Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! We are so grateful for our friends and family and most of all for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We love you all so much! Enjoy the Lord and loved ones today!

my sneaky husband

I have this strange talent. Nothing double jointed or anything, but I have this thing with wrapped presents. Even when I was little, I would go around the tree shaking all the presents and telling everyone exactly what they were. And more often than not, I was totally right. I've always thought that I should set up a booth beside Santa in the mall and charge kids $0.25 a present for me to shake it and tell them what it was.
This year for my birthday my mom gave me a really pretty engraved Christmas snow globe. I shook it and jokingly said 'You got me a snow globe?'. Then I opened it to indeed find a snow globe. I don't know how I do it, but I do.
Jeff LOVES to buy presents. I think he gets more excited about the presents he buys people than the presents that he receives. He has the hardest time not telling me what he bought me because he is so excited about it. So, yesterday after work I come home and Jeff tells me he wrapped a present for me and I can go shake it, which is unusual because I'm normally not allowed to touch or shake the presents he gives me. So, I go over to the box, and pick it up and it has got to weigh like 10 pounds! So, I'm shaking it and it's unlike anything I've ever felt and the weight seems so evenly distributed but there is something inside that moves without disrupting weight distribution. I'm totally clueless, I can't figure out what it could possibly be (especially what it could possibly be that I would want). Jeff proceeds to laugh hysterically and do a little victory dance because I can't figure it out. Then he tells me that he ducktaped 3 pipe wrenches to the bottom of the box to throw me off...
I told him that I just inherited 3 pipe wrenches since they were in my present. He said that was fine, but when we needed to use them I was responsible for doing the work. So.... what is a pipe wrench anyway? Does it really have something to do with plumbing?

5 weeks

The countdown has begun! I don't have a lot to say right now, or probably more accurately don't have a lot of time time say it.. but just wanted to give you a quick update

Our traveling adventures will continue when we head to Corpus on Thursday to be there until Christmas (sadly, I think that will be the longest we've been in the same location in the last month). We're looking forward to some quality time with our families and time with friends there! Then we are heading to Pennsylvania to see Stephen & Elyse. This will be the first Christmas that Elyse & I haven't been together for and I'm pretty bummed about it. But at least we get to see each other the day after Christmas! Then we are going to NYC for our anniversary weekend! I'm so excited about that! We will return to Corpus on Jan 1st and then back to Waco on the 2nd and then we will be here until the 13th when we will make our final trip to Corpus to make sure everything is in storage and then we will head to Houston (with a quick trip to Austin for a wedding) and will fly out on the 22nd. I think we'll catch our breath a little when we get to Iraq! =)


Here's Elyse & I on Christmas morning last year. It won't be the same without you and pastel Santa will definitely miss you.

I'm grateful that we get to spend our last holidays with our families and we are looking forward to the next 5 weeks, even if we appear to be slightly crazy, don't worry the whirlwind will pass. Here is what we've been up to lately.



We shipped these boxes to Iraq and are shipping 2 more this week. Hopefully we will only have to make 1 more shipment after that to get all of our stuff there. We are looking forward to getting there are getting to settle down for a little while, I think up to this point we've had a pretty transitional lifestyle. Our friends might have found a house for us (that sounds perfect) so keep your fingers crossed. Until next time....

New Rosa loves T-Shirt

Our friends at Rosa Loves created this shirt to help raise $4,0000 to pay for Hussein's heart surgery. I heard about Rosa loves through their partnership with The Preemptive Love Coalition in making this shirt. They exist to tell the stories of people and organizations who are doing something good and call others to get involved.
They make these awesome looking shirts that graphically tell the story of the organization and then on the inside of the shirt right where your heart is, is the written story in this case of Hussein.


They will continue to make and sell the shirts until they reach their goal to fund Hussein's surgery. So, get yours today and get one for your friend for Christmas and not only will you have an awesome shirt but you will have helped save Hussein's life. Click here to purchase this shirt.

bye bye Bullet

We just returned from another trip to Houston where we celebrated Jeff's grandfather's 90th birthday and sold my car - the beloved silver bullet.


This was my first car (that I didn't have to share with my sister). This was actually the first car that I ever REALLY wanted. When they first came out in 2000 I was kind of obsessed with them and couldn't wait to turn 16 so I could drive one. One fall weekend of 2000 when I was out of town at a speech tournament, my sweet Father traded in his huge suburban for the Beetle. I couldn't believe it when my mom came to pick us up from the school that weekend in the new Beetle. My senior year of high school my dad gave me this car and I couldn't have been more excited or grateful!


