Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas!

David being David :-)

Check out our Moselle Christmas Celebration!!

Traditional cousin picture.
L-R: Aaron, Jeremy, Bekah, Me, Michael, Kim, Josh, Shannon & Seth!

With the significant others.
Kim & Michelle @ Bekah's ugly sweater party.
Grandma Goldie & Me

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Jesus Camp

We both really like documentaries. We don't watch enough of them, so if any of you readers have suggestions, please tell.

One that we recently watched was Jesus Camp . It was indeed quite interesting, but also very disturbing at the same time. It follows a Pentecostal children's minister as she leads a group of young kids at a summer Bible camp. I'm not sure what the pastor's true heart is, but her methods of teaching her students about Jesus and His love is pretty absurd and quite political. These young children become very confused as they are repeatedly told how sinful they are and that they need to repent. Keep in mind, most of the kids in this documentary are around ten years old. Furthermore, they were told how sinful the government is but that George Bush is pretty much perfect. At one point, the church brings out a cut-out of the President and pray over him. I wonder if they did that for President Clinton. The directors emphasized how powerful the conservative religious right can be. Hopefully, viewers of this movie will understand that not all religious conservatives or Pentecostals are the same.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Weekend Bliss!

Here we are in a winter wonderland!
Michelle & Michael on our walk!

For Thanksgiving we went up the Northern Wisconsin with the Blomgren's and had a great feast (thanks to Karen) and enjoyed each others company!
Last weekend David & I went up North, near Cross Lake, MN with Michael & Michelle.  We had a really great time bonding with them!  We played lots of games, read, talked and ate!  We were snowed in on Saturday and se we snuggled up in the cabin and played more games!
On Sunday when we got home we went to the Wild Hockey game.  We cheered them on with Aaron, Keith & Kristin!
Here are some fun pictures from all the events!
AJ & I at the Wild game!
David & Kristin going "Wild"!
Michelle & I enjoyed each other's company.
David playing in the snow in Wisconsin.
Kelly, Keith, Chuck, Karen & Kristin going for a winter walk!
Radar & me just for fun!

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Environmentally Friendly?

So... you might all think I'm a total weirdo but I'll share anyway! David and I have been talking a lot since this past summer about going green (thanks to Loralee's encouragement!). I've been brainstorming ways to ease into this idea and to do things that really wouldn't make our lives too difficult. Now, I know that's terrible but it's the truth as of now so that's the way it is!

Now, here's the weird thing. I've been thinking about and researching using cloth diapers for whenever it is we end up having kids! It has fun researching diapers :-) What I found were some really great resources on cloth diapers, and let me tell you mature mothers, cloth diapers have come a long way! They now come in fleece and have snaps and you reuse the fleece part and simply wash the insert where the dirty stuff goes!

Today, on my lunch break, I found these awesome diapers! gDiapers are fashionable and environmentally friendly. These also have inserts that you stuff in the liner and once the insert is soiled you can flush it, throw it in the garbage or put it in your garden and it will disintegrate since it's biodegatable! How cool is that? They come in super cute colors and are free from any plastics which is why it's so great. Watch this video for a look at the disintegration process!

What do you think!? Any feedback?

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Narcoleptic Dog

This video clip is really funny but also quite sad. Take a look.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

iMac Fun!


My parents have finally updated their computer! This last weekend the Apple store was having a secret sale, meaning they wouldn't tell anyone what would be on sale. It started at 6am and my parents along with Kim took the dive and bought an iMac! David and I have been thinking of getting a Mac for quite a while but we knew we would have to wait until we could settle down until we were able to purchase one. We are so thankful that my parents decided to get theirs while we are in town so we can all learn on it together! The one they got is HUGE, it's got a 24' screen and it has excellent quality. We have only been playing on it for one day and are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Here's a picture of my mom with it once it was set up on Sunday night :-)

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Baseball Champ!

My parents are home from their yearly Florida trip. Evey year they drive down to Florida so my dad can play a little baseball in the Roy Hobbs Tournament! He's really old but can still prove he is young at heart and just as agile as he was years ago. He plays on a 38 and older team the first week as well as manages the team. The second week he plays for a 48 and older team as the pitcher again. There were some awesome games both weeks. Here are a few of the highlights...

