Unknown Things

I was reading my lovely blogging friend, AllyJo's blog this morning and I noticed she shared "25 Facts About Me" and if we were reading it, then we were considered tagged to do the same.

So here goes my chance to educate you, my readers and friends, on 25 Random Things About Me:

1) I truly love the color pink! When I was a little girl, my mother said I would pick any OTHER color than pink - I hated pink - but not any more!!

2) I listen to a wide variety of music - from Christian (like Hillsong and MercyMe), Pop (Celine Dion, Madonna, Beyonce) to Easy Listening (Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Celtic Woman/Celtic Thunder) and Country (Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Josh Turner, George Strait). My absolute favorite is country though - sorry hubby!

3) One day I would love to learn to speak Italian. The country and its people are so passionate and full of life and tradition.

4) My hubby and I have a similar meeting/dating story that my parents have. My hubby and I met on a blind date, set up through a mutual friend - my parents did also. I am exactly 4 months, to the day, younger than my hubby - my mother is the same, 4 months younger than my dad.

5) I would love to try and work in a veterinary practice. I love all the animals - but I am not sure if I could handle the part of when they have to be put down.

6) I have a very good memory - especially when it comes to names, billing, things I do at work. My hubby thinks I am weird like that!

7) I can pretty much handle any animal EXCEPT snakes!! I LOATHE snakes! If there are any snakes ANYwhere remotely near me, they better be dead ones.

8) I have fears and doubts about becoming a mother - not that hubby and I are planning anytime soon. In fact, we are still talking about waiting 3 more years but you never know.

9) I LOVE the TV show Big Bang Theory!!! It is incredible!! Sheldon is my absolute favorite! If they had tshirts with him on it, I might get one!


10) I cannot stand people who give themselves airs or think they are better than everyone else. Please! You are no better than us!

11) I get everywhere early - not on time - but early. If I am on time, I feel like I am late. When we were visting the church down the street from our house and the service started at 9:30, we left the house at 8:50-9 am.

12) I text people a lot with my phone. I love sending texts and it helps that I can type fast as well.

13) I cannot sew - I would love to learn one day. To be able to make clothes, tote bags, quilts, anything! Right now I just live vicariously through friends like AllyJo.

14) My hubby and I owe lots of movies! I haven't actually counted them one by one but I know we have over 200.

15) I went to a private all-girls high school in Dallas. And I would do it all over again if I could. I didn't have to put up with a lot of piddly stuff that goes along with high school - I could just focus on school and friends.

16) I have a Bachelor's Degree in Radiological Sciences (x-rays) but I don't work in the field anymore.

17) My hubby and I have a girl's name and a boy's name already picked out for when we do decide to have kids.

18) I am secretly hoping that my brother will end up marrying his high school girlfriend - they have been together for two years so far but they are starting college in the fall and we aren't not sure where either of them are going yet.

19) I didn't set out to do this but I collect purses and tote bags. Some women like shoes and jewelry - I like them too but if I was going to spend my money, it would be on a new purse or bag.

20) I am fascinated by all things Amish. I used to spend my summers up in Illinois with my grandparents and the small town they live in has a good size Amish community in the country. We used to shop at the Amish salvage store for some groceries and handmade goods.

21) Unfortunately I tend to be more pessimistic or realistic before I am optimistic. When a situation happens, I tend to worry or get anxious over what MAY happen instead of what actally does - I am trying to improve on this with prayer and God's guidance.

22) The one chore of housework I absolutely cannot stand is laundry. I would rather do anything and everything else before laundry! If I could hire someone to do one thing at our house, it would be to do the laundry.

23) I am a major Dallas Mavericks basketball fan. I can watch football but I don't get into as much as I do with the Mavericks. My favorite player is Dirk Nowitzski. And since I love the Mavericks, that means I cannot stand the...other Texas team....ummm...the one by San Antonio.

24) I have been to Las Vegas twice - once with my family and once with my old work in Lubbock - and I cannot wait to go back! And I don't even gamble that much - I just play the slots. But there is something about the atmosphere there that is infectious.

