14,000 things to be thankful for

No, I'm not going to write 14,000 things to be thankful for. That was the title of a book I came across this weekend while in a bookstore. It was essentially a list of nice things. I don't remember the list, but I have been thinking about it, and I thought I would make my own list and see how many things I can be thankful for today, or just things I like and would like to be thankful for today. Really, it will end up being a list of stuff I like. This is a change from stuff about me, yet it will still give you insight into me.

1. the smell of the linen closet.
2. new sheet day
3. the snap of the taekwondo pads when you get the kick just right
4. the 'ding' of my oven timer. I just love it. It means the cookies are ready.
5. the sound of rain on the roof
6. the smell of rain. You know the smell. Kind of like wet sidewalks.
7. Big worms on the sidewalk after the rain. It rained this week okay.
8. a well stocked bookshelf.
9. the smell of tomato vines
10. raspberries
11. laundry fresh out of the dryer. I would really like to be thankful for this.
12. a glassy smooth lake with the sunsetting over it.
13. ham
14. pretty shoes
15. stepping on crunchy leaves
16. stepping on that cool ice with the air bubbles underneath
17. marching bands
18. playing in the flour container
19. new notebooks or stationery
20. chocolate
21. blankets to wrap up in when it's a little chilly
22. floor heat. Got to love it.
23. when the trees are starting to get leaves and there's a kind of green haze all over
24. hoar frost
25. the smell of snow when you get up early in the winter to go to Grandma's house.
26. the smell of fresh bread
27. eating fresh bread with butter and cheese
28. sitting around doing nothing with friends
29. nintendo night with slurpees and lots of giggles
30. licorice
31. the northern lights
32. loons on the lake at night
33. hot chocolate at camp
34. wild blueberries
35. stepping on grasshoppers
36. heavy blankets on you feet when you go to sleep
37. waking up to your alarm and then remembering that you don't have to get up so you can just turn it off and go back to sleep
38. flowers
39. bamboo windchimes
40. stained glass windows
41. old church buildings
42. church family
43. singing with everybody
44. potluck
45. small groups
46. sitting around after church and visiting for a long time
47. church in English
48. God's unfathomable love
49. when you can feel God's presence
50. hope

Okay, I think I will stop there. I'm sure I could think of more things to be thankful for, but I will let you continue the list.

He is risen!

Praise the Lord! He is risen! We have so much hope because the tomb is empty. Jesus died so that we could have eternal life. I look forward to that. Eternal life with God will be wonderful. Praising God forever. Wow. Sounds great. I hope it's lots of singing. Singing with other believers always makes me happy, and I'm sure it will be even better when I don't worry about getting a note wrong. I am so thankful that Jesus took my sin so that I can be with God forever. What a wonderful gift. I should be thankful everyday, but sometimes I forget. Today is Easter, so it's easy to remember to thank God for the gift of his son. Easter is my favorite holiday. I always look forward to it. I could try harder to get that Easter feeling everyday. Imagine how cool that would be.
He is risen indeed! (C is for cookie)

A momentous event!

It had to happen some day I suppose. I knew it would. I couldn't put it off forever. Saturday was the day. I bought shoes. Not just any shoes. Shoes with laces. Running shoes. Yes, it's true, I now own sneakers. Isn't it amazing? This is what they look like. They look a little out of place surrounded by all those pretty heels, but that doesn't seem to bother them too much.
I bought them because I had to borrow shoes from a friend when we went hiking, and then so I could go play Ultimate Frisbee. I decided that I could have my own shoes. Yay me!

I think I have procrastinated from my homework for long enough now, but I'm sure I can still think of something else to do. Some of you will probably get an email tonight. I can always think of something to do other than homework.

A mini vacation

The residual happy effects of my vacation are fading, so I thought I would revisit it a little. These are some of my favorite pictures.
This is the beach we went to in Malaysia. I got a very bad sunburn at this beach, but I think it was worth it. We had the whole beach to ourselves for the whole afternoon. I could do that again. With a little more sunscreen. I did have sunscreen, but I wasn't careful enough applying it. My burn looked very funny because you could see exactly where I missed. I was striped.

When I came to my senses I went to sit in the shade. I found shade under this palm tree. That is not something you get to do in Saskatchewan, or Korea for that matter. I got to sit in the shade of a palm tree. I took a picture of the shade. You could see the shape of the leaves. It was cool.