1. Dad pitching the Championship game in week two and winning.
2. Mom went to a beading store and read a lot of books :-)
3. Dad and Mom always try to visit some friends that live in FL and this year it was Joe & Tracy Sprout from CEFC.
4. Dad pitching 2 games in one day with a sum of 18 innings of pitching... in the words of his manager "Randy, MVP Moselle with an 18 inning gem that I'll remember for a long time. How amazing was that?!?!"

I am sure my parents just love getting away and being together.
So they're home and we're glad they are safe! Welcome back guys.

Happy Birthday Karen Blomgren!!! Hope your day is wonderful.


My handsome World Series Winner Dad!

Mom watching Dad's pitching skills. Beautiful right?

The "Moselle Minute" before one of the games in week one!

Wonderful parents that love each other.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

The First Week

What a week! Last weekend David headed to Chicago for one day to attend Noah Zaph's bachelor party and came back to work at the Marriott with me on Sunday! We had fun working a sports banquet where David got to serve Paul Molitor, who by the way says hi dad (they played ball at the U of M together)!

Monday morning David was of course back at Faegre & Benson and I started at Ryder!! I worked for three days in Roseville to help get adjusted to being back, which really only took a few hours and all the information started pouring back! My rental manager was in town which was nice so I could get to know her and be taken out to Granite City (my favorite restaurant right now!) for a welcome back to Ryder lunch! We had a rental meeting for the area and I ordered the dinner for the meeting which is just like the old days. I was in charge of ordering the food for big meetings that went on in IL. Thursday I started working in Rogers and that is where I will work and train in new people. So, I went from not working for about 4 months to working 7 days in a row!!! I am so tired but I am sure I will adjust to life back in the "real" world.

Thanks for anyone who was praying I would finally start working. God is good.

Friday, November 9, 2007

MeMe

We got tagged when we were in Asia!

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/stories about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here are our eight random interesting facts...

#1. We love to travel and combined we've been to over30 countries. David had been to 20 countries and Kelly has been to 13!!!!!
#3. We might be the most frugal people you know. I mean we aren't really really cheap but we both love to save money anytime we can. We both don't like to shop so we avoid that whenever we can.
#4. Neither of us likes chocolate!
#5. One of our goals when we got married was to read a book about marriage every January together to strengthen our relationship (we didn't do that last year!).
#6. Almost everyday we talk about different cars that we want to buy and can see ourselves driving although we probably won't buy a new car for a very long time!
#7. David lost his wedding ring for 2 days and Kelly never noticed!
#8. Kelly gets really irritated when the sheets are bunched up during the night and starts talking about how stupid the sheets are!

We tag Becker, Krolick and Rinn's since we want to know you better!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Staying Connected

We are so blessed to have been able to go to Taylor University and want to continue to embrace the treasures God gave us while we were there! One thing that I, Kelly have been able to do is stay close with some of the girls that I had Bible study with my senior year. This is the third annual get together that we've had. The reunions consist mostly of food, talking and not much sleep in order to do the first two things! We were blessed to have been able to use the Blomgren's home in Rockford while they were out of town. The Lord really blessed our time together and really blessed us through each other! Here are a few pictures of the successful weekend. We sang worship songs and prayed over each other on Saturday night!
(Ashley & Piano)
Here's most of us talking in the kitchen getting dinner ready!
(Kat, Jen, Joy, Karen, MaryBeth)
Watch out for Kat with a knife!
(Ashley, Jen & Kat)

Friday, October 19, 2007

The Call

Well, we finally heard from the Air Force about where we'll be stationed. They gave us 2 choices: Colorado Springs or New Jersey. Well, the choice is obvious. We're moving to COLORADO!!!!!!!!!!! We are extremely excited. We have always wanted to live in Colorado. I'll be working at Schriever Air Force Base as a Judge Advocate. I go to Commissioned Officer's Training in Alabama in January for a month, and then JAG school at the same place for 2 months. Then, in April, we'll move to CO. If you love skiing, hiking, kayaking, etc....come visit!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Gettin' Comfy

We have been delaying our full blown update for when we get the call from the Air Force that will tell us where we will be living. .. but, we have yet to receive one. We have had some restless nights thinking of all the possibilities but we know God is in control of that and we are trying to act in confidence on that belief. I will fill you in on our lives since the trip!

