be prepared for lots of pictures...!

I have been a bad blogger lately. For the past week, we have been staying at the Bech's parents house with their dog. Bech's dad surprised his mom by flying her out to Phoenix where they picked up a white convertible he had bought for her (her dream car). They then drove all the way back to Mississippi.

Anyway, that has kept me away from my computer. But I am posting now! And I have pictures!

2 weekends ago, we went down to Tupelo where Bech was an usher in Mike Ashley's wedding. Mike was a first year MFA ceramics student Bech's last year. They got to be great friends. We loved cooking with Mike then playing Settlers or watching Top Chef. Mike started dating another ceramics student the next year, Laura, and now they are married!

I got to spend some time with my grandmother who lives in Tupelo, and I know Bech loved seeing all of his Ole Miss ceramic friends.

Laura has been accepted to Alfred next year for a MFA in ceramics...it's only 6 or 7 hours from us so we hope to visit at some point!

Here we are enjoying the reception!

Bech and Mike

Mike's parents...we love them!

We got up early Sunday morning to take the Natchez Trace back. We arrived in Brookhaven just in time for church then headed home for a Father's Day lunch (I feel the need to add here that I was LEFT at church! Everyone forgot about me and I didn't have a ride home :( mom came to get me when I called, and it's not like we live that far from the church...but still!). We ate really good boiled gulf shrimp (it may be the last for a while, thanks to BP!), corn, and potatoes. I forgot to take pictures but we had a great time.

We left that afternoon to drive back up to Jackson for a sushi Birthday dinner for Miss Karey (I know, summer is a busy time birthday wise for our two families...and my birthday is Friday and my dad's is Monday). I actually got pictures this time, but I think it's mostly because I wanted to take pictures of all our sushi rolls.

Karey and Mary Elizabeth. Miss Karey hates to have pictures taken so she held up her camera.

Hunter and Farmor.

Bech and his dad

And of course, the food! Here is mine, inside out roll with shrimp, cucumber, avocado, and the spicy sauce! So good!

I think this is Hunters...isn't it pretty?

Maybe Bech's dad's? or Bech's?

Anyway, we had a busy but very fun weekend! Now it's time to pack!!!!!

1 year ago...

One year ago yesterday, we left Malawi. I cannot even believe that we have been home for almost a year. Maybe this seems silly to anyone reading this post, because we were only in Malawi for 11 months. But it really does change you. And I hope that I have held fast to my memories.

One thing Bech and I talked a lot about before we left last year was these changes. We didn't want to get back to America (where you can pretty much have whatever you want whenever you want it, where you can avoid poverty if you want, where you can seclude yourself from community), and fall right back into American life. And it is definitely hard. It is so easy to just think of Malawi as a fun adventure and simply go back to "normal life."

Hopefully we have changed somewhat. We are definitely much more deliberate about what we buy and where we buy it. I by nature am a stingy person, but I have become (at least somewhat) more generous.

But there are things I still want to change. I want to be much more generous with my money and time. I want to be a stronger prayer, especially for missions and missionaries.

And I want to go back to Africa, maybe not long term but at least visits. I don't know if this one will ever happen. I want, very strongly, and also feel called to be a Classics Professor. There is not much of a need for Latin and Greek in Africa. Of course, there is some, but it's obviously not the same as the need for doctors, nurses, teachers, etc.

But I know that God's plans are a lot bigger than mine, so we will just have to wait and see!

happenings lately...

First of all, my mom had her birthday today! We had a party for her tonight: sangria, homemade hard tacos, and sherbert smoothies for dessert! So good!

We got her a champagne cupcakes from Gigi's so she could blow out a candle.

And since we are a Kanakuk family, she had to get a birthday kiss!

On the birthday note, I got my birthday present early...new bedding! I have been eyeing this bedding at Anthropologie for months now, and it just went on sale last week. I got a great deal and I absolutely love it! It came in today so I went ahead and put it on our bed.

Isn't it fun? We'll have white walls in our place next year, which will be good with the bright bedspread.

pictures (and not JUST of food!)

I realize that Bech and I are very bad at taking pictures of actual people. So we took a picture of ourselves before a party the other day...here we are!

And here are pictures of our sushi from last Sundays lunch. We've made it two other times (well I think Bech has made it a few more than that by himself) this year. I finally feel like we are getting semi good at it. I mean, not really good, but maybe we are near having guests over to eat our sushi.

My inside out rolls!

Our lunch. Bech made the rolls on the left...amazing! He cooked shrimp Japanese style, put it on top of a bed of rice with a very thin slice of lemon in between.

And of course, I needed some ponsu and wasabi to dip it in!

Of course, not every roll turned out okay...here is our island of misfit sushi!

a few random things...

1. I have absolutely loved watching "Glee" this year. If you haven't gotten into this show, you should. It is AMAZING!

I love musicals, and this show is sort of like watching a musical. Last night was the finale, and they sang this song:

You really need to see them singing it on the show...AMAZING!

2. We are moving in less than 2 months...ahhh! So much to do! And part of that is working on selling my car.

I know we seem crazy to do this, because we just went through selling our car in Malawi last summer.

But we are going to become a one car family in Vermont. So back to selling a car. It should be a lot easier this time because

there won't be the whole currency thing.

3. It is summer in Mississippi and I love it. Even though it is sizzling every day, there are few things better than summer

in the South. The crepe myrtles, magnolias, and hydrangeas are in bloom. Every time I'm in Brookhaven

I go get a snowcone (seriously, Brookhaven snowcones are sooo good!). Plus there have already been some good

layout days.

4. I have a new vegetable I love...celery. I used to hate it, but now I love it! Sort of like I feel about tomatoes.

Okay, this is the most boring post ever and my mother will probably tell me to find something more interesting to write about.

So maybe I'll put some pictures up of food tomorrow to really frustrate her :)

our trip to vermont!

We had a wonderful time in Vermont! It is beautiful there right now. Except for one rainy day, it was in the mid-80's.

We were both a little hesitant the first day there. We felt so foreign, even if we didn't necessarily look like it! But the second day there was great. We were able to meet with two different families. The first was our future pastor and his wife. He is the pastor of the only PCA church in Vermont. We loved them and they made us so excited to move here! Then we were able to go to my professor's house. He and his wife live on and run a farm (well, I guess she mostly runs it because he is teaching). The farm is about an hour from Burlington. The drive down was gorgeous...I can't wait to explore rural Vermont! The family was so kind and welcoming.

We found where we are living...the graduate student housing. When we first looked at it a few months ago, we thought it was too far from the school. But there is a bus that goes from the school to the apartments (since we are going to sell my car I need to be able to get to school some other way). Plus the apartments are a lot closer than we thought.

We mostly just spent a lot of time exploring the town of Burlington. We ate tons of good food as well. I could do a whole post on the food there, so maybe I will. But I am ready to go to bed now, so I will just share a few pictures:

Lake Champlain

A marina at the lake

Church Street--a pedestrians only part of town with great shops and restaurants

The quad at UVM

some of the buildings at UVM