Christmas in Amarillo

Jason and I spent Christmas in Amarillo this year and I could not have been more excited! I was so ready to see my family and to see my hometown. I secretly (ok maybe not so secretly) miss Amarillo a lot and couldn't wait to go visit. I had been hoping for the past month that I would get snow for a Christmas present since they had snow the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Well - I definitely got snow for Christmas! It snowed in Amarillo and all the way down to Dallas. Jason and I had to drive in horrible road conditions to get to Amarillo but we made it safe and sound. It took us TEN hours to get there when it usually takes about six. There were times when we couldn't see the road in front of us and it took two hours to go 50 miles. But it was definitely worth it. I enjoyed seeing the snow even though it took us forever to get to our destination. Since I wasn't driving I decided to take a few pictures to mark our crazy drive:

Enjoying the drive before it got too bad...

Can you see the road??! Don't worry - neither could we!

My passenger side window....yikes!

After the never ending drive - we made it to my parent's house and hung out until we opened our Christmas presents. In our family, we open our presents from each other on Christmas Eve and then open our stockings and gifts from "Santa" on Christmas morning. I love opening presents but I get more joy out of watching other people open the presents we got them. The kids are especially great because their whole face lights up as they open their gifts. It's absolutely precious. The whole opening presents thing goes by so quickly and before you know it - its over and your buried underneath a pile of wrapping paper =)

Kaydence opening her gift from me and Uncle Jason - a Barbie guitar!

Blake opening our present to him - hot wheels and race center!

Kaydence and her Christmas pajamas - a tradition in my family - I still get pajamas every year

Jason pretending to be surprised by the gift I got him - he somehow figured it out - punk

The puzzle my parents got the kids - that puzzle was put together a lot that weekend

Ready for the stage!

Christmas morning I started getting phone calls at 7 in the AM at my hotel from my nephew asking when we were coming over so they could open presents because Santa had been there. We got there an hour later and several phone calls later ( I don't know if its a good thing that the kids have figured out how to use the cell phone without adult help - haha) and spent more times opening gifts and stockings.

A karoke machine!! We had good times with that!

The rest of the weekend was spent eating and spending time with the family at the house. It was so great to spend time with them and I wish that they lived closer. We had a wonderful Christmas!

Book Review

A book review right before Christmas before I get a new set of books to read!

Death by Suburb

Rating: 8.5

This book I read for a girls bible study I attend on Monday nights. The book is about how the suburbs can make you miss the deeper life of Christ because of all the things we tend to pursue while living in the suburbs. It illustrates 10 different "toxins" that tend to be in suburb life and then provides the spiritual "practice" to counteract the toxin. For example: The toxin: I need to get more done in less time and the practice: Falling in love with a day. I really enjoyed this book and it revealed to me some things that I have allowed the culture that I live in to rob me of greater joy in Christ.

I gave it an 8.5 because the author likes to tell stories and go off on bunny trails that sometimes can make me lose track of what the point was or what I was actually reading so I have to retrace my steps. So if that kind of stuff frustrates you - this may not be the book for you. =)

Happy Reading!

Amanda and Clif's Wedding!

This weekend we witnessed a glorious event - Amanda and Clif finally getting hitched! Yay! We are so excited to watch and pray for them as they start this journey together. Amanda was so beautiful in her dress and it was such a beautiful ceremony. I especially liked it when Clif came out to address the audience before the ceremony begin and talked about Christ and the grace we can have in Him and that he (Clif) would love to talk to anyone that night that wanted to know about that grace. Bonus: I got to see so many of my Hardin-Simmons friends that I don't get to see very often. It was like a mini reunion. That made my entire month!

The kiss!!

Cutting the cake!

*Funny story with this picture: We were about to smile for the picture and the little flower girl saw the camera and stepped right in front of us and posed. She apparently knows that she is cute and that cameras are obviously for her whether she knows the people or not. So precious!*

The crew with the beautiful bride (and the groom in the background)

My love and me

I was really sad that I didn't get pictures with everybody there. It was so good to see them! Erin, Jana, Shea, Leslie, Kendall, Tessa, Sarah, Crystal and Tommy and anyone else I might have forgotten - I had a blast seeing you guys and wish I could see you more often. Love you!!