My dad and I saying good bye to the silver bullet.

Thanks to Missy for naming my car my freshman year of college. There have been thousands of great memories in that car and only a handful of bad ones - most involving some kind of vehicle malfunction. I'm a little sad to see her go, but realize that it's just another step in being free to leave the country.

Brief Update

We are back in Waco after over a week of traveling and it has been really eventful. I'll spare you the details and just give you the highlights:

spoke at our church in Corpus. Hosted a Kurdish Tea. I turned 25. Went to Houston for Thanksgiving. Fun times with the fam and step fam. Twisted my ankle playing football. Did A LOT of shopping. Shipping the first boxes to Iraq this week. I think that about covers it. Here are some pics of the festivities... and a little Jeff surprise for you at the end!



It was fun to get to celebrate my birthday with my mom in Corpus. I haven't done that in a few years! It is weird having a cake that just says my name on it... this may have been the first time?




My dad had his knee replaced in mid October and went on a shaving strike. So, here he is sporting the beard. He went back to work today so he had to shave it. But, he had a good time with it I think. It's pretty Sean Connery no?



This is me and Jeff, my sister and her husband, and my step brother and his wife and then all of my dad and step mom's dogs! =) We had a great time getting to all hang out together. It has been a while since we were all together (and not at a wedding)

AND NOW, FOR YOUR JEFF SURPRISE....

You're gonna have to keep scrolling


it

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totally


unrelated

to this post

but I think

it

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very

entertaining

are you ready yet?


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does this remind you of one of those chain e-mails?

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I never learned how to make faces out of this stuff.

Okay here it is















You weren't ready for that were you? Jeff took this picture at the zoo a couple weeks ago and considers it to be his greatest photographical (word?) feat to date. I would have to agree. This one is pretty good too though





I think this is Aslan...I didn't expect to find him at the Waco zoo. Will wonders never cease?

leaving on a jet plane

We bought our plane tickets this week! Michelle (aka Fife) found us an incredible deal! Both our tickets to Istanbul were under $1200! It was kinda weird buying one way tickets, but I'm super excited. So we are leaving Houston on January 22 and will arrive in Iraq on January 25th. We will get to spend a day in Istanbul and might get to catch up with some friends, so that should be fun! It is a pretty big relief to have a departure date and see and end in sight to the 'preparation phase' of getting ready to go. We're really going!
This week of global celebration at our church has been a really wonderful time of affirmation and opportunity to share about what is going on in Iraq. It has been great to see Jeremy and Michelle and I'm so thankful to all of the families and individuals at our church who have been such incredible advocates for us! So...62 days until we leave. Jeff quit his job last week and Friday is my last day at my job, so we will be traveling a lot and get to spend some good time with family before we leave. I had my sad week a couple weeks ago and now I'm just ready and really excited! I'm dreading the good byes as I know those will be REALLY sad, but I feel an extreme sense of peace and joy for what is ahead.

A Great few days!

We had a fabulous time in Salado and are ready to dive into all the events of this week. Here are some pics of our time:


Here's the B&B we stayed at. I highly recommend it, I think the only thing we might do different is stay in the cottage next time (which isn't attached to the house). There were some crazy drunk ladies that came in late one night singing 'The Hills are Alive' and other Sound of Music Tunes...which under other circumstances I might have enjoyed.





This was our room. Isn't it adorable? It had a little old fashioned stove and a big claw foot bathtub, and a cute little porch with rocking chairs it was awesome!


We had dinner at the Stagecoach Inn the first night and it was great! They had orange roughy which I haven't had in YEARS, but it was something my grandma used to make before she got sick and it tasted just like how she used to make it!


Jeff bought the new Monopoly World Edition before we left and so we played a few times. It was pretty fun, or at least the second time around when I totally tore Jeff up it was fun =) Jeff really enjoyed being the banker!





Friday, we went to Mother Neff State Park and did some hiking and sight seeing. The park wasn't nearly as big as I thought it would be, but it was still really fun and relaxing. Pictures not included, the one where Jeff almost drove his truck into the river and got stuck on the bank, and the one of the park ranger leaf blowing....that's right, he was leaf blowing in a state park.



