooped out but not in my pants in my face!" I died in laughter and went to tell another teacher. apparently, "i'm pooped out" is a phrase that her dad uses a lot, she just realized that she needed to clairfy it with me. these kids crack me up!

traditions

me and my creation--okay, so it is a little long and tall for a christmas tree...but it was my first time.

i need to roll it out to be a little fatter of a tree next time.

remember the song "traditions" from "Fiddler on the Roof"? Well, its running through my head as I type this blog.

something about the season and it being the first christmas being married has instinctively made me remember and act out all the traditions that i have ever known as a child.

one very important tradition in our house was the tradition of the "christmas tree bread". ever year my dad would get out his dad's infamous receipe and every year during the christmas season my dad would spend countless hours making his special bread. this receipe was passed down from his father and allegedly from his. we would all gather around as dad made the dough but usually gave up on the process until the bread was finished and we could decorate it with frosting and sprinkles. seriously, our whole dinning room was covered with foil-wrapped christmas tree bread ready for delivery. the delivery was also a tradition in itself. we would make a list (and check it twice) and set out on christmas eve to houses of my parents friends. dad would always make us sing "we wish you a merry christmas" as the friends answered the door. (this was cute when we were younger and it was "we wish you a mewwry chwistmas" but then when we reached the teenage years it was a bit awkward and usually sung half-hearted.) the bread itself is really cinnamon rolls shaped and decorated into a christmas tree. we would tell our friends to heat up and enjoy it for breakfast on christmas morning before present time.

so, to carry on tradition, i made all by myself my first batch of "christmas tree bread". it took 4 hours to make but it was quite good. i had wished my dad was here making it with me especially when it was time to knead the dough--thats the hardest part. i was quite proud of myself and daniel and i had to dig in and taste the first one out of the oven.

one more class down

as i mentioned in an earlier post, one of my 2008 goals is to get that diploma that i have been putting off for a while. i have struggled with my confidence in going back to school through the last couple of years and failed a few times to push through my fears of studying, test-taking and self-motivation. now, with a wonderful, supportive husband i have taken steps to strive towards my goal of finishing.

this morning i finished my theology class! i am still waiting on my final grade, but i got an A on my last test so i am happy with the results so far. now with two classes down i have 5 more classes to finish in 2008. i'm on a roll. my tough classes of church history are next in january so i will really have to committ more time to studying those classes as there are a lot of dates and names to remember.

my biggest lesson i have learned is not of apologetics or personal theology, but of confidence, self-motivation and pushing through fears. thank you, God, for a wonderful husband who has helped me see that i can do things that i set my mind and optimistic thoughts to. next goal: half-marathon.

friday night reunion

mercy and "aunty" jamie

many of you may remember that from 2001-2002 i traveled with a choir here in the US for 10 months. the choir was called "Children of the World". it was the second year that World Help, the organization that i worked for, sponsored the choir here in the US. our choir was made up of 23 kids from india, nepal, burma, uganda and the phillipines. it was probably one of the hardest years of my life but it was well worth it. we literally traveled from our homebase in lynchburg, virginia all over the country...california, minnesota, texas...all over the place.

well, this past week i found out that mercy, one of our COTW girls, is here in the US on a student visa from her orphanage in manipur, india. actually another girl, rebecca, is also here with mercy but i didn't know rebecca previously. and the greatest thing is that mercy and rebecca live here in charlotte about 25 minutes away from daniel and i.

so i found out this news last monday and was able to get in touch with mercy's guardians. they invited daniel and i over on friday night to surprise mercy at her birthday party. i didn't know what to expect or how mercy would react...she was just 10 or 11 years old during our COTW days and now she is turning 17 years old so there was quite some time that has lapsed since we have last talked. it took her about 5 seconds to realize it was me, but she screamed and jumped up to hug me! it was sweet. we had a great night and her guardians are amazing, loving people. i hope that there will be many more posts that include mercy and rebecca.

shorter

ever had one of those days that you just march right into the hair salon and say "cut it"! well, that was me yesterday. so, here i am with very short hair. i'm not quite used to it being this short...the shortest it has been in a long while. i think i will like it more in a few weeks when it has grown out a bit.

first christmas tree

i'm not sure how i managed it but i NEVER have put up a christmas tree in my adult life until this year....all those years of being single and not even a tree. the reason wasn't for anything special just never did...i did have christmas ornaments though and now they are proudly displayed on "our" tree this year! i actually thought that i would have to spend a lot of money on it this year but we are keeping it simple as we know we will probably accumilate many things through the years. i LOVE coming home and plugging in the tree...i love the ambiance and if i had it my way we would have a tree up all year long!

to sudan with love:: part 2

Those that came to the event were asked to sign a banner to the Embassy of China, pleading with China to do their part to stop the genocide in Sudan. Also, we encouraged people to sign petition letters to our NC senators and President Hiu of China.