Christmas Songs

I love Christmas music!!! I secretly start listening to Christmas music in October to the annoyance of my husband who swears that Christmas music should not be listened to until December 1st =). It puts me in the best mood. There's just something about cold weather and Christmas music that just stirs something in my soul and reminds me why we celebrate this season. It makes me fall in love with Jesus more.

I have collected different Christmas songs over the years and definitely have my favorites. But I have so many favorites that I have to divide them into several categories.

Traditional religious

O Holy Night

This has to be one of my favorite songs of all time. I can't help but cry when I hear this song. It is such a beautiful song of Jesus coming to save me from my sin. To think of that night before Jesus came when the world lay in sin and we had no hope and we were dead and then Jesus came on that night two thousand some years ago to save the world and I no longer am dead but alive in Him. I get excited just writing about it. Love this song!

Traditional non-religious

Silver Bells

When I hear this song, I think of the days before we had cars and people had to walk around and there were sleighs and lots of snow. It's just fun.

Non-traditional religious

I Believe by Natalie Grant

Oh my gosh do I love this song! This is another one that stirs my soul and makes me so thankful that Jesus came to save me. I'll give you some of the verses to this song and then highly recommend that you youtube this song. It gives me chills.

Two thousand years
Still the story lives on
God's gift to us Sent to earth Wrapped in flesh
His only son
His only son
And the heartbeat of heaven
Confounded our wisdom
But it's still the simple truth
That sets me free

And I believe
Precious child How can it be that God's great plan
For his story Would send you to
The lonely tree
That you would come
For one like me

Non Traditional non religious

Christmas Time by Michael W. Smith

This is a great song. I think the beginning of it would be a great song to walk down the aisle if you got married at Christmas. It's just a great song.

Choir Religious

Hallelujah Chorus by Handel

So good!!! I love that everyone stands up for the chorus of this song. All the parts together are so pretty and I love the King of Kings and Lord and Lords part.

Choir Non religious

Carol of the bells

This one is just fun and all the parts again are so good and make the song what it is. I like the crescendo parts and it gets really loud and fast.

I have other favorite songs but these are the ones that are on the top of the list. I'm sure I will add to it as the years continue. I'll be sad when Christmas is over and I will have to wait another 10 months to listen to them again.

What is your favorite Christmas song?

Dear Unknown Lady

I understand that your conversation is important and carrying a phone around and having a conversation in public is the norm now, but it is NOT OKAY for you to talk while you are in the public restroom doing your business. I promise you no one and I repeat NO ONE wants to hear what you are doing on the other side of the phone. They also don't want to hear strangers doing their business either. Plus, it kind of makes other people uncomfortable (me) knowing that you are on the phone and people can hear ...well you know....it's bad enough there are other people in the restroom. So please from now on keep your conversations on the other side of the bathroom door. People will thank you.

Yours Truly,

A Concerned Public Citizen

THE PIONEER WOMAN!!

Tuesday night changed my life. I met THE Pioneer Woman. That's right. I met her!!! It was so awesome. It was well worth the 4 hours of waiting at Borders for her to finally sign my cookbook and talk to her for like 20 seconds. I am completely star struck. Not that Ree thinks of herself as a star or anything but she is famous whether she thinks she is or not. It was such a great day!!

Jennifer, my friend from work, and I went and got our wristbands for the signing on our lunch break on Tuesday, and I am so glad that we did. They gave different color wrist bands to every 100 people and there were 8 colors. We were red - the second color to be distributed. After work, we headed over there to make sure we got a parking spot and get in line. Around 6:30, they started lining us up by color and at 7:10 - Ree showed up!!! She was so sweet and adorable just like I thought she would be. She thanked everyone for coming and then answered the question that everybody wanted to know - that yes, she will be publishing her Black Heels to Tractor Wheels romance story!! I am so excited and don't worry - I will be at that book signing too!! After 3 hours of waiting in line, I finally got to meet The Pioneer Woman. She was so nice and kept joking that everyone was type A except for her. She also gave out the t-shirts that she posted on her website to everyone that came. Bonus! We had so much fun and I can't wait to do it again.

So excited to meet Ree!!

So is Jennifer!

Waiting in line to see Ree!

And this is what we waited by before the line moved. We didn't read any of it though. Go ahead and say it - real mature to take picture Elizabeth. Thanks. I know.

HI!

So far to go....

