Going to India!

I can hardly believe this. I am going to India. In June. That's just a little over 2 months away. It happened all of a sudden and so recently that I am still trying to process this. One of our pastors called me up a week ago and asked me to consider going on the church mission trip to India. I had been planning on going on one of the mission trips this year. However, that one was NOT on my list. Funny how that is. I assumed I would be going on one of the trips to a Spanish-speaking country. I figured God would want me to go where I could be *most utilized.* Little did I know. So, here we go. I've never been to Asia. I don't know a lick of ?. I don't even know what they speak in India! I need a crash course in everything India. I am sure I'll learn in the next couple months. I am excited about what we'll be doing there and getting to visit the Taj Mahal. It will be an experience like none other!

It's Spring in Houston

I just have to take note of the beautiful weather we've been having in Houston. It is the short period of the year when you are actually comfortable being outside. The sun is shining, the humidity absent, the mosquitoes hiding (but ready to get out), and the flowers blooming. I love this time of year. And we've had the most beautiful Easter Sunday. The temps were mild and the wind blew gently all day. Perfect. I took the opportunity to take some pics of our azaleas. They will only be blooming for a few more days so I wanted to capture their beautiful color. Enjoy.

Hooter Hider

I suppose it's never a dull weekend when you decide to travel. This past weekend my destination was El Paso, TX. I went there for my cousin's baby shower. While I did hope to have a good time, I wasn't expecting the idiosyncrasies I encountered. Where to begin? How about on the small prop plane that teetered us over the big state of Texas to the brown city of El Paso. In case you're 6" or taller, I would not recommend you getting on one of these planes. In fact, I dare say it impossible. My hair practically touched the ceiling of the plane when I stood up in there. And no, my hair is not that big. We landed by the grace of God and perused through the airport terminal. We had not gotten out the door when we had passed THREE Mexican restaurants. Clue #1, they eat a lot of Mexican here. We hopped in our rental car and followed our beloved Google map. The map was right, but the street names were not. I should clarify. Apparently this city uses the same name for multiple streets. This is very confusing to a newcomer who wants to BELIEVE Google, but is torn by the street names in front of them. After several u-turns and consulting another map, we determined we should head for the NEXT Mesa St. Actually, it turns out that this ONE street winds around some how and crosses the same highway TWICE. Another thing we noticed is that all of the street names either start with 'El' or end in a vowel as in 'El Dorado' or 'Escondido.' And yes, you will need to work on your Spanish accent to properly pronounce these streets. What a way to get things started. We were thankful to make it to our 1-star hotel. There was a big Wal-Mart just across the street and since it is one of my favorite places to shop (sarcasm at its best), we made a quick trip over there. It looked the same as the one across the street from my house, except for the colorful pinatas hanging from the ceilings, that is.

The shower was Saturday evening at a local country club. The place was set on a hill, so it had a beautiful view. The sun was setting when we arrived which made for some beautiful pictures. The room was colorfully decorated as was the life-size stork on the gift table. We enjoyed an authentic Mexican dinner and I even won a prize for guessing the right number of safety pins in the jar! Hard to believe I could do so well at this game. I've only played it 100 times at all the other baby showers I've attended. If I ever get to have one of my own, we'll be sure to play this game too. It's just tradition at this point. My favorite hour of the night was gift time. My cousin received many beautiful gifts, but there was one that remains imprinted in my mind. As she was pulling out what appeared to be a colorful cloth of some sort, she holds up the cloth and then says, "wait, let me practice" and she proceeds to drape the cloth on her chest. She next exclaims, "it's a hooter hider!" A what?! I had never heard of such a thing. Apparently, she wasn't making this up. The cloth that nursing women drape over themselves so as not to show off their milk-bearing appendages is called a hooter hider. I had no idea. I learned a new vocab word. I love just saying it as my tongue gets twisted. I enjoyed many giggles out of that one.

Needless to say the weekend was filled with quite a few surprises and a lot of fun. I am not sure that I am ready to run back to the dry, brown hills of El Paso, but I definitely made some lasting memories there.