Christmas Card Photo

I have to share this one picture from our Christmas photo shoot. I just love it. How can I not? It is my two favorite guys, both of whom are good lookin'.


I guess I will share one more. This one is me and my girl.

Catching Up...

Blogging about my weekend is just about the only fun thing left on my to do list so thought I would avoid the rest of the list a bit longer. :)

Thursday night we had parent teacher conferences until 7:30 - pretty long and boring. Because of that we got Friday off. Nice I know. Unfortunately I started the day with a dentist appointment. Had to have a couple of cavities filled. Those of you who know me know how much I hate the dentist. I always call Andrew crying afterwards, even for routine teeth cleaning. I just really hate the dentist. I never had a bad experience or anything - just dont' like it. This ought to tell you how much I hate the dentist - I would rather go to the gynocologist every day than to go to the dentist.

After that I went home to relax and nap with my puppies. After our nap I got ready and headed to Batesville to pick up Chaney, my ten year old cousin. Picked her up and then we went to see High School Musical 3. The movie was good, but I cracked up the whole movie. It was packed and those girls were screaming as if Zac Effron was really in the room. They were crying too - it was just funny.

Saturday morning my mom and Ashlee came down and the four of us went shopping. Really enjoyed that time. I got a couple of new Christmas ornaments - I love fun ornaments. I got a couple of new shirts and some scrapbooking supplies. We had lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger - very yummy.

Sunday morning we got up and headed to church. Cary gave a good sermon on living out God's purpose in our lives. It was an awesome service. After church we did a photo shoot with the dogs for our Christmas card. The dogs did wonderfully. They were very cooperative. Unfortunately we did this at noon and the sun was very bright. We are going to have do our shoot again.

After pics, we took a nap and then headed over to Jill's. Andrew's mom and dad were down so we all went over to visit. We left Jill's and went to Lowe's and Kohl's. We are planning on redecorating our bedroom. Unfortunately we can't make up our minds on what we want. While we were out our friend Shaun called. He is down from New York and had a list of restaurants he wanted to eat at. So we met him and his girlfriend, Dianna at US Pizza for dinner. Had the best pizza EVER!! Very yummy.

So I had an awesome weekend. And I'm glad because this week has been rough. It is Homecoming/Red Ribbon week at school. It has been wild.

Well I guess that's it for now. I've got to get started on my not so fun to do list.

Camping Pictures

I thought I would take advantage of my day off and finally post some pictures of our camping trip. Hope you enjoy them.

I told you we took a lot of stuff...


Our big tent and little tent.



A few pics from early Saturday morning...




The view at Mt. Nebo was absolutely beautiful. Just take a look for yourself.





We went for a hike Saturday afternoon. Got some great pics!

It's a Book Party

So after going to Jill's book party I've decided to have one of my own. It was so much fun. Thought I'd share the website so you could all check it out. Obviously if you are in my area I'd love to have you at the party on November 15th, but I realize for some of you that isn't possible. Check out the website. These books are very reasonably priced and make great additions to your classroom, your children's library, or even great Christmas gifts. The website is www.ubah.com/HOS127848 and they will ship directly to your home!

One of those times...

when you ask why? When you realize that bad things do happen to people you know, even your friends and family.

My cousin called today to let me know his other cousin (no relation to me) and my best friend from elementary school and high school was found shot in her home today. Her husband was found with her. The family believes the husband killed her and then himself.

She just turned 26 on October 19. I just can't believe it. It is awful. Obviously her family is not taking it well. Please pray for both families. He had children but they did not have any together.

I'm just in shock.

Mt. Nebo

I just realized that my camera is out in my car and I really don't want to get up and go get. So I will have to post some pics later but I thought I would go ahead and share about our camping experience this past weekend.

First let me just say that it was a lot of fun. I'm glad Andrew and I can now say we've been camping. :) Friday afternoon as we were loading our friend Slack's 4 runner things got a little out of hand. We had an insane amount of stuff for three people. The back of Slack's 4 runner was packed full and so was one side of the back seat. We left just enough room for her to sit back there. Andrew drove and I sat up front with Liberty & Liam.

