Some help for you

we have a 38 minute layover in Atlanta and about 16 bags we'll be checking. Yikes! In Hong Kong we have two hours but its easy to get behind because the flight TO Hong Kong is 14.5 hours...you get free midnight snakcs, though! How is that for helpful? At the airport in between Atlanta and Hong Kong we'll have nearly four hours from about 1am to 5am our time.

The Dufus Bar

Since becoming new Mac people we have made numerous trips to the Apple Store here. Its a pretty cool place with incredibly cool computers, iPods, and overpriced accessories. A week or so ago we were buying a few things and I was asking question after question when the man behind the counter looked up and said, "Sir, are you new to Mac?"

(Its the same kind of look you get the first time you go to Starbucks to see what the big deal is and have to ask the person behind the counter if you can just get a cup of coffee. "I'm sorry. I don't know about lattes and foam and espresso and how soy milk tastes. I was just wondering if I could have just a plain old coffee.")

I am also the biggest dork in the place. Everyone working there (everyone!) has this great hair and tattoos everywhere and metal in different parts of their face. They have iPhones and iPod videos and cool gadgetry. Me? I am just new to Mac. And obviously new at that.

So the issue last night was a question for what most people might know as the "Geek Squad". Except at the Apple Store they aren't geeks. Its called the Genius Bar. Isn't that cool? A tattooed, fluffy-haired kid with a ring in his lip. A genius. And me. The dork. It's just like an Apple ad on TV. All delusions I have of being even slightly cool shrink away at the Genius Bar.

Especially when the genius fixes my problem in 2 minutes. And when he fixed that thing that was easy and that I could've fixed on a PC, I didn't feel bad. After all it should seem easy for him to fix...he is a genius. And I am just me. New to Mac.

Internet down again!!!

Sorry it has been a few days since we posted. The internet has been down again in our apartment. We had a great time on our anniversary. Cracker Barrell it was!! They didn't have my favorite...CHICKEN LIVERS!!! I had to get hamburger steak instead. After supper we went to the Apple store and Craig got to spend some money, then we went to Starbucks. It was a good night.

We only have 5 more days here and then we are headed back to Kentucky. We will visit in Louisville for 2 days and then to Glasgow for a couple of days. We hope to be able to see many of you while home. Keep remembering us!

Angie

A change is coming...

Anniversary ideas

Tell him diamonds are always perfect.(BIG ones)

Angie

Anniversary ideas

Monday is our 13th anniversary. Its not as easy celebrating something like that away from home. Its even harder celebrating one when you have no home (well, no furniture at least). Got any ideas?

The shots to end all shots

We got our final round of shots Tuesday. Hudson and Bethany got two sticks, Caleb, Angie and Craig got three each. No one cried (well...except for on the way in). We're getting to be old hand at all this shot stuff. The only advice I can give, though, is that if you get some don't be nearly last like us. We had ice cream to celebrate and by the time we got through all the Drumsticks were gone and the ice cream sandwiches were a bit on the soft side. Just so I wouldn't offend anyone I ate mine (and Bethany's leftovers) anyway. What a trooper I am!!

Hair Cutting for Non-Professionals

I was on the hot seat for the second hair-cutting class. Actually people were lined up for free hair cuts!! Angie was going to do some of mine but there was a miscommunication I think and the trainer lady ended up doing it all. I look awesome (as usual) except for my wrinkles. I think I have gotten a LOT more this year.

hello from Angie

Things are winding down here and we will be back in Glasgow for a few days before we fly out. The time has flown by and I feel like I am living in a whirlwind. We have had a lot of things to think about and digest. Hudson has had a bad day today. He has had 2 meltdowns. One this morning before breakfast and another one tonight on the way home from supper. The kind that he throws himself in the floor and kicks his legs and screams and cries. Luckily they don't last very long:)

Craig and Caleb are out walking/running. I have been trying to do a exercise video in the apartment. I have a plantar wart on my foot and it keeps getting worse and worse. We are going to freeze it tonight. I hope it doesn't hurt too bad! Well, that is all for now. Love to all

Angie

Mr. (and Mrs.) Davis Go To Washington

We had a nice time in D.C. especially with all the walking! I think we logged about twice the miles I was expecting. We saw a lot of really interesting stuff (White House, Capital, Washington Monument all pictured) and had a great lunch (also pictured). All in all a nice but incredibly rushed time since we only had about 6 hours there. We'll pontificate about it more later, we just wanted to get some pix up and go to BED!!

