21000+ Word Essay To Catch Everyone Up!

So here it is...the catch-up of all catch-ups. While I was home last time I was confronted by quite a few people who were upset that I have not been doing my part so I am going to try and get it together. Here we go...you will have to start at the bottom of the post and come up for chronological order. It will take you from my previous post to Christmas Vacation so ... here goes!

Papa picking us up at the new Indianapolis International Airport.



Noah and I waiting on the plane in Charlotte after an unexpected overnight stay due to weather.



Noah's Birthday party (the craziest party in History!)



Chuck and Shean putting the hurt on the kids! (Yep we are definitely having a ball fight in the house! I love being an adult!)



Noah's Birthday Cake that I made him! (Happy 3rd B-Day Buddy!)



Church ICAN Children's home event at Buccaneer Beach Bar.



The view from our hotel room at the Westin on our weekend outing without the children. (Thank you McKnights!)



Noah and Mommy Date Day!



Halloween at home during surprise visit.



Box the boys were in when mom came to the door during surprise visit home.



Our turn to babysit the babysitters!



The worst wedding location of ALL TIME! (No really it is Sea Weed and did I mention it was decaying!)



View of the Wedding location just minutes before the ceremony. (All that brown stuff is decaying sea weed that the Hurricane pushed ashore!)



Our Island Hurricane Breakfast...gotta love not having any power or water for 3 days!



Jill and Bernard (owners of Buccaneer Beach Bar) after Hurricane Omar.



My Poor boat after Omar!



View of the Pool across the street after the Hurricane...notice that it is completely full of sand!



View from our balcony of Hurricane Omar's aftermath the day after the storm



Date night without the boys with Chuck and Geneva.



My Boys Chillin' in the Sunset!



Tang and I at the White Coat after party!

WE'RE BACK!

Well, Tuesday the boys and I made it back to the island. It is official that Tangra is the reason that flying is usually less than enjoyable. The boys and I had no problems what-so-ever. We really had a great time over the break. Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures posted soon so that I can catch everyone up on what all we did but for now let's just say...we were busy! It was very nice to see everyone again and if we missed you hopefully we will get to see you the next time.

Now that we are back it is time to get back at it! We got to just relax and hang out the first couple of days but it is looking to be a very busy weekend. Last night we went to Chuck and Geneva's house for some true Louisiana cookin' and it was AMAZING as usual! However, the morning diaper changes were less that appealing! Gotta love cajun! Tonight is the White Coat Ceremony for the first semesters followed by a party for everyone. Hopefully I will be able to find a babysitter so that Tangra and I can make it a date, but we shall see. Tomorrow morning is the Spouses Org Welcome Breakfast which is always good because we get to sit around and eat the buffet at Ric's! However, because the new class is rather large it is looking like it will be relatively packed so Chuck and I are having a bbq for all the male spouses tomorrow afternoon so that we can all get to know each other a little better. Sunday morning we have church and then CMDA callout in the afternoon. So like I said..."it is looking to be a busy weekend."

I'll try to take some pictures of everything and post about them later.

Take care for now,

Matt

A little catch up...

Well a lot has been happening since our last entry, so lets do a little catch up...
On June 21st Matt and I celebrated 5 amazing years together. We are so fortunate and have been so blessed. When we said "I do" 5 years ago we NEVER would have dreamed that we would be where we are today. God has given us joys that we never expected and could have never deserved.

We had a wonderful night together, and Matt suprised me (as he always does) with some beautiful island wood jewelry and informed me that he chose wood because it commemerates 5 years of marriage, just like paper is for 1 year, gold is for 50, ect....impressive huh?? I thought so!

School is going really well this semester, and I have finally figured out the whole studying thing. Since my studies are going well, Matt and I have been able to commit more time to working with some groups on the island and on campus. Matt put a lot of work into equipping the church at AUC with the tools they need to expand the service, and we have gotten heavily involved with worship. We have seen God do amazing things so far, as new students, their families, faculty, and even members of the local community are coming to the service every week.

We have run into some real challenges along the way, but God has been so faithful! We have seen that if we just do the little things that God asks us to do, He will take care of the rest. Nothing is impossible for Him!

The boys continue to grow so big!!! Noah is truly a great big brother...he is always looking out for his somewhat ornery little bro and trying to keep him out of trouble! Nolan is getting more and more independant, demanding to feed himself, walk up and down the steps, and basically follow Noah wherever he might go!

There is never a dull moment!

Our family has also gotten involved with the Christian Medical and Dental Association and coordinating outreach activities for the ICAN Children's Home, a local orphanage on the island. The children range in age from 2 to 12 years old, and you should see their excitement when we go to pick them up from the home!

It is a profound reminder of just how fortunate we are when something as simple as a day at the beach or a Dominoes pizza can be a huge thing for these children. It feels like we can only do a little, but we pray that it makes a difference.

