Back to School

For the teens this year we wanted to give them a little surprise for back to school. Yes, its corny stuff, but with the help of Pinterest I was able to come up with some fun things to cheer them up for their first week. Included was:
-Take 5 candy bar: Take 5 and Pray
-Pencils: Stay sharp this year!
-Smarties Candy: Smarties for the Smartie
-Lollipop: Remember to "lick" any obstacles by sticking to the scriptures
-Witness bracelet: Be Bold and Witness (if you don't know what this is I have it pictured below, but it stands for He came, He died, He Arose, He ascended, He's coming back)










They thought it was pretty fun :)

*On another note: Its almost crunchy leaf season... which means fall is nearby... yay so excited!!

Into A Book...

Robert and I ventured tonight into the wonderful world of Barnes and Nobles... only we brought our own books to read....we settled in the comfy cushions with our tasty Starbucks...oh wait, excuse me... B&N Cafe drinks (thank you Passion Tea Lemonade :). I'm happy Robert has become more interested in reading (a new thing for his life haha) because of course I'm crazy about books and love to get lost in the stories I read. This year alone I have read over 15 books (that may not seem like alot to you but hey I do have a full time job). After I read each of the Hunger Games books like twice (ok I read my favorite parts of the books like three times), I began to read the Circle Series again by Ted Dekker... also The Help, The Vow, Crazy Love by Francis Chan... followed by an obsession with my new favorite author Francine Rivers from whom I read Redeeming Love and the Mark of the Lion Series (three books that are based off of the Biblical times after Acts and into Romans, very awesome). I am now reading Rivers' A Lineage of Grace about five women in the Bible from Jesus lineage... I'm only 4 chapters in and I'm hooked already! But all the above books were read on my Kindle Fire because I like to read with light apparently and I can read while I'm on my eliptical while Robert is still sleeping in the mornings :)

Also, Robert got me Illusion by Frank Peretti (Who is by far my all-time favorite author... I thought I had read all his books already until Robert came home with this one) for our anniversary in June. Since I'm such a book crazy person I was delighted to find another book by Peretti. I haven't been able to start reading it as its not on my Kindle and thus hard to read when its low light. But I started it tonight and am highly intrigued  and excited as always. After I venture off my current books I'm looking for new suggestions... have any to offer? :)

What a wonderful way to spend time with my husband... reading and enjoying the peace and quiet together :) have a great week!

Refreshed and Renewed

Well hello again! I realize that I haven't written since April (thanks to Dr. Courtney for reminding me :) but things really have been busy with lots of changes so I needed a refresher break. I know there is 5 months I left out to cover so I'll make this update blog short and sweet (which if you know my other blogs does not really happen so it'll for sure be long :):

April: I have no idea what happened in this month haha! It seemed like so long ago... but what I do remember is that on the 27th Robert and I celebrated our 10th dating anniversary. 10 years ago I was a junior in high school going to the prom with a sophomore in high school (who had longer curly hair that he could whip up into a fro...lol)... how time does fly and how time has been good to us. We are so blessed!... We also had a teen event (shocking I know) that included a 30 hour famine or fast. yes... we convinced our youth group to travel to Odessa, hang out with some other teens playing weird games and such, and to NOT EAT ANYTHING FOR 30 HOURS... somehow they participated and it worked out great... the event was to raise money and awareness for hunger in third world countries. We will be participating again :)
The 30th of the month also marked the first year anniversary without my precious Mema (grandma). I miss her still, but her memories will never be forgotten. 

May: My dad turned 50 this month so my mom, brother, and I planned a HUGE surprise party! I unfortunately wasn't able to take pictures at the event but it was themed "Oldies but Goodies" in honor of how much my dad loves music. He was definitely surprised too!
This month I had a terrible incident with my eyes... apparently I scratched my cornias and had a major infection in my left eye so I was unable to wear my contacts for 6 weeks. I never thought I could survive that long without them, but my glasses proved worthy enough and I was able to withstand the world without my contacts. 

June: Our 5th Wedding anniversary! We didn't get to take a trip because of course like every year we have youth camp to get ready for. But youth camp was great this year as we had 18 teens go (way more than last year) and a wonderful experience with worshiping Christ!

