Successful Decembers

A Successful December usually means (use to be three) two things:

(Past: The last 4 years it was you had to get through the first three weeks of the Winter Quarter! and even in high school you had to get past the mid-term. So this is my first year not to have to worry about this for myself! Hooray!)

1. We make it through Emma's Birthday! My wonderful sister is 19 months and 22 days younger than me, and she is now the big 21! So for 4 months and 7 days we will only appear to be barely one year apart in age until my birthday in April. Something you should know about my sister's birthday (and Christmas) is that she always, always, never fails always knows exactly what she wants. Amazing huh? It makes it ridiculously easy on the rest of us. I love my sis.
*Funny* One of my sister's friend left her one beer in their frig with a note that said, "Happy 21st Emma! I brought you your first beverage. (Don't worry. I'll take care of the other five)"

2. We make it through Christmas! Our family is so funny. In November, my parents just got this really nice new TV because our other one... well let's just say it was dying. They were so proud of their Christmas gift from last year... YES, i just said LAST year. I think they decided to count it for this year too maybe? i don't know. What is even more funny is that the Christmas gift we bought this year for my brother is so that it can have multiple players WHICH really means we bought it so we could play with his Christmas gift too... hahaha.

I have lots of time over this next couple of weeks so I probably will be posting again very soon.
Merry Christmas!

So what did y'all do for Turkey Day?

So... I don't know what y'all all did for Thanksgiving(and yes i just used 'y'all all'), but (after we ate and watched a movie) my family took some pictures(with our photographer Emma and her made self-timer skills) for our Christmas Card. For some of you, one of these will be coming to you soon!












(ps-I felt like Rob Bell with all my ( ). and i don't know if you have ever read anything by Rob Bell, but he is the King of endnotes and parentheses.)

It's already November 7th???

I feel like my time here is flying by! I am almost half way through with my 9 month term. GREAT NEWS though. I hopefully will be going overseas for a couple to three years to learn about another language, live and learn in another culture, and possibly teach some. I am still in the process so be thinking about me.

In the last 3 months:

3 and a half weddings (the half is that I sent a gift and I still have one more in december!)

5 engagements (one more to come!)

one person profess their undying love for me then threaten to 'denounce their undying love for me' (the key word is undying...)

just this week, i have been asked out by three of the young men here... (and yes, i had to turn them down very politely)

4 funerals (one was actual family. My wonderful GG, great-grandma, past away at the beautiful age of 92 leaving behind 1 daughter(my grandma), 9 grandkids(my mom is one of those), 22 great-grandkids, and 5 great-great-grandkids. wow. just wow.)

two homecomings - Tech and McNeese

Traveled to way to many places

readjusted my mindset to only being a couple hours from Baton Rouge and not 5 hours. Seriously... it makes a HUGE difference.

Have fallen in love with the girls on leadership.

Continued my famous friendship with Scuba, Caroline, and Timothy

and

seen my family a lot more than I thought I would which is so wonderfully refreshing. Except Emma because she is way to busy. but if you haven't noticed...
I absolutely LOVE my family.

I have a GREAT job

So I am at my new job for officially two months now, and I am still enjoying it everyday. I never though I would be enjoying my job this much after I had graduated college. I am here until May and after that... not sure yet. I hope you enjoy the picture. I promise my next post will have something incredibly meaningful.

Finally ... Pictures of Malaysia!

So I know a lot of you thought I disappeared... and well, I did. But now I am back! HOORAY! I really will make consistent updates. (Mandy - you are in charge of that!)

I thought ya'll might like to see a slideshow of pictures! It was amazing and I am so grateful for all of the support I received!

Overall:
1. My experience in India and Malaysia are so very different that I do feel right even trying to compare them or to decide which is better.
2. I have an amazing group of friends.
3. I had awesome teammates, Ashley and Leigh Anne. I sometimes felt that if I wasn't there for any other purpose(which of course I was), it would have been to be with these two girls! We are even planning a reunion Oct. 20th! watch out!
4. I do like teaching, but I am sooo very thankful not to be in a classroom this year.
5. God is big God, the one the only true living God.
6. God answers your prayers.
7. God is always there to guide you, never doubt that.

