Praise the Lord!

As a huge answer to prayer, I(Aya) got a job today with the Baptist State Convention! Thanks to my dear friend Carly, who also started there about a month ago, I found out about the available position and just found out today that I got it!

The Lord has been so faithful throughout this whole process, and I've been reminded the whole time that He is the ultimate Provider whether I had a job or not. I have definitely learned so much about truly trusting in God's plans rather than my own, and learning how to really surrender my worries and just pray for my heart's alignment with Christ's. Even though it's been a hard four weeks, it's also been a very sweet time growing in my relationship with Christ.

God has also blessed me with such a kind and loving husband, who has been such an encouragement and huge supporter during my job search. There were a lot of days for me filled with frustration and tears, but John was so encouraging and sweet, and never once made me feel that my joblessness was a burden or annoyance. God has been so gracious!

So, thank you, everyone who has encouraged us and prayed for us. We really appreciate it so much, and I couldn't wait to share the good news with you!

Job Search

Attention all friends, I, Aya McNeill, need a job.

If you know of any or have any tips, please pass them along!
It would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
love, Aya

Wedding Pictures Are Up!

Finally...our photographer has uploaded some pictures of the wedding onto her website!

cknightphotography.com
click "enter"
then click on the "client proofs" tab
you'll see the "Haddock/McNeill" wedding tab
Click and enjoy!

Virginina vacation pt 1

John and I just got back yesterday from a great vacation to Virginia.
We started off on the coast in Norfolk visiting John's friend, Aaron, who
lives there now working with the Navy. It is so beautiful all around that
area. We ventured to Yorktown from there the next morning. Aaron had to be
up early for work, so John and I were in Yorktown by 7am, so we got to
tour around without any other people around. It was so beautiful and peaceful.These are two pictures of the battlefield in Yorktown.
These are two of the only two pictures that John was able to take
before our camera's battery died.

We headed to Williamsburg after that. We checked into our hotel
(thanks to the great coupons we got at the VA border) and then
headed to Colonial WB for the rest of the afternoon. Here are a
few pics of our afternoon there.



We thought this little guy was pretty humorous. Just some kid
walking around in some colonial gettup. Pretty funny.

We went to Water Country USA the next day, but we didn't bring our
camera along for that. We had a blast there! We got there as soon as it
opened, so we beat the lines for each ride until about 11:30. I think we
made a record of going to all the major rides within the 1st hour. It was
great! Oh, and a little tip, if you are planning to go there or Busch Gardens,
go to any Williamsburg McDonald's and they have some sweet coupons for
$$ off the really expensive rates.

That's all for now. I'll post more pics later.

Vacation time!

So...good news to report: John got a job with UNC in Chapel Hill. Praise the Lord! He'll start on August 24th, so before that, we are going to enjoy a week crusin' the road! Right now, our destination is Williamsburg, VA, however we'll see where the road takes us!

This weekend my little sister, Meredith, becomes a new freshman at NC State. Mom and Dad are coming to move her in on Saturday, and John and I are both really excited that she'll be here.
I wanted to post a few pictures of the precious kids that I take care of every week, Jack and Louisa Weinard. I love this family dearly, however I'll be leaving that job in a few weeks since Ashley(their mother) is now working from home(which I'm so glad for them). But, these two kiddos are so precious, and I've loved every minute that I've ever spent with them. So, here are a few glimpses of the cute/funny things that I have had the joy of experiencing for the past year.


Jack playing with his sister's dress up doll


little Lou changing Baby Bo's diaper

they finished swimming in their little pool, and wanted to dry off. so they laid out!

cute little Lousia putting a little Swimmer over her clothes, and only using one leg hole



Well..that's it for now.

The Past 2 months...

It's hard to believe that it's already been two months since John and I got married. These months have been filled with some tough adjustments to marriage, but overall we have seen how good the Lord is to us, and we've seen how much He's grown us and has been changing our new marriage even just within this last month. Praise the Lord!
Our family has been so encouraging and such a blessing to us in so many ways, too. As I write this, John's sweet and lovely mother, Ms. Patrice McNeill, is experimenting in our kitchen making some delicious strawberry/watermelon smoothies. But before that, she made us a delicious dinner and dessert, and we are stuffed to the max! She has been so sweet and loving towards us, and we have been so blessed by her.
Here are a few pictures to summarize a little of what we've been up to lately:

john and aya at the Durham Bulls game July 3rd

The Providence Softball team won the Championship!



The McNeill and Cox families at the Bulls game

Putt putt in raleigh with my sisters!



















Family beach weekend in Nags Head, NC, July 25th. This picture is of us jumping off the slope of the dunes at Jockey's Ridge.


Well, I guess that's about it for right now.
Thanks for reading!
~Aya McNeill

Hello all,If you are getting this email, it is because I have assumed that you are interested in receiving emails about my journey in Uganda. If I was wrong and you could careless, email me and I will take you off thelist. As of right now it is noon here and 5am NC time. It is my second dayin Uganda and I am so grateful to be here. I miss all of you,especially Aya, but I am very thankful that I get the opportunity toserve Uganda. Everywhere the staff goes we get called "Mazungu" whichmeans white person. It is really cute to see the little children stopand yell out "hello Mazungu." We are in the outskirts of town nearKampala so we get to experience village life which is much better thancity life (mainly because of traffic and crowds of people).The food is incredible here. Some things are different in taste anddo not look appealing but they are extremely good. I haven't hadanything out of the ordinary. As far as expenses go, one Americandollar equals 1600 shillings so we make it out pretty cheap for foodand clothing but gas or petrol is much more expensive here. It isabout 6 dollars a gallon and unskilled workers make about 20 Americandollars a week. So keep in mind that we, despite our complaints, haveit very well in the US. There are several gestures that we useeveryday in America but are taken wrongly here.Hopefully these will make you smile:A yawn in Uganda means you are hungry and people will give you food.An eyebrow shrug with the sound "hmm" means yes in Ugandan culture.Pregnant women will not say they are pregnant even when noticeablebecause they don't want their baby to be cursed.If you make eye contact with a woman while talking with them it meansyou are very interested in her.public displays of affection are very vulgar. the only affection youwill see is man to man or woman to woman (like holding hands).Argentines would hate Uganda.opening and closing your hand in a "hello gesture to a kid" means tocome here in Ugandan culture so if you do that in the village, kidswill flock to you.someone who says they had to take a "short call" or a "long call" arereferences to the bathroom. I will send more culture differences when I think of them but that isall for now. Other than that not much has been happening because weare still going through orientation. Carbs and starch are the bigthings you will always eat here which can be rough on the stomach butI like it alright.The bugs are not bad. Compared to Alaska, this place has very fewinsects. I continue to take malaria medicine but bug spray isn'tnecessary.They have warned us that we will get a stomach virus or sickness whilewe are here but that you will get through it. I don't look forward tothat but I still love it here. If yall have any questions email me and I will include it in my next email. I love yall, take care. Nick you are going to love Uganda. I wish I could commit to a semester. John