We got to camp after dark. We sat up Sinclair & Amanda's tent (more friends that went with us) first. I laughed so hard. Their tent was tiny - just wait till you see the pics. I honestly thought they were going to sleep in two tents. After they set their tent up which only took like two minute because it was so small, the guys got a fire going and began grilling burgers. It was getting very cold very quickly so the fire was nice. We enjoyed our yummy burgers and dogs around the fire. Then we sat up our mansion of a tent. Andrew and I borrowed my little brother's tent which is a two room tent. We immediately decided that Sinclair and Amanda would sleep with us seeing as how their queen size air matress wouldn't fit in their tent and Slack would get the baby tent. By this time it was very dark and we were very tired so we headed to bed. To say that it was cold would be a very large understatement. We froze. My joints hurt because I was so cold. I couldn't get comfortable at all. It was incredibly windy outside. No one in the big tent slept well. We were too cold to be comfortable. Slack however slept quite well. Our big tent apparently blocked all the wind from her little tent.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon - quite yummy. After breakfast we all went for a hike. It was absolutely beautiful. We basically hiked down the mountain and then back up. The dogs loved this. This was Liberty's second mountain to climb. She loves this sort of thing. She has so much energy and loves being in the lead. She is amazingly good at staying on the trail too. This was Liam's first hike and he did great. I only had to carry him up a few steep rocks. He probably could have done the whole thing, but he's my baby and I have to take good care of him. :)

After lunch, it was time for a nap while it was warm out. We all slept 2-3 hours. Then we got up for lunch, did a Wal-Mart run, and sat around the fire listening to the Razorback game. Thankfully I went to bed at the beginning of the 3rd quarter. I was very upset to wake up Sunday morning only to learn we lost 21-20 in the last two minutes of the game. Sigh!! By the way we all slept much better Saturday night. It was much warmer. Andrew and I had the best night's sleep we'd had in awhile.

We got up early Sunday morning, packed up, and headed back to NLR for church which was awesome as always.

So that is our camping trip in the short version. Got a couple of close calls with the dogs, but I'll save those for another post with pics.

Tomorrow is the big day!

We are finally going camping tomorrow. I am so excited. We are going to Mt. Nebo. I have no idea where that is, but it doesn't matter. I can't wait to sleep in a tent with my hubby and our furbabies. :) You can all be watching for pictures because I'm sure that there will lots taken.

Thank you Chelsey.

I have been tagged by Chelsey to list six happy things and then choose six people. This couldn't have come on a better day. It has been one of those days when nothing would work for me - my computer, the copier, my students. It is definitely a great moment to stop and be reminded of all of the good things. I'm not going to choose six people - I challenge anyone who reads this to make their own list. Surely we all have six little things to be happy about.


1. I have a God and Savior who loves me no matter what and who never gives up on me. I was reminded of that in a song we sang at church yesterday. I'm am so thankful to be a child of God.

2. I have a husband who is also a child of God and he is HOT!! LOL - sorry. I went to a wedding this weekend and saw quite a few boys that I dated and/or thought were hot back in high school. Time has changed them. :) Anyways - I have the greatest husband -most of the time. After all , he is a sinner like me. He loves the Lord though and for that I am very thankful.

3. My babies - Liberty Bell & Liam Bailey. They are so fun. I know most people don't understand and think I'm crazy but those two really are my children. They are so sweet and a little crazy.

4. I'm going camping this weekend. Camping was one of my favorite things to do as a child and I haven't been in forever. Andrew and I are going with some friends of ours. I'm looking forward to camping and to the fellowship of good Christian friends.


5. I don't have to go to school the next two days. I have a workshop to go to that should be pretty fun.

6. The holidays are so close. I am so ready for them. I absolutely love Christmas. I'll admit I've already listened to Christmas music this year. I love this time of year.