Getting closer...

We love Ree more than we love our luggage!!

Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

You will need:

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 3 cups)
• 1 large apple, peeled, cut into 3/4 inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup Ocean Spray Cranberries, chopped in half (fresh or frozen)
• 1/3 cup of butter, melted
• 1/4 cup Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped, toasted (I didn't put nuts in mine because I don't like them but feel free if you like!)
• 1 Concord Foods Sweet Potato Casserole Mix with Marshmallow Topping (I couldn't find this box last year for Thanksgiving so I improvised and used my own spices, feel free and add as many as you like if you can't find the box)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 11X 17 casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, apple, cranberries, butter, cranberry juice, and Sweet Potato Spice Pack; mix well. Pour sweet potato cranberry mixture into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 35-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until sweet potatoes are softened when pricked with a fork.
4. Remove from oven; stir in pecans. Sprinkle top of sweet potatoes with Sweet Potato Marshmallow Pack. Return to oven for 5 minutes or until marshmallows are softened and light brown.
5. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

ENJOY!!

Thanksgiving!!!

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Jason's family in Houston. It was a great time with family and loving on the new babies this holiday season. We ate lots of food, relaxed and caught up with one another. Thanksgiving night, we went over to a family friend's house and played games and ate desserts. I played Phase 10 with 5 other people and I won. I love winning. I think I have a slight competitive problem.

On Friday, I decided to skip out on the early morning shopping since I really wasn't shopping for anything specific because I have yet to figure out what I am getting people for Christmas. I did go to Target later in the day to buy some more Christmas decorations and was really surprised with how many of the things they advertised in their ad were still there that afternoon. It made me really glad that I hadn't bothered to get up before the sun that day. We spent more time hanging out with family that night and then left after lunch on Saturday. We had such a great time and we're sad to leave.

The cousins meeting each other for the first time

Happy Karis

Starting early on the coffee..jk..

Lucye even made a new friend. The cat, however, chased Lucye around the house. It was pretty funny.

New Moon and Cooking with Friends

Last Friday night, we went to go and see New Moon with some friends of ours. We braced ourselves for the screaming teenage girls and crazy crowds and had a great time. The movie was awesome. Way better than Twilight! It kept more to the book with a couple of added parts. I definitely approved. The only things that I didn't like about the movie were the visions of Edward that Bella saw. I didn't imagine them that way at all in the book and it didn't seem that she actually saw him , just heard his voice. Making her actually see him in the movie made it seem more creepy. It didn't portray the deep ache and longing she had for Edward because he was so much a part of her. That's just my two cents tho =). I also didn't like Dakota Fanning's line of "This might hurt a little". Lame!! Jane is so evil in the book that I'm pretty sure a cheesy line like that would not come from her lips.

Me and Jessica waiting for the movie to start!! So excited!!!

On Saturday, Jason and I had a breakfast date at this place called Cafe Brazil. It was really good. They had limitless coffee with a line of different types of coffee you could try. I tried the Holiday blend. Yummy! It was like Christmas in a cup! Then later that night we went to the house of our friends, Amy and Ryan, and had a shrimp boil, made homemade margaritas, and played Michigan Canasta. I had never played that game before but it was way fun. It took a while to get used to the rules, but once we got the hang of it it was a blast. I even lost and I thought it was still a great game (shocking I know!)

On his third cup and feeling good!

On Tuesday, my friends Deborah and Jacque came over while I cooked the dishes I was bringing to Thanksgiving dinner. We drank a glass of wine and talked and talked and cooked a little. It was a great time with my wonderful friends.

Deborah brought the wine! She brought Purple Cowboy and it was really good. Plus it was recommended by The Pioneer Woman so it has to be awesome. Deborah and I were really excited that she had found this wine because we love Pioneer Woman. Maybe it will give us something to talk about when we meet her on December 1st! One can only hope!!!

I love these girls! I wish they lived closer. And when I mean closer - I mean next door.

This was one of the dishes that I made. It's a sweet potato casserole with cranberries and apples. I made it last year for the first time when we hosted our first Thanksgiving. My family liked it so I thought I would try it again this year. It was huge hit this year as well. I'll blog about the recipe later because if you love sweet potatoes you should try this. So good!! I forgot to take a finished product picture of this dish - oops. But let's just say there are marshmellows involved on the top - need I say more.

