update update update my people.

updaaaate. we have been existing on this planet officially for 24 years. one year shy of a quarter of a century. dang. we are old. here is how we celebrated our birfday!

hey bubby...we are old, huh? let's fight

and here goes that idea.... 

 

  

we love our momma! 

i decided that this year i wanted an ice cream birthday cake! mom called and they had too many for her to choose from, so i got the duty of going and picking out our cake. only to find out that after i'd put it in the freezer, bub went to look at it and the freezer didn't close all the way.... hence... the following pictures. 

disclaimer: it melts!!! 

outcome: crap they weren't lying....

kendall and my reaction to our melted ice cream cake....

i love my petey boy! he's so cute! and camera shy for sure. 

this is my mother. she's probably, nay she IS the greatest lady alive. and it took about 15 pictures for her to keep her eyes open for a picture. maybe it's old age... who knows. haha. (kidding mom)

alright. now that the pics are posted,  i've been home for two weeks and am finding myself overwhelmingly bored. i've probably walked/ran an accumulated 50 miles in the past two weeks. which sounds great... but it's awfully sad when i'm so bored i'd rather walk to 8 miles to hastings than to sit in my house. haha.

however, i've got GAAA-REEAAAT NEWS!!! I HAVE A JOB!!!!! sara and i landed a position at an elementary school in Tongyeong  - it's on the south coast and is absolutely beautiful! it's literally the bottom little tip of south korea! i posted a link so you can check out the beautiful abyss of where i will be existing for the following year. check it out. it looks freakin' beautiful! let me say, though, if i get there and the pictures are false advertisement... imma sue 'em! haha. click the link!

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY SOUTH KOREAN HOME!!!

trust that i will take about 6000 pictures in the first few months i'm there, so you will get to see how beautiful it really is. tongyeong is about 5 hours from seoul and just a ship ride away from china, japan, taiwan, and thailand! it'll be great! since we have the job already, we are just waiting to get back our criminal background check from austin; where it is being apostilled. after we get all of our paperwork, we will send it to our school and that process will take around 10 days. once we hear back from the school, we will go to the houston embassy and do an interview with them and we will get our visa within a week of that. then it's off to south korea we goooooo! 

i've been doing my research on the foods there, and i'm about 84.55612% sure that i'm going to somewhat starve to death. korea is well-known for spicy food... i don't even dare try the salsa at mexican restaurants. so i've decided i'm taking one bag of clothing, and one bag of pure food. i'm still in the investing stage of what to bring, but if you have any ideas, please feel free to share them! ha. right now, though, i'm going to enjoy my american food and sonic happy hour! 

speaking of which, i need to get my daily diet docta peppa on! 

much love from the 'rillo,

kam-dogg. 

homeward bound.

well, well...i am home. 

i had meant to update this when i got home, but having been home i've had just enough time to recuperate and eat american food. first chick-fil-a, then sonic... you can guess the rest. it's been delightful. i thought i'd post up some pictures i took the last day/night out in praha. i actually have a link with some of the pictures i took throughout my time in praha, so feel free to check it out. 

CLICK HERE MY PEOPLE!!

moving forward - here are some last remembrance pics in prague, czech republic.

these old ladies. they were somethin' else. i outwardly said, "oh me y'all are so cute" and the one on the right gave me a hug just b/c i spoke english! i love old people!!

 

i decided to experiment with my camera and put it on manual, so each one of these are adjusted iso and aperture - for you photography geeks. ha.

 

the prague castle at night. BEAUTIFUL!!!! we don't have these sights in the states. ha.

 

night pictures are fun. people are a lot more respondent in pictures when it's evening, than during the day. granted, they probably can't see me... but hey, it works for me! ha. 

now - the following are explorator pictures with movement. i almost got ran over three times by trying to take these... but they were totally worth it! ha. 

 

 

so that was the last night in praha. i had quite a bit of fun. honestly, i could have stayed and taken pictures all evening. i can't get enough of photography. especially when the results are awesome. i just love it. i think since i am home for a few weeks i'll be doing some photo shoots, so let me know if you or someone you know is wanting something done. i.e. senior portraits, engagements, etc. 

on another note, i shall explain why i am home. for those who haven't kept up with my blog (shame, shame, tisk, tisk!), we were, to say the least, caught up in a web of trickery by the school i went to. the certificate we got is good for eastern europe, but not so much for western europe...which is where my beloved italia resides. i think the main guy is in denial that we are calling him out on his bs, as he refuses to address his lies. ha. anyhow, since the options for italia were slimming, we started looking toward asia. at first i was thinking thailand or taiwan, but we decided since we were going to go to asia, we needed to go where we could make the most money...i.e. - south korea. they pay for our flights there and back, all our accommodation, and give us spending money for food. so yes, i will be headed towards south korea here in a few weeks once i get all my visa documents in order. i have everything sent off, so it's just a matter of waiting to hear back from them, and then going for an interview at the korean embassy in houston. (assuming houston is still a city after the whole 'ike' thing. ha.) 