July: More youth activities! We had a very packed summer with several activities for our teens. We felt it best to provide them some great opportunities to bond with each other instead of getting into trouble elsewhere :) We took them to Dallas for fishing/shopping, Balmorhea state park, swimming, had a lock-in at the church where we played hide and go seek for literally 2 hours in the dark from midnight to 2 am, and then took them on the most killer of all road trips... Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Dallas, then back home. All in 4 days which included: horseback riding, eating at famous venues, spray painting cars, looking at one of the largest crosses in the USA, OK City bombing memorial, touring and staying at Southern Nazarene University, a Texas Rangers game, and Hurricane Harbor. Yes we are tired :) But we love them and we had a blast!

August: Rock the Desert and several special events for our church. We have had a sweet time getting to know Christ's plan for our lives more and in digging deeper into our full surrender of our lives and our marriage to His works.

Yes the summer was busy, but the biggest piece of news is that I am now the wife of a youth pastor!! Robert began full time with the church in June. I'm so happy for him and this new adventure with the teens. I mean they are like our children after all ;)

Oh I forgot to mention that Robert and I had to dye our hair for camp (Robert blue and I pink, but I only did some highlights because I mean I can't destroy my hair!!)

Till next time and I do mean it because I have much more to write about!

April

Hello April and when did you get here? I literally just finished putting out my spring decorations- meaning I just braved the attic by myself (and I'm proud) to find the box of spring stuff and carry it down the ladder (successfully without breaking my neck). It was just time to put away the poinsetias and holly berries and replace them with my bright colors. It looks peaceful in here now. Maybe I'll take some pictures and then in July when I remember to upload them I'll post them (haha)

Although, speaking of the attic... that place gives me the creeps. Ever since one of my friends told me a story about someone who was living in someone else's attic, I have been thoroughly creeped out when I think about that place. When I went up there to get the decorations I was so sure that someone was hiding in the crevices... needless to say I was in and out of there as fast i could. No, there is no one living in my attic, but you never know!

On another note... the summer is almost here and we are busy getting the activities ready for our kids (you remember the 18ish teenagers we have right :). Yes it is that time of the year again for camp and roadtrips and cookouts and all that fun stuff. Its a busy time of the year... but I sure do love it!

And another note... I finally saw the Hunger Games in the theater... Love. This. Movie! I read all of the books in less than a week and have read them all again (I know you aren't surprised really by this). I realize that the concept of the book and movie is a little morbid, but when you get into the book its such a neat concept and I love the story line. Team Peeta all the way haha! I actually want to go see this movie again... anybody ?

On the last note... I'm now reading a book that I've already read once again... The Circle series. Since getting my Kindle Fire (thanks again mom :) I have decided that only books that I can read on my Kindle are worthy as I can read them in any light and take a whole collection with me wherever I want without it being so bulky. So currently on my Kindle I have read: Reedeming Love by Francine Rivers (amazing.), The Hunger Games (and Catching Fire and Mockinjay), The Circle Series, The Bible (the best book of all), Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, Treasure Island, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and some others that I can't remember. I'm always open to more book ideas though!

Well I hope you all have a great April and that God blesses you all!

I'm Back!

This post is dedicated to Mrs. Courtney Keimig... who hounded me about not blogging for about 2 months... so I'm using her wedding as a comeback post :)

We have been sooooo busy and that is really not an excuse not to blog as blogging is kind of an outlet for me, but there have been so many changes that I didn't even know where to begin. I promise to be better at informing those of you who have stuck with me and care to keep reading about whats happening in our lives.

Lets start with this weekend- Courtney and Kory's wedding! I haven't seen these amazing girls who endured and supported me through PT school since over a year ago. We met up in Houston for the amazing event:

I was so happy to get to spend a weekend away from Midland with just Robert. We haven't had a vacation alone in several months... can't realy remember the last one we had... how sad. So this weekend was well overdue. We spent Friday traveling to Houston, shopping at stores we don't have in West Texas and scoping out all the food places we were going to hit up on the trip. Saturday before the wedding we went to Galveston to see a mini Bodies exhibit at Moody Gardens. We didn't have too long to spare before the wedding, but it was nice to go on a little adventure together. I love him :)

The Amazing PT girls!

The beautiful bride!

Yummy cakes!
The groom's cake is from Star Wars... surprisingly I recognized it before Robert did... woah. It was good though!

