A Birthday To Celebrate....

My nephew turned 7 years old the week of July 22nd and asked me if I would celebrate his birthday with him...how could I say no? For his birthday, we went to a skateboard park, which did not turn out as great as we had hoped, but the kids did have fun riding their scooters and skateboards. Then that night, he had some friends over. We eat pizza, cake and played some games.


I got him a slip and slide for his birthday...he had a fun time playing with it.

Five Weeks in Florida

From Mid-June to Mid-July, I spent about five weeks in Florida for training. Took two seminary classes, learned so much more about the company I will be working for and got to meet some amazing people. These people with me at training that will be serving the Lord all over the country and world doing many different things....so neat.

Baseball Pros

This week I was able to watch my nephews play baseball. One is in 1st grade and the other one is in 3rd grade. They are both very good at playing baseball. That night, both of them made a couple runs. Also during the game, Ben made an out by tackling a boy while tagging him and Casey took out a boy when he was sliding into 2nd....when they play baseball...they play hard.

Casey as catcher

Ben hitting one of the many balls he hit that night

Girls on the Run

I got the privilege of running with my niece in a 5K called "Girls on the Run". It is a race for girls in grades 3rd, 4th and 5th. She did an awesome job running in it. She ran it in 32 minutes. Last year, she ran it in 35 minutes. Also, she was number 400 out of 2600. The weather wasn't the greatest for the race...it poured down rain for the second half. As you can see from the picture below...

I was really proud of her and felt so blessed to be able to run with her in it...

School Lunch

Being back in the States gives me more opportunities to spend some time with some special people in my life. Three of these special people are my niece and nephews. The first week I was back in the States I got to go to lunch with them at their school. I had fun sitting with them at lunch, meeting their friends and getting to learn alittle more about their lives at school. It seemed like they enjoyed having me there too....

Blogging Marathon

I have been on alittle of a blogging marathon lately...I hope you enjoy. I am back in America for a couple of months and hope to be blogging about fun stuff I am up to here..

Last Hurrah in East Asia...for Awhile

My last day real day in East Asia was on Friday. That night my neighborhood friends and I went out for dinner and putt putt...Yes, I said putt putt. No it is not normal to have a putt putt place in an East Asian town, but for whatever reason we do. Actually, it was kind of weird because we all felt like we were in Myrtle Beach while we were there. We had some friendly competition between the boys and girls...unfortunately the boys won by a point or two. Here are some pictures from the night..


One of the dishes we ate that night. It is called Sweet and Sour Fish. It might not look very appetitizing to you, but it is SOO good. I am so going to miss East Asia food..

The girls....all looking in different directions..

The putt putt place...

Smallest Cup of Coffee

On another weekend, my "neighborhood" friends and I went to another city in East Asia to get away. We had a lot of fun in this city...we walked around the town, went bike riding, went running, ate both East Asian and western food, and hung out with each other. While at one of the restaurants, I wanted some coffee, so I ordered a caramel macchiato. I have ordered this coffee drink before, so I thought I knew what I was going to get, but I was a little surprised when this showed up at my table...

I did enjoy all two sips of it though...

Easter Weekend Get Away

I know Easter was a long time ago, but I have to blog about some friends I went to visit over Easter weekend because they have had a big part of my life here in East Asia and I am going to miss them so much!

For Easter weekend, Grace and I went to a different city to celebrate with friends that do the same thing we do in East Asia. We had a good time seeing the city, eating good East Asian food, going to a karaoke place, celebrating the Lord's Resurrection and just hanging out. Here are some pictures from the trip...

Here is a painting we found in front of a preschool...notice anything odd..

Do you see the little boy in the painting above Grace winking and holding a gun? Not something you see everyday...especially in front of a preschool.

Here is a picture of all of us in Pizza Fun....

Here is a picture of one of the yummy East Asian meals we had...

How it works is you put meat and veggies in this boiling water and then eat them when they are done cooking...

Here is someone I am definitely going to miss...Her name is Martha and she has been in East Asia the same amount of time I have. She is a very special person to me. Her faith always challenges me. I love her honesty of where she is at with her walk. I love her laughter and her sense of humor. East Asia will definitely not be the same without her next year! Love ya Martha!

The Fun Aunts...

The two fun aunts are my roommate, Grace and I. We are aunts to a dog named Max...or as people in East Asia call him...Ma ke si. Max's owners are our friends, Shelley and Jarred Jung. The Jungs went back to America for two weeks to go to Jarred's sister's wedding. While they were in America, Grace and I agreed to watch Max. Here is a picture of Max when they first got him...