25) I continually try to have the "perfect normal" life - I don't know why. I tend to compare my life and my currect situation to others I know. I just need to post the quote from the movie Tombstone everywhere so I can keep seeing it....Doc Holliday (played by Val Kilmer) says to Wyatt Earp (played by Kurt Russell), "There's no normal life, Wyatt. There's just life."


Okay, hopefully these little tidbits were insightful and not too boring to read. I hope everyone who reads this considers themselves "tagged". If you do continue this on your blog, please let me know! I would love to read your facts!!

New President

(photo taken by Jason Reed/Reuters Inauguration)

Today, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States. I was lucky enough to watch his swearing in and his inaugural speech. I will not hide and say that I did vote Obama but I do have a distinct duty to pray for him and his administration. I do hope that he can, with God's grace, bring this country back from the downward spiral it seems to be on. Everyone could use extra prayers these days, even more so the man who has assumed the role and the responsibility of leading this country past all the "problems", be it financial, environmental, global or inner struggles here at home.

I have enclosed a list compiled by Andrew Stanley from "A Diamond in the Rough", adapted from The Book of Psalms.

People with Character:
They walk with integrity.
They do what is right.
They tell the truth.
They don't gossip.
They don't mistreat people.
They side with those who are right.
They keep their word.
They lend money to those in need without interest.
They don't take advantage of people for financial gain.

From Psalm 112, verse 6: "Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered forever."


On a more fun note......

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THIS PICTURE??? SO ADORABLE!!
(picture from Lori)

Help and Prayers Needed!!

DH and I are desperately needing your prayers, support and advice! We have only lived in our neighborhood for almost 6 months and there is only one house next to ours. That house used to be the builders' office but they have since moved out and we have been patiently waiting to see who will be our neighbors. Well, we got the answer and we are not happy about it! It seems a couple from Staten Island, NY bought the house but are renting it out to.........a group of young, white, single guys. The house only has three bedrooms, two baths but for the past 2 nights, there have been at least 5 cars there. And it never fails - someone has to park in front of our house. This may not seem like much but it is one of my pet peeves and on top of that, there is an empty parking lot on the other side of their house that used to be for the builders.

So this morning I go out to my car to leave for work and I see two cars in the driveway, two cars parked in the parking lot on the side and then one truck in front of my house. Why do people do that?? Why can you not park in front of your own place? So DH and I are realizing that we are going to have to talk to them which is something we were hoping not to have to do. With this problem already, we are both worrying about noise and parties they might have. What are the odds?? I mean everyone in our neighborhood are young families - I mean our neighborhood is directly across the street from a high school for goodness sake. What do you think? What would you do?? I mean I just want them to understand we bought this house, we are planning to be there for a long while but they are just renting, they can leave whenever they want - we do not have that luxury. Ugh!! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What to Do?

Have you ever noticed that time seems to be going so slow when you are praying it would hurry up and then it seems to fly by when you wish it would just slow? That seems to be my life now. Certain things make me want to have the days go by quickly, things like mundane tasks at work (filing) or waiting and praying for DH to find a new job. While, on the other hand, things like the weekend go by far too quickly. It seems to be me that our life is in limbo right now - we are on the road to a place, to a goal but we haven't arrived yet. In the meantime until we reach that goal, we seem to just be doing the motions, trying to take it one day at a time.

My DH has asked his old boss, a sports minister at First Baptist, if he needs any help with the leagues and stuff going on so that way he can be earning some part time money while he still searches for a job. Of course his old boss was more than willing to help out but the idea of going back to a job he had in high school/college is somewhat downing to my DH. He starts back this weekend with the children's Upward basketball league so that means Friday evenings he will help run the practices for 3 hours and then he will be refereeing the games all day on Saturday. I am grateful for the assistance, truly I am, I just don't understand why it is going on 5 months and DH hasn't even been called for an interview.

