The other day my brother and were Christmas shopping and we walked out of a store after purchasing my daddy a gift. My brother told me, "that NEVER happens to me.....where you see something and you just know that this is the perfect gift for someone." :) Well that happened to me as well. I was browsing for Christmas gifts today and I found the absolute perfect gift one of my dearest friends. It's just so exciting!

I can't help but wish for a Christmas like this one.

A mother's hands; the ones that care for you when you're sick and clap for you when you accomplish something. She cares for you and prays for you through out all those hard times in life. Then when it comes time, you care for her...She gets older and feeble and its your chance to give back to her, remembering all those times she faithfully cared for you.

Thanksgiving around here involves alot of front porch sitting. Every pot in the house is used and family is sitting everywhere. We love it.

I hate carrots....thats all.

I saw this photo on facebook with the caption "finally home".

one of my very own....

Election days used to always be one of my favorite days, because my daddy would give me his sticker. Today, though I voted for the very first time myself. I felt very accomplished to get my very own sticker(and to vote of course).

I try not to write about my running, its kinda of a pet peeve of mine. I love to run; but try not to brag on myself too much:) I was running today though; and got to thinking how much i love running with my dog. He reminds me how to run, and why I run. He runs wild and free; exploring everything and taking it all in. He runs without time restraints. Most of all though he runs because he loves me.

I never thought I would stoop down to that level....but I did. The other day I was driving around in my '92 Nissan truck and, noticed that someone had put a perfectly fine very used Lazyboy beside the road. My sister and I picked it up, just like we have seen my father do on countless occasions.I brought it home, and posted it on craigslist.com. This "piece of junk" earned me $15. So there....i confess, I sold someone's trash.

I LOVE coffee, it's true. My sister gave me my first coffee drink; and I didn't like it. I drank it though, because I wanted to make her happy.So I tried it a second time and like it:) Now I love it; I think I could drink it everyday I (don't, I would rather not get addicted to caffeine). So when I got a job working at a coffee shop; I was thrilled to death; So excited to start.

Going in for an interview today.....I'm super nervous about it. It's has been awhile; I hope I remember everything from the lifeguard manual.

I'm sittin' in my swimsuit, cutoffs,and t-shirt; sippin' on a sweet tea, looking at stuffed black bear on the wall. My hair still has the salt and sand from the beach; and I can feel the tingling sensation from the sunburn that's coming in from the day. I can smell the greens and green beans on the buffet; and the waitress just called me "sugar." Then that's when I realized....I'm back!

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.
-- Russel Baker

right back where i should be.....

at least for now:)

It's an important number in my life....

This last week I got the chance to translate for a missions trip from my own hometown. The teenagers did 4 concerts in 3 cities in about a week. I got a chance to see someone pass from death to life through the love of Jesus Christ. It was awesome to see kids excited about sharing God's Word with others.

Dear Florida,
I miss you, ALOT! I'll see you soon.
love,
Natalie

Today is officially the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere......it really stinks. We celebrated by having ice cream and watching "The Boy in the Striped PJs", then I took a nice long nap. Needless to say it was really COLD!

Happy Father's Day!

I have caught it....the Mundial(World Cup)fever. It's exciting. I can't wait to see America play again. All the Americans gathered in the dining hall to watch the game together. We all painted our faces and screamed for our team. OUR TEAM, AMERICA! I love gringos, i love soccer and most of all i LOVE being an American.

Funny story, okay here it goes....

Niki, Danielle, and I (3 gringas) rode to the neighborhood that we work in, on the ministry bus. We thought that one of the boys would meet us at the bus stop, but he wasn't there. So as we are exiting the bus, the bus driver tell us to get 2 bags of meat for our ministry. So we go get the meat and start our walk. Danielle is holding one and I am holding the other. Like we don't look odd enough walking through this Argentine neighborhood, i mean you don't just see 3 gringas walking by themselves through a neighborhood like La Foresta everyday. So we are fine, just walking along, past the hair shop almost past the park and then.....the bag of meat breaks. The meat plops on the ground. So I run back and pick it up( i have been in Argentina waaaay too long, 8 months ago i would have never picked raw meat up off the sidewalk). So now we are 3 gringas walking with raw meat in our hands to the church. No worries though, we stopped at the fire station and washed it off and picked the pebbles out.

