children

I moved recently. There are lots of kids that live in my new complex. I always see them riding their bikes and yelling and laughing. They walk with that funny carefree kid swagger, and I know they are having grand adventures. I was awoken at 8am on Saturday to them playing baseball outside my window. I wasn't too crazy about that, but I'm glad they were having fun.

There are 2 girls that live 2 floors below me, on the ground level, and they have pitched a tent outside their house. I hear them giggling inside it as I walk by. A few days ago, I saw the older one outside selling stuff. She had shells, so I bought one for my room. Seeing her reminded me of when I was a kid, and used to do stuff like that. I used to bake cookies, load them in my wagon, and go around trying to sell them to the neighbors. My mom was nice enough to pay for the ingredients, and it's a good thing, because I never made enough to cover the costs. Another time I dragged a bunch of stuff out of our attic and tried to have a tag sale. I was like 10, but I made a sign and put it at the end of the road, and set all this stuff up in the yard. I probably made 5 bucks, after sitting out there all day. But I loved it. I'm not sure why. And this other girl loves it too, 'cause I saw her out there again yesterday.

some concert stories

my cousin caleb took me to my first concert. we drove to a college campus somewhere in ct, and sat on these chairs in this auditorium, with some young people, and some old people. one of the bands had dreads and djembes, and the headlining band was waterdeep, and the funny thing is, i wasn't into it at all, but now i listen to waterdeep, and like them, and i think i would be really into that concert if i went today.

in high school and college i would go to these shows, and it was that loud, like, punky music and everyone would be in black and just standing there, smoking, in front of the stage, with their duct tape belts and their hair in their eyes, and their bored scowls, and i would try try try to be into it, and to think it was so great and fun, but then one day, when we had driven to fishkill, ny to see the huntingtons, i realized i just don't like that kind of music. it's really hard to understand the words, and the dancing is either nonexistent or slightly violent, and so i stopped going.

last year, or maybe this, i went to a lake/half-handed cloud concert inside a little restaurant/bookstore called skylight/nightlight, and it was wonderful. there were chairs pulled in a half circle around a small stage, and christmas lights draped over the books, and the band was made up of 3 people and maybe 12 instruments: drums, keyboard, bass, guitar, but also mandolin, xylophone, and bells, and their voices harmonized beautifully, and it seemed like the band couldn't think of anywhere on earth they would rather be, and i was in heaven. but i had to leave early, because i had a film shoot at 4:30 the next morning and i was very tired, and i remember, as i left, i was high on the glory of the night, and forgot to turn my headlights on. so a cop pulled me over-- i think he thought i was drunk-- but he didn't give me a ticket, so i continued along on my music high.

a few weeks ago, katie and steven went out busking, so i joined them. 3 sweet drunk guys stopped, and insisted that she sing something she'd written, and when she tried to protest that she hadn't written anything, steven told her to sing "the plane song she'd written", so she told him to play, and agreed to sing. the boys declared her a "female jason mraz", and a local radio dj told her he "could tell" that she'd written it and to come by his studio and record for free any time, and the funny thing is, it was a jason mraz song, and we laughed so hard, and now love to tell the story.

and here are some pictures from that night.









also, i forgot to say, the dj called someone and had them listen to katie sing over the phone.

katie is silly

Scene: Katie is sitting at her computer, I'm on mine, across the room. It's 11:30pm

Alisha:
hello
how ya doing?
haven't seen ya in a while

Katie:
i'm really good. actually i'm sky diving right now
kind of busy

Alisha:
so i thought i'd say hello
oh
ok
that's crazy
well

Katie:
flying through the air

Alisha:
hope you're having fun

Katie:
that's me

Alisha:
ok
bye
oh wait...
it's dark

Katie:
yes?
i know, i'm not sure when to pull the shoot
chute

Back in the USA

After about 21 hours of travel, our team arrived safe and sound back in the states Monday night. We had a few close calls-- our flight was overbooked in Germany, and then one of the girls didn't receive a boarding pass for the leg from Philly to RDU and made it onto the plane just in time. We all did make it back: tired, hungry, and dirty, but unable to wipe the smiles off our faces.

We spent a week in Transnestria building a playground, and it was a hard week. The playground was much more than just cutting and hammering boards-- before we could even get to that point, we had to sand and stain every board by hand. So the playground took much longer than expected. But we had a great team that worked hard and got along great. I know that we owe the success of this trip to the many prayers that were offered on our behalf. Thank you so much.

The weather got up to 100 degrees in the middle of the day. We had one person who's job it was to distribute water. We all drank out of the same cup. That was stretching. I usually don't mind sharing, but the thought of all that saliva.... eww.

The kids and moms at the orphanage were terrific. The kids were sweet and well behaved, and the moms were hospitable and generous. They cooked porridge, soups, salads, rice, and fish for us every day and it was always ready on time. There was one little girl, Carolena, about 3, whom I totally wanted to adopt. But I didn't. At least not yet. She has beautiful big green eyes and speaks only Russian and doesn't understand that I don't understand her. And she tried to give me her doll when I left. So sweet.

This week I'm unpacking and posting pictures on Facebook. My Germany pictures are up, and I expect to have the rest up by Sunday for your viewing pleasure.

Thank you again for all your love and prayers. This really couldn't have happened without you. My heart is bursting with joy. Whoa, that sounded really corny.

ONE MORE THING...

I have the wonderful opportunity to go to Ethiopia in 2 weeks to film the building of a well. Your continued prayers for this project are greatly appreciated. If it's OK, I'm going to continue to send out updates about that.... let me know if you don't want to hear about it.

Moldovan Adventure

Tomorrow I fly out into the wild blue yonder! I'm headed to Moldova for 2 weeks on a missions trip with my church. We'll be working with orphans, building a playground, and who knows what else! Expect updates and pictures.

My sweet friend Monique is kind enough to give me a ride to the airport, so the adventure begins at 10:45 when she picks me up. We'll be to the airport by 11:30, and my flight leaves at 1:30. We'll fly off into the night, arriving in Frankfort, Germany, at 7am local time, and have a layover until 3pm, so we'll have a chance to get some site seeing in! Then onto Chisnau, the capitol. And then.... who knows? But it'll be great.

Love!

first sprouts!

I am happy to report that butter beans, peas, romaine lettuce, cukes, and one pot of flowers have time little sprouts. They are still so small that I don't think they would show up on camera (well, probably on my SLR, but I am not getting it out right now). When they get a little bigger, I will post pictures! YAAAAY!

Garden

I have a garden. It is not in the ground, it is in pots. I am so excited. Aisha gave me all the seeds, and even a few seedlings, and I planted them (Rose and Caelia helped) and have been watering them. The seedlings are growing bigger. I hope the seeds grow. I feel like a proud mama, just waiting for my babies to show the world how wonderful they are. And then I will eat them.