Everyone that came into the square was given a name of someone from Darfur who has died in the genocide. During the lighting ceremony we had a moment of silence to reflect on the personal name that each of us held.


Here is Kayla speaking, she did an amazing job of introducing John Prendergast...I was so proud of her and the job that she did to make the day happen.


John Prendergast, the main speaker of our event. He is a well known activist and author. His latest book, "Not On Our Watch", was co-authored with actor/activist, Don Cheadle (Hotel Rawanda, Crash).


Jamie and Jacob. Jacob is one of the 40+ Charlotte Lost Boys. The Lost Boys that were able to make the event were our guests of honor. Not only did we want to educate people on the Sudan genocide but the event also raised funds for the Sudanese Scholorship Fund. This fund is for the 40+ Lost Boys that are seeking an education here in Charlotte.


Our friends, Steve and Rachael and Daniel to the left.

Elie Wiesel, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, once said, “Remember: silence helps the killer, never his victims.”

About 3 months ago our friends, Steve and Rachael, invited a few of us to their place. They poured out their heart about the injustice that was happening in the Darfur region of Sudan and a dream to do something about it—the “Charlotte Torch Rally”. We all listened intently, cried together and prayed that God would help us do something to help those in Sudan.

Since then and because of Steve and Rachael’s dream, Daniel and I have educated ourselves more on the people of Sudan, their history, the atrocities and the now genocide that is happening as I type these words. Every 5 minutes someone in the Darfur region dies due to the inhumane conditions! In a nutshell (and you can read my past blogs) there was a civil war that began 20 years ago between the Muslim Northern Sudanese and the Christian Southern Sudanese (mostly of the Denka people group). Since then oil has been found and is now the countries greatest resource. The capital city (part of the north) has essentially paid the Muslim extremists groups to kill, rape, torture, and drive out the Southern Sudanese from the oil so that the government can have all profit. They pay these people that pillage the land with weapons from China, their biggest oil customers. Hence the reasons for a “torch” rally to use the ’08 Olympic games in Beijing as a platform for this attention—to stop the China/Sudan relationship of human lives for the sake of oil money. For centuries now, the Olympic games have been welcomed by the world in the name of “peace”. Ironically, communist China is hosting the 2008 Olympic games with the world watching.

Today was an incredible day. Our event started at 1pm in the center square of Uptown Charlotte, ironically called Independence Square. As Lamont (a modern abolitionist band) played a group of walkers (mostly Lost Boys who are refugees to Charlotte from Sudan), walked with an Olympic torch from outside the center city into the square where a larger Olympic torch was lit. Our speakers through the event were: Taryn Hofert, Steve Cook (our friend and founder of the event), a few of the Lost Boys (a name given to Sudanese refugees that were orphaned during the war days and walked hundreds of miles to safety of UN refugee camps) as well as David Johnston, a local photo journalist of Darfur, and John Prendergast, a well known author and human rights activist.

This was a day that we will never forget, one that starts the beginning of an incredible journey (emotionally and physically) and one that was deeply honoring to God. Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of these you do unto Me.” Certainly those that are living in refugee camps unprotected and displaced are the least of these.

uninhibited: kids and God

this week i have been telling the Jesus story every day during snack time to my 3 year old class. some know the details others don't and still others would rather focus on the goldfish in hand.

wednesday i asked my kids why Jesus was born in a barn and one boy said, "because there were no more hotel rooms!" i was pleased.

the next question was what did the angel say to the shepherds out in the field and john answered, "the angel said oh, my gosh!" not quite the expression i explained...the angel said, "do not be afraid!"

the humor in relation to spiritual things continued through the day...i love watching their overly dramatic expressions especially when it comes to God. so right as soon as we said amen to the "god our father" prayer song (not usually my choice) at lunch one boy said with the full expression "i heard God talking to me". so with equal expression i asked, "what did He say?" boy: "i don't know" another boy with eyes wide and big: "i heard God talking to me too..." me: "what did He say to you?" boy with full out drama and hand movements: "He said He loves me and all the boys and girls." my heart melted. i feel that children are really so much more uninhibited to God, spiritual understanding and faith then most adults. what adult would just blurt out "God spoke to me" without some sense of awkwardness or intimidation? kids really have it more figured out than we give them credit sometimes.

