Happy Birthday to My Sweetheart!

A very happy 27th birthday to my dear husband! His birthday was Sunday, and we spent all weekend celebrating! We enjoyed a fun and wonderful date night on Friday with birthday dinner provided by his mom (Thanks, JoBeth!) and movie provided by my sis and her husband (Thanks, Matt & Jess!). We ate at a Waco institution called El Siete Mares, a Mexican seafood restaurant. Justin seriously had 8 different kinds of seafood on his plate, including oyster, shrimp, crawfish, squid, mussels, scallops, and octopus. GAG! He enjoyed it, though. I had the much tamer Pecan-Crusted Rainbow Trout. YUM!! I've never had fish like this before - it was delicious. Then we saw The Pursuit of Happyness, the new Will Smith movie. SOOOO GOOOD!!!! It comes highly recommended by me - bring your tissues. The chemistry that Will Smith has with his son onscreen is really moving.

Then Saturday we had an at-home celebration. UK men's basketball was playing at Louisville, Justin's most hated rival, and thankfully the game was on one of the 5 channels we get at home! So I made some homemade whole wheat pizzas, and we totally chowed down as we enjoyed watching the Wildcats crush the Cardinals. Then for dinner, I made him a pumpkin cheesecake, and that's all we had - we were still full from the pizza!

Sunday evening was our church LifeGroup's Christmas party, and we had a Mexican Stack-Up and a white elephant gift exchange. Fun times were had by all. I also gave Justin his birthday present, which is a pretty funny story. Since I don't have much to do at work today, I'll tell the story. I've got a picture I'm going to post with it, but I forgot to upload it, so check back tomorrow to see the picture of Justin with his birthday present.

OK, so here's the story. I got Justin a pack of 50 pencils for his birthday. What's the big deal about that? you may ask. Well, since childhood, Justin has had this mannerism where he flips something with his fingers. It's actually a pretty neat skill, and I've never seen anyone else that can do it the way he can. It must be innate. He'll flip pencils, pens, markers, whatever is nearby. However, he found one certain type of Eagle brand pencils that was the perfect weight for flipping. But then his life was changed forever when Eagle stopped making the pencils the same way. They changed from wood to some plastic substance, and it changed the weight of the pencils - no longer ideally flippable. So he went online and bought every pencil that he could find that was the old style. (Side note: In college, he was helping me move one time, and he found a box of Eagle pencils as we were packing up my office stuff. He freaked out and got so excited that I was a little creeped out. It turned out that they were the right ones, and so he asked if he could have them. He's never forgotten my generosity in giving him that box of pencils, and it may have added to why he wanted to marry me years later.) So he had a pretty large stash of flippable pencils, but as you know, when things fly through the air at a high rate of speed, they're apt to break. So over the years, Justin's stash has been dwindling as the pencils break, and he didn't know what he would do when they were all gone. Fast forward to last month. Here at the church where I work, they had a Women's Conference, and afterward they had a bunch of supplies left over. So they gave each of us secretaries a bag with a t-shirt, some pens, some candy, and some pencils. When I saw the pencils, the thought crossed my mind You know, these are pretty heavy pencils, maybe they'll work for Justin. I left them out for him when I went to work the next morning. When I got home from work that day, there he was on the couch flipping the pencil from the Women's Conference! He said "Where did you get these pencils?!" I told him, and he said "Can you get me some more? These are perfect!!!" He was incredibly happy. So for his birthday, I got him a pack of 50 from the Oriental Trading Company. They come with a free engraving, so on the side of his pencils it says "Justin's - DO NOT SHARPEN!" He was thrilled with that gift. My sweetheart. :)

It's ANOTHER Boy!!!!

Alright, this should be my last baby news for a while! For those of you that haven't seen the news on Justin's blog, his sister gave birth to her first child this morning.

Joshua Daniel

(named after Justin - Daniel is his middle name)

Born December 7th around 4 a.m.

