The coolest thing happened today

So after only 34 hours in the hospital, little Morgan Elizabeth Partlow made her entrance into the world. I am so pumped to be an aunt but something even cooler happened today. I got to experience today the joy of seeing the light in my big brother's eyes as he became a first-time dad. 

What an amazing thing to grow up with this imaginative little boy who made playing G.I.Joes in the gutters of West Texas or turning our bunk beds into a fort complete with a fireman's pole, such an exciting adventure. Life goes by until one day I find myself standing in his wedding, watching as this boy becomes a man and a husband by marrying his very best friend. Before you know it its 7+ years later and I get to see this same man become a father in front of my very eyes, now with a beautiful daughter of his very own.  She is so small but she already has her daddy's spunk and lungs. She put up a fight to come into this world, I think only because Lindsay had kept her so safe and comfortable inside. But she's here now weighing in at 6lbs 6ozs and 18 1/2 inches long. She was born via c-section around 10:45pm on February 21st, 2008. Officially she is 3 weeks early but you wouldn't know to look at her. Great job Lindsay!

Please join me in praising God for this wonderful blessing to the Partlow family and congratulating the happy (and exhausted) new parents. Here's to you big brother and sister. I am so excited for you. Don't forget to call me to baby sit. I have much spoiling to do. I love you guys!

Love, Aunt Heidi (has a nice ring to if I do say so myself)

By the way I am sure they will have lots more pictures of Morgan on their blog as soon as they get a free moment. http://partlows.blogspot.com

I'm gonna be an aunt...but not quite yet

So for all of you keeping up on the progress of my sister-in-law Lindsay, she is doing well but no baby yet. Lindsay is a trooper with the pain but has been laboring all day and isn't moving nearly as fast as they would like, or as I would like really. The baby's heartbeat is strong and doing well. Big Papa Marshall is holding strong too. Everyone please keep praying for them. I hope to post a picture of my beautiful niece soon.

Hong Kong's Special Cuisine

This was served for our lunch two days ago. Pretty exciting. Dan, a guy I work with is like, why do people insist on shaping food to look like the animal is started out as. It is easier to eat if you can’t tell what it used to be. I have to say I agree with this one. Some things, although they don’t taste too bad, to mental image is really hard to get past. For lunch today we had jellyfish and octopus. When I say we, I mean everyone else. I didn’t eat this. I just couldn’t. Apparently it tasted pretty ok, but the look and taste was quite difficult to work out in your head.

Anyway, just to clarify, Hong Kongers (yes that’s what they are called) don’t eat the head. Apparently you can eat the comb but no one really does that. They are bigger on the chicken feet instead. I asked Amy, who is from Hong Kong, if she likes chicken feet and she said not in this sauce (pictured below) but she does in a different sauce. I say, are you kidding me, the sauce makes the difference while chewing on chicken legs and toes. In case any of you are wondering, you don't actually eat the bones. Really you just chew off the skin. As a side note, I have noticed I have used the word "chewy" to best describe some of the things we have had "opportunity" to eat. Use you imagination on that one. Bon Apatite.

The World Through My Window - The Story Behind the Name

Hi everyone - well I am finally getting my own blog. I thought this day would never come as I was waiting to have a free minute to get it started. Well now I am in Hong Kong with nothing but time. Yeah right.

Anyway, I have started this blog especially to be able to let you all know how I am doing on my travels abroad. As most of you know I work for Compassion International which is a Christian child development organization helping children in poverty all over the world. It is an awesome organization so if you haven't heard of it check out the link on this page. I am privileged enough to be able to travel for Compassion with my job. As I mentioned I am currently in Hong Kong for a training of our Asia staff.

So what's with the name? Well the places I travel are generally not ones you can just walk around anywhere you want. Additionally there are many times that the only way you are seeing the country is when you are inside some mode of transportation that almost always have windows. These two things being the case, most of my pictures are taken through a window pane. I have gotten to see many very cool things but there is this pane of glass between me and the world. So I thought, if I ever wanted to make a coffee table book, I would call it The World Through My Window. Since that is probably not going to happen I thought a blog would be the next best thing.

So there you have it in a nut shell. I hope you all enjoy my blog. I will be posting some of my older trip pictures a little later (aka when I get home where they all are) so you can see some of the things I have, through a window of course. I hope to post a few things about Hong Kong and Colombia (where I will be on Saturday) so you can see these two cool cities and meet some great people. Until then, thanks for visiting and come back soon.

Blessings,
Heidi