to sudan with love

i'm not sure why i haven't posted about this yet, but for those that don't know, daniel and i and many others from our community have been helping to prepare for the "Charlotte Torch Rally" here in charlotte this saturday (december 1st). we have a friend, steve, whose passion is extremely contagious and hard to miss. if it hadn't been for steve and his wife, rachael, we would be only educated about sudan and the darfur genocide by what we periodically hear about in the media.

facts:: 2.5 million sudanese people have died due to violence, starvation and disease. 7 million have been displaced from their homes while being bombed in raids by their own government of sudan!! 200,000 people have been taken into slavery. rape is one of the strongest forms of violence that occurs in the darfur region.

an extreme amount death, rape, starvation and displacement has been conducted on the sudanese people by the government and government-backed militia (muslim extremists called the "janjaweed"). the region of darfur has become one of the most devastating areas of human suffering. this is the first time in history that genocide has been labeled on an event while it was still happening and the world continues to stand by and watch. it is an extreme atrocity.

most of you may be asking, “so what is this Torch Rally all about?”. oil is sudan’s most prized possession and china is sudan’s most favorite customer. china pays Sudan for the oil with weapons, which go into the militia’s hands, which in turn, continue to torment the people of darfur. all this for oil and money for the government. three years ago colin powell named this event as the first genocide of the 21st century...3 years have passed and still there isn’t much that the UN is doing to protect these helpless people and stop the government in khartom (sudan's capital).

the “Charlotte Torch Rally” is using the platform of china's olympic games to raise awareness of the genocide. daniel and i will be working in the petition booth for people to petition the government of china to stop the weapons exchange to sudan. we are excited to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

in addition to making people aware of China's part of the genocide, the rally is also raising education funds for the many "lost boys"* that are refugees to our city of charlotte. i've met a few of these boys, now grown men, and have been completly humbled by their life stories of survival.

please be praying about our rally and also what you might be able to do personally for the darfuris. i'll update with pictures on saturday.

*the "lost boys" of sudan is a term that was later given to the 20,000 boys that were orphaned by the raids in their villages and made the trek across the african landscape towards safer grounds of ethiopia and kenya. during their trek by foot, many of these boys (some of them younger than 5 years old) died due to starvation, disease and wild animals. while many of these "lost boys" still live in refugee camps in kenya (now for 10+ years) 4,000 of them have taken refuge in the US. for further reading, read "What is the What".

sites to visit for more information::
www.charlottetorchrally.com
www.savedarfur.org
www.notonourwatch.com
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/lostboysofsudan/

its beginning to look a lot like christmas

bella is ringing in the season with her stylish santa hat. she is so cute.

can't sleep

well, i made it 29 years with never sleeping with anyone and now i can't even make it one night. daniel is in boston for business for one night!! yes, one sleep as the kiddies would say...and what am i doing? sitting in bed with the glow of the computer lighting up the bedroom, and of course i have the closet light on just in case.

so, i have done all my emailing, blogging, facebooking, reading, etc but i still can't seem to put my computer away and close my eyes. i miss him. but, now here i go, i'm going to post a few more pictures and then try calling it a night, right after i check the doors again.

a picture is worth a thousand thanks

here are my nieces, anna and bella. anna loves bella her "baby sisder". i am so thankful that we were able to make the trip to virginia this year to see all the family. other than a quick trip in september this is the first time that daniel and i have been able to spend quality time with everyone since the wedding.






this is my brother, jeremy, and his girlfriend, teresa, and our newest niece coming in march, chloe juliana.






time to catch up on the blog. i have wanted to do it for a couple of days now, but there was always something else that needed to be done before the update.

my birthday was wonderful...thank you to those that sent me many wonderful wishes. all i really wanted for my birthday was to see my precious nieces. anna is 2 1/2 and bella is 4 weeks old and this was my first meeting with her. so daniel and i left charlotte at 7am and drove straight to my nieces house. i was so excited to squeeze anna and hold bella. here are some pictures of our weekend with them. the night of my birthday, my dad and stepmom had a nice dinner for me and wonderful cake.

thursday, thanksgiving day, was wonderful as well. lots of yummy food and fun times with the girls. i have so much to be thankful for this year...a wonderful and amazing husband, wonderful family, three wonderful nieces and one on the way, a new extended family in charlotte and great friends. there is so much in our life that we have our hands in right now, but our church, watershed, is one of the most important areas that i would pour my thanks into tonight. daniel and i have learned and grown so much in these years since its inception. our friends that we have made are really like our family members...we really call wateshed our home.