The world has stopped for this.

Home, the spot of earth supremly blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.
-Robert Montgomery

33 days, so short but yet so long. So much has changed since i left my home. I can't wait to get home; but yet it is gonna break my heart to leave.

"Natalie, you're doing the right thing." Sometimes the right thing doesn't feel "right" it hurts. It hurts so bad you want to cry. When I look back on the day that I left Jacksonville, I don't regret it. It was hard...really hard. I started crying before the 2 hours drive to the airport. But something my mom said stuck with me, its been 5 months since I got on the plane that day I sometime I think about what she said..."Natalie, you're doing the right thing".

I just finished reading "Mere Christainity" by CS Lewis. It is such a good book; I enjoyed it so much. It's crazy how truths from the Bible are true forever. CS Lewis explains such hard concepts in a really good way. Definantly a must read.

The only one standing in line....

I am a victim of the American culutre. I walk into the bathroom and automatically wait in line to use the restroom, everyone else walks in and stands in the middle of the floor. At ministry on the weekends I look for my own clean cup, latinos just pick up a cup off the table and use it. I got to lunch and eat my food in a timely ok, ok very quickly, when i finish everyone else is still cutting up their salads( i mean who cuts up your salad). I pick up my chicken to eat with my fingers, they sit and patiently eat it with a fork. Just some other things I have realized that are different being a gringa living in a latino world.

I have nothing to write...sry! BUT I will put a picture of 2 ridiculously good-looking favorite boys:)

This past week has been so busy and crazy. What a whirlwind of activity both emotionally and physically draining. I went on a campana (translating trip),so i completed another one of my "21 things to do before i turn 21". The trip really forced me to use what I have been learning, it was so great. Then on Wednesday we recieved the painful news that one of the PBB (the program I am in) boys had to leave. IT broke me heart to see him go, we are all so close. After that I went to a church in a poor neighborhood, I wish I could stay there the rest of my time in Argentina:)

you know your mejor amigas when...

This happened 3 days in a row.....we all 3 match:);and the Crocs are typical Niki style.

Dificil Mac...what?

This last weekend I went to a neighborhood in Buenos Aires, La Forresta. We had the pleasure of helping with the 6th Aniversary.The annerversary was a really big sucess. On Sunday night Niki decided to make Easy Mac for the staff for dinner and Danielle and I (of course) were right there with her. We had 3 boxes of Mac and Cheese from the States and we needed some more food. So one of the boys went and bought more noodles, but the noodles were huge. We put them all in the same pot to cook, big ones and little ones. Needless to say by the end all the noodles were a complete mush.Then we had to improvise the cheese sauce, without measuring cups.IN the middle of all this, we got distracted by um...a little bathroom issue. All in all the mac and cheese was pretty good, considering I haven't had it in 4 months.

Things that excited me this week...
1. no sports( all week, because of rain)+2 hour nap.
2. seeing a really big snake
3. pasta 2 meals in a row
4. ice cream(okay, that excites me all the time)
5. Hail
6. GEA only lasted an hour
7. school started
8. No room boss, and stayed up till midnight.
*needless to say, yes I live in Argentina; but i have a boring life

Why are things only funny when they aren't suppose to be?

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
-Natasha Bedingfield

So Autumn is officially here, and it's gorgeous. Another gorgeous thing is that I get to work outside. The weather is just perfect. I love it!

This week has been so crazy and amazing. I went to a neighboorhood in Buenos Aires, La Foresta. It was like a mini-missions trip, which I loved! I had the oppurtunity to witness and give my testimony in Spanish. I was able to practice alot of Spanish and see a different ministry. I loved everything about it. I wish I could spend the next three months there instead of at the Institute, but I can't.

I'm there, finished, completed. I guess....well now I am suppose to know Spanish. I have completed my course in Spanish. We just took our last Spanish test. Next step is starting in the Bible Institute. I can't believe I have already come this far, it's so unreal. I feel as though I have learned SO much but I still have SO much more to learn.

