A little update

My parents and I spent 5 days at a conference center located just outside of Windhoek that had no internet capabilities, therefore I wasn't able to send my weekly update. The conference center is run by an Austrian, now Namibian, with a beer belly and no capability of buttoning his shirt completely. We were there for an annual conference for African Inland Missions of Namibia. There are about 25 missionaries in the country of Namibia that are with the same organization that my parents are here with. Those 25 couples/individuals represent the States, Cananda, Germany, the UK, and Scotland. Within those 25 couples/individuals are 25 children... Missionaries do know how to raise up families! Of those 25 children that we spent 5 days with, 3 little boys were from Scotland, and I was ready to take them all home with me, however their parents were attached to them pretty well. Children with little accents are cute. One little girl, Erin, who has an adorable British accent, started crying because she "can't get my pants over my tubby bottom".

Poverty, no matter what form it is in, is disheartening to see, but so much more in children than adults. While making rounds with my dad at the local hospital, I met a little 10-yr-old boy David. David had been brought to the hospital by his 18-yr-old brother who was desperate for help. David, and his 11 siblings, were left home alone for days on end as their parents went back to the farm where their extended family lives, and David had no food to eat for 5 days. David's parents are part of a particular tribe in Namibia that have no qualms about leaving their children. David also had a fungal infection on his head that left open sores on his head. I met another boy named Vernon. Vernon had idiopathic esinophilia. A disease in which his white blood cells attack his body for no reason. I met Vernon on a Friday and his grandmother was the only family member there. Katatura hospital, where my dad primarily works, is the last resort for children in the country. It is common for children as young 4 years of age to be put on a bus from their local village and will travel alone for hours on end to get to the hopsital for treatment. To Westerners, this may seem appaling, however many parents have children to care for, farms to run, and jobs to continue in order to put a meager amount of food on the table for the remaining children at home. They call it survival. I met Vernon on a Friday, and by Monday he had succomb to the disease. Even in the States, the disease has a greater than 95% fatality rate. My dad has had to become accustomed to 6 or 7 children dying a week. I still think its difficult for him, even though this has been his reality for more than 9 months.

In other news... despite it being the middle of the dry season, there are still bougainvilleae every where, beautiful, and the clumps of them look like velvet. Its pretty common for fires to break out around town in the fields, but all the homes are made of cement, so no one really gets too excited. Maybe the one fire station in town will respond.... maybe not... :)

I have 2 more weeks here, and I hope to spend some one on one time with my parents. Part of their ministry over here is to host people in their small flat. Currently the front door is a sliding glass door, but I really think a revolving door is more appropriate.

American Football season is starting and I'm ready to get back to the states to watch it! We have a lot of cricket, rugby, soccer, and Australian Rules Rugby. If you ever get a chance, check out Australian Rules Rugby. Very cool. Very rough.

That's all for now. Take care. Eat some Mexican food for me. :)

Merry CHRISTmas part duex

Inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale... slowly, ever so slowly Em, whatever you do, don't wake her up.

"Aunt Emmy?"

*double cringe*

"Paige Ansley, it is Christmas Eve and you have to go to sleep before Santa comes!"

What's the benefit of coming home for Christmas with my WHOLE entire family there? I get to share a bed with my niece, and yes, she does fart in her sleep.

Let me just say right now that watching my sisters "help" Santa, is hil-arious. Mainly because they aren't very coordinated or quiet and then watching Graham test out all the kids' Santa gifts, including R.K.'s new Huffy pink "Fashion Craze" bike. when I was her age, I rode a hand-me-down Yellow banana bike. It had handlebars and a seat and that was considered "accessorized".

Right now across the Mantle the stocking holders spell out "Peac Joy", yesterday it read "Cape Joy" ... I kind of liked Cape Joy better myself. It's kind of ghetto, i know, but my sisters left one of the stocking holders at home, so we were forced to Yahtzee it.

Well, so far this year, there have been no Mustard-colored-gift threats, or turtleneck threats, but I can already predict that there will be laughter and definitely be some tears. I'll give you the highlights later.