The other thing that seems to be so "down"-ing for me is that a dream I had seems to be dying. Reality and life are showing me that my dream of being a stay at home wife and mother (one day) may not be possible for us. Some people have that luxury and can make it work while others just cannot. DH's brother and sister-in-law in Houston are very blessed to be able to do that, to have our sister-in-law stay at home with their 2 kids while DH's oldest brother and wife in Austin both have to work. In fact the sister in law in Austin is going back to school next week. This is reminding me of a quote from one of my favorite movies called The Matchmaker with Janeane Garofalo. In the movie, Janeane's character is asking another why he gave up being a full time journalist to become a PR guy in the middle of small town Ireland. The guy's answer was, "Things rarely go according to our youthful heroic plans. Sometimes the easy way out is the right way out."

I guess I just need to vent this stuff to someone once in a while - I can see where this might come across as a pity party and for that I apologize. Thinking and acting positive is very hard for me right now. Don't worry - I can put on a fake act and a fake smile for anyone when I need to, like right now at work, and pretend everything is okay. But really all I want to do is to breathe easier, to know that my bills will be paid for, to know that our dreams will come true and to know that things will get easier. Have you ever told a white lie to a family member or a loved one just to appease them? By telling them that things will be okay, that you have utmost confidence in it only to turn around and when you are by yourself start to cry and worry if that is true. I feel like that sometimes now with DH - I am trying to be positive and reassuring to him, to let him know that I am with him and that he will find a job very soon but in the back of my mind I am silently screaming and wringing my hands with worry. I guess we each have to face our tests and to see if we can overcome the obstacles and still remain as strong or stronger afterwards.



"Everyone thought I was bold and fearless and even arrogant, but inside I was always quaking." - Katharine Hepburn

Greeting A New Year - 2009

It is 2009! A new year is beginning - and with it, all our dreams, goals, hopes, aspirations begin. Have you thought about what you want this year to be for you and your family? I, for one, could not wait for the new year to be upon us. 2008 was a major year of growth for my husband and I but we are ready to embrace all that 2009 has to offer. To help us reflect on the past year and en"vision" the new year, I turned to Simple Mom. She designed and graciously made two papers for each person to download and fill out - one is entitled "Reflection Questions for 2008" and the other is entitled "Vision Questions for 2009". I highly recommend them! I filled them both out and would like to share with you some of my responses (I won't list all of them, just a few).

For Reflection Questions of 2008:
1) What was the single best thing that happened this past year?
- Being able to buy our first home

2) What was the single most challenging thing that happened?
- My husband having two kidney stones within two months' time

5) Pick three words to describe 2008.
- Experience, learning, overcoming

17) What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?
- Fighting with the builders, Coleman Homes, and pushing them to get our house
finished in time for the closing

20) Create a phrase or statement that describes 2008 for you.
- A hard year that I am glad has ended and a jumping point to a new, better year
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For Vision Questions for 2009:
1) What skill do you most want to learn this year?
-To be faithful, to rely on God more

10) Think of an important relationship aside from your spouse and children. How will
you nurture that relationship this year?
- With God, little steps daily. Through reading the Bible and surrounding myself
with faithful people and joining a new church

15) Have you ever created a family mission statement with your spouse? If so, why not
do one for this year?
- Mission Statement for 2009: "To accept life's challenges and rewards with an
open heart, an open mind and a faithful spirit in Christ."

17) What is something that is continually undone in your life? What will you do to
fully complete it this year?
- Allowing my sense of happiness and faith to fall apart. I will start to go to
this new church with a sense of hope and purpose, I will keep a journal and
begin to enrich my life from the inside out

20) Think of three words you'd like to describe your 2009.
- Hopeful, fulfilling and rewarding


"Happiness is the realization of God in the heart. Happiness is the result of praise and thanksgiving, of faith, of acceptance; a quiet tranquil realization of the love of God." - White Eagle

I hope and pray that this new year fulfills all your hopes and dreams for you and your family and that God continually blesses you. I look forward to reading more from you, dear blog friends. And to my stubborn, adorable niece in Houston.......you can come out now! We are so anxious to meet you!!