Tornados, snow, and Santa--oh my!

As you can tell by the title of this blog entry, last week was anything but boring. We spent several days in Mississippi and had an enjoyable time. The only unpleasant part was taking shelter in my host family's bathroom during a tornado warning....thankfully, the house wasn't hit. However, houses a few miles a way were damaged.

The day of the tornado, it was 70 degrees outside; the weather there was bipolar, because the next day it SNOWED. I woke up, hopped out of bed, and was incredibly excited to see a snowfall. I pulled Maria and Zurufah out of bed and went outside with them. They smiled so big and hardly knew how to react to the fluffy white stuff falling from the sky. Our kids had never seen snow before in their entire life.

On Thursday evening, I went with several host families to take a few of our kids to the Bass Pro Shop (funny story: I went to TWO different Bass Pro Shops last week--one in AL and one in MS. And for a girl like me who is not into hunting/fishing, that was one time too many ;) The visit was worth it, though, because the kids got to meet Santa Claus. They got their pictures taken with him, and they spontaneously sang "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" for Santa who thoroughly enjoyed it. I admit that I am pretending that Santa is real, and the kids are enjoying it. (I'm not exactly LYING---just fudging the truth a bit. ;) The girls' eyes got so wide when they talked to Santa and saw him pull candy from behind their ears. It was priceless. I just hope that we don't run into a Santa Claus that looks a lot different than the one we met last week--like a younger Santa, an Asian Santa, you get the picture...[I don't know how I'd explain that one! Our kids aren't dumb.]

Today I had a most enjoyable day off in Lake Conroe, Texas (near Houston). Eating lunch with the staff at Panera made me so excited, since the last time I ate at Panera was when I lived in Lynchburg this summer. The broccoli cheddar soup and frontega chicken sandwhich hit the spot! Prava, Taylor, Alan, and I saw the movie "Twilight" which was true to the book but was different than I imagined it while reading the story. Nevertheless, it was entertaining and enjoyable.

Tomorrow morning, the kids have three concerts at a church called Lonestar Cowboy Church. I am not lying; that's really the name of it. It's the most unique-looking church I have ever seen in my life. The church buildings and property look like a ranch, complete with a rodeo arena out front (the church holds rodeos/events there.)!! The sanctuary building has a rustic, cabin feel to it...and has a deer-antler chandelier decorating the lobby. I have a feeling I'll be seeing many fancy belt buckles and cowboy boots tomorrow morning! Before I close, here are a few photos for your enjoyment.

[Suresh deciding that pepperoni would taste great with his gingerbread cookie. Gag.]

[How adorable is that puppy dog? Neha, Rose, and I certainly enjoyed the puppy at this host family's home.]

[The girls had a fun time dressing up at a boutique the other week.]

[Enjoying the snow with Zurufah and Maria---it was their first time ever experiencing snow. :) ]