Remembering…

February 4, 2012 by · 2 Comments

I had fun

looking through some random pictures this afternoon while waiting for Maelie to take a nap.

Twenty minutes later: she is still fighting. Forty later…ahhh, quiet. 😉

Anyway…we just booked our hotels for our trip (finally!) and it got me thinking back to some of the crazy trips we’ve taken. So, of course, I had to look at pics!

Here are a few I thought you might enjoy. Yeah, we were younger…we definitely look it!

It’s fun to remember.

This is us at Clifton Beach in Cape Town, South Africa…and it just screams happy. It’ s one of my favorite picture

s of us ever. (I won’t tell you how many tries it took for us to get one that was Christmas card worthy.) :)

We unashamedly went to Bali six times while we lived in Indonesia. Yes, we did. (And you would have, too. Promise. ;)) This was from the trip we took at the end of our first year there. Good memories. :)

Here’s adorable us at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. It was cool…and I was sick. Like, horrendously, running-a-fever-on-Christmas-day-but-still-traipsing-throughout-90 degree-Bangkok sick. In fact, after this, I think we got Subway and went back to the hotel so I could sleep. Alas, it was a fun memory, and I had dreamed of seeing the Grand Palace for years. So cool that it happened.

I know it’s dorky, but I think this is one of the coolest pictures ever. When we were in Kuala Lumpur for our visa run several years ago, we had to see the Petronas Towers. And though we don’t look as cool at night, the towers? Most definitely do. That was fun.

I don’t have a photo of just the two of us, but there’s no way I could leave this trip out. In ’08 we took a long weekend beach trip with some of our closest friends. We crammed eight people into an eight passenger car (plus luggage!), drove six hours one way, sang every song imaginable…and we had the most amazing time. This pic tugs on my heart a little…I doubt we’ll all be together again this side of heaven. But what a memory. (And I had to laugh when I saw this, ’cause I realized that the trip was just a few weeks after I’d broken my foot…and begged our P.A. to let me go to the beach without crutches.

Thus, the taped up foot. Haha. :D)

Oh, the beach, how I love thee…even if I am not wearing makeup and got “slightly” sunburned. 😉

Such fun memories.

Here’s to many, many more…whether we’re travelin’ the globe or around the corner. :)

Thanks for letting me share.

😉

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, friends, Indonesia, remembering, Tobin, travel

A Year

January 24, 2012 by · 6 Comments

Ok, so I literally typed the title of this post, and that’s how long it took for the tears to start streaming down my cheeks.

I have no idea why I’m crying.

No…actually, I think I have a little one.

A year.

A YEAR.

Golly, that’s a long time.

A year ago, I sat down and stared at a blank text box wondering how to start this new adventure. I decided to tell you the basics…why I do what I do.

I really had no idea at the time what barefootmel.com might turn into. Possibly, a place to share my heart on those days when God was speaking loud and clear. Or a place to share pictures of the new things my sweet, then-baby, girl was doing. Or a place to tell my funny culture-reentry stories. Or a place to cry. Or laugh. Or be crazy, adventurous, often-emotional me.

Mel.

Just being me on any given day, in any given mood.

You, my friends, have been such a part of this journey. You make me smile when you comment…and sometimes you make me cry, too. You make my heart happy when you talk about something I wrote.

Well, most of the time…there are always those posts that make us all wonder (myself included) what exactly Mel was thinking.

And then we just laugh, and that’s good, too.

I don’t often talk about how scary it was to move “home” to the States, though I tell plenty of the funny stories.

A year ago, I was still in scared-and-shocked mode. I was still figuring out this how-to-function-in-America thing.

And when I sat down to write that first day, I didn’t know that this would be where I threw all of that out there.

For you to read, offer advice, sometimes laugh (or roll your eyes!), and just be there.

Just the fact that you were here for me this year…means so much.

I think the tears came today, partly because I realized that I no longer have an obligation to my blog every day. I won’t be intentionally finding time every day to write, though I still plan on three times a week.