We have been home almost three weeks and it's been so much fun! We are living at my parent's house (the Moselle's) in New Hope, MN in my old bedroom. When we got home we were told that David would not be able to start his officer training until January so... the job search began. We tried to pickup some shifts at the Marriott doing banqueting. I called my peeps at Ryder and had an interview a few days after we returned. David started calling U of I alum and working on getting his resume out to some legal temp agencies and even applying to be a substitute teacher! Thank the Lord we both have found some money making jobs. I will be working at Ryder and am just waiting for the call to say when I can start. I will work in Roseville at a larger location than I did in IL and will still be training new employees and working on the rental counter. David started working at Faegre & Benson Law Firm, the largest firm in Minneapolis. He is basically reading documents all day and he says it's really boring. He was hired to work on this litigation case which takes a lot of manpower to prepare.

My parents are continually improving their home and so we are trying to lend a hand in that area as well. We don't feel like we've been of much help but we try! Today my mom and I put together a new desk for the family room and that took a lot of patience on my part because of those darn bolts they give you!

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

See our lives in MN

Here's David talking law with my uncle Dave at our family birthday party.

I love my parents dog and pretend it's mine! I bring it everywhere I can.

Our first shift as servers at the Marriott!

Kim drove through the night to surprise us for a one day visit... only so short because she had to drive back!!!

My Dad and I the night we got home... after 30 something hours without sleep I still look wide awake!

Monday, October 8, 2007

There's a Lawyer in the Family!!!

David passed the Minnesota Bar Exam, congrats to David!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Home, Sweet Home

After 2 and half days of traveling (including another long night on the benches of the Bangkok airport) and 21 hours in the air, we are back home! We arrived in MN late last night and enjoyed a long, hot shower and a nice long sleep in a bed! We counted the number of flights during our trip - 16! Needless to say, we are grateful for a safe journey throughout our trip. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Local Nepali Buses are NOT Fun!

We have been actually quite busy since we returned from our trek. We've been trying to meet with some friends we know here before we take off. We haven't rested much, but we've had some unique experiences here in the Kathmandu Valley the last few days.

First of all, the after we got back from the trip, we went to Shankar's village, since we had promised we would go there before we left....what a memorable experience. We are glad that we did it, but we would never want to do it again. He and his mom live about 2 hours from Kathmandu by bus, so we met his brother Ram early and went to the bus station. We got on the local bus and were happy to have seats to ourselves. The ride there was incredibly beautiful with the rice paddies and rolling hills the entire way. We kept laughing at all the people that sat on the top of the bus....we wouldn't be laughing for long. Once we got to the village, we had to walk through the rice paddies and woods for about an hour. Shankar and his mom were ecstatic to see us. Their home was very basic, and we stayed there for about an hour. While we were there, we had some Dahl Bat, walked their land, Shankar played the flute, gave me a Nepali hat and held my hand a lot (its customary for men to hold hands here).

After trekking up the hill to catch the bus (and we thought we were done hiking) for more than an hour, we got to the place where the bus picks you up. As the bus came to us, we noticed that it was PACKED full. The only place for us was on top...so up we went! We held on tight with the other 20 people up there as we weaved through the mountains. It was actually quite fun...until it started raining. They told us to come down out of the rain, so we somehow managed to squeeze into the aisle with the other 30 people (literally). There were 6 of us standing in the doorway, 3 of which had their heads sticking out the open door. Needless to say, it was a long and smelly ride. The lady behind me had her head stuck out the window the whole time, puking randomly. We had never been so grateful to get to Kathmandu.

The next day we left for Pokhara. Its a 7 hour bus ride, only this bus is for tourists only. It was also a beautiful ride, but you feel as if you've been beaten up by the time you get there from the crazy driving and bumpy roads. Pokhara was relaxing and enjoyable. We are now back in Kathmandu. Yesterday we had lunch with a friend who is here in Nepal for 3 months with Word Made Flesh. Today we had lunch with a Christian Nepali friend who was an interpreter for our team 6 years ago. It was encouraging to spend some time with him, as his faith is so strong despite the persecution of Christians here.

We have decided to come home a few days early. We changed our tickets and will be leaving tomorrow. We have had such a good time on our adventure. We are definitely ready to come home though. We are looking forward to taking a shower without flip flops on, sleeping without our sleeping bags (you don't get much for $8 a night), and most of all....we are looking forward to not being hassled all the time as we walk down the street. Oh, and I guess we're looking forward to seeing our family, too!