Anyway, we are all REALLY looking forward to coming home in August! We keep reminding Noah that we will be going on a big jet soon, and he quickly starts going down the list of all of the people we are going to see, including "Chucky Cheese"...we went there twice over Christmas and for some reason it is now the epitome of all things fun. I have a feeling we will be there a lot in August!

Till then, we are thinking of you all and can't wait to give everyone hugs!

A full day of Character!

So, let me start by saying yesterday was not my best day on the island. Bare with me, I will start at the beginning. I got up and went for my run like normal and things went good but when Tangra got ready to leave for class she realized that her car had been broken into because all the stuff that was in the glove box was scattered all over the seats. Luckily for us we don't have a pot to pee in so they didn't get anything but an AUC sweatshirt. Now think about that for a minute. Wouldn't you be so proud as a thief to spend your time breaking into a car to only get a sweatshirt? After all we do live in the Caribbean where there is like 2 days a year when you can actually wear a sweatshirt! What an IDIOT! Anyway, after finding out that all they got was a sweatshirt we really weren't too upset and decided to go on with our day feeling positive and upbeat. This was obviously not acceptable for Satan so he continued his wrath. About an hour later, I went out to find that my car had also been violated by thieves. Luckily as I said before, we don't have a pot to pee in so there was very little in my truck as well. After a quick inventory, I determined that they had stolen a pair of $7 jumper cables and a half of a can of WD40. All I could think at that point was, “man this Idiot will starve if he keeps this up too much.” This too seemed almost comical and so it didn't really faze me too much.

Let’s continue...so I load the boys in the truck and proceed to start it only to find that my clutch will not disengage. (Broken Vehicle #1) Fairly certain that I know what the problem is and that I will not be able to fix it myself I unload the children, take them back upstairs, and call a mechanic. I set up an appointment for him to come over the next day and look at it and Skype Tangra to let her know that I will not be able to make it to the school to see her. Tangra then decides that she will come home and pick us up so that she can stay at the school all afternoon and study and I will have a car. She comes home and picks us up and we drive back to the school. As we arrive at the school she glances over at me and says, "oh...by the way...this thing probably needs some gas (the gauge doesn't work but it had been a while since we last put some in)” at which point the car begins to lurch and chug to a stop completely bone dry. With a slight grin and a few under my breath comments I get a hold of Chuck to have him take me to get some gas (half broken down car #2) Chuck picks me up at the school, we run home to get a gas can and funnel, and then head back to the car. After about 45 min we are finally able to get the entire 5 gallons of gas ($30 worth by the way...yeah I don't want to hear you crying about $4 anymore) into the tank. I get the car started up, drive the rest of the way to Tangra's office and we all have some lunch together. Tangra finishes up her classes and then we all headed for home. We get, I kid you not, about a mile from the school and the car just shuts off! (Completely broken down car #2) A nice taxi driver that is near by tries for a little while to help me get it running and then when we can’t he offers to drop us back at the school where we can get some help. (He was such a nice guy!)

Ok, so before I go on let us reflect on the MORNING thus far! Sweatshirt stolen out of car. Jumper Cables and WD40 stolen out of truck. Truck breaks down. Car runs out of gas. Car breaks down. Driven back to school where we are with no cars and two small, tired, children.

Let's continue. Tangra goes upstairs to see if her friend Farnaz will allow us to borrow her car. Because she is the sweetest person I know she says yes and hands her the keys. We walk out to the parking lot to her car and find it with an all but flat rear tire! Not wanting to ruin her tire I pull the car over by the schools gym where there is an air compressor and pump up the tire. However, in order to use the air compressor you have to park on a slight hill and as we are parked there the car dies!!!!! I get in and realize that it is nearly out of gas as well, but I do not have anymore gas in my can because I poured it all into broken down car #2! I let the car roll down the hill to a flat spot where the gas can get to the fuel pickup and it starts so we decided to limp the car to the gas station and see what happens. Luckily we were able to make it to the gas station and the car never died again...it only sputtered a little as we were pulling in the gas station parking lot. After filling the car with gas I continue home to drop off the family before (against my better judgment) continuing on to the parts store to try and get parts.

As I said before I knew that I could not fix the truck by myself so I thought I would try and fix the car. Knowing that the car had run completely out of gas and that after a few minutes it died from fuel starvation I figured that it was probably a clogged fuel filter or at worst a fuel pump. So off to Napa I went. I walked in thinking I would buy a relatively inexpensive fuel filter (maybe home $15-20, island $50-60) and replace it to see if that worked before getting any further involved in the repair. However, after a short conversation with the parts man and a little computer searching on his part he returned my verdict.

"The 2001 Kia Rio doesn't have a separate fuel filter. It just has a little screen on the end of the IN TANK fuel pump that is PART OF THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY which we have IN STOCK for $314 PLUS FREIGHT of $25."

Please allow me a minute to break this statement down for you as I did in my head after leaving the parts store without any parts!

---The 2001 Kia Rio doesn't have a separate fuel filter. --- What kind of crappy, ridiculous car doesn't have an inline, maintainable fuel filter!