Or more.

It feels strange, almost sad…like a death. And I honestly don’t know how I’m going to tear myself away from the blog…because eventually there’s going to be a day when I don’t write.

But that’s a good thing…I think.

Words are such a gift…one for which I’m incredibly thankful. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t write…couldn’t share my heart. I can’t always do that when I’m speaking, but when I write, it just works. For me, it works.

But maybe the tears also came today because I have a lot to be thankful for. Including you. Thanks to each of you…for being a friend. For reading. For laughing. For loving me.

It’s been a life-ch

anging year.

And, most likely, I’ll be back tomorrow.

:) Love you all.

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, blessings, remembering, where I am, writing

Hee HEE!

January 5, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

That was the virtual sound of me…letting out a giggle with a high-pitched squeal at the end.

And it really happened… ask my hubby.

😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

And those are a bunch of really big smiley faces.

‘ Cause Tobin and I booked our early-10th-anniversary trip tonight!

I can’ t wai

t to dip my toes in the Mediterranean.

Eat some paella. See how much Spanish is actually still in my bra

in. Explore Morocco. (And shop for bags??? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all know Mel will come home with at least one!) Take a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Can’t wait to make  more memories with my love.

:)

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, marriage, Tobin, travel

12 in 2012

January 1, 2012 by · 3 Comments

Happy New Year, friends!

And, welcome to my version of a bucket list…12 challenges I have for myself to complete during the year 2012.

Some are fun, some are easier than others, and some could kill me. (But…relax. If I die, at least you’ll have my wonderful blog to remember me by.

;))

My goal with thi

s?

Is to LIVE.

To live fully the life He has blessed me with. To be myself…including the crazy…and to stretch myself to limits I didn’t think were possible.

This list is not to be followed in any particular order…just to be completed by December 31, 2012.

We’ll have to see how it goes. I make zero promises. :)

By December 31, 2012, I hope to:

1. Start…and finish…the canvas painting for Maelie’s room.
2. Redecorate our front living room. (The purple needs to go! Soon.)
3. Start an Etsy store so I can sell my jewelry.


4. Take some kind of lessons…guitar, voice, djembe… still deciding, but leaning toward djembe.

:)
5. Complete a marathon.
6. Run a 5k in less than 30 m

inutes.
7. Continue blogging at least three times a week once January 24th has passed.


8. (Re)Learn how to sew and make a bag out of some of my Indonesian batik I still have.
9. Finish the rough draft of my book, Lessons From Indo: On Life, Love, and Squatty Potties, and submit it to at least one publisher.


10. Continue developing discipline in my life by spending time in God’s Word each day…whether two minutes or two hours.


11. Guest write for another blog at least once.

(The Patch doesn’t count. :))
12. Go on an actual vacation with Tobin (and no Mae) to celebrate our 10th.

(This might make me cry…)

Wish me luck!

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, goals, just life, running, where I am, writing

The Best 3-Mile Run EVER

December 20, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Today, I went running.

3 miles.

In the snow.

But not just any snow…the biggest, fluffiest, most amazing snowflakes were falling from the sky.

(And totally hitting me in the face, but that’s ok. :))

This?

Was priceless…though the picture doesn’ t do i

t justice AT ALL.

Sometimes it’s the little things that bring JOY.

:)

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, just life, running

Under My Feet

December 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

So this week I’ ve been crazy-busy with baking cookies.

(And trying not to eat them! ;)) We’re having some neighbors over on Sunday… and wh

at better way to celebrate than with a dozen different kinds of cookies

?

Oh, yeah. (And I’m still forcing myself to work out every day.) :)

This morning I was trying to get a batch of a new kind done…and to preface this, I was kind of making up the recipe as I went.

(Thankfully, they turned out amazing.

;))

But since I was making it up and guessing with a few ingredients, I was also all over the kitchen a hundred times, looking for the right things.

And somewhere in the middle of the gooey, chocolatey creation and the peppermint buttercream…

Are you drooling yet??? 😉

I noticed something.