When we get home, we'll post some more pictures and hopefully some videos. Also, we'll continue to use this blog as we move and have more adventures. We'll be home on the 26th...please call! We look forward to hearing from you all.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The amazing views!

The last step!!! Welcome to Lukla, day 11.

Here is David on the way back from Kala Patthar. Check out the bottom of the Khumbu glacier across the bottom of the picture.



Here we are almost done on day 11!!!! Lukla here we come!


Again day 9, Rabi and David on Kala Patthar. Above Rabi is Mt. Everest and above David is Lhotse.

Oh thank God for mountains! The morning view of Lhotse from Kala Patthar, day 9.

Kelly trying to make it to Dingboche while feeling really sick and cold, day 5.

Nepali squatting on the trail! :-) Good view though!

Here is Kelly again in Namche Bazar at our favorite lodge trying to get warm around the yak shit fire! This is on day 3 after our first shower. We only took two!

Here is Kelly standing above Namche Bazar on day 3.

Here we are on day 10 in Pengboche ready to head down and sadly away from this beautiful view. Behind David is Ama Dablam which means Mother Double in Nepali.

Here is a great view of Mt. Everest which is the small looking one peaking out from behind to the left of the center. The tall one on the right is Lhotse.

This is David climbing part of the steep ups on the first day. It was amazing how the Lord kept us strong and able to keep going up through day 12!

One of about 12 bridges crossing back and forth along the Budh Koshi, meaning milk river because of the color. This was also about how cloudy it was for the first six days.

Still day 1, David posing next to the money rocks. These were all along the path for the first three days and then we saw more prayer flags.

Here we are on day 1. Rabi our guide and David ready to board the plane!

Blomgrens: 1; Everest:0

We came. We saw. We conquered. We are back from our trek and we are safe and sore! Wow, what an experience. That was by far the most challenging yet rewarding thing either of us have ever endured. It was part sheer agony, part sheer astonishment. But first of all, I have to say that I have the coolest wife ever! Seriously...this was very hard and Kelly was only doing it because of me. We both got sick from the altitude, and Kelly also had a cold. It was extremely difficult to get out of our cold sleeping bags to hike everyday but Kelly somehow managed to do it, and do it great. She easily outpaced me the entire trek.

We got back 2 days early since we practically ran down the mountains. It took us 9 days to get up, and only 3 to get back (it usually takes 5 but we were looking forward to hot showers too much). We made it to Gorak Shep and did the sunrise trek up Kala Patthar (we only went up halfway since the summit had clouds...plus, our bodies wouldn't let us go up any farther). We actually never made it to Everest Base Camp, for a couple of reasons. 1: There is absolutely nothing to see there. You can't see Everest, there were no exhibitions there, and all we heard that was there were rocks and rubbish. In fact, there isn't even a sign. A Japanese guy we were hiking with tried to go there, thought he was there, but actually wasn't there. 2: Everyone we ran into that went there (only about 1/2 the people that do the trek go) told us not to go. 3: Physically, we couldn't do it the day we were supposed to go. The day we got there, the altitude was getting to me and I could barely walk up the stairs at our lodge. It was about a 4 hour hike there and back, and my head would have exploded if we went. The next day we did Kala Patthar, which is actually higher than Base Camp and then had to come down the mountain because Kelly was going to lose her dinner from the night before if we didn't. Boy did it feel good to go down.

The views we saw were amazing! We saw 4 of the highest mountains in the world, along with some other amazing mountains. We trekked through very diverse terrain and saw some incredible views and met some very interesting people. The weather was okay. The best time to trek is in October/November, so we still had some clouds but had great views nonetheless. However, it was better to go this time of year since it wasn't crowded at all. We are grateful to be back in Kathmandu, though. Some of the things about the trek that weren't so great: horrible blisters on both my feet (David), bruised hips and collar bones from the pack, never finishing a meal since you lose your appetite in the altitude (I finished 2 meals), diarrhea at 17,000 feet in a squaty potty, horrible headaches and stomach aches, getting out of your warm sleeping bag at 7 to put on freezing cold clothes, my smelly feet, having a cold the whole time, a landslide that took out a bride, requiring a reroute with 5 additional hours of hiking, and having your guide say, "If it wasn't cloudy here you could see Everest." Things that we loved: seeing Everest at sunrise, hot water pouches to sleep with, sitting around the yak shit (as the locals call it) fire in the lodge at night, walking silently in beautiful nature, hearing avalanches, meeting people from all over the world, having a funny and knowledgable guide, being able to breathe again coming down, growing closer as a couple through the ups and downs of the trek, and accomplishing something that we are extremely proud of.