6 lbs., 14 oz., 21" long

Welcome to the world, Joshua! On Justin's blog, the title of his post is "Weird Uncle Justin." Strangely enough, Justin actually WANTS to be known as this. He expects to be the weird uncle that the kid will probably only see once a year, coming back from a foreign country bringing weird gifts and speaking strange languages. Sadly enough, I have to be married to the weird uncle. Does that by default make me a weird aunt? I hope not! I'd rather be the favorite aunt or something along those lines. :)

I had a weird uncle when I was a kid. (Actually, I don't think I had any normal ones...) But this particular uncle was so scary to me that I would hide under the bed when he came over. I think it was because this was the early '80s and he had the long hair and beard - made me think he was a wolfman or something. Now he's my favorite uncle, though, so I guess there's still hope even for Justin.

Candy Cane Lane

I've found something else that just makes the holidays even more wonderful for me. Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Holiday Decaf Green Tea. That's quite a mouthful to say, but when you drink it, it's happiness in a mug. Seriously. It's tastes just like a candy cane. But without the sugar. (I added Splenda.) Yum! I'm just sitting here smelling the box right now, and it's making me happy. Celestial Seasonings makes several different holiday teas, and they're all on sale at HEB right now, for those of you in the TX area. There was a gingerbread kind, a sugar cookie kind, and several others. Check out the website here. Super yum! This will definitely take a bad morning (For example, one where yesterday it was 75 degrees and this morning it's 33 and sleeting... Yes, that IS what happened in Waco today!) and turn it right around!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I LOVE the holiday season! Thanksgiving and Christmas combine to make a wonderful season of fun, family, joy, thankfulness, and lots of good food! Justin and I spent Thanksgiving weekend house/dogsitting for my boss, so we enjoyed having lots of space and cable TV. (Friday afternoon while Justin was working on school stuff, I watched 5 hours of a "What Not to Wear" marathon on TLC. Pure bliss.) Thanksgiving morning we gave back to the community by delivering Meals on Wheels to a few senior adults, and then for lunch I cooked a magnificent feast for just me and Justin. It was delicious and healthy too! :) Then Friday morning we got up early (but not at 4:00 as we have in years past!) and both started and finished our Christmas shopping! Fun times! So it was a highly successful weekend. Finally Sunday afternoon we put up our Christmas tree and now we're ready for Christmas! Just 2 more weeks of school for my sweetheart, then he gets to breathe a big sigh of relief for a little while. We'll be taking our annual trip to the homeland for Christmas, so we'll be hitting Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee on that trip. Can't WAIT for that! I'll have 2 new nephews by then, and I can't wait to squeeze them both! So here's a fun quiz for you to do in honor of the beginning of the Christmas season:

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Very Brady Christmas

For you, it's all about sharing times with family. Even if you all get a bit cheesy at times.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

The Rear End of Luxury

Well, it's finally getting to be that time of the year in Texas when we're pulling our sweaters out of storage. In fact, I even glimpsed a patch of frost on my rear windshield this morning! Oh no! I DO NOT LIKE COLD WEATHER! I prefer t-shirts and flip-flops! But alas, my poor feet are doomed to a couple of months of being trapped inside socks and shoes. However, I've just recently discovered one perk of the cold season. My precious, wonderful husband, being the strong and mighty protector that he is, has recently let me start driving his 2004 Camry to work instead of the less-reliable 96 Grand Am I'd been driving. One chilly evening last week when we were out and about, I noticed some buttons on the dashboard of the Camry that I'd never seen before. There was a right one and a left one, and they showed a picture of a seat with wavy lines coming up from it. So I pushed the one for my side to see what would happen, and lo and behold, 2 minutes later this wonderful toasty feeling starts to emanate from my seat! (At first, I thought I'd wet my pants!) I realized it was a seat warmer! I'd heard of these, but always thought they were for luxury cars and that I'd never own a car that had them! (I realize you're probably rolling your eyes and attributing my naivete to the fact that I lived in Africa for 2 years. I still think a refrigerator is a marvelous thing!) I mean, who came up with that idea? It had to be a woman. So anyways, thanks to my precious husband's generosity and concern for me, I get to drive to work every morning with a roasty toasty rear end. So maybe there is ONE good thing about cold season in Texas. Now I just need a warmer for the steering wheel!