This is another kind of palm tree. I thought it was very pretty. This was in Singapore. Singapore is absolutely beautiful. If you ever get the chance to go, you should. I would go again.

We got to go swimming with dolphins. Another thing you don't get to do in Saskatchewan. They were pink dolphins. After swimming with them we stuck around to watch the show so I got to take some cool pictures.

After the dolphin show and another stint on the beach we headed over to the aquarium. I love this picture. Jellyfish are pretty. We also saw sea dragons and unicorn fish.

This mini vacation was nice. I should do it more often.

Random ramblings

• Well, I was going to revisit my vacation and show you my favourite pictures and try to get back the vacation good mood, but for some reason I can't put pictures on today. I will try again later. For now I will just ramble on and give you some random thoughts. I had mashed potatoes today. It was very exciting. I know, who thinks mashed potatoes are exciting? I do. Last week I was teaching and there was a picture of a family eating dinner and they were eating mashed potatoes and all I could think of was ham with buttery mashed potates and peas. Unfortunately I can't get ham here, but I can get potatoes, so I made mashed potatoes for lunch today. They were really good too. Someone will have to eat ham for me and tell me all about it. I will be very jealous. I promise.
• I called Diane's house today because I knew Joyce would be there so I thought I could talk to Diane and Joyce at the same time. I discovered that there was a baby shower. I got to talk to a lot more people than Joyce and Diane. It was a lot of fun. Xavier even let me talk to Patience. Nancy talked to me for a minute but then the baby started fussing so she either had to give up the baby or the phone. She gave up the phone. I got to talk to Monica then. Nancy did talk to me again later. If I didn't get to talk to you today, hi.
• I have been very lazy today. I haven't really done more than making potatoes. I still haven't washed the dishes from making the potatoes. Or the dished from yesterday for that matter. I'll get to it, but as I said earlier, I hate washing dishes. When Samuel visited last weekend he washed the dishes for me. Wasn't that nice of him? He must like me or something. No, I didn't have dishes from several days sitting in the sink when he got here. I cooked. Real food. It was good too.
• I'm listening to country music right now. Isn't that weird? I even like it. Carrie Underwood. I thought I should broaden my music collection.
• I'm out of random thoughts for now. I will try to post again later this week.

100 things about me. Part 2

So I can't think of anything more interesting to write about, so I will continue talking about myself. I'm interesting. Actually, writing about me is rather educational for me. I'm learning lots about myself.
21) one of my favourite books is As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer. I think I've read it at least 10 times. Everytime I read it I notice something new. I never get tired of reading it and althought I know how it ends I still can't put it down when I get close to the end because I have to keep reading to fnd out what happens next. It's a really good book. If you haven't read it you really should.
22) My favourite book of all times is The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I think I like it so much because I identify with Valancy. I see a lot of myself in her character. Everytime I read it I think that I should start saying exactly what I think and do whatever I want. You may not believe this, but I don't actually say everything I think. Really.
23) I read the Amityville Horror about 15 years ago and it still scares me. I think statues of lions are really creepy because of this book.
24) I like books. I know, shocking. I have a lot of them. I keep buying them even though I know I can't take them all home with me. I'm not sure how I will be able to part with my books here. It will be hard. I'll stop talking about books now.
25) It really bothers me when people point out to me that I got a sunburn. Do you think I didn't notice? Trust me, I know. You don't have to tell me. If I go outside I will get a sunburn, even with sunscreen. Side effect of being a pale red-head.
26) I am really disappointed that Skittles changed the green from lime to green apple. How does green apple go with orange and lemon? Why would I want green apple when I could have lime? I just don't understand.
27) When I was in elementary school I wanted to be an author. I still think I should write a book. I have ideas and one of these days I may get around to writing those ideas down. My life's ambition no longer is to be an author, but I think it would still be fun.
28) I don't like cashews. I think I must be the only person in the world who doesn't like them. I know, it's weird, but I think they kind of taste rotten.
29) One of my biggest fears is looking stupid. I think that's what holds me back a lot. I don't want to do things because I think I won't be good at it and I'll look dumb for trying so it's better to not try. I am getting over this a little, but I worry about it a lot.
30) I love to cook but I don't usually bother to cook for myself. I don't really see the point when I am the only one eating it so I usually end up eating salad or sandwiches. I like to cook when other people are going to eat it. I can't resist showing off.
31) I wish that I hadn't been so shy when I was in high school. I think I would have had way more fun. As it is, I don't have many good memories from school because I was too shy and quiet to actually do anything.
32) I'm really scared of ticks. I still remember the first time I saw one. I don't know how old I was, but I know I was young because I was sleeping in a crib at Grandma Taylor's house in the girls' room. A tick crawled across my pillow and freaked me out. I have been scared of them ever since.
33) I really need to dust. I can see a layer of dust on my bookshelves, but I probably won't get around to dusting for a very long time. Dusting goes with washing dishes as something I really don't like to do.
34) I hate the sound of swallowing. You know when you take a drink and swallow loudly? That sound. I can't even make that sound. I know Joyce can, and Xavier is really good at it. There was a commercial on TV here that had the sound. I drove me creazy.
35) Computers are a mystery to me. I don't know anything about them. When people start in with the computer talk I hear "blah blah blah". I don't understand anything they say. Sometimes it bothers me that I have absolutely no clue about computers, but mostly I just don't care.
36) When I was on vacation I went two whole days without wearing makeup. It was hard, but I managed. I have worn makeup everyday since.
37) I'm finding this very difficult today. I keep thinking of something I could say and then think that no one would care about that. The self-depricating attitude is not very helpful.
38) I love to look at the stars. I like to just sit outside and look. It's very relaxing.
39) I joined taekwondo last summer because Leah nagged me. I'm glad she did because I really like it. I have never been a sporty person, but I think I could be with the right kind of sports. Not basketball.
40) Sometimes I like to take a nap right before bedtime. I like to fall asleep on the couch and then get up and go to bed. I am so my father.