Heartbroken

Thank you all so much who have been praying for Jill and Alex and their little baby. Unfortunately they found out this afternoon that they are not pregnant. I am heartbroken for them. She is praising God in this storm though, which is awesome to see. I wish so much that the news would have been the opposite today, but it wasn't. They are not sure what their next step is. They may try another cycle or they may start working towards adoption. Please continue to pray for them. And again thank you for your prayers.


I love you sister!

In the mood...

Camping mood that is. :) Andrew and I have been saying since we got married, almost five years ago, that we wanted to camping. I'm not sure he has ever even been camping before. I used to go all of the time as a child. In fact, camping is one of my all time favorite childhood memories. I love sleeping in a tent, swimming, playing cards, and even fishing. But my favorite - the food. Hamburgers and scrambled eggs & bacon somehow taste a thousand times better at a campsite. Anyways - I have finally just told Andrew that we are going next weekend so he best be ready. I think it might actually happen. It has to happen!! Last night we built a fire in our outdoor fireplace. Andrew grilled burgers and we ate and had our Bible study around the fire. It was so nice. I loved it. I was just as giddy as I could be. I kept telling Drew that those were the best burgers I've ever had - seriously I wish I could give you one. They were so good. I absolutely love the way a fire smells. I wish I could put that smell in this blog. Go ahead and close your eyes and imagine it - you know you want to. I am so ready for next weekend. Last night just really got me in the mood for camping. I wish I could take you all with me so that you could enjoy it too. Anyways I have a few pics for you - some from last night and some from my past camping days. Enjoy!

Just created...what should I do?

Okay so I made these for our bedroom. I'm okay with the horizontal one with ribbon, unless of course someone has a brilliant idea for it. But I don't like the one with the A & E. I know my E needs to be bigger, but I'm not sure if I like the A & E - just not sure what to put there. Thought about putting How Sweet It Is on top and To Be Loved By You on bottom - our fave song and was played at our wedding. The only thing stopping is me is ---- can I paint that? LOL

So comments and suggestions please....

More Light

Just saw a commercial differently for the first time and had to jot down my thoughts while they were fresh. It is a commercial for True Value. A lady buys a light bulb and finally puts it in. She is excited to have the light, but the light reveals all of the others things in her home that she needs to fix - a crack in the wall, a broken handle on a dresser, etc. How true is this of God. He is a great light to have in our life, yet that light often allows us to see our faults, our sins. This is kind of scary. None of us like to see these things, but how can we fix them if we don't see them and how can we see them without the light. Just a thought!

I Accept!

I've been struggling a lot lately with my relationship with God. I know that it is not where it is supposed to be, but I can't seem to get where I need to be. It's like I can see the goal over there, but I can't figure how to get there. Do I go through it, over it, under it, around it? I could go on and on with these prepositions. :) Andrew and I left our home church a little over a year ago. I tend to use that as my excuse as to why I'm not as close to God as I should be. At that church under the leadership of my pastor and my Sunday school teacher I was growing. Problem was I was getting all of my nourishment from those two people. Now I'm not and I'm having to learn to get it on my own. We have since joined a new church that I love, but if I'm honest I would have to say that since being at this new church I haven't "felt" God one time. I can blame this on a lot of things, but the truth is no one or no thing is to really to be blamed but myself. My pastor is a Godly man who preaches the Word of God. I just can't seem to open up and accept what God is trying to give me each week. I keep saying that I will do this or that to improve my relationship with God, but I don't seem to do any of these things.

Yesterday Cary, my pastor, began a sermon titled Bulls Eye Living. He talked about how our only goal should be living in God's will. That should be our primary concern, not all of the things that surround the bulls eye such as family, work, etc. I don't know that I would say this really spoke to me, but it is definitely something I honestly want to try to do. I need to figure out God's will for me at this time in my life. Cary says the way to do this is by getting to know God and His word. So that is my goal. I started off the morning praying and asking God to help me know him better today.