Then Saturday we came back just in time for Jeff to grill at Woodway's college tailgate and we got to meet up with some friends at Common Grounds while the game was going on.

Now, we are about to go to the zoo with our Sunday school class and then grill out at Cameron Park afterwards. It has been a WONDERFUL few days and we're pumped for Global Celebration at Woodway this week! It was great to speak to Sunday School classes today and to see Jeremy who is back from Iraq for this week!

Getting Away

It is a lot of work getting ready to move overseas, there are a thousand little details to think of and make sure that all the loose ends are tied up stateside so that we can be gone for X years and everything will be taken care of. Not to mention trying to make sure that we have everything we will need in Iraq is purchased and shipped before we leave. The great news is that Jeff & I just reached the 80% mark of our funding which is our magic number for buying plane tickets and choosing a departure date. So, within in the next couple weeks we should have a one way ticket (unless a round trip is cheaper)! It has been so humbling to see the provision of the Lord. Thursday is Jeff's last day of work and next Friday is mine. We had to put in our notices when we were at 60% of what we needed even though we didn't want to quit until we had reached 80%. Now here we are just a few days away from Jeff's last day and we hit our 80%! God has been so faithful throughout this whole process and I've experienced in a whole new way that His grace really is enough for whatever He calls us to do.
So, we decided that before we kick it into high gear with Woodway's Global Celebration next week, that we needed to get away for a little while and just spend some quality time together not talking about fundraising, or stuff we need to get, or our huge list of stuff to get done. So, tomorrow night we are heading to Salado to stay at a Bed and Breakfast for a couple nights. I've always wanted to do this and we found this place that looks so cute!

We are also going to go to Mother Neff state park and go hiking and hang out by the lake, do some reading and just relax! I'm super excited about this much needed getaway before we dive into our last 2 months stateside!

So, if you think about it this weekend, please pray for our time together that we would be rejuvenated and that we would come back ready to dive into our final weeks here! Also, please be praying with us for that last 30% ... our personal goal is to be at 110% of our funding before we leave in January.

What you really want for Christmas

Christmas is - at its historical heart - the celebration of a life;
namely, the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary.

But even in its contemporary form, Christmas is a celebration of life and living; for even those that do not celebrate Jesus at Christmas do celebrate the memories and warmth of family, the assurance of another year successfully completed, and the hopefulness of a year ahead.

There is no gift greater than the gift of life.

All the decorations, the songs, and the gift-giving are meant to say one thing: “Life is worth living and it’s great living it with you!”

This season, share that message in a meaningful way with your loved ones and with Iraqi families on the other side of the world. With an inherent emptiness to so many of the gifts we reach for at Christmastime, this Gift of the Heart is assuredly one of the most impact-making gifts you can give this year, providing hope, real medical relief, and peace to mothers, fathers, and their children waiting in Iraq for a spot on the coveted Surgery List.

All Gifts of the Heart funds will cover medical, travel, and hospitality expenses for an Iraqi child and mother.
Give Life!

When you make a donation in honor of someone you will receive this "In your honor" gift certificate. You will also receive a:

- Softcover coffee table book of Preemptive Love Art commissioned and culled from Kurdish artists supporting PLC in Iraq

- Free PLC 3X4" vinyl stickers

- Free "Buy Shoes. Save Lives." campaign bracelet.

So, click on over here and give the gift of life this year.