Cutie-Patootie!

There's not much going on in my world right now. I'm ready for Thanksgiving so I can get 2 days off work! I'm pretty sad to not be going home, though. I want to squeeze my new precious nephew! But in the meantime, with my absence of anything interesting to post, I'll just post a couple more pictures that I got from my mom of the two most precious children on the face of the earth.

What an adorable little chunky monkey!

I love this picture because it seems to me that what's happening is Azlan is in his carseat wailing, and Patriot is pointing and laughing. Oh, the pitfalls of being the younger sibling! I know how you feel, Azlan. :)

He's Finally Here!

My second sweet nephew has made his entrance into the world!

Azlan David
Born November 6 at 7:30 p.m. EST
9 lbs., 5 oz., 21" long

He's pictured here with Mommy, Daddy, and big brother Patriot. I LOVE the look on Patriot's face - What is THAT thing Mommy is holding?! :)

I've Always Wondered...

I heard a song on the radio this week that REALLY touched me. I've always wondered about things like this, but I've never heard anyone else talk about it. But in this song, Todd Agnew expresses perfectly the things I've always wondered about Jesus' life on earth:

Todd Agnew - Did You Know?
From the album Do You See What I See?

Were Mary’s the first eyes you saw
Or did You remember choosing that shade of brown?
Were You surprised at the shepherd’s crazy story
Or did You know You wrote the song the angels sang?

What was this life like for You?

Did You know?
Did the cross cast its shadow o’er your cradle?
Did You know?
Did You shudder each time Your hammer struck a nail?
Did you know?
How much heaven and how much earth
Were in this baby at His birth?
Did you know? Or did you wonder?

Did you remember the brightness of Your glory
Or did You just notice it was cold and dark here?
Did You know Your name or did you have to be told?

Were You just a baby or were You as old as time?

What was Your life like?

Did You know?
Did the cross cast its shadow o’er your cradle?
Did You know?
Did You shudder each time Your hammer struck a nail?
Did you know?
How much heaven and how much earth
Were in this baby at His birth?
Did you know? Or did you wonder?

What a moving thought, and how appropriate to think about as the Christmas season approaches. May we all meditate on the life of Christ and all He gave up to come to earth as a man to die for the sins of you and me.

Ding, Dong, the Mouse is Dead!

Many of you know that for the past 2 weeks, we've had a mouse in our house! The problem is that he hasn't been technically IN our house, more like UNDER it. He's been scritching and scratching underneath the kitchen cabinets, but we couldn't find any holes in the cabinets to make us think that he could get out into our kitchen. So the glue trap we set out could do absolutely no good, since we couldn't put it anywhere where he could get caught in it. Instead, we'd just hear him at all hours of the day and night. Justin (a terribly light sleeper) would even be woken up in the middle of the night by the noise. (I, however, could sleep through an atomic bomb blast.) So we told the apartment management about it, and they sent over an exterminator last Friday. He couldn't really get to the mouse either, but he did find a little hole in the cabinet under the sink. The mouse probably hadn't been getting through this hole yet, but he probably would. So the exterminator put little cubes of poison in nooks & crannies all over our kitchen, and we just had to hope that the mouse would eventually get into the kitchen and eat it! (Can you believe us actually WANTING a mouse to get INTO our kitchen?!) In the meantime, he just scritched and scratched away, making himself at home under there! Until yesterday, we finally had some action. Apparently the mouse finally clawed his way through that little hole under the sink, and the first thing he did was proceed to consume a whole cube and a half of poison. Not the most intelligent thing to eat in a human kitchen. This was like his whole body weight in poison! So, needless to say, he didn't last long. Justin got home from school yesterday and found the poor little guy croaked in the middle of the kitchen floor. Thankfully, he died in the middle of the floor instead of curling up under the cabinet and kicking the bucket there! So thus ends our Mouse Saga. We're leaving out the poison for a while longer in case there was more than one of them, but we didn't hear any scratching last night. I can't help but be a little sad, though. (Justin can't believe I say this! He HATES rodents.) But I had pet gerbils and hamsters when I was a kid! So how is the little guy we just killed any different than little Trixie I had when I was in 3rd grade? The difference is that Trixie didn't live under my kitchen cupboard and keep my husband from sleeping at night. So I guess if either the mouse or my husband had to go, I'll keep the husband. :)