friday afternoon we went with my stepmom, dad and brothers to the christmas tree farm...an experience i have never had before! it was quite fun roaming around rows and rows of nicely trimmed pines looking and exploring for the right one for the living room. it was fun and we finally found it. it didn't look too big until we put it up in the living room and had to cut the top down a bit...a 9 footer.

friday night daniel and i went into the city (DC that is) to see rob bell in person on the george washington university campus. wow, it was so impressive and profound. i don't think that i have quite internalized everything that was said; there was so much and it was all so profound. for an hour and a half he spoke with only a prop, no notes, nothing! he seriously is one of the best communicators that we have ever listened to...quirky too in his own rob bellish type of way. we are happy that we made the trek into the city for some time to ourselves and new memories.

all dressed up

well, i have been unsuccessful in putting this picture under my "about us" on the side...i can't figure it out. so here it is. daniel and i went to a wedding last night. it was a beautiful wedding and we had a lot of fun. it was like we were out on a date night since we didn't really know many people at the wedding, we mainly just had fun with each other. it was a beautiful wedding, huge, eleogant, classy and clearly expensive. as we were standing there feeling we were at some type of sorority-frat event we reviewed our wedding and were so thankful for all our family and friends that were involved. we wouldn't change a thing about the day. i guess thats one good thing about going to other people's weddings--you remember and think back on your own special day.

one down

for those of you that don't know, after a few years of putting it off i am back in school and finishing my undergrad via liberty university. (i had no shame getting the school discount at the movies last night either.) i had put it off for several years because i was travelling overseas and working too much and then i couldn't afford it while i was working in the ministry, etc. so this year with the help of my ever-loving, patient and encouraging husband, i enrolled back into the program and put a plan together to finish this task once and for all. i should be done hopefully by june with all my classes. the goal is to get that diploma and hang it proudly next to daniels. that will be the day.

so, last night i finished my first of eight classes that i have left. one down--seven to go.

my lament

am i really 2 weeks shy of turning 30 years old? seriouslly?
was it really 12 years ago that i graduated from highschool and started college? was 1993 really the year that i so desperatly and eagerly got my drivers liscense, thinking after i got it that i had truely arrived to some kind of driving nirvana? have i really been that far removed from my school days of summer breaks and summer jobs, friday night hangouts and youth group lock-ins? have i really lived more years paying for groceries than eating whatever was made for me and stocked in the pantry? has it really been years since my college all-nighters and crushes on guys without names, spring break trips and LU hallmeetings? am i really that old that midnight was once considered early in college and now considered a "late night out"? has 7 years really passed since my independant days of india-travelling and city-hoping, loving the indian people through broken hindi and hand gestures? am i really at the point where people say "where do you see yourself in 10 years" and now i am there and have i really lived up to the answer that i might have given 10 years ago? do i really remember life before email, cell phones, laptops, wireless, starbucks, digital cameras--all which are my daily obsession? have i really lived through the decade of my 20's and can no longer call myself a twenty-something but rather answer "in my early thirties"? when taking a survey do i really now have to color in the circle in the middle of the page where it asks you what your age range is--30-39? in style magazines where it shows women in their different decades do i really have to relate to the one in her 30's that is slightly in style but just not as hip is the sorority-looking one in her 20's? are you sure that i have to start worrying about eye wrinkles, lip wrinkles, elasticity loss, gray hair, thinning hair, hearing loss, slower metobolism, mamograms, calcium supplents, fiber pills, fiber cereal, fiber drinks, anything fiber related? can it really be true what they (who are "they" anyways) say, that thirty's is the new twenty's? oh, i lament...

a quick visit

before we called it a night, i whipped out my camera and daniel took a pic of heather and i...mind you, it was 11pm after a long day...and i guess a little bra strap won't hurt anyone neither will a little red eye...wow, this picture needs some help but i had to take it.

heather came to visit! i was so happy when heather told me that she was going to pass through charlotte on wednesday and wanted to stop for coffee for an hour. well, wednesday afternoon came and went and heather arrived at 5:00pm. so we decided that she better just stay the night as titusville, florida was still another 8 hours in the car which would put her around 2am to arrive. so heather stayed the night! it was so much fun to eat dinner, relax, and catch up. heather came to our wedding in june but when you are the bride and groom you never get to spend time with out-of-town guests or anyone for that matter...everything is just a whirwind during a wedding weekend. so it was great to sit and catch up on the happenings of heather's life. she is one of most caring individuals that i know. she used to work at family life services/god parent home in lynchburg with adoptions and placements and now works in florida with crisis preganancies. she is the one who helps women decide to NOT terminate their babies but instead keep and do a placement (adoption). so we are very thankful for the talents that God has given to heather and her ability to counsel young, expecting mothers.

our house is always open and there is always an aero bed or couch for anyone who needs to visit charlotte or is in transit! we love houseguests!

