NBA Playoffs

It hasn't happened in...well, I don't know how long, but it's been awhile since the Cleveland Cavaliers have been in the playoffs. And now they have finally returned and unfortunately I haven't been able to see a single game since I'm stuck over here in England.

Here's a little picture from last night's game 5 win to put us up 3-2 over the Wizards. LeBron James game winning shot. You don't get much better than that!

I turn 25...3 months early!

One of the joys of being on STINT for the past two years is that I have gotten a fake birthday! What exactly is a fake birthday? Well, for any birthday that falls in the summer and we aren't together as a team we pick a random date and have a surprise birthday celebration for them. Mine was friday, and not only was it mine, but for one day I had a twin as we also celebrated Sarah's fake birthday!

Fake birthday's are almost better than real birthdays because they come as a surprise. I already had a feeling that mine was going to be friday, but it was still a surprise nonetheless. We went out to dinner at Nando's, which is a Portugese chicken restaurant but seems more like an American restaurant than any other place here in Liverpool. Afterwards we had a birthday celebration at the girls house with a few of our friends. Some of the notable atendees included:

1) Steven Gerrard - Liverpool FC Midfielder
2) Shayne Ward - Most recent Ex-Factor winner
3) Pauly Shore - Actor friend of Sarah's who flew over from the States.

Just kidding, none of them were actually there (really?), but it was still a great time had by all. The picture wasn't taken on our fake birthday, but it's actually inside the smallest house in Britain located in Conwy, Wales. Oh the crazy places you go while on STINT.

Spring Holiday

For 2 weeks I lived my life out a suitcase, traveling from here to there. Here is a photo diary of what went on...
Things got started off in Nottingham for the Agape all Staff Conference. Here I am standing strong next to Robin Hood. Wow, what a cheesy picture.

Next it was off to Porto, Portugal with Kevin and K.C. Here we are enjoying the sun on the beach, and...

Enjoying some Port after touring the Calem cellar. We look pretty creepy here.

Next it was off to Salzburg, Austria with Kevin. It was probably one of the prettiest cities I've ever seen.

One day we took the train up to Hallstatt, a little town in the middle of the Alps. You had to take a ferry to get to the town!


Another day we took a tour of Salt Mine that required us to dress up like miners. I got some free salt.


After Austria we went to Dublin, Ireland for a couple days and met up with Nathan from the Salerno STINT team!
After that it was back to Liverpool in order to get ready to start back up again. Needless to say it was quite a crazy two weeks!

Play Ball!

Today is a great day in the lives of all Americans. It's a day when we can officially announce that winter is over and spring has begun. It's a day of hope and excitment and also one when grown men and small child alike call in sick for the day to take part in the festivities. This day is non-other than the start of another year of America's past-time...baseball!!! Unfortunately I won't be able to watch the opening day matchup of my Cleveland Indians against the world champion Chicago White Sox, but I'm already looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning and reviewing the box score (crossing my fingers for a win here). It's hard being a Tribe fan (we haven’t won the World Series since 1948) but you learn a lot about perseverance through it. Each and every spring hopes are high that this might “be the year” and the same can definitely said about this year. We have a young team that won over 90 games last year and is predicted by many publications to make a run at the World Series this year. I leave you with a snapshot of the Indians two top free agent singings from this winter.


Speedster Willie Mays Hayes – “Hits likes Mays, runs likes Hayes.” The fans particularly enjoy his mix of athleticism and attitude that says “I don’t really care what my manager thinks about me.”

Pitcher Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn – Look out ladies, the “Wild Thing” has returned to Cleveland after a short stint with the California Penal League. Look for him to be a contributor if the organization can get him to sell the motorcycle and leather jacket and stick to traveling on the team bus.

More Cowbell

Sorry it has been awhile since I’ve posted folks. I know all of you were growing impatient and struggling through many sleepless nights waiting for my next post. The reason I haven’t posted is because my camera was out of batteries, which was a necessity for this post and taking the picture on the right.

One of the greatest things you can get while on STINT is a care package. I have been blessed to get many care packages from friends and family since coming over here last year. However, nothing could prepare me for the package I received about 2 weeks ago…

It was early in the morning and I had just gotten out of the shower and was getting ready for the final day with the Miami Spring Breakers. All of the sudden the doorbell rang and I bounded down the stairs only to find that the postman was at the door with a package for me. Of course I immediately tore it open and what I found inside might possibly be the greatest t-shirt ever. Not only is it the color of mangos, but it has Will Ferrell playing the cowbell with the saying “More Cowbell” above it. Whoever made this shirt deserves an award. Mr. Dan Pressler also deserves an award for sending it to me. Dan – “It’s Chuck Time Baby!!!”

The Great Snowball Fight of '06

Notice the cute look upon the face of this child here. He's all smiles, has a cute pink hat on, and looks as if he is loving spending a day outside in the snow. Completely innocent, right?

This was my thought as well, but yesterday proved me wrong...

Upon waking up on sunday morning I looked outside to see that once again snow was on the ground in Liverpool. However, this was not just a light dusting, but actually a pretty significant downfall. The streets and sidewalks were covered with snow. We still managed to make it to church on time, even though we had to run for the bus. After the service we were all walking towards the bus stop, when a group of about 8 local kids decided to throw some snow balls at us. Now, we are usually up for a good time so instead of just ignoring the kids like everyone else does, we decided to have a little fun and throw some snow balls back. BAD IDEA!!! It was fun for about 2 minutes and then we decided to move along to the bus stop. Unfortunately our new friends didn't quite get the idea that we were done with the snowball fight and continued to pelt us with snowballs and even smash some on our heads! After that, to use the words of Ron Burgundy, "things escalated quickly!" Before I knew it all of them were on the other side of the street bombing us with snowballs as we continued to fire back with snowballs and slush.

This continued for another 3 or 4 minutes until the bus arrived. Now you might think that the arrival of our bus would end the war, but things continued even as we ran onto the safety of the bus! As each of us piled in the snowballs continued to come in through the front door to the inside of the bus! Of course, nobody else did a thing and didn't try to stop them, and finally the bus closed the door and moved on with all of us safely inside.

Just another memory from a crazy 2 years of living in Liverpool, England.