The Symphony's A-Comin'

Why haven't we heard from Joni in so long? Has she fallen off the face of the earth? Well, no, it's nothing that dramatic. I usually do my blogging at work, but for the past 2 weeks at work, I've been so busy that I literally haven't even had time to check my personal email, much less blog! Why have I been so busy?! Well, it's actually a pretty exciting event. We're hosting the Kiev Symphony Orchestra & Chorus for a concert this coming Monday. This is the only private symphony in the Ukraine, and it's a part of a larger group called Music Mission Kiev. Check out their website to learn more about this amazing group and their ministry in the Ukraine. They do an American Symphony Tour every couple of years to raise funds and awareness for their ministry, and this year the church where I work is blessed with being a stop on their tour. So it's a HUGE undertaking and keeping me REALLY busy. Thankfully it all seems to be coming together beautifully, and we're looking forward to an AWESOME concert on Monday. So for any of you who are in or around Waco, consider coming to the concert! It's really going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For those of you who aren't close enough to come, please pray for us, that everything will come off smoothly and that I don't have any nervous breakdowns in the meantime. If you want to be REALLY impressed, check out the website I made about the event.

This Sounds About Right...

You Should Rule Mars

Mars is a planet that shines brightly and loops wildly around the solar system. You are perfect to rule Mars, because you are both energetic and independent. Like Mars, you seems attractive and bright to others - but you're difficult to pin down. You are a great thinker, but you only think in the present and ignore the future. Full of enthusiasm and inspiration, you are into your own thing... and rather insensitive to others.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatplanetshouldyourulequiz/
What Planet Should You Rule?

Facing the Giants

Just in case there are any of you who don't read my husband's blog, I also wanted to let you know about an incredible movie that opens today in theaters across the nation. Facing the Giants is a movie about a high school football coach who is experiencing defeat in every aspect of his life. The movie explores how his faith plays into that. It was produced by a church in Georgia, and all of the actors in the movie are either church members or attend that church's school. None of them are professional actors, which makes it even more amazing that this movie is SO GOOD! Justin and I were privileged to see a sneak preview when it was here in Waco, which is why I can already rave about it. Please, everyone, go see it!!!!! Check out the movie's website, where you can find trailers, information about production, reviews, and more. For those of you in Waco, it's playing at the Hollywood Theater this weekend. BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!!!!!!! Please support this movie this weekend, because if it doesn't do well, it won't stay in theaters. It's worth it!!!! GO!!!!!

Mad at the World

I'm just grumpy today, so I'm going to rant about the 2 things I have to be grumpy about at the moment. First of all, the poor season premeire of The Office.

I feel the same way, Dwight. After having several days to think it over, it wasn't that there weren't funny parts of the show. The "gaydar" stuff, the calculator in Jello incident - those were just dang funny. But in general the content of the show was too uncomfortable to be enjoyable. My analysis is that the reason this show is so funny is because there is no one in the world who is really like Michael Scott. He takes the worst things about every person, and multiplies them by 1000 in himself. No one acts like he does - he is absurdly way over the top. This was indeed the case in this episode, but the problem I had with it is that there are actually people in the world who think the way he does about homosexuality. Sure, no one would think that it's ok to befriend your gay coworker by forcing him to kiss you. But still. It just wasn't funny, and that disappointed me. So for those of you who watched the show for the first time at my insistence, please accept my apologies. The show is usually in much better taste. This season had better get good FAST!