Here's a breakdown of where we hiked and how long it took (a total of 59 hours of hiking).
Day 1: flew to Lukla, hiked to Phakding (2610 m) (3hrs)
Day 2: hiked to Namche Bazar (3446 m) (5.5 hours)
Day 3: acclimization day, hiked to Hotel Everest View (3860 m) (3.25 hr)
Day 4: hiked to Phortse (3967 m) (5.5 hours)
Day 5: hiked to Dingboche (4252 m) (6 hours)
Day 6: acclimization day, hiked to Chukung Village (4730 m) (3.75 hours)
Day 7: hiked to Lobuche (4930 m) (5 hours)
Day 8: hiked to Gorak Shep (5180 m) (3 hours)
Day 9: sunrise up Kala Patthar (5545 at summit), hiked back down to Pengboche (3900 m) (9 hours)
Day 10: hiked to Namche Bazar (3446 m) (7.75 hr)
Day 11: hiked to Lukla (2710 m) (7.25)
Day 12: flew back to Kathmandu

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts. We had the experience of a lifetime! We are going to go to Pokhara for 2 days for some much needed R&R. Then, we'll probably take off about a week early to come home.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Everest Here We Come!

We have changed our plans slightly here, and will be taking off for our trek on Friday morning, weather permitting. We should be back on the 21st. We have been busy looking for a new guide, as we didn't really click with the one we had set up. We found a great company and a decent deal. We met our guide today, Robbi, and he seemed really fun and knowledgeable. We are also a lot more confident in ourselves now, especially since our guide just returned from Everest Base Camp with a 67 year old client that made it!

In other news, there was a series of bombings here in Kathmandu the day before we arrived. There has been a lot of peace (at least more peace) here in Nepal for the last couple of years, but they are holding elections here for the first time in November, so the Maoists are trying to scare the voters. Don't worry Mom....we are safe! Let's just hope that we don't run into any Maoists on the trail that find out we're Americans! We covet your prayers during this exciting yet challenging endeavor. Unless we get eaten by a yak, we'll update you all in about 2 weeks.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Namaste

Greetings from Kathmandu! Kelly and I arrived here yesterday and we are so excited and somewhat overwhelmed by being back here. We seriously love the culture and the people here. The loud horns, weird smells, and random animals on the street bring back so many memories. It is really weird to be back here without a group, as we travelled with a group of 50 when we've been here before. Most of our time so far has been trying to figure out our trek, so we haven't been able to see the sights yet. We have, however, run into some old friends. There is this one guy, Shankar, who works in a rug store here that absolutely loves Kelly. He and his brother have written Kelly letters and when Kelly came back her second year here, he was so excited. We saught out to find Shangkar yesterday and instead found his brother who Kelly had never met in peson. He told us that Shankar has been sick and living in his family's village. The brother's name is Ram and he was going to call Shangkar to tell him we are here. He was very sure Shangkar would take the next bus into town! I'm serious when I say this: seeing Kelly will honestly make his year. This brings tears to our eyes!

We will be leaving for our trek sometime this weekend. We will fly to Lukla and land on a small airstrip in the mountains. From there, we will hike for 14 days. Our destination is Kala Pattar(click here for the view from there) and Everest Base Camp. We figure there is about a 65% chance of making it, mostly because of the altitude which will reach 18,500 feet. So pray for our health as we trek! Also pray for Kelly's back, as it has been acting up a little bit. We won't be able to update the blog until after our trek, but we will certainly do so as soon as we get back. We will probably write one more blog before we take off. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Finally, the pictures!!!!

Well, this should be at the bottom since it's in Railay but we loved this amazing tree that was right outside our bungalow.

Here we are at the entrance to the volcano we couldn't hike. See the sad faces!?

The four of us after a really rouch day of golfing the most beautiful course in Jakarta.


David and I with our crappy surf board. Let's just say we both got up at least one time ;-) David on his first try!


The view from inside our room at the Alam Sari. We are so relaxed!


A quick picture before the rain comes pouring down on us during our 2.5hr. bike ride.


I got David sleeping in the Jakarta airport!


Catching the sunset from West Railay Beach. Mmmmmm.


The beach!


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