Last night I stumbled across Patter's blog. She is a scrapbooker like me. She post a weekly challenge based on a word. Her challenge is to help you grow in your relationship with God. Hmm - didn't I just say I need that. Unfortunately I'm joining this at week 40, but hey I'm diving in anyways and looking forward to starting with week 1 come January. Anyways - this week's word is "light". She gave a short devotional that she had on light and encouraged us to study this word this week. I immediately came home today and began looking up scripture on light. The word has such a deep meaning in the Bible. God is light - he outshines everything and he is a constant light. He shines all of the time. Light is the absence of darkness which is bad. When God is around there is no badness. His light prevails. He has called us to be his light here on Earth. We are to shine all of the time. As the song I sang as a child says, "Hide it under a bushel, NO!!!" We are to always shine, despite our circumstances. I know that there are Several days when I don't feel like shining. God says shine anyways. I believe our world today needs a lot of Light. We need to be shining in our neighborhood every day. I can't shine in your town and you can't shine in mine, so we must both shine. That is prayer for myself and for you this week. Lord, let us shine for you as brightly as we can. Let us shine continuously. Amen.


Below are a few versus that I read today on light that spoke to me.

You rescue the humble, but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them. O LORD, you are my lamp. The LORD lights up my darkness. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.
2 Samuel 22:28-30

You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
Psalm 18:28

The Lord is my light and my salvation - so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?
Psalm 27:1

Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live.
Psalm 43:3


For you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light.
Psalm 56:13

Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
Psalm 89:15


Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning.
Ecclesiastes 11:7

You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
Matthew 5:14

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.
Matthew 5:15

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
John 1:5


I am looking forward to continuing studying light and scraping it later this week. I will post my creation.

Waiting patiently for Andrew's return

I'm sitting here surfing the net with a sleeping puppy on both sides as I wait for my sweetie to get home. His flight was supposed to leave San Antonio @ 3. I have no idea how long it takes to fly from San Antonio to Little Rock, but it is 7:00 so surely he'll be home pretty soon. Right?

Anyway - I was browsing blogs I came across this list and I thought it would be fun to share. I put an * by the ones that apply to me. Can't wait to see which ones apply to you.