And speaking of fast, this leads to my next complaint, and probably the reason I'm so grumpy today. FedEx. Do they know the latter part of their name stands for "Express?" So why does it take me 7 days from when they first attempt to deliver a package to my house to when I actually acquire the package?! I won't go into all the details of how ridiculous this experience has been, but I will just say that I don't know if I've ever had an organization of this caliber be so unfriendly and unhelpful. It's like they don't want me to be able to get my package and they were purposefully trying to keep it from me. Nothing about their website or 800 phone number or location (once I finally found it) was designed to help me in this circumstance. So I'm done with FedEx. Please, if you ever send me anything, just use the good ol' US Postal Service. God bless America.

I've already got a post planned for tomorrow, and I promise it will be more upbeat!

You Know Your Life Is Sad When...

... the highlight of your week is looking forward to The Office premeire tonight. I can't wait for this, though! I have been anxiously awaiting it all summer. I am totally on the edge of my seat to see what's going to happen with Jim & Pam! For those of you who have never watched this show, don't be afraid to start now! The episodes are usually each their own story - they're not really one long continual story. Some of the things will get funnier as you get to know the characters and their stories, but I don't think you'll be missing too much by not having seen the previous seasons.

... the greatest accomplishment of your week is scoring the highest points in your family's fantasy football league. There's only one team in the league that is definitely better than mine, and that's my 2-year-old nephew's team (maintained by his dad). Since I played against him the first week, I've got a loss on my record. But I should be able to blow away everyone else in the league and finish up second place for the season. (That's some pretty confident talk for a girl who doesn't know squat about football players. I just like the game.)

... you get fighting mad when one of your husband's professors treats him unkindly. It's a long, gruesome tale that maybe Justin will share on his own blog. But when he told me, I seriously considered writing that professor an indignant email. I reconsidered, though, considering there may be some ramifications on my precious husband if I sent a nasty email to his professor.

... unrelated things at work get you singing songs by the Wiggles. I had never heard of the Wiggles until I went on vacation with my 2-year-old nephew (the same one who's beating me at fantasy football). Then I discovered this great Australian foursome who sing and dance, they're totally cute and my nephew is in love with them. So anyway, at work, the youth group has a basketball event they call Hoop-De-Doo. I saw a flyer for it and had a sudden brain wave. Don't the Wiggles sing a song called Hoop-De-Doo? In fact, they do.

Hoop-De-Do, Hoop-De-Do
I hear a polka and my troubles are through
Hoop-De-Do, Hoop-De-Do
This kind of music is like heaven to me
Hoop-De-Do, Hoop-De-Do
It's got me higher than a kite
Hand me down my soup and fish, I am gonna get my wish
Hoop-De-Doin' it tonight

I'm trying to convince the youth group to use this as their theme song this year. They don't think that's as great an idea as I do.

... you're sitting at work with things to do, but you'd rather be blogging! Wait, that's not sad. That's ok.

Another Anniversary!

Three weeks ago Justin and I had our one-year wedding anniversary, and it just occured to me that I didn't post anything about it. What a terrible wife I am! Sorry, sweetheart! Our trip to Gulf Shores was our anniversary celebration. But that's not the intended purpose of this post, so I'll try to stay on track. The anniversary that I celebrated yesterday was one year at my job! I've never worked that long at anyplace before, so it was quite a milestone for me. I am so blessed to have the job that I have, and my bosses are fantastic! So here's to another good year!