so yeah. that's my plan. korea for a year, save up and pay off loans, and then have a set amount to stand/sit/squat/lean or whathaveyou on until i get another job in italia. this way i can buy some time until i get a job in italia, and be okay with not having a job immediately. sounds like i have it all planned out, but i'm literally just hoping to get these papers done and fly to korea ha. obviously, my plans haven't fallen accordingly, but Jesus is pretty sweet on his end of the fulfillment...so i'm not that disquieted about it all. 

i am happy to be home for a few weeks. it's nice to see my family and friends, (and my animals!!!) and get to re-pack the necessities. basically, i was out of ketchup. haha. though, i am unsure as to how much ketchup i will need in asia. here i come rice! here i come slimfast! haha. so it'll be good. i'm rapidly getting more and more excited about it all. Jesus' time is everything, and i couldn't be happier with the results of just letting him be the pilot. it's nice, actually. 

so that's all i got. nothing inviting or exciting, really. just some last minute pictures and a small update. i will post pictures and stories of these next couple weeks. in the mean time, if you are here in amarillo, please get in contact with me and let's share stories. i have so many to share! praha was an amazing experience... though the people weren't too friendly. if anyone is wanting to listen, i'm definitely wanting to share! 

these last two pics are just for fun on the airport/flight home. 

just say 'no' to parallel moving escalators. 

though i was excited to come home... we didn't get to watch our own movies or be in control of anything. and the stewardists wouldn't leave their station, so i couldn't sneak and get extra goodies. but i did get a sweet red silk eye mask and some free tequila. haha. 

good to be home,

kamiiiii

the dancin' lady and FREE WATER!!!

so. since we have had a lot, and i mean a lot, of down time... yesterday we went exploring and found the dancing lady building. it's quite beautiful. i took a ton of pictures, like always. but if you look, you can actually see the 'man' building gliding the 'woman' building. it's quite beautiful. mmhmm. here dey are. 

 

i love it when he holds me like he does.. la la laaa

and a peak under her skirt. :)

after the dancing lady we made our way to some american food - TGI FRIDAYS! yessss!!! i've been waiting all this time to go there in hopes they would get my favorite meal there (jack daniel sesame chicken strips ---phenomenal!), so we finally went. AND WE HAD FREE WATER!!!! FREE WATER!! did you hear me?? FREE WATER!!! it was a big deal! so i took a picture with our very own pitcher of water... and with my favorite meal!

FREE WATER!!!!WOOO!!!

what a meal! anyhow, afterwards we just walked around and took pictures. i seem to have my camera glued to my face. it's okay, though, i don't mind! these pictures will come in handy when i'm 104 and wanting a reminder of my time in prague.

 

the czech "doggie bags" are quite different than that of the US....

our handy dandy movie theater! 

 

WHEN PIGS FLY.... 

if at first you don't succeed...try using ski poles. haha.

  

the last picture is of a place that tries its darndest to take advantage of wee americans. they tried to rip me off...but i fought back. and the results of my fighting back are as follows: 

coca lite, baby. coca lite with crazy colored shoes.

so yeah, my life is pretty dull as of late. sara and i are going to the embassy tomorrow to discuss our options on whether or not we need to return home. i'm hoping we don't, but chances are likely we might. and i really wouldn't mind coming home for a few weeks - my birfday is comin' up and i'd really like to spend it with my other half! but yeah, please keep us in your prayers when you think of it. our lives are in the palms of the big man upstairs, so i'm not too worried. i'd just like an answer... ha. 

much love from praha,

kam-bizzle. 

i'm still standing!

please watch this video. THIS IS WRITTEN ON MY HEART. 

"when the world is falling out from under me

i'll be found in you, STILL STANDING

when the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees

when time and space are through

I'LL BE FOUND IN YOU."

the lyrics to this song are on the bottom, please read them and listen to the song again. you will walk away changed. i would hope, anyway. 

on another note, first thing is first: here are some pics from these last few days. 

here in the czech republic, we are gangsta. ya feel me dogg?

except for cute old ladies on benches... i wanted to wrap her up and send her home as a gift. what a cutie! 

she was my favorite, though. absolutely adorable. i offered her my seat and she refused it. she told me she would stand as long as her old legs allowed her. 

these next few pictures are of nusle - a suburb of prague. sara and i took a day trip here and this is what i saw. 

1.  2.

 3.

1. taekwondo wtf?? just an every day sign here in prague. 

2. shoulder cats...they're the new thing here.

3. your average porta potty just chillin' in wenceslas square. they go big or go home! 

a street in i.p. pavlova. it's pretty amazing. 

