Friendly Bloggers

Today I thought I'd tell you a little about the friendly bloggers that you can find links to in my side bar. The OCD side of me insists that I start in alphabetical order by their fist names, so here goes...

Full Circle is written by my friend, Allen. Al and I met in 1995 when I moved to San Jose and started going to his church. He is seriously one of the coolest people in my life! I rarely see him (because I live on the other side of the world and life took us in different directions) but I am always completely comfortable around him and plan on having him in my life until we are both old and grey! Fun fact: Allen and my sister, Tamara were born in the same hospital a day apart, our moms remember each other.

::howDOESthisWORK:: is written by Alon (not to be confused with Allen). I met Alon in 2002 when I started working for Amor Ministries. Alon was my boss and just happened to be the coolest boss, I seriously should have gotten him a mug with "World's Best Boss" printed on it. He is one of those people that you completely respect and look up to and have a great time with. He taught me a lot!

Love People is written by Brooke. I first met Brooke when she was seven years old, I may have babysat her a few times. I got to know her better when she was in junior high and I was in college and I was one of her youth group leaders. She was super cool back then and is even more cool now! Brooke spent the month of June with me in Thailand and I am so proud of the women that she has become. She is strong, confident and loves Jesus. I feel a level of comfort with her that is usually reserved for family, so I think I will start calling her my sister. :)

Eating The Garden is written by Carrie, whom I met through my sister. Tamara and Carrie went to massage school together and very willingly invited me into their circle of friends, even though I know nothing about massage therapy. She gardens and has some pretty cool stories as well as delicious recipes!

Crystal's Randomness is written by none other than Crystal. I honestly can't remember when we first met and it feels like I've known her forever. Crystal, do you remember when we met? I have memories of her from childhood and then we reconnected when we both attended San Jose Christian College after high school. Crystal is one of my favorite people for so many reasons but it is her strength and honesty that encourages me on a daily basis. I haven't actually seen her in years but we stay connected over the internet and hopefully someday soon we will get to hang out!

I just realized that I have a total of 20 people in my list of friendly bloggers and if I were to write about all of them today, it would be overwhelming for all of us. So that is it for now, more again tomorrow!

By the way, what do you think of my blog's new look?

Termites

Last night I found a termite infestation in my house. It was absolutely disgusting! There were literally thousands of them and I was completely overwhelmed and grossed out. These pictures don't really do them justice but it was the best I could do in my moment of panic!







Boxes of stuff was completely ruined. I am SO glad that Aon and Ya were at my house when I discovered the bugs, they handle situations like this better than I do. This last picture is of them helping me clean up. :)

Not About The Elections

I am not going to write about the elections today because I am sure you have all heard enough. All I am going to say is that I am glad to be all the way over here Thailand instead of in the states. Things seemed pretty crazy.

I actually don't have much to say today but I have to write something because of NaBloPoMo. Not much of anything happened today because I stayed home with tooth pain and rested.

Just after I wrote that last paragraph, I discovered an entire generation of termites living in my home. I need to go take care of them but maybe I'll take some pictures and post them tomorrow...

So much for not much of anything happening today!

My Excitement Cannot Be Contained!

Next Episode in the Teeth Saga

I realize that I may be boring you by talking about my teeth problems every day but since it happens to be the controlling factor of the last few days of my life, that is what you get to read about.

Today I went in for yet another root canal and it was not at all a successful visit. Before giving me the Novocain, the dentist stuck one of his little tools in the there and touched the top of the tooth. It was not at all expected but I cried out and jerked my head away as far as I could while lying down in a dentist's chair. It hurt! A lot! So, he started in on the shots trying to numb my mouth. Because it was so sensitive, he used a lot of Novocain and was digging around the back of my mouth with his needle. Not fun! Next he got out his drill and started drilling the tooth. Again my reaction was unexpected as my legs both shot up in the air and I cried out even louder than the last time. To make this long story short, the dentist numbed my mouth so much that my jaw locked and he had to pry it open. I had absolutely no control over opening my mouth and yet my tooth hurt like crazy. So, he filled my mouth with antibiotics to fight the infection and told me to come back in a few days.

It is now hours later and I still can't open my mouth wide enough to eat anything or talk like a normal person. But the pain is lessening and hopefully I will be able to get some sleep and feel better tomorrow.

Please keep praying for the finances to come through to pay for all this dental work. Also, just pray that the pain will go away because the next couple weeks are really busy for me. Stuff like this always seems to show up when we are busy, doesn't it? We are having English Camp in a couple weeks and I am playing the role of Camp Director which means I have a lot to do and not enough time for pain. :)

I appreciate the prayers!

Can't Buy Me Love

I have to admit that I am a bit stressed about money right now. Usually, I am completely laid back about money so this is not a normal feeling. I have been raising support since 2002 and God always provides in every way, so why stress? Because I'm human.

This week I found out that I have about $2000 worth of dental work that needs done. And it is all stuff that needs done right away. Three root canals in the past couple days has not been fun and they are only the beginning. God, why didn't you bless me with good, strong teeth? :) But seriously, I don't have $2000 or anywhere near $2000 dollars and I'm not sure how I am going to pay for it. So, I am praying but the worry manages to leak through and bog me down anyway. Anyone have an extra $2000 laying around?

On top of that, my computer may be on it's last leg. Yesterday I noticed that the screen is falling apart. I tried to put it back together but I don't know how long it will last. Hopefully, it won't give out until I'm done paying for my teeth and have enough money for a new computer!

Last month I made a commitment to help support a couple of the Thai staff at The Centre. I prayed about it and God gave me a number. So, tomorrow I will give them support even though I am lacking funds myself. I am totally believing in the sowing and reaping concept right now! And luckily I serve an awesome God who always keeps his promises and I know he will provide for me.

Pray for me and my finances. Thanks!

Life's Like an Hourglass Glued to the Table

I have really bad teeth. Thanks to the genes mom and dad passed on, I may have dentures by the time I'm 30 (which is only a few months away). Okay, the dentures may be an exaggeration but the bad teeth is not.

When I was visiting the states over the summer, three of my teeth broke. Three! What is the chance of that? Of course I didn't visit a dentist there because they are so incredibly expensive and I waited till I came back to Thailand where it is cheaper. Yesterday I went to the dentist's office and he said, "Oh, are you here to finish the implant we started last year?" I calmly informed him that no, although I would love to have a tooth in place of the metal stud that has been sitting in my mouth for the past year, I was there for other reasons. I started to list my problems and the dentist actually laughed at me. I am pretty sure that is not proper dentist etiquette. (It was like when I had my hair cut a couple months ago and the hairdresser said I have the most bizarre hair she had ever seen. You just don't say things like that!)

Anyway, we took some x-rays and it turns out that I needed two root canals among many other fixes. So we decided to go ahead and do the first root canal yesterday. Guess what? I am among the lucky 25% of people in the world who has two roots to one tooth! Who knew I was so lucky! So, yesterday I had two root canals and today I am having a third. I am praying hard that today's tooth only has one root!

Did I mention that the Thai word for teeth is "fun"? Ironic, isn't it? Teeth are not fun!!!

*BTW, the title of this post is a line from a song that I woke up singing this morning and really has nothing to do with this post...