Let the good times roll

Here are some of our more relaxed times!

Thinking of you...

I am trying a new thing. So often I think, "Man that guy reminds me of..." that I have started praying for a second for whoever it is I am reminded of. Today it was this speaker who had a lot of hand motions like Tim but sort of looked like Mark. That guy he talks like Steve or whatever. Maybe it's just a neat way for God to be bringing you to our minds. "Doesn't she remind you of Carol?" "He sounds just like Jeff."

Maybe next I need to apply it to places. I hear about someone going to cold mountain country where bear roam like crazy and the salmon are jumping and I think of Randy and Sam. I hear about the desert or about the city and I think about how Betty and Phillip would really to visit there. Some of you could come and do what we do. We think of those folks, too. And pray for them especially!

So know you are on our minds and we pray for you and most days we see or hear you (sort of) and think of you...

A Dinka named David

One thing that amazes me about the area in which we are staying is the diversity. Tonight we went out and were at Dillards. In one department I started talking to an employee who was obviously African. When I say obviously African, I don't just mean because he was so black he was blue, African. I mean obviously African just because of how he walked and sounded and (this will sound really strange) something about how his shirt fit him just told me he wasn't born in Virginia.

So I start a conversation about where he is from because he strikes me as a Kenyan. No, he tells me he is from Sudan. He is a Dinka (http://www.sudan101.com/dinka.htm). A Dinka. So that raises my total number of Dinka that I have ever met to one, as far as I know. And this one an interesting one: a refugee from Sudan to Kenya, he has visited Ethiopia and now is going to school in the US and working at Dillards.

It makes me think about the Psalm I was reading today, Psalm 67, where the psalmist says, May God be gracious and bless and shine on us...that your way may be known on earth...among all the nations...let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad...judge the peoples with equity...guide the nations...let the peoples praise you...let all the peoples praise you...let all the ends of the earth fear him!" You should read it, I am just highlighting "all the peoples".

God loves peoples and wants them to know Him. He wants to break out all over the earth. But I don't expect it to happen as long as most people think a Dinka is a soft drink or a computer game.

We've been assigned to read the biography of James O. Fraser Mountain Rain and in the beginning the story is recounted of his struggling about giving his life to tell people about Jesus. What pushed him over the edge was a little booklet. In it he was faced with the question, "If our Master returned today to find millions of people (Dinka, maybe) unevangelized, and looked, as of course He would look, to us for an explanation, what explanation could we give for spending our lives the way we have?"

What explanation can you or I give to God then? What explanation would you like to give?

Celebration night

Wednesday night we celebrated the end of security training with a trip to a Vietnamese restaurant. It was a fine experience and I wrote very eloquently about it the other day but as I was uploading the pictures the internet went out here and so I will keep it shorter this time. Just enjoy the visuals.

Early in the week

We had some travel safety training Monday thru Wednesday which was really helpful but made for very long days. Everyone was in class from 8-5 each day so by the time we picked up the kids we went straight to supper. That is the hardest time of the day. There is so much going on and so many people that it can be overwhelming.

Also for some reason God put me in a family where everyone feels like they have to ENJOY what they are eating! I eat because the body needs food and (with the exception of spaghetti) don't care what it is. I can be just as happy eating peanut butter crackers or steak. Rice? Fine. Baked potatoes? Great. Cereal? Whatever. Just give it here.

Therefore my level of accomodation for everyone not liking this or that about what is in the cafeteria is pretty low. Just eat it...IT'S FREE for goodness sake. Who cares if you like it or not? (See why I get stressed?)

By the end of all that, Mom and Dad are just ready for bed! Especially when we had all the stress of the upcoming training to think about on Monday and Tuesday nights!!

On again, off again

The internet service has been hit and miss the past couple of days. If you sent anything to us, be patient! A new update went out today, if you are no longer getting them for some reason let me know. I made some changes to the address list lately and even though I did not delete anyone, it may have made your e-mail provider think the notes are junk, since a few of the lists are longer.

Finally a fish!

Caleb finally got a fish Saturday night. Uncle Todd is lucky.