Okay, you can stop wondering. I'll talk.

I know that many of you are curious about my boyfriend, so I thought I would try to satisfy that curiousity. This is my boyfriend. His name is Samuel. I first met him about a year ago when I went to church in Daejeon. We would talk whenever I went to church. I thought he was hot and that he was one of the nicest guys I had ever met. In September he called me and asked me out, but unfortunately someone had to get married so I couldn't go out with him then. After I got back from the wedding we talked more and then he came to visit for my birthday. I went to visit him two weeks later and that was when we officially started dating. Coincidentally, the next day the Riders won the Grey Cup, so it was a good week all around.

Now that you know how it happened, I'll give you some information about him. He is from Tanzania. He is studying social welfare and missions theology at a university in a city near Seoul. Right after we started dating was finals so I didn't see him for three weeks because he is very commited to his studies. Those three weeks sucked, but now that finals are over I get to see him more often. He's 34. Before he came to Korea he was a journalist in Tanzania. he decided that he wanted to help people and thought that social work and missions was a good way to do that, so that is why he is studying now. He has two sisters and three brothers. His older brother and sister are twins. He really likes hip-hop. Now, I am the whitest person I know, and hip-hop and I are rather ill-suited for each other, but I am trying, and it is growing on me. I actually like some of it now. He likes to exercise and read and watch the news. He also likes to go hunting. He shot a lion once. Isn't that cool? He told me on our first date that he loved me. It scared me at the time, but now it isn't scary. I like it. When I asked him if there was anything he wanted me to tell you on this blog, the only thing he said was to make sure I told you that he loves me. So I'm telling you. He loves me. I love you too Sam.

Now I'll tell you what I like about him. I like that he tells me I'm beautiful. When he says it I actually believe it. He makes me feel beautiful. I like how he gets shoes. The first time he came to visit me he saw my shoes and said, "wow Robin, you have a lot of shoes. It's so you can have a different pair for each outfit right?" Most people say something along the lines of "holy crap! You have a lot of shoes!" When I went to visit him we were walking around downtown and everytime we walk by a shoe store he would slow down so I could look at the shoes. I like that he listens when I talk and seems to be interested in what I say. I like that he wants to make the world a better place. I like that he seems to have infinite patience and that he is kind. I like the way he says my name. It sounds really nice with his accent. Not that he uses my name all that much because he calls me Honey, but I like that too.

And I said I was bad at girl talk. I hope this has helped to satisfy some of your curiousity.