Bought everyone in the bar a drink
Swam with wild dolphin
Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
Been inside the Great Pyramid
Held a tarantula
*Taken a candle lit bath - maybe I'll go do this one right now - sounds good.
*Said I love you and meant it
*Hugged a Tree
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
*Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
Seen the Northern Lights
*Gone to a huge sports game
Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Grown and eaten your own vegetables
Touched an iceberg
*Slept under the stars
*Changed a baby’s diaper
Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
*Watched a meteor shower
Gotten drunk on champagne
Given more than you can afford to charity
*Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
*Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
Had a food fight
Bet on a winning horse
Asked out a stranger
*Had a snowball fight
*Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
Held a lamb
*Seen a total eclipse
*Ridden a roller coaster
Hit a home run
*Danced like a fool, not caring who watched
*Adopted an accent for an entire day - well a different accent for every customer :)
*Actually felt happy about your life, even for a moment
*Had two hard drives for your computer
Visited all 50 states - Someday I will be able to put a * by this one.
Taken care of someone who was too drunk
*Had amazing Friends
Danced with a Stranger in a foreign country
Watched wild whales
*Stolen a sign
Hitchhiked in Europe
*Taken a road-trip
Gone rock climbing
*Midnight walk on the beach
Gone sky diving
Visited Ireland
Been heartbroken longer than you were in love
In a restaurant sat at a stranger’s table and ate with them
Visited Japan
Milked a cow
*Alphabetized your CDs
Pretended to be a superhero
Sung karaoke
*Lounged around in bed all day
Posed nude in front of strangers
Gone scuba diving
*Kissed in the rain
*Played in the mud
*Played in the rain
Gone to a drive-in theater
Visited the Great Wall of China
*Started a business
*Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
Toured ancient sites
Taken a martial arts class
Played a computer game for more than 6 hours straight
*Gotten married
Been in a movie
Crashed a party
Gone without food for 5 days
*Made cookies from scratch
Won first prize in a costume contest
Ridden a gondola in Venice
Gotten a tattoo
Rafted the Snake River
Been on television news program as an “expert”
Got flowers for no reason
*Performed on a stage
Been to Las Vegas
Recorded Music
Eaten shark
Had a one-night stand
Gone to Thailand
*Bought a house
Been in a combat zone
Buried one/both of your parents
Been on a cruise ship
Spoken more than one language fluently
Performed in Rocky Horror
Raised Children
Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
*Picked up and moved to another city
Walked on the Golden Gate Bridge
*Sang loudly in the car and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
Had plastic surgery
Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have
Wrote articles for a large publication
Lost over 100 lbs
Held someone while they were having a flashback
Piloted an airplane
Petted a stingray
*Broken someone’s heart
Helped an animal give birth
Won money on a TV game show
Broken a bone
Gone on an African safari
*Had a body part below the neck pierced
*Fired a rifle, shotgun or pistol
Eaten mushrooms gathered in the wild
*Ridden a horse
Had major surgery
Had a snake as a pet
Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
Slept for more than 30 hours over 48 consecutive hours
Visited more foreign countries than US States
Visited all 7 continents
Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
Eaten kangaroo meat
Eaten sushi
*Had your picture in the paper
Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
*Gone back to school
Parasailed
Petted a cockroach
Eaten fried green tomatoes
Read the Illiad
Selected one important author who you missed school to read
Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Skipped all of your school reunions
Communicated with someone without sharing a common language
Been elected to public office
Written your own computer language
*Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
Had to put someone you love in hospice care
Build your own PC from parts
Sold your own artwork to someone that didn’t know it was yours
Had a booth in a street fair
Dyed your hair
Been a DJ
Shaved your head
*Caused a car accident
Saved someone’s life

Saturday Morning

Well... just an update on the past couple of days. Thursday afternoon Andrew left for San Antonio for work. He is supposed to be back tonight. It hasn't been to bad because I've kept myself busy. Thursday night I took dinner to Jill and hung out with her. We watched the VP debate. She seems to be doing well by the way. We won't know the outcome of her transfer for a couple of weeks. I'll be sure to keep you updated on her and Alex.

Yesterday I had inservice at school which flew by. I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. Yesterday afternoon I had to take both dogs to the vet - what an adventure. Liberty had to go for her yearly check up. Liam needed a booster shot and they were checking to see if his parasite was gone. It looks like it is. :) After managing to get them home I took off to Jill's again. Andrew's oldest brother, Chris and his wife Kerri, welcomed a new baby girl into the family yesterday. Her name is Kandace April Weaver and she is absolutely gorgeous. We went to meet her last night. Her daddy even let go of her long enough for us to hold her. LOL! He is definitely in love with his little girl and she seems to already know her daddy's voice.

After we left the hospital Jill, Momma and Daddy Weaver, Joy (Andrew's sister), Cody, Pryce (nephews), and I went to eat at Dixie Cafe. It was yummy! Then home to bed. I had to baby Liberty when I got home. The vet always makes her mopey. She wanted her mommy. She wouldn't leave me side and wanted me to carry her everywhere - just like a child.

So now it is Saturday morning. I'm typing away and the dogs are eating each other's faces - it's what they do. I'm sitting here wondering what I'm going to do until 7 when Drew gets home. I need to do laundry in a major way and I need to do some work for school, but right now I don't really want to do either. I don't even want to watch tv. I'm so used to watching Andrew's shows on Saturday morning.

Well I guess I've rambled enough for today. Below are some pictures of the beautiful Kandace April.

Kandace with her Mommy & Daddy


with her Granny


with her Papa


with her Aunt E


with her Aunt Joy


and with her Aunt Jill