Prematurity Awareness Day

It’s Prematurity Awareness Month and today people around the world, including me, are blogging to spread the word on this crisis.

Every year, one in eight babies are born too soon in America. In our country, the rate of prematurity has increased by 36% in the last 25 years. I don’t know about you, but that is a very frightening and disturbing number for what is considered a developed country. Around the world, 13 million babies are born premature and one million die because they were born too soon. Premature births usually have no cause and hit every ethnicity and socioeconomic status. No one is immune.

Babies who do survive can be faced with a number of health problems including blindness, chronic lung disease, mental retardation, and cerebral palsy. It’s time we stand up and fight for the little ones who can’t fight for themselves.

This issue is very near and dear to my heart. My nephews, Blake and Jacob, were born at 24 weeks in 2003. There was no cause for why my sister-in-law went into labor so soon. Jacob passed away 2 months later from complications. He will always be in my heart. Blake is now a 6 year old beautiful boy, but he’s had his share of surgeries and medical issues that I believe no child should ever have to go through. We need to find a way to end prematurity!

Today, if you feel compelled, I would ask that you make a donation to the March of Dimes. It can be as little as $5. Every little bit helps to save babies. March of Dimes is a great organization that supports research to not only find a way to prevent prematurity but oral clefts, eye diseases, and advances in heart surgeries. They funded research to create the polio vaccine and education to decrease neural tube births by folic acid awareness. I love this organization.

If it’s not feasible to make a financial donation, I ask that you do this: Pray! Say a prayer of thanks for the healthy babies that you know in your life. That is a blessing and a miracle in itself. And then I would ask that you say a prayer for all the babies out there that are fighting for their lives. Pray for healing, pray for life! Say a prayer for their parents – for energy for the sleepless nights they will endure in the NICU, for peace as they have no control over their baby’s next breath, and for courage and strength to make it through each day. Prayer is very very powerful thing.

I pray for the day that all babies will be born healthy.

Parties

This weekend I got to attend two parties. Friday night, Jason and I went to Lauren's birthday party. She turned the big 2-5. It was a great time to hang out with friends and enjoy some good food. They even had ordered karoke and we all sang the songs together. Although no one was brave enough to use the microphone, we all just followed the words and sang. I discovered that a lot of the songs I like that are popular are kind of dirty and have some innuendos I didn't realize until the words were on the screen. Oops. Oh well. I still like them =). I can just pretend I don't know the words now.

My friend,Deborah and me. I hadn't seen her in ages. I miss her!

And this little cutie was there too. He danced to a Beyonce song. Adorable!

I am sad to say that I didn't get a pic with the birthday girl. Sorry Lauren!! Hope you had a wonderful birthday!! Saturday, I went to a great friend's baby shower. Fallon's little one is due in January. I can't wait to meet her! She will be full of personality - I can guarantee it.

Me and the mommy-to-be!

Great times with friends this weekend. Does things to your soul =)

Book Review

I love books! I love finding new books to read and always like to read books that people have recommended to me. So I decided that I would do book reviews on the books that I have read in hopes that someone may read it and enjoy it too!! So here we go:

Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies

Rating: 9

This a great book on a biomedical approach to healing these disorders. I highly recommend it to people who want to learn more about these epidemics, have one of these disorders ( I have asthma) or know someone close to you who has been affected by this either by their children or other family member. The book is written by a doctor who treats these type of kids and how he has used nutritional and supplemental therapy, detoxification, and medications to make a phenomenal difference in his patient's lives. Some are even off the spectrum now.

I chose this book because I work a lot with autism children and others on the spectrum. It has truly opened by eyes to what can go on in these kids little bodies and my heart aches for them.

The book begins by talking about how after immunizations increased in 1991, there was an increase in all these disorders by 300 to 400%. It goes into statistics that I won't bore you about but it has really made me consider a modified immunization course for my children when I decide to have them. Especially since all of those 4-A disorders run genetically in my family. The majority of the book focuses on the healing program, breaking it down into the four approaches he uses, and discussing patients he has seen and their journey through the healing program.

It is definitely not a book you read through in several days. It is more of an informative book with a lot of bullet points and description. It has a lot of references in the back including a suggested vaccination schedule. I really loved this book and enjoyed learning about this approach to healing.

Happy Reading!!!