So Justin is now 26!!! I know people hate it when I say this. But it really does seem like hes ummm “old”. I mean – we met when he was only 21 and I was only 18. So its just weird that hes already 26!! And my brother will be 29 this year. Whew – sorry Robbie.

We didn’t really do much for Justins birthday. I took cookies to our RCF bible study and then cooked Chicken Spaghetti for dinner but other than that….. He was in class all day and then had to study all night of course. So its kind of hard to celebrate when the birthday boy has NO TIME!! 

We went to some new friends house last night. They cooked chicken alfredo. It was very good and I really enjoyed eating someone elses cooking and not having to clean dishes for a night! Actually – in all truthfulness – we haven’t been eating in as much as we should this semester. Since I have been so busy I have been lazy “in the kitchen”. Maybe Ill get back into the cooking mode soon.

Above: Our attempt at watching a movie off the projector.

Above: Justin trying to help the girls figure out how to work the projector.

Above: Some of the spouses at our attempt at "movie night".

Pictures above are of tonight during a “get together” at a friends house to watch Sex and the City. She works at the prep school on campus so she brought home their projector so we could watch it on something besides a 20 inch tv. We got there at 7:00 and snacked on some GOOD food (ever had marinated cheese?) but by 9:30 the movie still wasn’t quite working. So Justin came over and fixed it. (That’s my man!!) Sarah and I went ahead and left since Justin was there with the car and as we were leaving there were termites EVERYWHERE outside her door. And I thought to myself “man Im glad we don’t have termites like that”. And then I came home to the below……

That is not dirt – all of that is termites! I killed them with a green off brand of 409 called “Fabulous”. It killed them instantly. I hope our house doesn’t collapse from all of the termites that are probably outside. Justin said its because of the weather. It literally has been raining non stop here. I haven’t been to the pool since weve been back! And man do my white legs show it!

Above: Us with my parents at a Razorback game - celebrating Justins birthday (i think this was like 3 years ago). But notice my shirt in the above picture and my shirt in the below pictures. How embarrasing.

Above: Sarah served the beans and I served the cinnamon rolls. We look a little sweaty huh?

Above: Brianna, me, and Allison cutting ALL the buns for the RCF cookout! (They come in one piece)

My volleyball team! Billy, me, Sarah, and David

Above: Party at our landlords with all their tenants!
Is anyone else noticing that we need a better camera?

Tomorrow (September 24th) is Justins birthday!!!! He wont be home tomorrow (cause he'll be in class all day) so unfortunately you wont be able to talk to him if you call but please email him at justinvoris@gmail.com and wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! 

Above are pictures of our “activities” that have been going on lately. The RCF (Ross Christian Fellowship) cookout was this past Friday night. We served about 450 people!! It went really well. I was there from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm!! I was so tired but it was so worth it! I had the HONOR to serve Cindee’s homemade cinnamon rolls this year. She makes 400 cinnamon rolls for the cookout every semester! They are so wonderful!! Cindee serves the cinnamon rolls every semester but when I showed up to help she said “Your job tonight will be one that only a couple of people in the last 15 years have gotten”. Im thinking – oh great Im about to do something embarrassing Im sure. Then she said “You GET to serve the cinnamon rolls tonight!!!” This was because she was sick and didn’t want to be coughing on the rolls. So serving the cinnamon rolls entailed getting the cinnamon rolls out, putting them on the cookie sheet, and pouring the icing on them. It was so hard not to eat every one of them. Well – the line was moving so fast  I didn’t really have time to eat them! 

Volleyball Intramurals also started this past weekend. I play on a team with Sarah, her husband David, and Billy – Kelsies husband who just arrived on the island last Thursday. Were not very good but we have LOTS of fun. I actually had a little fall “going for the ball”. I really just fell because I was about to step on the grass and I wanted to stop before stepping on the grass because I had my cute new tennis shoes on. Justin said it looked like I was in a slow motion! We lost our first game. Probably the first of many. But like I said – we had lots of fun!!

