People continue to surprise and confuse me.

Everyone knows that you never ask a woman if she is pregnant. But why?

Because, in general, women are conscious of the way they look, and being pregnant implies that one is larger than one normally would be otherwise. Therefore, women do not generally want to be identified as pregnant if they are, in fact, not. I believe this is a generally well understood principal of social behavior. It's basically just like saying, "Excuse me, madam, but I do perceive that your waistline has expanded substantially since our last encounter!" This kind of statement is generally perceived by non-preggos as "Wow, I must be fat..."

We all get that, don't we?

So, why, then, do people assume it's okay to tell a pregnant woman that she is "huge?"

Even though most pregnant women recognize the fact that they are larger than they previously were when not in a state of gestation, they are still conscious of the way they look. So, why, then, do some people think it is socially acceptable to ask a pregnant woman if she is having twins, especially when preceded by the statement, "Dude, you are huge!", or some other variant thereof.

In other words, if one more person asks if my wife if she is having twins, I might just punch that person.

Actually what I might do is say, "Dude, just read my blog..."

Cheers!

So I got back from Honduras like 4 months ago. I'd say it's time for an update.

Life is good. God is good.

My job continues to go well. I have learned a lot, but I pick up something new every day.

My incredible wife and I have begun the search for our first house, which has been an interesting experience. When we made the decision to begin the search, I always thought that we wouldn't settle for anything less that the perfect house for us. But after looking at a few houses, I've realized that there are few houses that are "perfect." Each one has its positives and its negatives - features that we love, and features that we just aren't crazy about. But we are still committed to finding the house that we love, rather than just settling for any old house just because it's a house. So, the search goes on.

Other than that, life goes on as usual. But good things are on the horizon. I can just feel it.

Cheers!

I arrived from Honduras last Monday night (the 2nd) at around 7:30 pm. I was relieved to return to my amazing wife, as well as clean, hot, running water, and the English language.

Here are a few highlights of some things we did:

-Baptized three people, a woman and two of her daughters, on the day after I arrived
-Drove a lot
-Had a lot of personal studies
-Met a lot of pentecostals. I was surprised to see that we actually studied with very few catholics.
-Met many brethren that I had not met before (both Honduran and American)
-Ate some Honduran food (which is really good)
-Ate some American food – Wendy’s, Burger King, and Pizza Hut (side note: the Wendy’s and BK were HUGE. Each one had a 2-story tall, INDOOR playplace. And the Pizza Hut pizza was some of the best I’ve ever had)
-Saw cows in the middle of a busy road in a big town
-Bathed in cold water almost every day – something the Hondurans do every day!
-Spoke Spanish a lot (obviously)
-Made some great friends and memories

There’s a whole lot more that happened, too. I was going to outline the trip in detail so that everyone could read about what all we did, but I figured it would probably take a while to write that all out, and, to be honest, I don’t feel like sitting down and writing all of that. If you have a question about the trip, please feel free to post it, and I will try to answer it as soon as I can.

Cheers!

Random thing of the day: Did you know that Dachshunds (aka wiener dogs) are a breed of dog that were bred in Germany to hunt badgers, and that the word “dachshund” is actually a German word that means “badger-dog?”

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Comayagua, Honduras. The keyboard is wierd and I can´t figure it out. But all is well and I don´t have Malaria.

Cheers!

Random thing of the day: Did you know that there is a button on a Spanish keyboard just for the upside down question mark?

¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿

Jess and I had a lovely weekend in Nashville for Valentine's Day. We had the chance to get away from the routine of our busy schedules and just relax in Music City USA for a few days. Back at Christmas, we decided not to get each other gifts so we could spend a little more on other peolple. So, we agreed to do something extra special for Valentine's Day. We got a hotel room and ate at both Chilli's (take-out) and Carraba's, got to see a few old friends as well some some family members, and were generally just lazy. It was really a blessing. But among all of the rest and relaxation there was a particularly funny moment that I have to tell everyone about. I couldn't stop laughing after it happened.

So, Jess and I are lying in bed watching the HUGE flatscreen TV in our hotel room. Jess ended up falling asleep at around 10 or 11 (which didn't surprize me). After she fell asleep, I was free to watch whatever I wanted. So, naturally I turn it to the Discovery Channel and begin to watch Les "Survivorman" Stroud attempt to survive a week in the rain forest. Well I had been watching him for a little over an hour or so, when suddenly Jess, who has been sound asleep and completely motionless, turns over and says to me, "Have you done that yet?"

"What?" I ask, puzzled.

"That," she repeats, pointing to the TV. "That test. Everyone of us has to do it - individually." By this point I realize that she must have been having a dream influenced by the T.V. show that I was watching.

"What are you talking about?" I ask her again, curious to see what she would say next.

This time her response is a little louder and more abrupt. She was obviously more than a little annoyed with my bothersome questions and lack of knowledge about our test that was clearly imminent. "Every one of us! Individually! In a cluster!" she says, adamantly pointing to the T.V. again. Frustrated, she falls back to her pillow.

"A cluster? What do you mean?" I ask, holding back the laughter.

"Ya know what, just FORGET it!" she says angrily. She rolls back over with her back toward me and shortly fell back asleep.

I laughed out loud the rest of the night about it.

Cheers!

Random thing of the day: Did you know that my birthday, December 14th, is also the day of an international celebration called "monkey day?" It is a day which is, according to wikipedia (any person can write whatever they want about any topic, so you know you are only getting the best information), "primarily celebrated with costume parties intended to help draw attention to issues related to simians, including medical research, animal rights, and evolution." Gee, mom and dad, were you trying to tell me something or what?