Malay 6 - Link to Pictures

Hey Hey!

Here are some photos! It is from Leigh Anne, my teammate's photo album on Facebook. It takes forever to upload pictures. So this was a little easier.
http://olemiss.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2086761&l=35bb4&id=6501781

I will hopefully get them in a slide show soon on my blogspot. How do you like it- the blogspot i mean??? Also... I am working on getting a couple of video clips in there somehow. I'm not the most technologically savey person but I am trying to learn. It is a little harder when you battery on your camera hasn't worked since week 2 of the trip. Luckily, i have two other team mates who are picture lovers also. Besides, i am in half of them anyways because I am not taking them! So really, it have been perfect!

This is one of my favorite little proverbs: "Many are the plans of the man's heart, but the Lord's purpose will prevail."

This last weekend rained... a lot. Whatever I thought it was going to be like, it was not. It was kinda frustrating, but overall it ended up being good. Sunday is the time we spend at the chrch and with the student. Doug, our amazing (i'm not joking- he is great) supervisor, came to speak at the service. He was really excited to sit and talk with us in person considering that he called us three times over the last two weeks and we missed his phone calls...and forgot to call him back until the third time...

But the point of talking about Doug is that he is totally letting us lead and discover what it is truely like for some people here. We are not on some organized, fast track, frenzy of a schedule that has every minute planed out while we are here. In Fact, it is the exact opposite... We are the first to work at Pay Fong like this and for this long. We decide how to use our time and how not to use our time. I feel like this is more like what I may do if I become a J-man for two years. I have a focus - it is to somehow show the love of my father to these students though using english conversation. Other than the Schedule of English classes, it is up to us. All of that is just to show you what i have discovered about my job assignment for this summer.

So, we have offically 5 days left at Pay Fong School. There is a team of 15 High Schoolers coming to work with the students english conversations. The details on exactly what they are doing are not completely worked out yet. However, I am really excited about them coming because they are the same age as the students and will be able to just relate more to them!!! Plus, there will be some young men from the male students here to be able to associate with.

This Sat. is our last day in Melaka. Then we are meeting up with some other great friends to share some time hanging out and sharing stories before we all go home. Katie L.(my Thailand travel partner) and myself are getting to travel to SINGAPORE for the last few days!!!! It was one of my dreams this summer to travel to three different countries! haha. We will be taking a nice bus there and back. Doug is arranging our night stay there. It is just crazy to see how different and how alike each country is. This will make Country number 7 on my list to travel to.

I ask you to Ptalk about my focus. I have so many plans for the next two months that i am SO EXCITED and really ANXIOUS - a good anxious- to get started. I am just overlly amazed that i could be this excited about what i am doing after college. My Big G Father is just amazing in his faithfulness to provide for me wether it be just out of wanting to see that I am doing something that I enjoy - to - finacially providing for what i need.
Also, Ask that we use our time here wisely - that 'we don't miss an opportunity' (leigh Anne and Ashley-*hint hint* quote wall), that we don't miss any time hanging out with students, that we don't miss time for ourselfs, and that we don't miss any goodbyes!

Thanks you for reading my emails... I can't begin to tell you how encouraging it is when my parents tell me that ya'll are reading and enjoying my email during your fellowship time. Once again...Soooo Encouraging. I love ya'll all.
Catie

Malay 5

I don't usually do this... SOOO ya'll just get excited...

Here is my heart and i am sharing it with you...

