Opa!

Well we have already had a full day of touristing in Athens. For those unaware I am helping to "chaperone" (don't worry, I'm using the term loosely) a student trip from my university. So far, so good--we only lost one person climbing around the Acropolis today and surprisingly I managed to find them. Gold star for me.

I also got to hang out more with Fylenia the otherday and we had lunch at her local tavern, aka her mom and dad's place. We also got to make tourist history by making me probably the first tourist to ever take a drive through the hills outside of Athens (where we saw snow!) and then we went for a walk to look at houses and window shop in one of Athens' richest and oldest suburbs. Overall, it was 24 hours full of fantastic food and fun with Fylenia!

Some pictures below:

Our breakfast mixture of Greek yogurt, apples, bananas, exotic raisin-y things, honey and tahini. Delicious!

We found a house that was built around a tree

Fylenia's mom with Nida, Fylenia's dog. Also, in true Greek mother style, she insisted that I try a special Clean Monday (aka like "Fat Tuesday") Greek desert. It turned out to be helva, which is the Greek version of the Arab helwa! I was so excited to see helwa that she packaged up the rest of it to send with me to eat this week in the hotel. I'm telling you, this family is awesome. 

Postcards and magnets on Fylenia's fridge

I let the group go ahead into the Acropolis Museum while I chilled on a sunny spot of grass. Unfortunately I got shooed away after about 10 minutes...

Olive trees in front of the museum

Random Athenian buildings

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Parthenon

View of the ancient agora and part of the big city that is Athens

A shot of the Erechtheum

Home

It's always good to be home after you have been gone for a while. There's all the things you have been missing, along with all the things you missed without ever realizing it. It was good to see family, especially my niece and nephew, and it was great to see my church family yesterday. It was good to bask in the sunshine (even if it wasn't 72 like I was hoping for). It was great to go without socks for the first time in 3 months. Nice to walk on carpet.

It was great to drive again, and to laugh with my best friend. And, of course, it was good to eat all the nice things Texas has to offer: a big salad with ranch dressing, fajitas still sizzling on the plate, and the traditional after church lunch of roast with all the fixings (Squash casserole? Fried okra? Oh yes.)

A few other things:

Dr. Pepper

Folgers!

With powdered creamer!

Mmm, and my mom even made homemade biscuits and sausage gravy. 

Needless to say, it is good to be home. Today I am headed out to Abilene to make sure everything is in order for graduation on Saturday. And of course, to take in even more of the things I have been missing!

Nose Job

A quick Emma update! Last week Emma had her first (of probably 10) surgeries. They fixed her cleft lip and her nose, as well as put in a gum and palate appliance. (They said putting in a denture-like gum-thing will help her face from caving in and might actually stimulate teeth to grow on that side of her mouth.)

She looks so different! She was feeling pretty crappy afterwards and the meds made her start throwing up (so much for her weight gain!). The surgeon told Danny and Angie (her parents) that she had an attitude! Angie rightly said, if anyone deserves to have an attitude, she does! It's probably what has kept her alive in the first place!

But even though she was feeling sub par, she still gave me some smiles. She even let me hold her while Angie ate. She wanted my sunglasses and gave us some more of her "attitude." : )

Ha, this kid is great. Anyway, today she is getting her stitches out. They are going to have to put her under again, but hopefully she won't react to the meds again. She gets to wear the splints on her arms (so she won't touch her mouth) for about 3 weeks I think. Prayers for her appreciated!

Happiness

Maybe there has been a bit of a cloud over me this past month. It was brought on, well in part due to the actual clouds that have been hanging around and causing things to bloom that haven't bloomed in years (read: horrible allergies), but also by the stress of weddings and new bosses and classwork and dozens of hours logged on I20. And as of yesterday, a dead battery in a thunderstorm. BUT...

It is lifting. There's a kick in my step for several reasons...

A) I found a really tasty Thai place right by my house in Fort Worth.

B) I finally gave in and bought Train's latest album. I know it's probably lame, but I love Train. And I really love the song "If it's love." It even mentions Spain! It's a bad dance party waiting to happen.

C) I don't have to teach for 3 weeks!

D) I found my gold hoop earrings!

E) I bought my ticket to Turkey today. I leave for Europe in just a few days! (Also, the nice, nice lady at American Airlines got me on a same day flight out of Miami on my return. That means I don't have to overnight there, which means I don't have to/get to couchsurf there, which means my parents, life coach and friends don't have to worry about me being abducted into the slave trade anymore.)

But the biggest reason is this...

My niece Emma is finally HERE!

My nephew's family has been in the adoption process for FOUR years, and finally they were able to bring Emma home from China today! After so much time and so many prayers it was so sweet to see the little lady! It's nice to have another female in the family at last! : )

Meeting Emma at the DFW airport. And, check out that sweet bow that the awesomely thoughtful Krystal Phillips made for her! She plopped it straight on her head and loved it!

The welcoming party at the airport

Tickle time

My nephew got some fancy samurai pajamas!

She has the twinkliest eyes : )