Change

There are few things in life more certain than change, you'd think I'd be more accustomed to it. I feel like my life has been in a semi constant state of transition for about 3 years and I guess I just assumed there would be a point where it would stop. But the more I think about it the more I imagine that everyone probably feels this way - that things are constantly changing, whether it is your family, job, the economy, the president...things are always changing. I've considered myself to be pretty flexible and easily adaptable, but now I'm not sure that is true.
I guess I'm feeling like I'm standing on this precipice of change and I know that things will never be the same. Our departure overseas is rapidly approaching and while it has been coming for a long time, I am just now feeling the weight of this decision. Well, that might be a little too dramatic, I guess what I mean is I'm just now feeling the intensity of the change looming all around us (was that less dramatic?). I guess it just feels really dramatic right now and even though I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else than where we are going, I'm feeling pretty sad right now.
I mean it isn't that life is perfect right now and I want to freeze it and make time stay like this, it is just more an acknowledgment that things will never be the same. When I came back from Turkey every summer and after living there for 6 months, I was different each time and it was a hard adjustment for me to be back in America. I know I will change and while part of me is eager and excited about that I'm also scared. Living in Iraq and doing the work we will be doing is going to change me and I know I can never live the same way again or look at the world the same way after I have experienced that... and it kind of scares me. I know that Jeff will change and be changed by our time there. I know our marriage will change and we will learn totally different ways of relating to each other. And those things scare me, but I think what makes me the most sad is thinking about how all of you will change.
Every time when we come home I know that we will see a little bit of it, but probably won't be able to really see it until we are back for a while. I'm sad about the weddings that I will miss (yours especially, fife), the birthdays I will miss and how this is our last Thanksgiving and Christmas to spend with our families for a while. I'm sad about the babies that will be born and will grow up and I won't get to watch it first hand. I'm sad about not being able to talk to my close friends and family that I talk to weekly. I'm worried that people will forget about us and that we won't be able to be close to the people we are close to now. I'm just feeling sad about the inevitable change that will happen and scared about what it will be like.
I know we are headed in the right direction, and I don't doubt for a second that God will fulfill his promise to repay a thousandfold (or is it a hundred?) all that we have given up for him and that He is SO worth it! But, I guess this is just me counting the cost and I think it is okay to feel sad and grieve the loss of these things, otherwise it would just be that much harder when the reality hits. I just wanted to be honest about where I am right now and what it feels like to get ready to move overseas.

Pictures of late

Sorry for the posting freeze, I didn't even try to get on board with the whole Nablopomo (National blog posting month) thing - I don't stand a chance. But here are some pictures of the last couple weeks.


These are flowers Jeff got me that bloomed just in time for our 10 monthiversary!


aren't they lovely?


This is from the Art.Music.Justice tour I wrote about a few posts ago. From right to left that's Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, Sara Groves, and Brandon Heath.


This is the lovely Morgan Family at the Baylor 2008 Homecoming Bonfire




Nothing like a big fire to make you feel all warm and toasty inside...and out.

Pics from MEW at UMHB

We had a good time last week hanging out with students at Mary Hardin Baylor and telling them about the work we will be doing in Iraq and what is currently going on with The Preemptive Love Coalition.


This is a canvas I made for the event to showcase some of the latest stuff from our website.

The following are pics of pinwheels our sunday school class help make for the event. PLC has a new Pinwheels program to help advocate for these kids in Iraq and give people some really tangible ways to get involved. Did you know that most of these 3000+ Iraqi children in need of heart surgery aren't even strong enough to blow a pinwheel? So, if you can blow a pinwheel then you can make a pinwheel, sell a pinwheel, get a bunch of people together to make and sell or showcase pinwheels on behalf of these kids who need our help!


Aren't these fun?!



This is us at our booth for the ACT Now event

If you don't have a buy shoes. save lives or preemptive love T-shirt yet, the new V-necks are on the website and they're pretty awesome!

pics from PA

we did some pumpkin carving in honor of there actually being an autumn in the northeast


Elyse & Stephen in front of their new house. Isn't it amazing?!


this was taken at a corn maze we went to. Now, I've never been to one of these before, but this thing was gigantic! If you flew over it you would see a family of potato heads which made up the maze itself. There were 15 checkpoints and it took us about 2 hours to get through it! I think Elyse & I would still be in there if it weren't for Stephen.


This is me at this crazy nursery where Elyse was getting some fall mums to decorate the porch with. Everyone in PA decorates their yards and houses for Halloween - it's like Christmas in different colors...and characters.


The happy family... actually, that is Stephen's parent's dog, Regan. But he is the cutest thing you've ever seen! And yes, he is dressed like a pumpkin. Like I said, they go all out for halloween. I failed to take any pics of the changing leaves, but I did a ton of that 2 years ago when I visted about this time. here are some of those pics from New Jersey actually