Last year it was Colton's first Christmas and now this year we have another addition to the family: Ben, Allison's new husband. Maybe next year we'll keep the tradition up and have another new family member.

Gotta go peak at my stocking that I just saw "Santa" put up--Peace,
em

Red Sox Champions

Last weekend the Drs. Brown came to town and it was fabulous! It was sooo good to see them and just enjoy being around them. The best part about the whole thing was that I wasn't sad at all when they left, which meant even more confirmation that I am smack-dab, right in the center of where God wants me. Awesome.

Despite the fact that I love living in Boston, and am enjoying not being homesick, I'm still lonely at times. Not so much during the week, since I stay so busy with working and talking about going to the gym (and not so much making it), but during the weekends, I get lonely. In Lubbock, there wasn't a whole lot to do, but plenty of fun, good friends to call. Now I'm in Boston with plenty to do, but no one to call. I've met some really nice people at church, but no one yet that I've really clicked with. And...I'll be really honest, I had hoped that 2 months into living in such a big city with lots of guys, I would have met at least one by now that would want to spend more than 2 minutes with me. I just want someone to explore Boston with, to play frisbee with in the Commons, go see a movie, walk around the North End to visit Mike's, learn how to hike in New Hampshire, go to the Boston Pops... those kind of things. For example, today it was 72 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, a perfect day to spend in the park, but there was no one to do anything with. Now, don't let my paragraph-long pity party make you think that I spend all my time at home twiddling my thumbs, wishing my life away. I don't, I still explore Boston all the time, walking for hours by myself, going to eat by myself, getting ice cream by myself, but all these things would be more fun with someone to do them with.

Okay, enough of that. The Red Sox are playing right now. I totally think they are going to win the whole thing...yep, the WHOLE THING. Things you can see from my window right now: a row of limos waiting for all the high rollers at the game, the transit policemen waiting for the game to end, riot police biding their time, a "band" of a drumset and a saxophonist playing right outside our apartment, crowds of people peering into the apartment on the 1st floor to watch the game... yep, I said riot police. A little bit scary, I'm not gonna lie. My roommate Ashley and I each have a "Boston Red Sox boyfriend" her's is Dustin Pedroia and mine is Mike Lowell, who, incidentally is only 34. I think the bits of gray in him look good. The Red Sox pretty much play in my backyard, so I feel like we're BFF, in fact, sitting in my living room right now with our windows open, I can hear the cheers from Game 7. Double Awesome.

I think I've gotten used to seeing strange things around here, so I don't really remember funny things that happen... Graham and Ashley have both seen a lady around their bus stop with a full blown, real-life goatee. Oh, and my friend Jeremy Granger (so good to see him!) was here last week and saw Kate Hudson filming a movie in Copley Square! Pretty cool. I once saw Ted Danson-post-Cheers in the Albuquerque airport, not so cool. He was tall though....

So that's about all that's new here in Boston, the trees are changing some, but it's been dry here so they aren't as vibrant as in the past. Be sure to watch the Red Sox whoop up on some Rockies a double s. And if you think about it, pray for me that I'd find some good friends and a great guy to hang out with.

Adios Mi Amigos

Crying over aunts is worth crying about

When my nephew Colton, who's now almost 3 months, was told that he wouldn't see his favorite aunt (me!) until Thanksgiving, he had some pretty strong emotions about it. And since he can't talk, he chose to express them in his face:

I think he's also upset because of the ugly outfit my wonderful sister decided to put on him. *sigh* It's hard to be a long distance aunt when they're this age. I feel the same way Colton..I feel the same way. :(

Colton, the Hairy!

Colton!!

This is Niece Numero Tres (RK) holding new nephew Colton in Austin this weekend. He looks a lot like his Dad does: eyes half closed about ready to nod off to sleep!

Aunt X 4

My nephew has finally arrived!!!

Colton Frank White was born at 3:05 PM today and weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 1oz!!!

It doesn't quite seem real since my sister and brother-in-law are in Austin and I'm stuck here, I guess i'll have to wait a couple of weeks to see him..

PIctures to come!