The Floodgates of Heaven

Test me in this, says the LORD Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. ~ Malachi 3:10

Sometimes there are days in my life when God just gives me so much joy that I don't know if I'll be able to contain it! Wednesday was one of those days for me. The first good news came in my assistants' meeting that morning, when they told us that the church had passed a new budget and we were all getting raises! Big raises. They did it on a percentage base, and mine is almost $1 per hour more. What a blessing that is for us!!!!!!

The second good news came that afternoon when I got a call from the Music Minister at our church who told me that I had been chosen to be on the Sunday Morning Praise Team. I had auditioned the week before, but I really didn't expect to make it. But I had just done my best and told God that if He should choose to use me to minister in that way, I'd do my best for Him. But if He didn't choose me for that ministry, that I would apply myself to whatever other ministry He puts in my path. I really do want to use this as an opportunity to minister to the congregation at Highland and help lead them into more genuine worship. So what a privilege to be chosen for that ministry!

So I just wanted to take this brief moment to testify that God REALLY DOES prove Himself faithful in pouring out blessing upon us when we give our best for Him.

The World Will Never Be the Same

I'm sure all of you have already seen the news headlines about the tragic and sudden death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. He was snorkeling off the coast of Australia and was killed when he accidentally cornered a stingray, which attacked and pierced him in the heart. I have to say that if there was any way I think Steve would've wanted to go, it was like this. He did so much for nature and wildlife, making lovable even some of the world's ugliest and deadliest creatures. I believe his work will continue in the many he has inspired. My prayers are with his wife, Terri, and their two children.

Life on the Beach!

Ok, now that it's been about a million years since we returned from vacation, and you have all despaired of me ever blogging again, I'm finally going to post some vacation pics. Really we've only been home 2 weeks, and those were perhaps the 2 busiest weeks I've ever experienced at work. But now it's Labor Day Weekend and I have a glorious 3-day weekend! So if you're lucky, I may even post TWICE! HA! Ok, let the pictures begin:

This is the fantastic group that went to the beach: Me, Justin, my sister Jessica, Patriot (Jessica's precious 2-year-old son), Matt (Jessica's husband), my mom, and my dad. This was taken on the road right outside the house we rented for the week, so as you can see we had a great location right on the beach!Our neighborhood also had a pool, so we spent quite a bit of time there, too. Patriot wasn't so excited about the beach (He didn't like the sand sticking to his feet!), but he LOVED the pool (as you can see by his face in this picture!).The older boys sure liked the beach, though! They spent hours out there surf fishing. The mostly caught just crabs and mackerel, but then when they went pier fishing, Justin caught a lizard fish and Dad caught a shark! Just standing here at our beach, though, they did spot several schools of rays, some dolphins, and even a manatee!At the pool, we played a fun game where I would throw a Nerf water football, and Dad and Matt would both jump in and see who could catch it. This is quite possibly my favorite picture of my dad. EVER. So that is a short recap of our fun family vacation at the beach. Hopefully we'll make it a family tradition!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig

We're back in town after an awesome family vacation in Gulf Shores, Alabama. I don't have pictures ready to post yet, so it'll be a couple days before I can post about the vacation. Here's a hilarious video to keep you entertained in the meantime. These guys are geniuses. Don't try this at home.

My Achilles Heel

As most of you who know me will already be quite aware of, I love board games. Any game, any time, let's play. There is nothing I like to do better with the people I love. Part of the reason I enjoy games so much is that I'm GOOD at them. I win a lot. Not all the time, but certainly often enough to keep my confidence up. However, after much playing, I have finally discovered my Achilles heel: Trivial Pursuit, Pop Culture DVD edition. I CANNOT win at this game. Now this may be because of the fact that every time I've played, I've been on the opposite team from my husband, who is a virtual encyclopedia of random knowledge. Despite this fact, I have beat him at other Trivia games. But never Pop Culture edition. So for all of you out there who think it's impossible to beat me at a game, let's play Pop Culture. I'll go down for sure.