 

the jan and jan memorial outside of the czech museum. 

since it was sara's birthday, we decided to actually accomplish a few things that day. first, we went and tracked down the infamous apple stroodle that samantha brown (the incredibly lucky chick who gets paid to travel and talk about it on the travel channel) suggested. since we have been here, this has been on sara's to-do list. however, funny story i thought i'd share on the way. as we were walking up the hill to get to this delectable treat... out of nowhere i suddenly hear the titanic theme being protruded from a piano. i couldn't figure out where it as coming from for a while, but all i could pay attention to was the sound of the keys on the piano being pounded with such velocity that immediately portrayed the climax of the impending song. ahhh, so glorious!! so i started to (loudly, mind you) sing along and the indulge myself in the usual titanic conversation, "don't let go jack! never let go jack!!"(an oscar nominee performance had anyone been paying attention no doubt). but i just thought that strange. walkin' down a czech neighborhood and we hear the titanic theme being played in a piano studio. how awesome. that song has been stuck in my head for two days now, and because of it, i am trying to watch it on youtube. what a lovely day. okay, here are the pics from the dinner...

me and lenny. the photographers of our class. 

me and saraaaa.

and finally....

 

i guard my coca lites with my life. with them and Jesus, everything is okay. 

alright, so these past few days have been filled with sending a relentless amount of resumes and emails to schools all over. it seems as though we are going to be in one of three predicaments. they are as follows.

1) we have to come home and get our papers for the work visa. i.e. background check, speak with the embassy.

2) we can start work in october, and then go and have a 'pre-vacation' in italy somewhere before we leave. (otherwise, we would just be staying in prague in a hostel... at least if we go to italia, we can see things and it will be cheaper...and a lot more beautiful!!!(at least to me)

3. (and this is the one we are hoping for) we can get work immediately, once we hear back from a few places. it really all depends on the schools requirements of documents we are expected to have. 

so, as you can see, it isn't peaches and cream right now. but, i am a firm believer that things will work out exactly as they are planned. i know that God isn't leaving us out to dry, as he has provided us a place to stay for at least another week. so right now, it is a waiting game. we wait. and we wait. and we cross our fingers and wait. and we pray and cross our fingers and wait. and we wait. 

as far as i am concerned... i am still hopeful. i think that's just how my spirit is. i know things are going to be okay, even if it isn't the first place i wanted to go or having gone as quickly as i'd preferred. but i'm fully aware that we will be where we are meant to be if we are patient and wait on the Lord. and right now, that is all i know to do. so i'm reading his Word, praying, mediating, eating peanut butter sandwiches, sending emails, listening to stellar good music and obnoxiously singing along with it..and smiling.  genuinely smiling. because i know i'm being taken care of. and that is something i'm afraid far few people can comprehend here. so if nothing else, then i will boast in the fact that Jesus has me in his hands and i am able to rest in the promise that his plans for me are better and wider and brighter and more beautiful than i can even comprehend. b/c he's great like that. Jesus, I mean. and i love him. and being here, if nothing else, has brought me into a new understanding of the greatness and vastness of Jesus. that he is big enough to make the latitudes and longitudes stretch across the entire earth... but he's small enough to hold me in my uncertainty here. 

so i leave you with that. that's all i know to say ha. i have been watching reruns of the wonder years, and might i say that whenever we get situated... wherever we get situated... that'd be a great birthday present... (hint, hint). though, if you were to send me anything, it would be another yoda... as the one i brought here was viciously kidnaped and most likely brutally tortured before encountering an unheard of czech death. bless his jedi soul. ha. (if nothing else, i hope you can all see that my imagination hasn't gone, as mom would say, 'hay-wired'!)

love and miss you all,

kamiiii

here i am. double-fisting it on the metro with some coca lites. i tell you, as long as i have them, i am okay. haha. coca lite and JEsus. it gets me through! :) much love from praha!

 if you didn't watch the video above, please do so now. the lyrics are written on my heart. they are ingrained there. here they are. listen to the video and read them. let them soak up into your bones. my prayer is that what i feel about this song you too can feel the same - exactly where you are doing whatever it is you are doing. 

shadowfeet - brooke fraser

walking, stumbling on these shadowfeet

toward home, a land i've never seen

i am changing: less and less asleep

made of different stuff than when i began

and i have sensed it all along

fast approaching is the day

when the world has fallen out from under me

i'll be found in You, still standing

when the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees

when time and space are through

i'll be found in You

there's distraction buzzing in my head

saying in the shadows it's easier to stay

but i've heard rumors of true reality

whispers of a well-lit way

You make all things new

You make all things new

when the world has fallen out from under me

i'll be found in You, still standing

every fear and accusation under my feet

when time and space are through

i'll be found in You.

when time and space are through

i'll be found in You.