November, thus far....
We had scheduled a canoe (paddling) trip for the Young Women in September, but due to a tropical storm that came through, the river wasn't safe to be on, so we rescheduled for November 8. That morning it was raining, but it stopped long enough for us to get everyone out onto the Neuse River. And then it poured for about an hour. The rain eventually stopped, the sun came out, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. We paddled about a 14 mile stretch of the river. AND...no one fell in! Caitlin, the master paddler.

Jaimee and her friend Farris. Notice Jaimee breaking the "Don't stand in the canoe" rule.

Becca and her new favorite knit cap.

Also this month, November 11, Caitlin became an adult. Look how excited she is about her favorite birthday gift. What every brand new 18-year-old girl wants, her very own tool kit!

Dad had us raking leaves on Saturday. Notice he's nowhere around....



Caitlin claims mine was a running stumble. However, I didn't want to show up Becca and Jaimee, what with their tender feelings and all...

And for the Jacob update. Yes, there have been a few dates. On one date he he went to a rock climbing gym. I had told Shiloh about that. He agreed that the rock gym was a good place for dating, and in his words, "It's magical, even....." Jacob is registered for school in January. Also, with the Christmas shopping season here, his work hours have been changed from 4am to 2am. Yuck.

And the Shiloh update. I don't have any pictures. His camera lens cracked and he's in the process of getting a new camera.

November 12, 2008

It was one of my dreams when I was 14 to 17 to go to Borneo Island. Particularly to find the Bornean blood python. I forgot about it and didn't remember until I started liking dark chocolate...maybe a year ago. I forgot again and didn't realize until I got here. I haven't found any blood pythons but I found a cocoa bean tree. I told Caitlin a little about it. I am so amazed that they figured out how to make chocolate out of it. The seeds inside the bean are about the size of half your thumb and are covered in a thin fruit meat. It tastes like durian blenda or soursop. Nothing like chocolate. My curiousity rose and I bit into the actual seed. There wasn't much flavor and it was purple inside. Willy Wonka truly was a genious.

November 19, 2008

Quarterly we as missionaries do a spring cleaning. Today was our spring cleaning. One of the Elders in my apartment was cleaning out the toaster that we had all used for the past months when he found a cicak inside of it. Cicak is Gecko. It had been toasted over and over and over again. I am surprised it was still recognizable as a gecko. It didn't shock us all too bad, most of us have eaten more questionable things in more questionable situations. One of the Elders fresh from the MTC ate a live gecko...just for fun.