Rather Sweet

Me and the roomies took a two-day vacation over the July 4th holiday weekend. We loaded up and headed to Fredericksburg, TX. It took us a long six hours to get there... a few stops and a yummy sit down dinner @ Stonewerks in San Antonio.

We settled in our hotel room late Thursday, tried to go swimming (but the pool was disgusting...), and finally just hung out in our hotel room. Friday morning we started early and started shopping around the town. There were a ton of cute, cute shops. My favorites: Henfeathers, Grandma Daisy's and a scrapbooking store.

We stopped for lunch at a place that was recommended to us, and it was DELIGHTFUL. "Rather Sweet" was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Their sandwiches were to die for. Such incredible bread. We felt a little ripped off my our desserts. They all nuts in them which we didn't enjoy and they cost a fortune... so if you ever go, just make sure you know what you are getting and how much it costs. Liz's brownie cost 6 dollars! And my chocolate chip cookie (3$) was very nutty and not very chocolate-chippy :(

After that we headed to the hotel for a quick nap before we embarked on climbing Enchanted Rock. It was hot, and the sun was baring down on us but we did it. The view was great.

Back to the hotel for showers and dressing up for a nice dinner. We went to Pasta Bella (delightful as well... it comes very highly recommended!) At Pasta Bella, Christi found her new husband and that was fun :) I left her number for our waiter just as a joke (because I knew it would drive her crazy...) and he called! Haha!

It was a good trip over all.. I'm glad we went.

For the fourth, David and I hung out with my family (my daddy cooked hamburgers! yum!) and then headed over to his family for some fireworks. I did a Roman Candle for the first time! I'm proud :)

Me and David after the Fourth of July celebrations
About to climb Enchanted Rock :) 
Christi and I at Rather Sweet, about to eat one of the best meals of our lives :) 
Roommates, about to go swimming...
3/4 of us at dinner. 

Urumqi..... where my heart is.

There has been lots of violence on the streets of Urumqi the last few days. Several are dead, several hundreds are hurt. Hundreds of buses, shops, homes, restaurants and more have been burned.

YHWH, this is your city. I have very clearly felt you claim this city. I have never been more convinced of anything ... you are going to do a mighty work in this city. I ask you that you protect the people there... keep the rest of them from harm. Bring peace, reconciliation and restoration between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese.

I pray for Sunny, for Jenny and her family, for Dong, for LiFei. Protect these people. Guard them. Hold them close.

Bring us back there so that we may continue to love and grow with these people. Until then, help us to love them from afar. Remind us to pray for them.
______________________

Check out this link.

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/tension-mounts-in-chinas-xinjiang-region-20090707-dbp9.html

or this one....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/06/china-urumqi-uighur-united-nations

one more....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/07/uighur-china-xinjiang-urumqi

Katie, Dong and I.

Sunny and I.

Li Fei and I. I love her dearly.

Top Ten

So I wrote this over a month ago, and somehow never posted it:

Last Sunday (May 17) marked six months of David and I being "together" "officially." So on Monday night we snuggled up with a blanket and a laptop to write out some of our favorite memories... then we made a top ten list.

Here's just a few of our favorites:

The SMOOTHIE: Last year, BYX was selling smoothies in the MDA as a fundraiser. I was sitting there working on some homework, when a dashingly handsome man came and asked me if I wanted a smoothie. I didn't have any cash on me and so he bought one for me. This stands as one of our first real conversations and encounters. I remember wondering if maybe he liked me because he bought me a smoothie, but I convinced myself he was just being nice. Little did I know....

The UHAUL. Just a few days after David and I started dating, I was starting to walk across campus. I saw him and some of his buddies walking towards my building. But there was this big UHAUL in between us... I saw his feet move around to the back of the UHAUL while he buddies kept coming towards me. When I reached them, I asked where he went but they denied that he was ever with them. I knew better. I walked around to the back of the UHAUL, and there he was :) My David, sitting there, in the back of this UHAUL that wasnt even ours, and he had flowers for me. I joined him, smelled my flowers, and felt overwhelmed that I had this great man loving me. I found out later that he meant to bring them to my desk, but since I accidentally intercepted him on the way, the UHAUL became the impromptu location :)

FIRST DANCE. For David's birthday, I had made him a CD of our favorite songs. One of his songs was "Go the Distance" by Michael Bolton. We were listening to it one time, and I mentioned that I didn't think it was very "danceable." Mr. Ashcraft took that as a challenge I think because he stood me up and swept me off my feet. I learned that the song was very "danceable." It was a great first dance. His hero's welcome is waiting in my arms :)

STUDY DATE. Last fall, David and I were both writing papers on Isaiah. He asked me to meet him and work on them together. And of course, there was very little talk of Isaiah. It was not much of a 'study date' at all. That was an incredible night. We talked for hours and everything and anything. Something that sticks out to me is somehow I got on the topic of American Girl Dolls (we had been talking about our sisters, and this was something my sisters and I did a lot!) He had never heard of them, so I googled them real quick and was going to show them to him. As I was waiting on the website to load, I thought to myself: Ashley - what in the world are you doing? He does not care about American Girl Dolls, and he probably thinks you are crazy for showing him... but then, I looked up at him. And he wasn't looking at me like I was crazy; he was looking at me like he adored me. I knew then and there that this man was special. He was patient, and kind, and for whatever reason, he liked me.

ANNOUCEMENT: Last November, David's birthday was a special day for us. I had written him about what was then just an idea and what is now the impending move to Waco. We had a long converation about it that night, and it was in this conversation that David

asked me to be his girlfriend. David was leaving for the night, and I walked him to the door (all of my roommates were in the living room.) When we got to the door, he smiled at me and asked if he could introduce me as his girlfriend. So we went back into the living room, and he

said to them "I would like to introduce you all to Ashley Hatchet...my girlfriend!" As LMA would say, "a general cry arose" and my roommates freaked out! It was such a fun moment. Here is a pic from that night.