project over Christmas break.

So, I'm off of work for 3 weeks - December 17-January 7. It's nice, except that my "vacation" is unpaid since I'm just a part time worker!

To fill the time Daniel and I decided I could take on a house project!! And the winning project was painting an accent wall in our kitchen - RED! So, this past week my friend, Amanda, and I took on a painting project at our house. And here it is - an accent wall in our kitchen! We painted the primer and first coat. I thought it was a complete disaster...until Daniel took a roller brush to it the next day for a second and a very thin third coat. Whew...it looks fantastic now!

christmas at our house.

Just in case you wanted a peek inside of our living room during Christmas time, here it is. We bought a live fur tree again this year and are reminded of Christmas each time we walk in our house and not only see, but smell the greatness of this tree! The placemats on the table are from Bed, Bath, and Beyond...last year. I found them and fell in love with them, but didn't want to pay $7/placemat. So, I waited until after Christmas. And guess how much I paid??? $2/placemat!! Pretty good if you ask me!!

'Tis the Season

Working with refugees at Catholic Charities is such a joy! One of the joys of this job is getting to really bless these families at Christmastime. Toys for Tots donates toys to our kids as well as individuals who "adopt" refugee families to bless at Christmas. Daniel and I got to deliver gifts together last Sunday afternoon to this particular family - they were all smiles with the gifts they received!

Another fun thing that Sunday afternoon was hearing the kids sing their understandings of some of our Christmas songs. I think you'll enjoy it!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Christmas at Amy's

Our friends Amy, Nicole, and Jason hosted a great Christmas party at Amy's house. It's always good to see these folks - originally they were all friends of Daniel's through Turkey connections, but the Lord has really connected my heart with them as well. I look forward to seeing them and being encouraged by them in the Lord!

Amy Nobles and me!

Me, Nicole, Rebecca, and Callie!

Me and Daniel cheesing it up!

A Tribute to Izehi

Dear Izehi,

Your sister delivered our Christmas gift to Elizabeth at the church...

Elizabeth delivered it to us...

And well, we just couldn't wait to open it!

Daniel had an inkling of what was inside and was anxious to chomp his teeth into it! Here's how the ripping open of your gift progressed:

1. We calmly displayed the gift to the camera.

2. We began ripping into the nicely wrapped roll of tissue paper.

3. Daniel threw his hands up in excitement that his "inkling" was true. As for me, well, my eyes nearly bulged out of my head with excitement.

4. And here we are, so excited that we're eating through the packaging to get to the oh-so-yummy cookies!

Thanks, Izehi, for remembering us at Christmas and sending a gift from across the ocean! We love you!!!

Kim & Daniel

Fort Worth Jingle Bell Run

We did it!! We successfully finished the 5K we were totally unprepared for! I mean, we ran probably 60% of the race!!! HOORAY FOR US!

Fort Worth has an annual "Jingle Bell Run" and we decided to be a part of it this year. "Jingle Bell Run" you might ask. Tradition has it that runners wear jingle bells on their shoes as they run - and we all sound like a pack of reindeer. It was actually quite fun!

Here we are warming up before the race at our house. We're such goobers!!!

Halleluiah Chorus

It's CHRISTMAS!!! After putting up the Christmas tree at mom and dad's after Thanksgiving, we came home to an undecorated house. :( However, we like to get real Christmas trees and thought it would be best to wait one more week. So, to get in the spirit of Christmas before decorating the house, we went to a performance of Handel's Messiah presented by the Fort Worth City orchestra and the choir from Southwestern Seminary. Neither of us had heard the entire piece before. And still neither of us have heard the entire piece!



We got dressed up (well, a little dressed up!) and headed to the seminary to experience this masterpiece. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but on a week night and after having sat for an hour for the first of 3 parts of the performance, and having gotten to attend for free since it was hosted by the seminary, we decided to call it a night during intermission. This meant we missed the enfamous "Halleluiah Chorus".



Maybe next year we'll start the performance AFTER intermission!

Have any of you ever heard the entire performance?

Meredith & Me

Have I mentioned Meredith lately? She's so cute!! This is another picture from our time in Ruston over Thanksgiving, but I forgot to post it and thought it was post-worthy. Meredith is so cute right now. She's totally not into her pacifier anymore, but she'll soothe herself with her thumb just the same! And, she's really into playing 'peek-a-boo' with anyone who is interested! She's a little mixed up on where to put her hands. Sometimes she covers her eyes, but sometimes she covers her ears! SO CUTE!

the FOUR FRIENDS reunion

So Molly, Anna, Heather, and I were all in Ruston for Thanksgiving and I invited them to come over during the break. The last time (other than our wedding festivities) that all of us were together with our husbands/boyfriends was in 2005 when I brought Daniel home for the first time. We all met up for coffee. At that time, our total number was 8. Now, we were 9. A single number change may not seem like much, but...