"Journal Entry Monday June 16, 2007 Day 21

This morning was a tough one. We- Ashley, Leigh Anne, and myself- were so exhausted. We struggled with wanted to go to the Classes, and we straight up ignored His call for us to Ptalk toget before we left because we were so consumed in ourselves. However, our Father is so amazing. He knew how we were feeling, and I don't think it was an accident or coincidence that we got a really wonderful class that first period. We ended up going to 6 different classes, having 2 different invitations to go out on the town with some students, and a basket full of fruit given to us.
Tonight we made sure we hasd time to sit and talk as a team. We hadn't really had time to stop and serioulsly talk and plan since last week. At night we are so exhausted from the day that we maybe talk and/or py then sleep. So that time together today was so wonderful. It is so amazing how we are all on the same page and are on the same team, same place in Melaka. We have met everyone who is even in Maylaysia traveling this summer on M trips or who are career Ms. The Big G knew how to take my summer in Iowa(3 months from home), last summer in India(2 months from home) and combine it with this summer to create completely different experiences yet totally shaping me in the direction He is taking me in the next few years. I am not sure where, what, and how everything will go (Prolly not how I imagine it ( and I hope it isn't how i imagine or want it)) because G has something so much better, greater, bigger- HUGE! and most of all PERFECT for me. I have to be willing to go and accept it- whatever it is - that is all i have to do. (And that is so hard for me because i don't want to upset, hurt, or confuse my family because i LOVE them SO much!)
BUT
I have to learn to LOVE HIM so much more than i love my parents and everyhting else."

I hope that the email made sense.

Pay Fong

This is the school website!
http://www.payfong.edu.my/

Da Ja How!
(this is a long email but I figured it's okay because ya'll haven't gotten to hear from me in a while! ENJOY!)

That is Chinese for hello everybody! Well we are into our 2nd week, with only 2 more weeks here at the school. Time is really flying by, yet everyday is so full.

and yes. i saw transformers in an asian country. it was pretty awesome!

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper
time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." G 6:9

This past weekend was awesome. On Fri night we got to take part in a small group. The house was amazing and i'll share pictures later, but the coolest thing was just getting to worhip and learn with the group of national believers. Saturday night we had what we called celebrate america day bc we missed the 4th(we sang out national anthem in the car). So naturally we went to mcd's and a movie! :) That morning we spent more time with joyce and at the church getting things ready for the camp. We met some of the youth and they are so fun and so sharp! the camp is going to be awesome! Have i said that yet? Sunday was normal church, hanging out with youth, and more church. The preacher taught from Nehemiah Chapter 1 and about being broken for people and prying for them and caring for them. It was a really great message and reminder. It is always great to be part of an international church. The weekend was so good! Joyce really encouraged us.

I want to thank you for your prys! He is really opening up doors here, and I am prying for wisdom to know when to share. Some days we fill like "What are we going to do with this time???" and then the BIG G man come in a send people are way. We have stayed busy until mostly 10:30 or 11 PM (Mom - these students are in junior high and they stay up until 1 AM!). We have been playing cards, playing badmitton, going to eat, and just hanging out with the students here at Pay Fong. Mon night we were even invited to a service club's party. that was really fun and we got to really talk and hang with the students. The building we had that in was the chinese name for cleansing water. During the speeches they kept talking about being a light in the world and being the difference in the world. I'm like yall are so close!! ugh. Just pry He would fall on this place and do way more than I can ask or imagine.

The students are getting more used to us here, but we still feel like celebrities! The language barrier is extremely hard to get through, even though most of these students know English. I am learning to spend time with and love these students through action and not just words. It is quite a humbling experience. At times I wonder what I am doing here because it doesn't seem like we are doing a whole lot - I change that... We aren't doing a lot of SCHEDULE stuff. But then I think that my ways are not His. He has a plan and we are just a part of it. If anything, He has brought me here to show me that it is not about me or what I can do...but it is all about Him. I am really learning a lot about that...everyday it seems! Being in India last summer and learning that has helped to really reassure myself and the other girls. If you can imagine Catie (yeah me) just really relaxed and extremely calm about like everything (i know that is hard and almost impossible) but really that is me while i have been here. I love it.

Now, for the good stuff! teaching is going well. A typical class time is this: the students have us sit in the front of the room, we introduce ourselves, we tell them funny stories. Then they ask us to sing. That is intersting. all the students are so musical here and so talented! I totally sang the Louisiana Tech Alma Mater!!!!!!!!!! GO TECH! Then the students are able to ask us questions, and we get some interesting ones! this is helping us meet the students and form friendships, and it helps them feel more comfortable around us. the teachers told us they were afraid we would be mean to them, so they were pretty shy at first. the kids though are so similar to american kids. Sometimes we really know He is moving bc the students will continually ask why we are here and do we go to church and then some of them come up to us and tell us they're part of the C familiy! Those times are awesome! We even had one kid ask us to pray for him. That was a cool talk. There is a very interesting teacher here. his name is micheal. this is one of his quotes: "if i were a christian i would sing amazing grace." He's intelligent funny great to be around, but is hard. Pry for him.