Another picture is of our landlord and a big group of people. Our landlords have a “cocktail party” at the beginning of every semester that include all their residents. Its for new students to get to know their neighbors. It was super fun and we met a great new couple who we went out to eat with the next night and they are having us over for dinner Thursday night. 

So don’t forget my precious husband tomorrow on his 26th birthday!!! The past few years the new tradition for his birthday has been to celebrate it at the Razorback game with our friends and family the weekend before or after his birthday. Obviously that’s not the case this year! I think its been harder for me not to be home for his birthday than it has been for him! So above is a picture of us with my parents at a Razorback game on his birthday (see the balloons behind us?).

Above is a video of the creek behind our house. It is usually pretty calm but this is what happens when it rains a ton. And it is the reason our water turns brown.

We have been so busy since we’ve been back!!! The first week was filled with RSO (Ross Spouses Organization) things for the new members. I really like the new class of spouses that have come in. They seem to want to be really involved and are very nice. The Orientation that Sarah and I put on for the new spouses went well and the Social (for all the spouses – new and old) was a HUGE success!! It has been the biggest one since I have been here! Now its time to start planning for the huge spaghetti dinner which Sarah and I are in charge of that will be in mid November. It is for the whole campus so we feed a bunch of students!  I think I am really going to enjoy being on the RSO board this semester.

I also have started to volunteer with the Kindergarten class at the prep school on campus. There are 12 kids and they are FUN! I am doing that on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings. Fridays are there computer days. Can you believe that they start them on computers so early? I don’t remember – but I don’t think I was on a computer at school till like the third grade. 

Friday is the RCF (Ross Christian Fellowship) cookout. It is free so we feed about 500 people. I am cooking chocolate chip cookies for that and we have to start helping at 2:00 on Friday. We also have all the plates, napkins, etc, etc, stored at our house so our place is a mess!! We live in “studio” type house so its not like we have a lot of storage to even store our own stuff! Thankfully it will out be soon.

Justin signed up to be in charge of volleyball intramurals this semester. Well – really I signed him up because I figured it would give me something to do. And it has!!! There have been 22 teams to sign up and it has been crazy trying to figure out how to schedule everyone in just 7 weeks of playing time – and they can only play on Saturdays and Sundays. So late last night I had to have Justin help me. It took us two hours to get everything all organized. Thanks so much for your help JUSTIN!!!

I also have been making flyers like crazy. I love making flyers. It was a huge part of when I worked for my dad and so it brought back some good memories. I made flyers for all the intramural sports (7 sports) and also for the RCF cookout. 

Justin got accepted to be an Anatomy TA!!!! I am SOOOO proud of him! This will take up tons of his time but it will be good for him because it will help him to stay fresh on Anatomy (he doesn’t have the class this semester or next) and will look GREAT on his resume. So please pray that he uses exceptional time management! The Lord doesn’t give us more than we can handle right? That’s what we keep telling ourselves!

The weather here has been weird. Everyone here was complaining that there are no seasons in Dominica. Well – I am learning that Hurricane Season is definitely a huge change in the weather!! It has been so much cooler here and RAINY! Our water has been brown for four days straight now. And today it has been very windy. Everyone is loving it right now because its something different. I was hoping that come Christmas time I was going to be darker than everyone back home but so far it doesn’t look like I will be doing much tanning due to the rainy season! 

I know I promised skiing and wakeboarding videos but I haven’t had time to upload them. They are coming soon though!! Promise!

BEFORE

AFTER

Another thing that happened when we were in Fayetteville was that Justin got his eyebrows waxed!!! He acted like it didn’t hurt but if yall would’ve seen how much hair was on that wax paper then you wouldn’t believe him! Something we found out when we there is that guys waxing there eyebrows is actually a very common thing. 