-Daniel became not just my boyfriend, but my husband.

-Heather and Chad's then 2 month old little girl who was having serious heart conditions has now made it successfully through a surgery and is 2 years old and lives life BIG! She's super energetic and funny!

-Molly and Brandon now have a little girl.

-Anna...well, Mr. Right has yet to find Anna, but I trust he is out there somewhere. I absolutely can NOT believe she hasn't been swept off of her feet yet. After all, she's got a fun, great personality, she's athletic, she loves the Lord, she's a good listener and a good friend, and last but not least, she's beautiful! God's keeping someone really special for her - I believe that!




Ah....good times with sweet friends.

Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for this year? Who are you thankful for? We have so much to be thankful for - families, friends, freedom in our country, our Savior. Specifically we are thankful this year that He has brought us through our first year of marriage and has directed us in staying here in the US for a bit longer and has brought a sweet community in our lives to fellowship with and grow in the Lord together. He's also given us terrific people to serve through our work. It's really a joy to have work that is so rewarding! And He's given us the privilege of being near family still!! Here we are - Dad, Mom, me, Daniel, Jenny, Meredith, and Brian.

We spent Thanksgiving in Ruston with both sides of my family - dad's family first, then mom's family. Here are some clips of our Thanksgiving celebration:

Mamaw and me making sweet potato casserole

cousins and aunts and uncles and 2nd cousins

2nd cousins - Meredith and Sydney

all of us at Granny's

cousins and babies

Meredith...driving home. Is this legal?!?!!?!

our small group

I've seemed to carry a "4-some" theme in my life since elementary school. Then it was me, Mary Marshall, Mandy, and Angela. In high school it was me, Anna, Molly, and Heather. In college, it was me, Libby, Katie, and Betsy. And I think I've found another 4-some, well, "8-some" I guess since at this stage in life we're all married. That "8-some" is our small group - us, Craig & Nikki, Josh & Elizabeth, and Caleb & Michelle.

Since September we have been meeting with this fantastic and godly group of guys and gals. Daniel and I had begun getting to know Craig & Nikki, our leaders, this past year. We really fell in love with their hearts for the Lord and with the ways that in the few visits we had with them, we left our time with them feeling drawn to know Jesus more. In July after we learned that we wouldn't be moving to Turkey, our hearts really longed to somehow be in community with them rather than just seeing them occasionally.



Well, as the Lord would have it, He orchestrated circumstances such that Nikki and Craig would become the leaders of our small group. we had previously been in a great small group, and our church was beginning a new "push" for building community in small groups. We weren't looking to change small groups, but in conversation with Josh, Daniel's brother, and his wife, Elizabeth, and Caleb and Michelle, a couple we'd been discipling for about a year who were also newlyweds, the six of us began having dialogue about trying to get together more regularly. This eventually developed into conversation about becoming our own small group. And so we went for it, but...we were leaderless...until in a phone conversation with Nikki, she said that she and Craig had been praying about leading a small group and that whether they led our small group or not, they wanted to really be more purposeful about getting together with Daniel and me. Well, as God had ordained it, they became our leaders. Over the past 3 months the Lord has begun birthing in all of us a deep desire for growing in Him and learning to live the abundant and joyful life that He has called us to as believers. Our group has a blast together as we are challenged in the Lord. There is both laughter and tears almost every night. The eight of us meet together for a time of worship and a brief time in the Word together, but the majority of the time is spent separated - guys with guys, girls with girls. And it's in those girl times that the tears come. After all, who ever heard of 4 guys getting together and crying!?!?! ;-) The Lord is digging deep in us to grow us and draw us into His image. It's super fun! And we really love these couples - lots!

Cheers to:
Caleb&Michelle.

Josh&Elizabeth.

Craig&Nikki.

Meredith turns ONE - belated post.

Meredith celebrated her first birthday with a hayride at Mom and Dad's. She had quite the turn out of guests - Brian's family from Baton Rouge drove up, old friends of ours from Shreveport drove over, we came in from Fort Worth, Jenny's best friend and her little boy came down from Little Rock, and a host of family and friends came from Ruston!