In the aftenoons we play cards, volleyball, go into town anything to show love to the students.
The bball team got here Tuesday-It is an American m-team doing clinics throughout Malaysia for 3 weeks. They're great to have around. Also the camp is this weekend and they'll be joining us for that.

This weekend, we are going to go to a church camp with Straits Baptist Church, which is the church where Joyce (our supervisor) works. There are 86 students signed up, when only 30 were expected. So that is totally a blessing! There will be 8 different countries represented at this camp! I am looking foward to the weekend and being able to be open about why we are really here. we're going jungle trekking at the camp. Apparnently, monkeys will come sit on our shoulders. so be looking for a new facebook picture. :) I'll def write more about the camp
next week and all of our adventure in the jungle!

I'm also so thankful for my teammates. It is really great to share this trip with them. I can't say that enough. we pray together about everything. When one of us is down the other picks us up. And our diff strengths are so perfect. We laugh so much and have a blast!

On a kind of sad note, each of us(me, catie and ashley) have heard news from the states of friends who have members of their family that have gone on the be with the L. Our hearts go out to our loved ones and we are prying over here for their families back in the states. Luckily we have been able to contact them on the phone and give encouraging words. I mention that only so that you'll pray for us to not be discouraged, to stay focused, but most importantly to pray for our friends who have lost loved ones.

Pr:
The girls in our dorm...they love to hang out with us and we would like to start some sort of bible study if the door opens. Several of the students here are Christians, so that may be a way to start something.

The teachers here...they are from every background and culture...and you can tell that they are searching. Pr for michael, jennifer, wendy and chai especially. We hope to spend more time with them outside of school. We were also invited into the home of Ms. Wong- head of the English department.

My teammates, Ashley and Leigh Anne...for unity and continued encouragement. Pr for their families too and that we would all be focused here and not focused on our jobs at home.

Pr for the other teams here, some of their assignments have changed and doors have been closed, so we all have to be flexible.

Praises:

We have been able to tell a lot of the students that we are Christians. pr for them to ask questions!

one student Shem, a Christian, asked us to pr for him. he is struggling with temptation. pr that we can follow up with him.

1 john 3:1... what an awesome verse this week.

Well, i'm going to hang out some more! School just got out!

love you all so much!

Catie

ps- It is 2 AM your time when i sent this! (3:30 PM here!)

THAILAND SLIDESHOW

Okay SOOO here is the great slideshow of Thailand. HOWEVER... I have to leave it unfinished because the computer lab is closing. It has taken forever to just get these for your viewing so i really hope you enjoy looking at all of our wonderful adventure. Katie is an amazing traveling companion. I couldn't of asked for a better friend to travel with to Thailand...well at least who was on these side of the world anyways!

Oh and the Katie's parents- Thanks a ton for letting Katie travel with me!!! Enjoy.

Fun times in the BIG M TOWN!

I am such a borrower- Ashley let me borrow some of her email she wrote! THANKS!

We arrived at the school in malacca... you can see what it looks like if you visit their website

http://172.16.100.254/ It is a privite Chinese school with ages 11-18.

That will give you an idea of what it looks like. Ashley, Leigh Anne and I are sharing a dorm room here and we live next to the students that live here. We are going to assist teachers in the classrooms and help give students practice with American English. The teachers are all different nationalities and religions. Today we all got to observe a class. The students are really shy with us, but they seem to be warming up a bit. We feel like movie stars because they always want our "autograph." They get points for talking to us and getting our signature, so we can't get too prideful :). We played cards with some students today. We hope to keep spending one on one time with them. They are super sweet and really like to be around us once they get up the courage. Also, Wendy is the head of the English dept. and we will be spending time with her after school around town. She is really nice. The only student name I remember right now is Nesha. She is an indian girl with great english.