Another thing that I forgot to mention yesterday was how we got home. We get to the airport 2 hours before – just like always and everything went smoothly. Sarah and David checked in right after we did and when they met us at the gate they informed us that we were the last two people to get on the plane due to weight of everyones luggage. So they were put on the standby list. Luckily – they were put on the cleared list very quickly. Then – were in line to get on the bus to go out to our plane and the announcer lady comes on the speaker and asks if 25 people will volunteer to get off the plane. She said it was due to weather. Which made no sense. Well of course no one volunteered because it was a plane full of students who had to register the next day. So she says – ok! first come first serve!! Luckily we were FIRST in line and Sarah and David were right behind us!! So even though I was freaked out that we were getting on a plane knowing there was bad weather ahead – Justin made me get on. So when we got in the bus with everyone I said – if anyone doesn’t know Jesus Ill pray with you right now. I guess everyone knew Jesus because no one asked to be prayed with. So when I got on the plane I made sure to call my parents in case that was my last time to talk to them. Justin thought I was being dramatic but you never can be too cautious. So were in the air for about 30 minutes and the captain comes on and says – my brakes are overheated so Im going to drop them down to cool them off. And then this really loud sound occurs for awhile. I really was ready to go see Jesus at that point.  

But obviously we got here safely! So thanks for all your prayers!!

Well were back on the good ol island of Dominica. We got back Saturday about 3:00 pm. Heres what our life was like back in the states for a couple of weeks…..

Our night we had to spend in San Juan was awesome!! It was Justins first time back since January so it was fun to see him get so excited about everything. We got dressed up and had dinner at Ruths Chris. Then we went to the casino in our hotel and played the slot machines. We played $3.00 of quarters and won $.50!! Woo Hoo!!

Whenever we got to Little Rock our parents were waiting on us and then we all met my friend Allie for dinner. Then we drove on to Fort Smith and had a great nights sleep in our own bed!!!

Then the doctors appointments started! At our dentists appt – I had two cavities and Justin only had ONE! Ugh! And then at our eye doctors appt Justins eyes got worse and mine had stayed the same.

Tuesday night we went to eat at Does with some of Mom and Dads friends – two couples who we LOVE! It was a good time. Then the next night we had family over for Justins birthday and Dad cooked steak, homemade mashed potatoes, and green beans! His birthday isn’t until the 24th but since we wont be home then we had to celebrate a little early.

Then we headed up to Fayetteville. We ate lunch with his Aunt Jean and cousin Rusty. Then we walked around The Promenade in Rogers. Then we met my friend Savannah for dinner at Noodles.

Friday morning we headed to the LAKE!!!!!!! Both parents were there, Robbie (my brother), and our friends Brad and Erica. Dad cooked two of the nights and it was DELICIOUS! It was the perfect touch to the weekend! Justin taught me, Brad, and Erica how to wakeboard. I got up on the third try! Ive always wanted to learn how because Justin is so good at it. Brad and Erica also tried to learn hot to water ski. Brad was hilarious. I will post those videos later. And of course we also tubed! Mom even tubed with me! She was a little dramatic but it was very fun. She didn’t like the tube we had so she went and bought her own – one a little easier to ride. It was definitely the best time ever at the lake.

Then on to El Dorado!  We got to see the Voris’ new house and it is awesome!!! Its HUGE! We really enjoyed staying there. I cant believe I didn’t get any pictures of the new house! And we got to see Fisher – our other dog. He is doing so great and being so spoiled! We miss him terribly and cant wait to be back in the states so he can live with us again. We also got to see Memaw who is in the rehab part of a nursing home. She is doing really well and is eager to go home!

Justins grandparents got us birthday presents (since this was the first time theyd seen me since mine and Justin wont be there for his). I got a matching necklace and earrings set from Brighton and Justin got some new clippers for his hair!! Which were much needed since hes had the same ones since his freshman year of college! We ate more good food (Mrs Voris fixed a WONDERFUL pot roast and made some homemade ice cream!). And we got to see lots more family and friends! 

That’s it in a very small nutshell!! I will post more later about Justins eyebrows and some videos of the lake!