Here's a big group of us...there were a lot of other people there, but...happy birthday friend!!!

A got off work late, so she didn't dress up :(  But we still love her.  And, ironically, S and I both dressed as pirates without ever consulting the other.  Can you tell we're friends?

N came back for a visit!  He was at the seminary with us last year, but went home for personal reasons and is doing very well.  So much healthier and happier.  It was wonderful to have him with us for lunch and the party.

Another favorite person of mine whom I haven't seen in far too long even though we live in the same town.  She was dressed as a 4 year old.  In her other hand, there is a magic princess wand that lights up and on her feet are silver heels.  She's wearing a disney princess (snow white i think?) pajama dress with teal tights on and big gaudy jewelery.
Saturday was actually halloween, and Wayne & Erin had a Halloween party.  Their daughter (almost 2) was a bumblebee (adorable) and their son (4 months old) was a dinosaur (even more precious!).  This party was smaller, but a lot of fun!
 
We brought Amanda with us since she had forgotten to make plans to go trick or treating and halloween is her favorite holiday.  She enjoyed herself greatly and thought it was fun to have another bumblebee at the party (Wayne&Erin's daughter Rena). 
 
My roommate, Jill dressed as a pumpkin.  I may have forced her to choose between dressing as a pumpkin or dressing as a prof here.  But, at least this way she dressed up :)  My costume changed slightly as I dressed as a female pirate rather than non-gendered as I had on Friday.  Plus, it gave me the opportunity to wear that white corset I haven't worn in forever.  :)

Saturday I chilled with Marla's boys while she worked on her papers that she had to write.  She was behind due to illness and life stresses so I volunteered to watch the boys even though Tim & Marla would be home all day.  Anyway, we had a fun time together. 
We started at Paint-A-Pot where the boys made plates and I made a mug.   About half way through, Sawyer began to have a bit of a break down...his eyes welled up as he said "mine isn't cool like theirs, I want a new one".  Explaining to a 5 year old why he can't get a new plate is difficult...just so you know.  Finally, with the help of all of us girls (Chelsea, BAS--K wasn't able to come) we finally convinced him it was good and he decided to copy Chelsea's design of mixing colors and he decided to cover it all up.  Most likely, he will have the coolest plate.  haha
Then we headed to Pizza Hut and then off to the Crazy Bounce House!  I am so thankful their little bellies didn't throw up!
 

 

And this wore them out...until they got their snack at least...but then it was time to take them home.
 

Last night we had a chickflick night and watched The Proposal and one of our friends did Henna Tatoos!  It was a good low key night and we all got great tatoos!  Sorry...its hard to take pics of them though.  The black and white one is an attempt to capture my wrist where it says my hebrew name on one side then made into like a braclet on the other.  On my leg are the turtles.  Don't worry dad, these only last for a little while...  And Bill won't let me get a real one anyway.   

Oh...and I got my haircut.  The end.

I led chapel this past Monday.  My family has asked about it, so everyone gets an update

There is a set pattern of worship that is used here to as a structure for us to work within. Here's the explanation:

The service began with liturgy for gathering as all the services do here.  Then we go to the Psalm.  The Psalm was adapted (by me) from Ps. 26 and within that, we sang the song Siyahamba ("We are marching") 4 times in the midst of the psalm.  After this, I played a video I had made that had people reading Revelation 7:9-14 in 11 different languages (available on my facebook, but not working on xanga) and in the middle of it, after the song that was sung in Scripture, the video showed people from around the world dancing in their worship services.  1/2 way through this montage, 10 of us got up a few at a time and struck poses that matched the music playing in the video then the music changed and we danced along with it with the video behind us still showing more clips of the dancing church.  Then we stopped dancing and sat on the ground in a worship stance and the video concluded the Scripture reading (still in various languages) and then I said "This is the Word of the Lord" (and the congregation responded with "thanks be to God").  Then we prayed for each continent using a song that was transcribed by a friend of mine. We couldn't find the song anywhere in any database, so I can't tell you what it is, but the jist of the words were "Lord we pray for Africa" (and then subsituted each continent for Africa.)  Then we concluded with the same closing liturgy as every other chapel.

I was shocked at the response of the seminary community.  I thought some would be upset by the dancing in chapel, but none were--they were elated with the whole service.  Praise the Lord for the gifts he has given me that are blessing the Christian community!  The video has been requested for use in 3 different contexts already and I am grateful for the Spirit's work in my chapel.  Thank you for all your prayers!

Afterward, I accidentally fell asleep on the couch for 3 hours!  I think I was a bit tired...not to mention the lack of sleep as I put forth so much effort into this chapel.  I can't tell you the number of people who were like "you're putting way too much into this" but am grateful for all your prayers and support.