Our daily schedule goes something like this: weird music plays at like 6 am and breakfast is at 7. We start teaching at 8:30 and end around 3 with a few breaks in between. We have down time and are able to hang out with students and have quiet time. Weekends will vary.

Pr that He will lead us and that we won't try to do things on our own. It is easy to be overwhelmed here because there are so many lost students (1000 attend the school). I feel pretty helpless in sharing but I know that He is using this time to make me depend more on Him.

Ashley and Leigh Anne are such a blessing. Pr that we will continue to be a blessing to one another and that we will stay healthy. We keep each other laughing. It was nice to have someone to laugh with.

Pr for the other girls here in Malaysia. I know that they are having some long days and hard days.

This weekend we will stay with Joyce, a lady from Strait Baptist Church here in town. She is super nice and friendly. She will take us around town and keep us entertained! We will get to help out with a youth camp next weekend at the church. This church is pretty well established and the people are very loving. Pr for their outreach efforts in this community full of false gods and mosques.

It is a priviledge to be here. It is neat to see what He is doing overseas.
Love ya'll! I appreciate the pr!

Chiang Mai, Thailand

okay so katie and i just arrived in Thailand...its is about 2 in the afternoon here...and it is sooooo awesome! We arrived at our hotel, porn ping, yeh dont laugh, which is equivalent to like the plaza...but the exchange rate is awesome here...so for four nights we only have to pay about 80 dollars each...its really nice...the bottom fell out as soon as we got to our hotel...we arranged our furniture in our room so we could sit in chairs in look out of our sliding glass window...while it rained...our hotel is a sky rise by the river and it overlooks the whole city of Chiang Mai...our room smells like lavendar incense...well actually everything smells like lavender incense here...but its soothing...well anyway with the rain katie and i had time to plan out our itinerary for the next few days.

We plan to go this afternoon to the handcrafted village...where a bunch of artist make silk scarves, paintings, carvings, silver, etc

Tomorrow--we are meeting one of my friends in the area...we are getting a Thai foot massage...which is something they are known for...its really pretty interesting...they believe that each part of your foot plays a part in your life...so its a real art...Then we are renting mopeds and touring the city..and then we are going to the night market...all the local vendors and artists come out and there is a lot of bargaining going on...should be fun

The next day is what IM SO EXCITED ABOUT....an agency is coming to pick us up...they will bring us to the outskirts of town...where we will be able to saddle up on an elephant...YES AN ELEPHANT...and ride through different villages...then we will go throughout mountains and waterfalls on the elephants...stopping to swim in the waterfalls of course...then we will go on a bamboo raft ride on the river...at the end of the day we will hike through the caves...we will then eat in a village where the locals will do native dances...pretty cool huh? yeh im pumped...and it gets better...all this for the grand price of 24 dollars...yeh its awesome here
WE will return to the hotel around 5 pm...later that night we are going to go to a really famous disco club...thai disco...should be fun?

The third day we are going to catch a bus to outside the city...we are going to hike up a mountain, Doi Suthep(Sacred Mountain)--where will pass the royal family's palace and we will get to tour the gardens depending on if they are there or not...

so yeh...its been cool so far...its nice to kind of play and get used to everything before the work starts...well until next time...!

ps- This is what the language looked like that i just had to navigate through to post this...
ตัวเลือกของบทความ ป้ายกำกับสำหรับบทความนี้:
เช่น สกูตเตอร์, วันหยุด, ฤดูใบไม้ร่วง

Malay 1 June 26

Woo hoo!
Just thought i'd let all you folks know that Katie and myself are officially in KL. It was an extremely long trip to get here, but we had no problems and have our luggage! However, KL is a big city and very modern.
Tomorrow morning, at the bright and early 5:30 AM we will be heading back to the airport to catch our flight to Thailand to meet up with some great friends from last summer! So for the next five days I will be there.

Thanks for your prys for a safe travel.
Catie

Grad Pics

It's Official!