Art * Music * Justice

Last night Jeff & I had the opportunity to attend the final night of the Art. Music. Justice tour in The Woodlands. The proceeds from the event benefited the International Justice Mission and the World Hunger Relief. It was an incredible night of worshiping with some of my favorite artists and hearing about what is going on around the world and how to get involved. It was a really renewing time that made me feel really alive! I think in America it is easy to hide or insulate ourselves from the realities of the rest of the world, sometimes even things that are happening in our own backyards. It is really good for me to be confronted with these things - poverty, famine, slavery, sex trafficking of children, orphans, widows, the hopeless, women and children dying of AIDS, or 3000 + Iraqi children waiting for a heart surgery or death. I know it seems like a paradox, but these things make me feel ALIVE. I was telling Jeff last night through tears about how THIS is what we were made for, this is what it means to be human. It is to LOVE, to show COMPASSION, to give ourselves away to the broken. I was so challenged by these songwriters who sung about how 'No amount of green, gold or silver will replace the peace of God." It is so easy for me to hedge myself and begin to believe that it really is about the stock market and my future retirement, or it's about feeling good, or it's about my family, or maybe it's about power and wealth. That's not how God made us! Over and over throughout scripture we are exhorted to:
"Give counsel, grant justice, make your shade like night at the height of noon, shelter the outcasts, do not reveal the fugitive. Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you, be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more and destruction has ceased and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, then a throne will be established in steadfast love." Isaiah 16:3-5 Amen and let it be!
I was challenged with the question of To what end have you groomed your personal walk with God? Because the TRUTH is that we are not powerless, not in the least! Let us not become so numb to the injustice in the world that we decide it is NOT our problem, that we have no power to affect change in the world - friends, that is a lie! To every single follower of Jesus - the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, the sick, the orphaned, the dying - these are your neighbors and we have been called to action:
'For by grace you have been saved though faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we SHOULD walk in them.' Ephesians 2:8-9
Not only do we have the promise of God that these good works exist, but we have the POWER of God to accomplish them! We are not powerless! But we must be obedient, we cannot claim our money as our own, our time as our own, our very lives as our own! Most of you know that Jeff & I are moving to Northern Iraq to work with The Preemptive Love Coalition to fund heart surgeries for 3000 + Iraqi children. We are less than 3 months from our departure and you know what? We are SO grateful for this opportunity! We would not choose anything else right now - not career, not 'home', not comfort, not family, not safety. That's not because we are some strange breed of holy or anything, but it's because of the grace of God in our obedience. We decided to obey God in his command to seek justice and love mercy and to give ourselves away for the least of these - for us that means going to Iraq. And God's grace is sufficient because last night we were filled with hope for the people of Iraq and for the broken around the world. God is healing, restoring, and drawing these people to himself and we get to be a part of that - it is SUCH an honor. It is an honor to go to Iraq and speak peace in the midst of violence, hatred, oppression, it is an honor to follow Jesus there.
All of the evil in the world, it is not a burden, it is not a burden to go with Jesus there and bring light and hope and freedom! Don't believe the lie that you can't do anything, that God can't use you, that the evil cannot be overcome - TAKE HEART Jesus already overcame the world! We have nothing to fear, and we have no excuses. Christian, you have no excuse. I have no excuse. We must respond, how will you respond?

Good Search

I wanted to tell you about an easy way for you and anyone else to raise money for The Preemptive Love Coalition, just by doing what you normally do everyday!

- Go to www.goodsearch.com
- Type in “Preemptive Love Coalition” in the box that asks “Who do you goodsearch for?”
- Click Verify

GoodSearch is a search engine powered by Yahoo! that donates money to the charity that you choose for every internet search that you do through them.

So if you make at least one search a day, and tell everyone you know about goodsearch, PLC will be well on its way towards funding a heart surgery for a child in Iraq, just through a few clicks of a button!

So please forward on the link to others who would join our cause, and start “good search”ing!

Sufficiently Whelmed

I'm not totally overwhelmed, but I'm not simply whelmed, so I guess I'm sufficiently whelmed right now. I brief overview of the last 2 weeks:

- My dad got his knee replaced last Monday. The surgery went well and he is back home and recovering - we're going to see him this weekend.

- I went to Pennsylvania Thursday - Monday to visit my sister and her new husband, it was a really great trip and I'm so glad I got to spend some good time with them.

- While I was in PA I got a text message about one of my friends from middle school and high school who died in a motorcycle accident. The funeral is today.

- Monday morning Jeff's uncle was scheduled for a hip replacement and his grandfather accidentally fell and broke his hip so his mom had to fly up to Dallas to be there for Big since George was also in the hospital.

- I went straight from the airport Monday to the hospital with Jeff to see Big. he had surgery yesterday morning and everything seemed to go well, he is in recovery now but still at the hospital.

- This week is Missions Emphasis Week at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor, so Jeff took a couple days off work to be there and I have been going there in the morning, coming back for work in the afternoon, and going back to UMHB at night, then coming back to Waco and starting all over again.