RUMBA!!

So, we took our first lesson in the RUMBA tonight! And it was so fun! Our friend Amanda told us about dance lessons that a man at her church gives. He just takes a couple of dollars donation - can't beat that!

For a girl who deals with issues of control and trying to lead in our marriage at times, I'm thinking these dance lessons will prove to be helpful in learning to let Daniel lead me in marriage as I learn to physically let Daniel lead me around the dance floor. Oh, God, teach me. Make me. Mold me - even through learning these latin dance moves!

Glow-in-the-Dark Festival

Our church had a glow-in-the-dark festival on October 31. We invited a family we love to come to this feast of games, candy, hot dogs, 3-legged races, and more! All the kids went home with at least half of their sacks filled with candy and big smiles all over their faces! One of the girls even asked as we were leaving, "Can I go tell your pastor 'thank you'?" ....a big step for a little girl of different faith.

birthday celebration

Our newest friend, Brendon, celebrated his birthday a couple of weekends ago. A couple of his friends he knows from India are currently students at SWBTS and we picked them up for the party. Here we are!

another relaxing weekend for the Audis

After our whirl-wind of a month in September when we were only in Fort Worth 1 of 5 weekends, we've really enjoyed the rest that we've had so far this month!! This weekend has been relaxing as well!

Who of you are fans of the Lion King? If you're a fan at all and you're in the DFW area, I highly recommend going to the broadway presentation of the Lion King at the Music Hall in Dallas. We went last night with the other Audis and with the Dulocks. The performance is absolutely phenominal! The costuming is mind-boggling. The singing is dynamic. The story has just a few tweeks and it's full of points of laughter. Little Simba is cute as he can be!

That was last night.

In the early afternoon I had a small reunion with some girls from seminary - it was actually a baby shower for Leila and George. They will welcome little Elijah into the world at the beginning of December! It was great to catch up with these girls who I haven't seen in almost a year.



Later in the afternoon we played tennis. I played on the tennis team at RHS my freshman and sophomore years. I was the last seed on the team, but I had a good time and even won some games! Daniel. However, we're both quite rusty in our skills. I've never had a strong serve. Daniel does, though, and sometimes the ball gets in the right box when he's serving. If we took advantage of the courts at the seminary more often, we might get better, but our playing is so incredibly sporadic that we pretty much stay the same in our skill levels. Today's score: Kim - 7; Daniel - 5.

Grillin' Out at the Park

How do you spend your autumn weekends?

This fall Daniel and I have travelled to Ruston, made weekend plans with friends, and found absolutely senseless things to do to be lazy at our house.

This weekend we were itching to get outside. Yesterday the weather was too beautiful to be inside!



So, we don't actually own a grill of our own... (well, we have an electric one, but it doesn't give the smoky taste and the black charcoaled lines on the meat)... but we do have a big park a couple of blocks from our house. And at the park, there are grills.



So yesterday we went to the park. We grilled hot dogs - mmmm...mmmm...that smoky taste with black charcoal lines on the meat! We threw the football, lay on a quilted blanket, and played backgammon. Might I add that we played until I won. Do you know how many games that took???? I think it wasn't until our 9th game that I actually won. Needless to say, I need some practice. Daniel may not be the artist in our family (see previous post), but he is the backgammon player, that's for sure. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon/evening.

Wanna join us next time?

Pumpkin Princess

Daniel here. I just wanted to take a minute to brag on my wife. A few weeks ago, Kim and I went to Creative Hands in Arlington for our date night. At Creative Hands, you buy ceramic plates, coasters, figurines, etc. Then you paint them and the Creative Hands people fire them in the kiln. Pretty cool stuff. So I painted a coaster. Um, yes, I painted a coaster. Let's just say the Lord was pleased to bestow painting talent on others of His servants, not I. So I won't post a picture of my coaster. Seriously, you'd probably vomit all over your keyboard.

My lovely wife Kim, on the other hand, is a fantastic painter. Here, check out the pumpkin plate she painted... just in time for autumn. Ain't it perty?! She should be a professional plate painter and make us some big bucks. Love ya, hon!

Dreams, Visions, God, and Muslims

I discovered a great website yesterday, thanks to someone at my church. You see, we are in the month of Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims. This week is the "Night of Power" for Muslims. It is a night in which they basically believe that worship offered on this night has the value of one thousand months of worship. One of their books of Traditions adds that "Whoever established prayers on the Night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven..." (Sahih Bukhari 31.125) Since it is on this night that Muslims believe Allah has come closest to humanity by sending down His Word, they believe that they have greater access to Allah on this night and that He is more likely to bless and respond to their petitions.

