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!!!

for those of you who love Jeremy Annillo...

Daniel and I went to Seattle this weekend for Daniel to stand beside Jeremy as a groomsman in his wedding. Jeremy and Daniel were roommates at the Cornerstone. Jeremy married a sweet, fun-loving, Jesus-loving, great-laughing, girl named Sarah. I met her for the first time this weekend and can see what it is in her that has Jeremy so smitten - she's great!

We're a bit sleep-deprived from our long weekend in Seattle, but are so grateful to have been there. We arrived Friday and went to bed around 3 a.m. Fort Worth time. We stayed with Anna, my best friend from high school. We slept about 6 hours that night, then went to the rehearsal and brunch. Jeremy and his dad own a restaurant, Sorci's Italian Cafe & Market. The wedding was in the garden behind the cafe and the restaurant catered the brunc and the reception. Great food! Absolutely fantastic! We ran into Kelly Aldrich, another guy who had lived at the Cornerstone with Daniel and Jeremy and who was the best man in the wedding.

After the rehearsal and brunch, we headed to downtown Seattle for a litte sight-seeing.

Anna showed us around Pike's Place, a well-known open market in Seattle.

Look, Daniel found a "little person" :-)

The fresh fruits and veges looked delicious!

We checked out the original Starbucks across the street from the market.

THE WEDDING DAY

The wedding was outside in the garden behind the restaurant. It was lovely. Washington isn't like the South, with a bunch of church-goers running around everywhere. Instead, there are many there who don't really know much about Christianity. I'm sure their wedding will bring about many questions, and maybe, just maybe, the Lord will allow several to come into His kingdom through the testimony of their wedding ceremony as well as the testimony they will have in marriage. They washed each other's feet during the ceremony and took com-

munion. They wrote the sweetest vows to each other and the wedding was really beautiful! Hot, but beautiful! :-) They sealed the ceremony with a fun kiss...and they were glowing as they walked away from the ceremony as Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Annillo!

The reception was much fun and we really enjoyed hearing more about Sarah as her family and friends said such sweet, sweet things about her as they made toasts to Jeremy and Sarah. It is obvious that she is a good friend, a good sister, a good daughter who loves deeply those in her life! Jeremy's mom said that Jeremy had once told her he wanted to marry someone who was fun-loving, adven-
turous, and who loved God. She said that when she met Sarah, she knew this was the girl for Jeremy! Everyone said that after meeting the other one, they knew this was right. They knew it was from God and that Jeremy and Sarah were perfect for each other!!

WEEKEND IN RUSTON

We spent Labor Day weekend with our family in Ruston. 'Twas a great time!!! Jenny, Brian, and Meredith came too! Meredith can do so many things now that she couldn't do 2 months ago when we last saw her. She's actually 10 months old today! She can sit up on her own, crawl, pull up to stand up (but not stand on her own yet), wave 'bye bye,' give kisses, and shake her head 'no.' I'll brag...she's sooo smart!! And her beautiful big brown eyes'll make ya melt!!!

We went to a LA TECH game while we were there, too, and saw lots of my extended family - Annie, Laura, Liz, Sydney, and Garson! Go Dawgs!





One last picture for your viewing pleasure... and I hope my sister doesn't kill me for posting this, but I thought this face Meredith is making was priceless!!!

3 years

3 years ago today I flew back from Egypt after having lived there for 2 years. So crazy what the Lord has done in my life in the past 3 years since being back. Honestly, I thought I'd be living there again by now, but the Lord has had other plans. They are plans that I'm grateful for, though my heart still longs to be back in Egypt one day - at least to visit my friends and share what my life was like there with Daniel. Of course, if He called us there, I wouldn't argue! :-)

There's a great Egyptian Restaurant, KING TUT, near downtown Fort Worth. It's my celebration place. So, Daniel and I enjoyed koshary and couscous last night in honor of my time in Egypt and my 3 year anniversary being back in the States.