Well, you might be thinking...oh isn't he cute. He is SO CUTE, but don't let that mislead you..he can also get into trouble. While he was at our house, he was always trying to find something to chew on...some of the things he chewed on were toilet paper, hot dog wrappers, slippers, Chaco sandles, and a toothbrush.

One day we left him alone in the living room for maybe two minutes and when Grace came back into the room..she found him in this predicament...

Poor guy...for the life of him...he couldn't figure out how to get the popcorn bag off his head.

We kept calling his name and all he could do was bark at us. Grace and I were quite entertained.

Conference and Good Time Away

For most of the month of February, I have spent away from EA. I have been at a week long conference in Malaysia and then was able to get away and with some friends for some R&R. I got to spend some great time in the Word with the Lord and also got to spend great time with friends. Here are some pictures from this time...

What I have been up to...

Sorry I have been such a slacker about blogging lately...It has been a busy month. The university I attend here in EA has been on a break for the last month, so during that time my friends and I went on a trip to find more out about a people group. It was amazing trip! We got to see a beautiful part of EA and got see how God was working among His people of the earth. Here are some pictures from the trip...

Look Who I Found...

I am not sure how many of you who read my blog know this person, but her name is LeeAnn. Last year, she was over here in East Asia with me. She came back for a week to show other people what East Asia is like. It was so good to see her again and catch up. Hopefully, I will get to see her again soon...

The Birthday Cake

For my birthday, Danielle made me a birthday cake. Danielle is an awesome cook and an awesome birthday cake maker. The picture above is of the birthday cake she made for me. Isn't she so talented?

"Caffeine Amy" is a nickname my friends in Winston-Salem gave to me. When I have too much caffeine or I haven't had caffeine in a while and then have a cup of coffee or Coke, I get real hyper and say funny things. Thanks Danielle. I loved it.

My Fake Birthday

My birthday is on December 29th and I never seem to celebrate it on the day of my birthday. So last year, we started to use the term "fake birthday" when we celebrated someone's birthday not on their actual day. This year my fake birthday was on December 26th. My friends and I went to ride a ferris wheel at a local park. This ferris wheel is no ordinary ferris wheel. It is actually the largest one in our province. It is 264 feet tall and takes about 30 minutes for it to rotate completely one time. Also, it has enclosed compartments that you sit in. While we were in it, we got to see alot of the city, which was really neat. The picture up top is of the ferris wheel and the picture below is of us girls riding in it. It was alot of fun. On the way home, we stopped at McDonald's and had lunch. Then that night, we had my birthday dinner and birthday cake! Which desires it's own post of it's own. I will write that one soon...

A Special Gift

On Christmas morning, my roommate and I received a knock at the door. When we opened the door, our friends, Josh and Danielle, were standing there with two big presents. They came in, we opened the presents and found two of the item above. I was so shocked and excited to have this cherished item! If you can't tell from the picture, it is a framed version of my marathon race number, my medal from the marathon and a picture of Danielle, Grace and me. I never had any idea Danielle was planning on getting this made! It was so great. I love it and will always cherish it! Thanks Danielle and Josh!

Thankful for People in My Life

Here is a picture of some of the things I have received in the last couple of weeks from family and church family people. I am so blessed to have such great people send me things while in East Asia. I got a huge box from my church family a couple of weeks ago full of snacks and food. Then, about a week ago I got a package from my family. There were two boxes packed full of stuff that I love. Thanks everyone! I really feel loved!


Also in one of the packages from my family, my sister sent a book of pictures from our Kamrath family vacation this summer. It was a great surprise! I loved it so much!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas! My Christmas season is going well. I miss being with my family on Christmas, but have enjoyed my time with friends here! The above picture is of my roommate and me and another picture of all the girls here in my neighborhood.

The Art of Cooking

As many of you know, I was not much of a cook back in the States. I had a couple of dishes that were my specialty, but I didn't like cooking that much and I never tried to experiment. Now that I live in East Asia, I love cooking new things and experimenting. As I write this blog, I have "Playgroup Granola Bars" in the oven. Also my Winston-Salem friends would be quite impressed because I can finally make cookies. My friends here call me the designated cookie making person.
This is tunafish casserole...

This is bread I made from scratch..

This is pumpkin ginger bread that turned out quite well...

God-made Candy....

This little fruit is one of the many reasons I love living in this country. I don't think I have ever tasted a fruit that is more sweet than this one. Saying it is like a tangerine doesn't do it justice. It is much sweeter and so much easier to peel. I can sit down and eat about 20 of them at one time. I am not sure why we can't grow these in America, but someone should really look into it.