Everywhere I went, I h ad

a little person under my feet.

I was annoyed. I couldn’t move two feet without her following me…and it began to frustrate me that I couldn’t reason with her and tell her that sitting on the floor near me was just as good.

Eventually she gave me a break and resorted to hanging on to the back of my jeans while I created my fabulous concoction.

It made me impatient, and I caught myself raising my voice at her…

And then I stopped.

Thank You, God, that I have a beautiful little girl who wants to be close to me…

Thank You, God, that she is there…that she is this amazing, wonderful blessing in my life…

Thank You, God, that I am so incredibly blessed…

To have the sweetest little girl in the world constantly under my feet.

Just a blessing I thought I’d share.

What blessed your heart today

?

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, being mommy, blessings, just life, Maelie

All Over the Place

December 4, 2011 by · 3 Comments

Warning: I’m about as scattered as Humpty Dumpty’s poor, shattered, eggshell-of-a-body tonight. So read…or don’t.

Either way, I’ll still love ya.

:)

To preface this, I really don’t watch much TV. Other than the Morning Show occasionally, Blues’ Clues with Mae while she has a morning snack, and sometimes Millionaire in the afternoon so I can feel smart.

So when the ritual Sunday football mania was over tonight…

Insert…deep breath…and a WHEW!

Don’t do that to us, Pack.

Anyway, so when it was over I decided to keep the TV on and watch The Amazing Race.

Which I love, but really, my life has been an amazing race of sorts, and I don’t think the producers would ever let me and Tobin race it for real.

(Because we know too well how to navigate a country without speaking a lick of the language, maybe?! ;)) So I don’t really watch it.

Except I’d heard several weeks ago that they’d been to Indonesia…and to Yogyakarta, one of our favorite Indo cities. This trip to Indonesia was a first for the show, and I’ll admit I’ve been curious. So I pulled the episode up on cbs.com and watched away.

The teams stood in places we did…the Jakarta airport, Gambir train station and the Yogya station, Malioboro Mall.

Things made me smile…like seeing the Bata shoe store and Blue Bird taxis and a motorbike identical to what I drove and black and white painted curbs.

There were words I recognized and beautiful Indonesian faces that looked so familiar…and it was just so smile-worthy. (Though I’ll totally admit that I cracked up hearing the teams botch the pronunciation of Yogyakarta, too.

:)) I think it’s awesome that CBS finally thought Indo was cool enough to send people there.

But in watching all of this…

I didn’t expect the familiar ache.

I’m learning that it will always return whenever those particular strings on my heart are pulled.

I didn’t expect to cry.

I’m learning that it’s ok to cry over something.

I didn’t expect to want to dive for my phone and call Delta to try to use our miles again.

😉

Don’t worry…I didn’t yet. We’ll see. Yeah.

I have no idea why it’s so hard to let go of this place that was our better or worse for five years.

I HATED the snakes…they gave me nightmares. I HATED the horrendous traffic.

I HATED the lack of so many things I deemed “necessary” for happy survival.

And yet, I must have LOVED

…the people, the pretty green everywhere, the way I was loved and accepted, the people, the shopping ;), the motorbike love, the people…

Indonesia wormed its way into the heart of a girl who never thought she could love something so different.

So tonight my heart aches a little and I hurt a little more.

I’ll probably cry a little more tonight.

And tomorrow, I’ll wake up and smile because I remember the LOVE.

Thank God for Indonesia.

And if you want to see a bit of what pulls on my heart, you can find the video here. It’s long but worth the watch…the producers did an amazing job of representing Indonesia. Who wouldn’t want to visi

t? :)

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, Indonesia, remembering

30 Days of Thanks, Day 15: Adventure

November 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

I am truly thankful for adventure…

The kind that makes my heart pump so fast I didn’t know it was possible to beat at that rate. The kind that fills me with terror and thrill at the same time.

The kind that makes my heart ache…and rejoice at the same time.