Because of this, my response as a believer should be to pray with and for Muslims worldwide, especially in this focused week when many of them are seeking God more than they do throughout an entire year. God is at work, bringing His kingdom here on earth. And His word says that He is not slow at keeping His promises as some would consider slowness, but He is patient, not wishing that ANY man should perish but that all would have eternal life!!! One way we see Him at work in Muslims lives is through dreams and visions. When they are seeking Truth, God often gives them dreams and visions of a Man in white, offering for them to come with Him. There are five of these stories from former Muslims from Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, and Nigeria at the following website about dreams and visions that former Muslims had which led them to follow Christ! You can either read the stories or watch them on your windows media player.

Please be praying especially this week for God to send revelation through dreams and visions as 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide are intensely seeking God!

apart for the weekend.

This past weekend was our 2nd time to be apart in the past 14 months - the first time was only for one night; this time it was for two nights. I went to Ruston for Vanna and Seth's engagement announce- ment party, and Daniel stayed here for a short personal retreat weekend. There were other perks in the weekend as well - seeing Molly, and being with my sister, parents, and my niece.


Molly's little girl will be 7 weeks tomorrow. Her name is Audrey. She's so cute!



Jenny and Meredith came to Ruston this weekend as well. It was really nice to be with family! We had a Saturday afternoon picnic at Granny's. Meredith enjoyed licking on the top of the root beer bottle, getting that nice, sweet taste of an IBC!


After probably 5 or so years of dating, Vanna and Seth will be married on December 29. She's great and already feels like family! I have 7 cousins on our Hood side of the family. Vanna will make 8. It's been a while since we've all been together, so it was so nice to catch up with them as well at the party.

And the best part about the weekend....
COMING HOME!!!

When I got home on Sunday afternoon, I came home to these scrambled up letters on the floor.
And this is what I came up with...although the "tons" and "Kimmie" are in the wrong order!!! And that's not it! Then, I looked up and saw on the table these AMAZINGLY HUGE and BEAUTIFUL flowers!!!

Hmmm...maybe being apart for the weekend isn't so bad afterall!! :-)

4 weeks of blessing

About 4 weeks ago I began teaching an intensive ESL class - this means that I taught M-F, 4 hours per day. Yes, 20 hours of English per week for one month is what we offer refugees who have just arrived in America! It's pretty rigorous, but they have so much to learn! So, for the past four weeks I've been teaching vocabulary about household items - from appliances to furniture to rooms in the house, food, health, jobs, action verbs; how to count money and make change; how to tell time and I'm sure more that I can't remember just now! My class was 11 students - 2 Kunama Eritreans and 9 Karen(this is a group who live in Burma). To read more about the plight of the Karen from Burma to the refugee camp in Thailand, you can click on this link. To read more about the life of the Kunama people, you can click on this link.
After a 4 week intensive class, the students then begin attending a regular ESL class, which meets twice a week, 2 hours/day. So, they go from 20 hours a week to 4 hours a week after just one month. Of course, there is still so much to learn!

I said goodbye to my students yesterday because they will be joining an already established class that meets in their apartment complex. Saying goodbye is never easy, especially after spending 20 hours a week with these precious people! They walked me downstairs and out to the parking lot where I would get in my car. They hugged me or shook my hand goodbye, then they stood there, waving and looking at me as I got into my car. It was like they were still in their refugee camp in their country, and I was leaving their country to return to America, never to see them again. It was so sad! They stood there with tears in their eyes as I drove off. They definitely stole a part of my heart! I think I'll visit them soon!

10 years ago...

I graduated from Ruston High School. This past weekend I got to see several people I graduated with, meet their spouses, catch up with them, introduce my Daniel to them...it was really a great weekend. And, strangely enough, it really seemed like just yesterday that we were all sitting in Mrs. Gay's senior English class. The past 10 years sure have flown by!

We began the day with BBQ in the park

Daniel enjoyed playing "bearcat" for a brief moment

the committee and our spouses minus Molly and Brandon

Kim, Miranda, Jamie, Suzanne, April, Sarah, Shannon

Heather, Miranda, Angie, Mary Catherine, Kim

decor

Heather, Karen, Miranda, Kim, Molly

Erin, Kim, Sara

this one's for you, Anna Banana - we missed you!!!