Thanksgiving 2009

Ah, Thanksgiving. Last year I was in Holland over the delightful American Holiday. It was nice to be back at home celebrating in year old traditions. Having just arrived back from being overseas in Singapore and Malaysia I was truly Thankful for my country and family.



My brother Eric eating pumpkin pie in the most relaxed fashion. No fork. No plate. Just in your hand with a little whipped cream on top. Gotta love it.



Straining the juice left in the bottom of the turkey pan to make, "oh so delicious" gravy.


While waiting for dinner to be ready we enjoyed a family game of dominoes. My brother-in-law Joel and my older sister Michelle were able to celebrate with us. They truly added flare to the event. :)


The best part of Thanksgiving was that my younger brother Josh was able to come home and visit from collage. I had not seen him since my sister's wedding in July. It felt so good to have him back at home. He is such an amazing man of God and an example to me in so many ways. I'm truly blessed and thankful to be able to call him my brother.


Sitting around the big dinning room table. We had fourteen of us for dinner. It was awesome. The best part was when we went around the table with each person saying what they were thankful for. I said that I was most thankful for American toilets (grin) and living in a country free of persecution.


For years we've had the tradition of playing nerts (crazy, crazy card game) after Thanksgiving dinner. This was the first Thanksgiving EVER that my dad was home. My dad lost his job earlier this year. It's been bitter sweet. Having him home for Thanksgiving was a sweet part. Anyway, my dad had never been home for the "nerts" part of the day. He informed me that he planned to "whoop me". I won't tell you the scores but sadly, my dad came in last. My brother Justin beat me by at least a hundred. There's always next year. :)

It was a perfectly perfect Thanksgiving.

-Elizabeth

Some random pictures

Before and after the conference we had the chance to wonder around Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore is a crazy, cool and diverse country. You're not allowed to chew gum. Whitney broke the law in Singapore the first day. :) Malaysia was very different. The culture and the food. It was a blessing to explore both.


Kuala Lumpur twin towers. Second tallest buildings in the world. They are pretty spectacular.



While there Mr. Teh (My host dad) celebrated his birthday. We were able to participate in the festivities. We even wrote a song for him! Here's the whole birthday party group.



The Christmas lights and fountains in Singapore were amazing. It was a little weird seeing snowmen and Christmas trees in 80 degree weather. Got a new perspective on how my Floridian friends celebrate Christmas.


While walking downtown Kevin made us stop at this mall to meet my "friend". It was so nice to finally find a woman I could "look up to". This statue was eleven stories high. She was HUGE. I felt short for the first time in my life.


We ate some of the best food ever! Indian, Malayan, Chinese...the list goes on and on. Often trying new foods means being very brave. I try my best. Yes, that is a shrimp head. Yes, it's in my mouth. No, I don't know why.

-Elizabeth

Day Three

I am so sorry day three has taken so long to upload. Between travel and internet issues this is the first night I've been free to do it. Day three of the conference was splendid. The girls really bounded with us and the other team leaders. It was so sad saying goodbye to them.



Vocal warm ups :) The girl's sang BEAUTIFULLY. I've rarely heard something so beautiful. Hopefully I'll post video of it soon.



Small group time.


Mrs. Reed talked to the girls in such a precious way. They all LOVED her.



The last activity we did was write notes of encouragement. Each girl had a piece of paper taped to her back and went around the room writing encouraging words to each other. It was such a joy seeing there faces as the receiving and giving words of encouragement blessed their souls.


A picture of the staff. Michelle, Teressa and Whitney. We could not have done this trip without ALL of us. Each one had their special gifting that the Lord used.




The whole group. I miss them all.

I'll post pictures and videos of our sight seeing adventures soon.

-Elizabeth

Day Two

Day two of COMMIT in Malaysia was amazing. We started the morning off with some really powerful sessions regarding emotional purity and lies. It was great to see the girl's respond in such a positive way.



Michelle did such an amazing job including as many volunteers as she could in her talks. Audience participation made for very precious moments.




Kevin Teh saved us more then once. His family is the one that runs the entire conference. Amidst having a million other things to do he always found time to help with projector and computer malfunctions. We are SO grateful he was with us.




In the afternoon we had a COMMIT first. We took two buses out to the jungle and joined ALERT (the boys program) for the afternoon. It was such fun watching the girls do relay races, obstacle courses and learn how planes fly. Pictured above is Major Farr. His tenderness towards all the young ladies and ability to keep them interested in what he was teaching was an example to me. Here he is holding "Mr. Go-Go" a kitten that took a liking to him. :)




Day two ended in the most hysterical, horrid, growing, funny way. I titled the story "Yellow River". Contemplated doing a blog post on it but the written word just does not seem adequate. However, I promise to tell this story in person when requested.

-Elizabeth

Day One

Day one was truly orchestrated by God. Thank you for the prayers. There were many factors that should have worked but didn't. God blessed us with amazing team leaders that worked with us. In the midst of all the chaos God still reigned supreme. One of the girl's at the end of the day came up to Michelle and said, "This was the BEST day ever!"





Registration started at 8am. Michelle and I worked to assign each girl a team while Whitney and Teresa kept the attendees entertained with games until we were ready to start.




SKITS! The girl's did such a GREAT job bringing to life the stories Whitney had prepared. Many laughs, giggles and smiles were shared.




What do you do when the projector for the movie doesn't work, nap time fails and parents keep bringing their children in and out? Story time! All good stories start with, "This one time my brother....."

I am so excited for day two! We to ride school buses to a local park and play games from lunch until dinner. For the first time ever in my COMMIT history Commander Farr of ALERT will lead the COMMIT girls. This should be highly entertaining. :)

-Elizabeth

Preparations

Life her in Kuala Lumpur is good. Meeting all sixteen of our team leaders went great. They are adorable and have such a heart to help us. Leadership training was a breeze. Teaching the different crafts, activities and games. I am so thankful that God provided such a dynamic group of people for me to work with. Whitney handled skits like she was born doing it. Teresa's energy and enthusiasm for group games had even me participating and Michelle's love for the girls and desire to serve them left me with tears. Truly amazing.





One of the joys of traveling is that you have to prepare in a hotel room. I am doing a painting for an illustration the last day. Whitney thought it was so cool that I just put paper on the floor and started painting. She captured the moment.




I never, ever, ever thought I would pull the "COMMIT" suitcase through the streets of Malaysia. I hope it holds up for the rest of the trip!



We were at dinner and Tosha (One of the girl's on staff) was taking pictures of the group. She caught my priceless reaction to bean paste. I really don't like bean paste. But I think the picture would tell you that.

More pictures of our first official day coming soon!

-Elizabeth

Hotel view at night

Whitney and I are sharing a hotel room. We both let out a scream of exclamation when we pulled back the curtain. Followed by quickly finding a chair, fish eye lens and figuring out how to open the window. Don't worry I held on to Whitney and the window as as leaned out to take the shot. It's going to be a great week.

-Elizabeth