The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you. ~Kendall Hailey

It's all about getting there, learning from people God puts in your path and taking in the "view". I definantly struggle with not always thinking about home and what people are doing there. I want to be able to fix their problems and help them through tough times. Being right where I am right now though is the most important. It's kinda like taking a walk enjoying what you are doing is half of the battle taking your surroundings, and not trying to hurry life up.

well she said....

The grapevine is the ONLY way I can find out anything(ok, ok most things) here at Palbra de Vida. Remeber the post about Cordaba, well we're not going. I kept on hearing about it through different people. "Did you know that we can't go to Cordaba?" I am sorry for a "rant" blog. I felt it was necessary since I posted that we were going, and now we're not.

oh yeah and Happy Saint Patrick's Day.

Dear John

I finished "Pride and Prejudice"(part of my 21 things). Then I started another book today titled "Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks. It was just made into a movie, and that was the reason I wanted to read it. I seriously CANNOT put it down, it is such a good book.

Autumn is that you.....?

Well I can feel it this week. It definantly feels as though the seasons are changing, which is a good thing. I love the change of weather and scenery(plus the mosquitoes die). God is always keeping us on our toes with constant change and its just gorgeous.

Just last night I learned that the Latinos call Prince Charming, Principe Azul literally translated Prince Blue. Isn't that ridiculous? Sometimes the more Spanish I learn the more I like English.

The next few weeks should prove to be interesting. I will be traveling with a group to Cordaba, Argentina to do ministry. I am not sure what we will be doing when or how, but that is typical Argentina/Palabra de Vida style. Que sera, sera.

share-to use participate in, enjoy, recieve etc.

I have never been really good at sharing. Since coming to Argentina it has been forced upon me. I guess you could blame it on the culutre. If I have something and they see it, you are forced to share. Most of the time if I have something yummy to eat I just eat it where no one can see me, but yesterday I didn't. I shared my oatmeal cream pie with the gringas in my room. It really is a step up for me to share.....and it makes me happy.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." -Pride and Prejudice

I have started on my list of things to do. I have officially started reading "Pride and Prejudice". I've tried before, but this time I am gonna do it. I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

21 things.....

Twenty-one things to do before I turn twenty-one....
1. read the Bible in Spanish
2. Hike overnight on the Appalaction Trail
3. read Pride and Prejudice
4. Run a 1/2 marathon
5. Drive a stick shift anywhere in town
6. Make an ice box cake with my grandma
7. go to the Alhambra Theatre
8. Stargaze viv and I stayed up half the night on her trampoline gazing at the heavens:)
9. Learn how to swing dance
10. See the leaves change in the North
11. Attend a concert at Murray Hill Theatre
12. Be a translator on a Misions Trip
13. Return to Africa
14. read a CS Lewis book (finished "Mere Christianity")
15. purchase some red high heels my sister bought them for me:)
16. read "Redeeming Love" LOVED IT!
17. Buy a car i haven't exactly paid my parents back for it yet....
18. buy some cowboy boots double check!!
19. Sleep under the stars
20. go to the zoo
21. Sprint Triathlon

"How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of 3, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone and narrow to be everything to someone?"
-What's Wrong with the World?-

The other day someone asked me who I missed the most from home. My answer is without hesitation was my mama, of course. I love it here in Argentina; and I am having the time of my life, that doesn't change the fact that I miss my mom though.

"Summer is like getting a bucket of gold."

When did Peanut butter become a delicacy?

All of a sudden somethings are a delicacy that have never been considered special before; since moving to Argentina
1.peanut butter
2. ketchup
3. oatmeal cream pies
4. cheez its
5. eggs
-just a few things that I would just DIE to have again:0 notice they are all food; you can see where my priorities are.

The tale of the traveling Pick Ax

The other day when I returned from Pichi Traful; I was cleaning under my placard(closet) to put my stuff under there. To my suprise I found a Pick Ax under there. So I drug it out to the middle of the floor. The next day i found it outside of my building. The day after that my friend and I were walking back from class only to find the ax outside of her room....CREEPY! So we decided to put it on another gringas bed to freak her out:)! And so the saga continues, I wonder where it will go next.