I’ve talked a lot about my travels on this blog.

Tobin and I are very passionate about seeing the world and not only seeing it but changing it as well.

But I rarely talk about the trip that started it all…the one that made my heart burst with love and bleed with pain.

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Peru with some friends.

I saw it as an adventure…a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a corner of the world I’d probably never have the chance to experience again.

I had no idea that this adventure would be life-changing in so many ways.

I left for Peru early on a Saturday morning with five friends. After a long layover in Dallas, we flew overnight, landing in Lima around 5:00 a.m., just in time to catch an in-country flight to Iquitos, where we were met by several missionaries who drove us to our home for three weeks.

A houseboat.

Yes, you read that right.

We stayed on a two story houseboat during our time there. It was SO cool!

Pardon my immaturity.

:)

We spent the first week in the city of Iquitos, making connections, visiting schools, talking to students, and possibly my favorite…hanging out with streetkids.

Eladio was one of my favorites.

He had a sweet smile that hid the pain in his eyes.

I could tell he wanted nothing more than to just be loved.

I never knew his entire story, I never asked. We just took the chances we had to love him…to buy him extra food when we could and to let him shine our shoes…to the point of ruin. (Really…though it took me years to throw those sandals away.)

Our last two weeks were spent traveling on the Amazon River, visiting villages, sharing songs, stories, leading a week-long VBS, and most importantly…learning to open up and let these people see Jesus.

My heart broke to see such poverty…but rejoiced in knowing that so many of these people knew the Father and that while their earthly possessions were few, they truly had everything they needed.

It was hard to go.

It was hard to see this come to an end, to leave it behind when there was so much left to do. To wonder why I was leaving this place I loved to return to the land of plenty…which I didn’t want.

Eventually some of those feelings have faded into the background, and we’ve been on many adventures since the time I spent in Peru. I’ve seen pieces of the world that make me smile…and pieces that make me cry. Parts that are memorable and parts I’ d like to forget.

That adventure in Peru…led to many more.

And my life motto,

Attitude: The Difference Between Ordeal and Adventure

still rings true.

No matter where Tob in and I go, we choose to f

ind the adventure in it.

Thank you, God, for adventures.

Sig

Filed Under: 30 Days of Thanks, adventures, remembering, travel

Halloweenin’ It

October 31, 2011 by · 4 Comments

We h ad

a really fun Halloween.

It’s a holiday that neither Tobin or I really celebrated growing up, but we always thought the dressing up part would be

fun, and we didn’t want Mae to miss out on that, especially since she’s at such

a cute

age.

:)

So… we dressed her up in her UH-dorable ladybug costume and took her to spread some sunshine to the neighbors.

She’s too young to appreciate the candy, but that didn’t stop her from taking it.

:)

After trick-or-treating, we headed home so Tobin and I could put on the pig costumes some friends graciously loaned to us.

:) Then we met up with our good friends, Jonny and Kris (who totally rocked their cow costumes), and we all headed to Chipotle for $2 burrito night.

I had thought I would need to title this post something like…Friends don’t let friends wear farm animal costumes in public OR The things we’ll do for a $2 burrito…
😉

But I don’t need to do that because it was a really fun night, and not nearly as embarr

assing as I thought it might be.

We just had a really good time.

Although next year, I’ll come up with something a little more creative.

:)

Happy Halloween!

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, friends, just life, Maelie, Tobin

Flashback…Thursday?

October 27, 2011 by · 4 Comments

I was chatting with a friend today and remembered that we had this.

To be honest, it’s kind of embarrassing and yet, at the same time, a wonderful memory.

I am hugely pregnant,  SO not a beautiful pregnant woman at all, AND I talk about sweat running down my nose.

Trust me, if you had been there, you would have had sweat running down your nose, too. 😉

But I love it anyway.

So, ignore the weirdness that we are, and enjoy the beautiful beach and Maelie’s first “trip” to Bali. :)

Sig

Filed Under: adventures, Indonesia, just life, Maelie, travel
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