- One of my dearest, best friends lost her baby yesterday. She found out she was pregnant a few weeks ago and then this weekend went to the ER with extreme pain and yesterday found out that she had an ectopic pregnancy and had surgery to remove the baby. It went well and she is back home recovering, but I'm still really sad for her and her family.

So, it's been a pretty intense few days and I've been really sad about all of these things. God has been really good and faithful to remind me of his goodness and absolute trustworthiness in the midst of everything. If anything, all of these things have helped me really fall deep into the Father and be embraced by His peace and love. He knows how to hold and heal broken hearts better than anyone else.

So, anyway, that's what is going on with us lately. I will post some pictures from PA soon. Thanks for your prayers!

To my loving wife for all to know-

I have told you before that you are my favorite. Your response is usually favorite what? To which I reply my favorite everything. I would rather sit and do nothing or go on some crazy, long, fun something or other with you than anyone else. I know I often times get sidetracked or caught up in what I am doing or need to be doing and most likely forgot to show you all the love you deserve. For that I apologize. Today I want you to know how happy you make me. You do make me very happy even though I know my responses are often limited but inside I really am excited, happy and care a whole lot. With all the support stuff we having been doing there is absolutely no way as much would have been done if it wasn't for all your help. The other night as we were about to go to sleep you shared with me a page out of your journal about how you respected me. It really meant the world to me for you to share that with me. Thank you!! You are the love of my life and always will be. Know that you make me so incredibly happy and that I consider myself to be the luckiest man alive! I love you!!!

America is my lullaby

I sing it every day, it seems with each passing moment I drift a little deeper into this slumber of mine.
I don't remember hearing the song, and have no idea when I began singing along... but here I find myself, deep in a slumber I can't seem to shake.
I have moments of awareness, moments where I feel alive and remember what it was like to not be so tired and lifeless, but the longer I let myself sleep the more those seem like dreams.
Maybe it is the workplace or my routine that has me constricted, maybe it is my TV that tells me what to think and what I need, maybe it is how easy and entertaining everything is, maybe it is how life never seems to slow down and I just keep waiting for a break that will never come.
But, bigger than all of these things is the fact that I don't need anything - I almost never feel actual need. I may feel desire or lust, but I don't feel real need here in America. I have everything I need X 12.
It scares me a little bit - or a lot - how easy it is to let myself drift off and it can take weeks before I realize that I haven't felt really ALIVE. I feel most alive when I am connected to the source of life - obviously. But honestly, it is difficult for me to tap into that regularly when I'm here where everything feels so comfortable and I don't need God to do anything for me, to be anyone to me, to tell me who I am.
I don't think it has to be like this, I don't have to sleepwalk through all of my days here - but it is really easy for me to do just that. I know the tune so well that it gets in my head and then if I let it the tune will get in my heart and before I know it I've just slumbered my way through another year without engaging the world around me or engaging Jesus Himself. I'm sure there will be many difficult days in Iraq where I long to be 'home', but I know that I won't be asleep, I will be watchful and alert and alive! I imagine that Iraq has a lullaby all it's own and eventually, it's tune will start to sound familiar, but I'm learning now how to choose to tune it out and sing my own song - one of life and hope and Truth. I want to be like that right now, right here, I'm just confessing that it is really hard for me to do that in America where I can auto pilot my way though life without even remembering I pressed the button.
Does anyone else hear this song or it is just my own struggle to really LIVE everyday and follow Jesus instead of just dreaming about him?

My Twins -The Results

Well, I must say - you guys did pretty good! Missy, Jeff's seen all these pictures too many times to get the wrong answer. I remember in high school before we were dating doing the 'which one am I' test with him where we would go around to EVERY picture in the house and he would have to guess which one I was. If my memory serves me correctly he was only right about 45% of the time - but he's gotten much better now! Fortunately there's never been any mix-ups on his part - although, there was that one time in college when Elyse's then boyfriend tried to kiss me because he thought I was her...awkward. Without further ado (what's ado anyway?)

Kasey: you got them all right!!!! way to go! YOU are the champion!

Jennifer: you scored a 90, you got Pic # 2 wrong, I am on the left

Chelsea: you also got pic # 2 wrong - Santa must have thrown you off.

Missy: You were wrong on pic # 1 - with the baby pictures, when in doubt - I'm the smaller one. My dad and I were talking about this post yesterday and he's like 'I always assume you are the one with the smaller head.' Elyse stole my food tube in utero so she was fatter than me and yes 1 inch taller than me (good observation Tera).

