New Email Address

First I want to apologize for not posting much the past week or so. Ariel arrived Friday and I have been spending time with her. I have not really had time, or to be more honest, I have not wanted to sit down and get together a post. I only have a little more than a week left here and I'm trying to enjoy it. I will try my best to get a post up soon though. I know it wont be tomorrow because me, Michawn, and Ariel are going to be gone most of the day, but anyway....the main reason of this post; I got a new email address due to junk mail. If you want to contact me please email me at gillian_hough@hotmail.com.

Happy Birthday to Me

So Saturday was my birthday and it was fantastic. I normally dont celebrate my birthday because most of the time I am gone on some trip during my birthday. The only celebrations are eating out wherever I may be. But Saturday I got to sleep in; my Mom called told Michawn to wake me up but she wouldnt because one of the things I wanted to do was sleep in :-). After I got up and walked into the kitchen for breakfast the kids greeted me with homemade birthday cards and singing (which they did pretty much all day long, they love to sing happy birthday). For breakfast Michawn made one of my favorites....pancakes and Joel got me one of my favorites....pineapple. It was sooo yummy. For supper Michawn cooked me a wonderful dinner: Mexican enchiladas, rice, and beans. She ran out of time to make the desert so I got that yesterday and it was Red Velvet (my favorite cake) cupcakes! It was Michawns first time at making Red Velvet and she was afraid they wouldnt turn out right. They were good but didnt taste like red velvet. They tasted like regular cake that had a red color to it, but the icing was fabulous. It was that wonderful very easy to make cream cheese icing. Thanks Michawn, Joel, and kids for a wonderful Birthday!
When I walked in this is them singing Happy Birthday to me and giving me my cards.


I think I was laughing at Eissa because she was looking at me like what is going on. It was past her nap time and she was not really into it.
I got her to come to me to give me my card and then we went to the couch to look at the cards.
They were telling me all about what they drew in my cards.




Into the kitchen for my breakfast and more Happy Birthday singing.


They were singing Happy Birthday in Portuguese after singing it several times in English.
One plate of my cupcakes.
The yummy Mexican meal.
Grady took this picture.
Hadley took this one.
Just an up close of my plate. Man was it delicious! I ate so much I looked pregnant after eating it. Oh wait I look like that every time I eat ;-).

We're Soldiers

The other night Joel went to church for some special celebration/service for the church's anniversary, I was fixing pizza for the kids (one of my new favorite things to cook), and Michawn was taking a shower/feeding Cass/ putting Cass down for bed. Joel put a movie on for the kids before he left so they would sit and be still until the pizza was ready. Michawn got finished and was on the computer when Eissa walked in with pen all over her face, not long after that Hadley came in and said "We're Soldiers" it was soooo funny and I could not help to laugh but they were told never to write all over each other again. Grady started feeling really sorry during supper and said "I never do it again." So sweet. So here are some pictures of the Ebersole Soldiers and me making the pizza :-).










NOTE: I know some of you are waiting on the hiking pictures....they are coming. There are almost 200 pictures so I am trying to narrow it down and resize all of them to get ready to post them.

WATERMELON TIME!!!!

Its Watermelon season in mine and Michawn's hometown. This week is the Watermelon festival and we are not there to share in the festivities so we broke out some Brazilian watermelon.....its not Saline Watermelon but it was still good.

Saline Watermelon Festival

So this week one of my favorite things is going on and that is the 26th Annual Saline Watermelon Festival; however, I am missing it this year :-(. I have grown up in the Watermelon city of Saline and I love it there. I always hate missing the festival and all the festivities. To everyone in Saline....enjoy the festival and someone take lots of pictures of the girls at the pageant (my favorite part of the festival) and get lots of pictures from the parade on Saturday. Continue to have a fun week and remember me as you enjoy your time. Eat some watermelon for me too because I dont know if I will get any when I get home. They may all be gone but I hope not. Love you all and wish I could be there.

Things I Like About Brazil

These are some things that I like about Brazil and in no particular order.

1. Hanging clothes on the line to dry because we dont have dryers.
2. The chocolate candy (its so much better than a Hershey's candy bar).
3. The weather/ being able to leave the windows open all the time and not have an AC or heater.
4. The tile in and outside of houses and the practical ways of mopping them.
5. The bakeries/ the cheesy bread and coconut stuff.
6. Only having to pay $12 total for your nails and toe nails to be done.(its actually cheaper with the lady that comes to the house and she charges about $7 US dollars)
7. The Seminary campus we live on.
8. The guy in the grocery store walking around with a mic announcing the specials for the day.
9. English music in the stores.
10. Sitting out in the hammock swing thing.
11. Movie nights with Michawn and Joel.
12. Eliane's cooking.
13. The smell of the soap in the public bathrooms.
14. Cooking pizza with Joel (its sooooo yummy).
15. The orphanage kids.

Things I Miss About Home

These are a few things I miss about home and in no particular order.

1. My bath tub.
2. The smell of my laundry detergent.
3. Mexican food.
4. My front yard/lake.
5. Being able to unlock the door from the inside without a key.
6. My Granny's cooking.
7. My Granny's couch.
8. My bed.
9. My XM radio station on my TV satellite.
10. Text messaging my friends when I think about them.
11. Leading worship/singing with a piano.
12. Driving my car.
13. Hot water from the sink/being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet.
14. Gatherings/parties that start before 8 or 9 at night.
15. Playing games with church family/family/friends.