---It just has a little screen...that is PART OF THE WHOLE ASSEMBLY--- Really?!...you can’t just sell the little screen...what a crock of crap!

---IN TANK fuel pump--- Honestly, can this be anymore ridiculous that it already is!?

---for $314--- Why yes...I guess it can be! Thanks for that one too!

---which we have IN STOCK...PLUS FREIGHT of $25--- If anyone can rationalize this one then by all means let me know!

Needless to say I left the parts store, drove straight home, walked into the house, went back to my room and went back to bed. Hopefully today I will be able to start the process of getting everything fixed and back to normal.

Thanks for letting me vent,

Matt

Block Day!

Today is Block Day! Meaning that Tangra has her block exams and we are so excited because this means we get her back for a little while. The last week or so she has been leaving for school at around 7:30am and coming home sometime between 7 and 11pm depending on what she needed to get through. (We are all so proud of her determination and drive!) I can't imagine having to study that hard. I think she studies more in one day than I did in my entire college career. (Sorry Mom and Dad, but it does explain a lot doesn't it!) Anyway, as you can imagine this is always a difficult time for the boys and me. Not that we don't love hanging out together or that we can't find things to keep us busy but there are some times when only Mom will do.


I try to give everyone their fix each day by taking at least one meal to the school for her. Usually we will pack up and go for lunch, spend about an hour with her, and then head off to concur the rest of our day. Needless to say we all enjoy the time together very much but we all hate the end.

On another note, we have really been witnessing the hands of God at work here on the island. For the last couple of weeks, we have had the opportunity to help out with the campus church service put on by the AUC Christian Medical and Dental Association. The service consists of a live worship set and then a prerecorded sermon from Cornerstone Church in Brentwood CA (http://brentwood.cornerstoneweb.org/). We have always been impressed with the sermons and really enjoy the pastor's laid back approach and sense of humor. After attending the service off and on over the last 2 semesters we saw an opportunity to get involved and we took it. Tangra worked with a group of people to start a nursery/children's church that has allowed more families to attend that otherwise could not (including us.)


I have also worked with a group to add instruments and sound equipment in order to make the live music set more inviting. Attendance has really taken off and each week we have more people excited and eager to help out in any way they can. We just ask that you would all pray that God would allow the service to glorify him and that he would continue to encourage us and help us to see ways to reach out to more and more people.

Well, I think that is about it for now. I gotta go get some errands done!

Later everyone,

Matt

Maybe I'm Not Cut Out To Be A Marathon Runner!

So, as I said before I successfully completed the mini-marathon on Sunday...my official time was 2:28:32 which I am very happy with...however since then things have went somewhat down hill. Monday I was a little sore, nothing major, but by Tuesday morning I couldn't stand up straight and had to spend most of the day on the couch. Wednesday was pretty much the same way, but I felt bad that the boys had to spend all day inside the house so I tried to take them to the Domino's playground after lunch. I thought I would get a drink and read my book while they played in the ball pit but the whole trip was miserable! I couldn't find a comfortable way to sit but I couldn't stand either. Noah couldn't understand why I wouldn't play the Lion for him, and for the first time ever Nolan decided he would like to try out the ball pit too. Which is a little deep and once he got in it he couldn't get out. After trying about 20 seconds he decided it was hopeless and just stood there screaming hysterically. I tried to get Noah to help him but Noah couldn't stand the screaming and got out of the balls instead. So I'm sure you can imagine the scene...Nolan screaming, Noah yelling at me that "Nolan is screaming!", and me trying to shimmy up a small tube slide, through a tunnel of tubes, and pulling Nolan up out of the balls to safety. All with extremely uncomfortable back pain. At which point I realized that the tubes were way to small for me to turn around in so I had to back all the way back out. To make matters just a little worse, all the screaming and commotion had drawn a rather large crowd of spectators just in time for my grand exit which appeared to be a cross between a round off back hand spring and a belly flop! Let's just say that Noah couldn't get his crocs on fast enough. After that we went back home and the boys watched movies while I iced my back.

Today I am feeling a little better and hopefully by mid weekend I'll be back to normal. I'm going to try and take them for a walk later to see if my back will stretch out a little. Wish me luck!

Matt

Let's Just Say Tangra Is Happy!

I am so proud of myself! Yesterday morning I went for 2 1/2 hours without stopping! I never thought I would be able to go that long! My record prior to that was only about 45 minutes!

Oh...you perverts...that's not what I meant!!!!!!!

I'm talking about RUNNING!!!!

Yep that's right, I ran a mini marathon yesterday for the first time in my entire life! It was 22km (13.6 miles) and took me just about 2 1/2 hours which I was very happy with. It started right across the street from our house, went all the way around the lagoon, and ended up across the street again! I even had people finish after I did! Which I might add is probably another record for me! :-) They had a person taking pictures while we ran and stuff so I will try and post them when they arive! I will also post my official time then as well.

Later,

Matt