Go Flames

here's another one for judy...the ol' brambleridge apt!! I was laughing so hard and no one understood why...i think just because this time in my life and all the events that happened in this apartment are now so humorous to me! i can't believe that we actually lived here...what did we pay? like $100 each? is that the price that we put on our life??




we love these guys!



a new memory for me: biscuitville, "say cheese". the biscuit lady's appron says "thats how i roll" which is what ryan and daniel say all the time.


this is daniel and his honor thesis that we found in the library. good job, babe!


check out our tattoos!


mr. and mrs. liberty--oh we so wish!!




liberty flames football game...a full house. we sat on the "old people" side but we were closer to the good food and hot chocolate.


this picture is of dwayne carson, one of the campus pastors...this one is for you judy, don't know why but i thought you would get a kick out of it. daniel was really embarrassed that i zoomed up to take a pic of him...at least he didn't see me!


we can't believe that it has been over 10 years since we made the trip to lynchburg for our first year at liberty university. daniel and i both went in the fall of 96. we went back to visit this past weekend with our friends, ryan and ashley. ryan also went to liberty back in the day. we had a great time reliving all our memories and making new ones together. my how liberty has grown. it has been 5 years since i moved from the 'burg to jacksonville and a lot has happened since then in the growing college town. i remember thinking how bored we used to get on the weekends but now students have nothing to complain about, they have so much more to do and many more freedoms then we ever had. i remember wearing skirts to class in freezing cold weather and trudging through the mud up and down the circle. ugh, and eating at the marriott..now students have actual choices of where they want to eat on campus. oh, not to mention the west campus thats across the hwy...its beautiful and i am sure that they have butlers or maids or something over there!

we went to the liberty vs. coastal carolina game on saturday. that was one of the most amazing sights that contrasted to the football days in the late 90s. there were actually students that attended the game not to mention the tailgating that happens all around campus hours before! they said that there was 14,000 people that attended the game that day. oh, and the flames won which was also a contrast to the prior days of football games on campus. all in all we had a great time and left with a sense of pride for OUR school. we can't wait to go back and visit again...maybe next year.

introducing...

introducing bella celeste...
niece #3 is here--little bella celeste was born today! she was born shortly after midnight to my brother and sister in law up in virginia. we are so happy that she decided to come on her own and not by induction that was scheduled for monday. she weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz and 20 inches long. we realized that i have not yet been in the same state when any of our nieces have been born...maybe one day. bella and sophia are both doing well and i think my brother, justin, is just bursting with emotion at all of his beautiful girls in his life. i am so proud of justin and sophia, both, and the wonderful and beautiful family that they have. we have another niece due march 2nd--the girls are gaining on the boys on both sides of our family!


anna is dressed up like a little chinese doll because they had some sort of community fest at their church this morning--she went with her grandma as obviously, justin and sophia were a little busy and tired...

first house guest

megan, kayla, rachael and jamie


megan, our first house guest...sleep tight!


this shows how much water has receded on the Catawba river. all the mud you see should be covered with water.




at the white-water rafting center


tim, this is not what you do with chopsticks!



megan came to visit from virginia and stayed with us this weekend. it was the first time that we had a house guest at our condo...i know, not usually the thing you write down on your calendar but we wanted to note it. we had a great time with megan and we all really enjoyed the weekend.

megan got into town friday afternoon so we were able to catch up and spend some one on one time before daniel came home from work. friday night daniel, tim (daniels brother), megan and i went for sushi and then a movie. we went to see "dan in real life" with steve carell...it was hilarious and sentimental all rolled into one. a must see! saturday morning we sat around, ate pancakes that daniel made and talked and then went to visit the new, whitewater rafting park outside of charlotte. this rafting park is a man made river thats like a level 3 for white water rafting--its actually where the olympians train for kyaking and rafting...pretty impressive. we just walked around and rafter-watched! maybe next time we will take to the rapids.

saturday night we had friends over for dessert and cards--had a great time. it was actually our 2nd annual fall dessert party--actually it really doesn't have a name we just wanted to have friends over that megan knows since she was in town but we realized that last year saturday was our year anniversary from being engaged. last year daniel had planned people coming over for dessert to celebrate our engagement, it just happened that last nights get together was a year later from our engagement celebrations. am i totally confusing or did that make sense?

megan, come back to visit soon...we had so much fun with you!