Anniversary Celebration

Tonight Sara and I went out for Tex Mex to celebrate out two year anniversary. We went to a local place called Peter's Tex Mex. I ordered a chocolate peanut butter milkshake that was HUGE. The straw that came with it was HUGE, the biggest I have ever seen. We also ordered nine layer dip, beef burritos, and caramel pecan cheesecake. Talk about YUM YUM!!!





On our way back to the hotel, we passed by Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Here is a night picture of the area.

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday Sara and I celebrated two years of marriage. It's been an exciting and wonderful two years, and now there is a little baby on the way. Happy times. Here's a picture from that awesome day two years ago.

An Interesting 24 Hours

The past 24 hours have been very interesting to say the least. We were suppose to leave Inner Mongolia last night around 5pm to go back to BJ. We had to check out of our hotel at 2:30 so we headed on over to the airport. As we are sitting at our gate, they started delaying flights. They kept saying it was due to weather conditions, but the weather at our airport looked okay so we didn't know if they meant at the airport the flights were coming from. A little before 5, they announce that our flight would be delayed as well. On a side note, public heating is turned off in China on April 15 despite the weather outside, so we are freezing in this airport and that wasn't making things better! A little after 6, another flight to BJ actually starts boarding (before this time there hadn't been a single flight in or out). We were going to try to get on the flight, but knew that was too much out of the box to make happen. Jacob went to talk to someone and had to call a friend to translate and she was told that they didn't know if our flight was going to make it that night. So, we left the boarding area, managed to get our tickets changed, got new boarding passes, found our luggage and got our luggage retagged (and all of these things weren't done at the same counter!!) We get back up to the boarding area to hear that our original flight would be arriving in 30 minutes! At that point it wasn't worth changing our tickets again, but our original flight ended up leaving 30 minutes before ours did! But we finally made it to our hotel a little after 10pm, and luckily a nearby restaurant was still open for dinner!

Today, we were at fellowship. This fellowship is HUGE and has people from almost any country you could imagine! Jacob went to go talk to one of our friends to set up a time to work on his computer AGAIN and a guy stopped him. We have practically been living in our jackets and Jacob had on his FSU pullover. Come to find out, Jacob's new friend the older brother of Drew Weatherford, the quarterback for FSU! What a small world!

Periodically, Chinese English speakers like to stop us to practice their English. Today we were in a book store and two students stopped us wanting to help us pick out post cards. At the end of our conversation, the girl asked if I was pregnant. She was the first stranger to ask, so I guess I'm actually looking pregnant these days!!

Sara at 19 Weeks

My beautiful pregnant wife is showing more and more each day, or at least it seems that way to me. It's hard to imagine that we are at the halfway mark of this pregnancy, and that in 4 1/2 months we will have a new addition to our family. Talk about EXCITING! Here's a picture of Sara taken about 15 minutes ago.

Mongolian Lunch

Sara and I were invited to eat an authentic Mongolian meal for lunch today. Here are some pictures and video of the singers who sang to us at the end of our meal.





If you would like to hear the Mongolian Throat Singer pictured above, then visit this link and check it out. Be aware that it will take a while to load the file.

Sites Around Town

Here is a pictures around the old city area of where we are at. Ten years ago a large part of the city looked like this. These days, much of this has beem torn down and new buildings put up. Our friends here think that in a year or so, nothing of the old city will be left.



Many workers in this city still use a donkey cart to carry their goods or heavy loads around. Here is one used to haul bricks.



Here is a man who was taking a break from hauling coal on his back.

Inner Mongolia

Sara and I have been in Inner Mongolia the last few days. We have been having a great time. For those of you wondering what we have been doing on this trip, here is a picture. Our main reason for the trip is to provide IT Support to some of our friends living around here.



Here is a picture of Sara and I with our friend's dog, Jaxon. Made me miss Socks a little bit.

Dominos Pizza

Back in the states, our favorite pizza was Dominos. Well, we discovered that Dominos has reached Beijing, and had to give it a try. Almost as good as home, so it was worth it!

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is not quite so forbidden anymore. However, photos with the guards are. It just so happens that my lovely bride snapped the picture just in time, heeheehee!

Jacob and Sara Visit Tiananmen Square

Happy Easter! After going to fellowship, Sara and I decided to head over to a few touristy places for the afternoon. We were actually at a few pretty famous places today, so check it out!

Welcome to Beijing

Sara and I have been having a great time so far. Last night we went out and explored a bit, stopping to eat at Outback, yum yum! Today I mostly worked on computers, and then went to Grandma's Kitchen for dinner, followed by beverages in the largest Starbucks I have ever been to.

To China We Go

Howdy! Sara and I head off to Beijing in the morning. Though I have travelled in much of China, this will be both mine and Sara's first visit to Beijing. Posts and pics to come!

Fun On The Beach

Sara and I enjoyed the time we had to relax with our fellow team members. Nothing quite as relaxing as sitting on the beach.

Sara Catches Her First Fish

Even Sara got in on the action. I was so proud of her, and did you notice she was wearing an FSU visor? This tuna was the first fish she has ever caught!

Our Catch

This is the cooler we kept our catch in. This ice checst was fuller until we started eating them for lunch.

My Big Catch

Ever since I was a boy I have loved to fish. Here's my big catch of the day. It looked so good when I caught it that I was tempted to take a bit right then.

My Friend Rick

Here is my friend Rick and I aboard the fun fishing boat. We both caught tuna that day, along with everyone else on the boat, for a total catch of 22 tuna. The guys on the boat gutted 8 of them right there on the boat and friend them up for us. Yum yum!

View From My Chair On The Beach

One of the days we were in Phuket, Sara and I, along with many of our friends, sat on the beach for most of the day. Here was one of the many views I had from my cozy chair.

Lunch In Phuket

I always love the signs I see in Thailand. This one is from a little shack restaraunt found on the beach called Mama Papa Restaurant. Enjoy!