I am officially an Alumni of Louisiana Tech University!!!

Family Picture with myself- the graduate

ALSO...

My brother is officially an alumni of Cedar Creek School!!!

Picture to come soon!

and a slideshow!

I like...

I like talking to people about things that matter- good solid productive conversations.

I like playing any card game- spades, phase ten, skippo, golf, bs... you name it, i like it.

I like hanging out with people until late at night (or early in the morning).

I like teaching one-on-one with student with special needs. (I hate lesson plans)

I like not knowing what is going to happen next...(although i will always tell you that i like to know).

I like to wear my hair curly.

I like to go skiing and tubing ... on water or snow.

I like talking to friends on the phone who live far away.

I like keeping in touch with people.

I like it when a guy can respect the fact that I have rules about calling boys(or just rules in general).

I like trying new things and going to new places.

I like ice cream and chocolate covered strawberries...yummm.

I like dressing up some kinda fancy.

I lovvvveeee to dance ... don't matter what kind, just dance.

I like it when people see the real me and still love me for it.

I LOVE my God and my family(and my neighbors).

Senior Pictures - Photographer. Molly Purvis.

Hey ya'll! Here are some senior pictures to celebrate my graduation coming up! They will be sent out in my annoucements(well just one). Molly did such a wonderful job, and we just had fun with it!

Enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Photography by Molly Purvis
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

It been a long time...

Happy Easter everyone! (haha or just to the very few who ever look at this!)

I'm going to catch you up on some events that have happened this last month!

SERVE'N'SKI- FBC College Dept.
Great people. Great skiing. Great state. Great snow. Great time.

Some great people after dinner downtown Denver.
(Props to the self -timer on the camera!)



















Serving at World Vision. 99,000 square foot warehouse.
Jordy and I bags Corn Soy blend into 5, 10, and 15 lb. bags.















Tubing! crazy amount of people going down a steep hill of snow.











My sis and I on the top of the Mountain at Winter Park.

















The rest of my skiing group!
So much fun.












PHI MU GOLF TOURNEY



Most of the girls!










Two great girls I graduated high school with.

My best friends birthday!














Passing the candle for Phi Mu
- She is engaged!












BCM Crawish Boil - Old and New Council
Old SM Chair
and New President.










AND just a reminder to be praying for my team leaving this summer!







I hope ya'll enjoyed looking at some fun pictures of some great times I've been having my senior year. I only have 4 1/2 more weeks of student teaching and then I graduate! WOO HOO

Oh yeah - AND my BIRTHDAY is THIS MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mardi Gras Marathon, New Orleans

Yes, this is Catie Blunt.... aka official Marathon Runner.

This post is dedicated to the 26.2 miles Catie Blunt completed on February 25, 2007.

Stretching... well i was joking around...6:15 AM

Superdome!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes it is still dark outside!

Look at all the people! (waiting in line for the bathrooms...haha)

Goofing off... it's what Caroline and i do best!

Official poster picture for the official runners!
Caroline and Catie

Mile like 2...

My MOM!!! Supporter number 1-(marathon runner also)

My sister!!!! Supporter #2 (official half-marathoner)

They even had time to stop for coffee and beignets down at the French Quarter!

"Care packet" pit stop
provided by mom and sister

Us stopping lol

People who made the race fun

Bunny

????

HALF WAY!!!!!!!

ummmm Mile.... 21?

YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!! the finish line!!!

Race number and marathon finisher medal!

Shirt that my friend mandy made for me. Blunt... So high she flys!

PIE AUCTION!!!!!!!!

The girls heading off overseas for the month of july!
Catie, Ashley, Katie, Aurelia, and Molly!

We are too cute










PIE AUCTION!
Money raised: $3,100
28 girls(10 pairs and 8 individuals) auctioned off delicious pies to either be: 1. Eating
2. THROWN IN THEIR FACES!!!!!!!!!



My banana cream pie tasted like a banana laffy taffy.




Hitesh bought my pie....

for $200 !!!!















And....

THREW IT IN MY FACE...
AND HAIR...




and i know some of you enjoyed that way to much!
Thanks to everyone who participated!