Me and silly Stephanie drinking out coffee at the reception

The first dance for the Keimigs


and lastly... we did get our groove on, although we do not claim to be professional at anything haha!

A thanks to Stephanie as I stole some of her pictures from facebook...
The wedding was beautiful and perfect. The weekend was a breath of fresh air :)
Maybe I can get back into the swing of things, like being more in contact with my friends who are so far away from me :)

Walking in a Winter Wonderland....

Oh wow its snowing! And by snowing I mean like 10 inches of snow. wow.

Whilst I was driving home early from work (because they let us early because we had NO patients who wanted to come out in the weather) I was trying to remember the most memorable moments that involved snow in my life. I came up with a top ten... really in no particular order bc I can't order them in my mind quickly enough but anyways here is the top ten snow related memories:
1. 2007 Easter weekend: a big snow occurred in Midland. Robert and I were in Abilene looking for an apartment when it began to snow on our way home... it was a fun memory bc we were looking to start our new lives together when we got married just a few months afterwards.
2. January 2007: we went skiing with the youth group (before we got married) and upon my return to Midland I had to fly into Austin and then drive to College Station.... I remember that it took me 4 hours to make the 1.5 hour drive from Austin to CS home. It was forever long, but I had a good time in my car jamming to music and praying that the roads stayed clear enough to make it home.

3. Vermont 2009: Robert's best friend invited us to come stay with him up in Connecticut and then travel to Vermont to go skiing (or snowboarding for the boys)... it was by far one of the best ski trips ever!


4. 1998? Midland had a very big snow storm come through that luckily released my brother and I from school early (I believe I was in 8th grade). We had alot of time on our hands and alot of snow to work with so we built a full size Igloo... yes Igloo. All the other people were making snowman but we made an igloo that you could crawl into and hang out for awhile... it was a good memory of my brother and I (actually working together for once :)

5. The first time I went skiing in 1997? Can't quite remember but I believe I was in 7th grade on Spring Break with our church choir. We had been touring over Texas and New Mexico and ended in Colorado where we got to go skiing. I was actually finishing ski school one morning, on my voyage trip up the ski lift, when half way through I decided to tap snow off my ski.... thus trigering the button and releasing the ski to the snow at least 40 feet below me. I had to fall off the ski lift with one ski and wait for someone to retrieve it before I could finish. Needless to say I'll never do that again.

6. The time my family got stranded in a snow storm on our way to a family reunion... THanksgiving 199? The storm was so bad we stopped at my grandparents lake house (which had no working heat or electricity bc lines were down) so we burned all the wood we could find and slept by the fire... it was cold, but a good bonding experience.

7. This is a solemn memory, but my papas funeral Thanksgiving 2007. He died on Thanksgiving and we held his funeral that Saturday when it decided to snow pretty hard. It was a beautiful moment though as we buried him under a blanket of the pure white snow.

8. Another childhood memory.... 199? It again snowed alot in Midland and my brother and I decided to make the tallest snowman alive... The Arnold Schwarzenegger of all snowman... he was well over 7 feet high and decked out with all the decor... we even were in the front page for him :)

9. Of course I can't forget the time in Portland July 2011 on Mount Hood... snow topped mountain and in shorts... great memory!

10. Sadie's first time in the snow.... December something of 2011. At first she was scared to death... now she just runs and plays :) Its so fun to watch her!

What is your favorite snow memory?

Oh January

Well it seems that January is my least favorite month. I always seem to get severely ill in this month and require heavy antibiotics and lots of meds to survive. I HATE medication. I take Vitamin C everyday which usually helps me ward off disease and infection, but January seems to always be the exception. Last January I was taking antibiotics for the majority of the month and this time I have already been on one round... boo. So I am sitting in my comfy bed waiting for my Unisom and NyQuil to take effect while watching recordings of Top Chef and reading The Hunger Games again (this time slowly to savor every word) on my Kindle Fire. I love my Kindle Fire... at first I wasn't so sure about it bc I love the feel of turning pages in a book and watching myself progress through and get nervous/excited as the end of the book approaches... but with the Kindle I can read in low light such as during travel which is big for me. So even though I may be sick again, I will allow myself to slow down and chill and hope that tomorrow is a better day...

Dear Immune system,
I know that Christmas and New Years just occured but you can't take a break in January... please get back in gear and come to life so I can keep going with mine! Thanks alot!
love,
self