Elaine: Good job! You got pic # 2 wrong and Pic # 9 wrong, It's me, Elyse, and my mom.

All in all, great job friends! You guys are clearly not the ones that go up to my sister or my mom and talk to her like she's me. Last weekend at the garage sale someone thought my mom and Jeff were married....awkward? Yes.

I'm going to PA to visit my sister and her husband this weekend! I'm pretty excited! I haven't seen their new house, and the leaves will actually be changing, I can't wait!

no more nyquil

So, I decided that it must be the Nyquil that makes me crazy after all. Last night we were laying in bed about to go to sleep and I guess Jeff could tell I was kind of restless so he asked me, 'What are you thinking?', my response was something like:
"About safety patrol flags, peanuts, glaciers, doorknobs, hockey, petals, shopping centers, rabbits, pendants, quilting, we need more stamps, who won the debate? ice cream, cleaning out the refrigerator, Kurdish, fire escapes, landslides, what are we going to eat for dinner tomorrow?, where's my phone?, kayaks, girl scouts, meadows, my steering wheel...."
It went on like that for about 4 minutes, during which I think Jeff went to sleep and I decided not to take Nyquil anymore. Yikes!

garage sale update

I'll give ya'll a few days to do the picture guessing, but I wanted to update you on the garage sale. It went really well - thanks for your prayers! I went down to Corpus Thursday to start going through the attic, storage unit, my mom's garage, and our stuff at Jeff's parents house. At first I thought I had just inhaled too much dust and my allergies were going crazy, but by Friday evening I conceded that I was in fact sick - really sick. I made it through the morning shift of the garage sale and then had to go lay on the couch and try not to move. We met our goal of how much money we wanted to make and got rid of all of our junk!

If you can't read the sign it says 'Welcome Mate! I'm Joey, you can take me home for just $2"... But nobody did, he's at Goodwill now.


Turns out the Christmas tree really did sell the clothes it was wearing - kind of like seeing stuff on mannequins...only not so much.



I was pretty disappointed at the timing of the illness, but then I got to thinking last night - and maybe it was the nyquil (I'm still kind of under the influence) but I was thinking about all those things that make me think 'Why would God create that?!' Things like infectious mosquitoes, raccoons, cockroaches, disease causing bacteria, bats, ants that don't bite but eat your food, armadillos, ants that do bite and it feels like fire - things like this. And I realized that all of these things (or maybe just most of them) cause me to have to depend on God and usually produce in me an attitude of humility or a general acknowledgment that I need help. It's good for me to look back on this weekend and KNOW that there is no way I would have been able to have a successful garage sale without God's grace. I'm feeling much better today, and hopefully Jeff & I will not acquire enough stuff for another garage sale for at least 10 years!

My twins

I don't know what the deal is but lately everyone (particularly people who aren't around me very much or who are really close to me) keeps telling me that I look just like my sister, or that I look a lot like her today. I mean I know we're twins and all and look alike but not THAT alike...right? I mean I always thought that as we got older we looked less alike. Also, I am apparently looking increasingly like my mother - to the point where people approach her and talk to her thinking she is me. It's kind of weird to have so many people that look like me. So here's the challenge - look at the pictures below and guess who is me, who is Elyse (my sister) and I'll even throw some mom pictures in there.

First, this is me and my sister. I'm on the left and she's on the right


Now, you're on your own... I have a few pics of us growing up so you can help me decide if we are in fact looking MORE alike as we get older or less alike.
Picture 1

This one's pretty hard - I'm only 92% sure I know which one I am

Picture 2

We did a lot of the matching outfit in alternating colors thing

Picture 3

Okay now for the getting older pictures...

Picture 4


Picture 5

Notice my mom in this picture as a reference for future pictures

Now, for the current pictures. I'll throw in some of my mom too, so you have to guess which one is me, which one is my sister, AND which one is my mom....good luck!

Picture 6


Picture 7


Picture 8


Picture 9



Picture 10


Now it's your turn! Just tell me what side I'm on, and in the ones with my sis and Mom tell me who's who by saying what side everyone is on. Mom & Jeff you don't get to guess

*****update*******

I'm taking Kasey's suggestion and adding individual pics of me, Elyse and my mom so now see if you can tell who's who...

Picture 11


Picture 12


Picture 13