Little Birthday Girl

Bethany's 9th birthday was a day full of excitement from her chocolate bread breakfast ...

To the end with its loads of presents!
She got some great Barbie stuff.
How about that smile?? She is a better gift-receiver than her daddy.
We enjoyed getting to spend the special day with some extended Aunts and Uncles.
Courtney giving it her best "Hozsyourmomanem?" Thats how they roll in Mississippi!
B was a bit excited about getting an iPod. Lots of space for Hannah Montana on there. She said she just needs to "get some videos on it for road trips."
One friend came over and the donkey received his tail back.
Well, maybe more than one.
Maybe more than 10, really.
All in all a great day with a two language HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Birthday Girl

A glimpse of our birthday girl reading her cards. She is a model of self-control, saving her cards that came in the mail for the big day. You can see our Christmas decorations taking shape in the background.

We got her this necklace and a few other goodies.
And a look at how everyone measures up to Mom this year:

Cool Guys

We'll get some Angie birthday pictures up tomorrow.  Just wanted some families to be able to see how their guys fared their first day.  We started off with some tasty breakfast.  Although we quickly found out these adventurers went down and had some food with NO HELP at all around 4am.  Quick studies these fellows are!

After breakfast we went for worship and then back out for more food.  This time for some "fried rice noodles" as Ann calls then.  The fish eaters joined us in thinking Craig's mom is a bit off regarding the fish curry. We had them throw in some extra chilis today, so it was extra good.  Pictured is Tom dropping in some squid.  We never got a good shot of the tentacles going in since he was gobbling them up too fast!

After eating we went to a local Christmas party we had heard about.  It featured some traditional dancing and lots of singing.  And afterward they had some snacks, too!

Lest we forget, at one point there broke out a sort of line dance that quickly sucked Nick as (since he was sitting on the aisle).  He is quite the dancer ... sorry the pictures weren't any better.

Traveling Dudes

We did get our guys in last night around 3:15am. Angie and Ann met at the hotel and got them settled for a few hours. Now we're preparing ourselves to meet them for a ... YAWN ... 8 am breakfast. Time to get some spice on for ole Dave.

Also, for those wondering there is some problem with the thing that shows our Twitter updates (aka Tweets) and so some other person's were showing up in our blog box. That is bad since maybe you've noticed some people put things on the internet we don't agree with. Therefore, the box is gone until they can get it fixed. Just tried again and its still weirded out. You can follow us on Twitter or just check there if you like that sort of thing www.twitter.com/craigandangie

Mountain Dew

When we were in Singapore a couple of weeks ago, we found Mountain Dew! First we found some in a machine and later in a store. Not sure how we looked to the employees when buying ALL their Mountain Dew but we know how we looked to the kids!!

Seriously?

Given the option, would you get your hair done at a place called Ooops! Me neither. Also, don't ask me why hair SALONS are called SALOONS here, they just are.

Mall Snow

Hanging of the Green

We were finally able to locate a suitable specimen of a Christmas tree and started our decorating throwdown (like many of you) over the weekend. The tree in question is 8 feet tall and set us back a cool $78 on sale, everyone was pretty happy all around. Except, of course, Hudson the smile-monster.

Like most set-ups it started well and like most it ended in the fact that some strands of lights didn't work and we didn't have enough overall either. "Running to Wal-Mart" is not exactly the same here but the next day we got it all taken care of and the job was finished.
Angie is none the worse for wear. Isn't she just the cutest thing???
Each kid has some special ornaments of their own they get to hang.
Finally they are getting big enough that we have ornaments above the bottom few branches but now also big enough to say, "Hey, why did you move mine?"
We have a few snowflakes that get thrown into the tree. Not sure exactly how it got started but its really important. The snowflake ornaments are carefully divided, then applied as you see Caleb doing. Hudson is playing defense.
The crowning glory. And our big new star. I never needed a ladder before to do the star.
All done and ready to blaze! Its the first Christmas tree EVER in our neighborhood ... here's hoping its the first of many!!

Happy 60th Birthday to My COOL Dad

Still looking spry and never missing a Cat game, Dad is 60 today. Still somehow I am young--like I'm in my mid 20s. Not sure how that happened.

We told the kids to call him Gramps because it was the oldest-sounding thing I could think of, plus there are just to many Papaws out there. Gramps has character, style! It hasn't caught on much though.

Dad, little sister Stacey, and my Grandma.
With us and Sharon last Christmas.
At work with H-man.
What an attractive group!! Next year maybe we can celebrate it in person!! We might even buy. Maybe...

You can take the boy out of KY...

This unsavory photo is attempting to show my redneck sunburn after spending a few morning hours at the sacrifice. This was after doing my best to stay in the shade. Late November sun ... you gotta be careful.

Sacrifice Day **WARNING** graphic pictures

Friday is a big holiday across the Muslim world when sacrifices are offered. Around here the sacrifices are normally cows, sheep, and goats but other places can include (as best as I understand) camels and horses, too. This lucky guy is slated for an afternoon departure.

I wasn't early enough to get any pictures of the cattle prior to their preparation. Here is kind of a step-by-step of how it goes. The cow's feet are tied and they are laid on their side with the neck over a small hole. Then a bunch of guys climb on (I saw this lady on Discovery who makes me think that might be helpful for the cow in the last moments).
In a way that I am not really confident I can explain, a cow is "good" for seven people and sheep/goats for one person. As the animal is all prepared, the name or names of the person who provided the animal are read aloud. Then a prayer is offered and with one stroke of a very large knife the animal is bled out.
Its very important to the people that the process be as painless as possible for the animal. I believe the banana leaf is to protect against and not for anything having to do with the neck being sliced open and gushing blood.
Then then animal's skin is removed along with its internal organs. The internal organ part takes a while and is pretty gross so I didn't take any pictures of the lungs, heart, liver, or intestines ... sorry.
Parts are reduced to a more manageable size.
Then they are reduced even more. If seven people combine funds to purchase a cow, each person receives one-seventh of the meat. The organs and meat (and eyes!) are divided into 7 portions. The person who provided the animal may keep some of the meat but most, if not all, is divided into 1 kilogram packets and distributed to the poor in the community.
Here the meat is getting smaller still. Notice the cow's head in the background.
Finally the meat packed into sacks and ready for distribution.
If you'd like to plan to see it next year you need to get your tickets early and celebrate the sacrifice and Craig's birthday on 17 Nov 2010! See you then!!

Here are looks back at our last two experiences: 2007 and 2008!

The Last of the Mountain Pictures