Girl Time!

On Tuesday afternoon, Veronica, Jessica and I drove to Houston to meet up with Hannah and Grace Keenan and their friends and family who were there for some meetings this week. It was at Shady Acres Baptist church. After getting extremely frustrated with "Tom-Tom" (my GPS) we made several turn around and finally made it to within one mile of the church. We still hadn't eaten supper so we stopped at a Church's chicken there on the corner.
It was disgusting.
The floors and tables were dirty and greasy and hadn't been cleaned in a while. We asked for napkins and they didn't have any, so she gave us some brown paper towel from the dispenser over their sink. They didn't have any ketchup for our fries and when Jess asked for some butter, they gave her a cup of melted, gross butter. There were some Mexican guys sitting near the table and looking at us and smiling the whole time. They had never seen the likes of such beauty in that area and were making it known that they were enjoying it. We were freaked out. Veronica was on the phone with her fiance and he was being all protective of her and giving us orders that she couldn't be anywhere alone. :)
I do have to admit that it tasted good but it was so nasty we couldn't even really enjoy it.
After the service, we had to redeem ourselves by eating McDonald's and Taco Bell. Thank the heavens for that!
We went to bed around 2am. Brooke was really good and slept until about 1 am, but then she woke up and was overstimulated or something and screamed for about an hour on and off. She was so tired but couldn't really sleep. I tried nursing her and holding her close, just thinking that she was in a strange place and scared, but it didn't really help. Finally she fell asleep. There were 6 of us in that room and I felt horrible that she was keeping everyone awake, but they said they pretty much went right to sleep. I was kind of in a separate area so there was a little wall there and I think that might have muffled some of the noise.
Wednesday we went out to Papasitos, a delicious Mexican restaurant and I had the heck embarrassed out of me when Grace's boyfriend told the waitress it was my birthday tomorrow. After the meal, they brought out a huge sombrero or however you spell it and announced to the whole restaurant (in their usual fashion) that it was my birthday. I was really embarrassed but the ice cream was great! :) When the guy found out I was 21 he offered to buy me a shot! Thankfully he didn't! :)
We went shopping for the rest of the day. I got 2 skirts, a shirt and boots that I have been wanting and waiting for them to go on clearance. We had a blast! The way home we got a little lost and made several circles before finally getting on the right highway.
It was a great trip! I'm so glad I went. And now I'm leaving for Florida in 2 days! Wow, I have a lot to do before then. Hopefully Brookie doesn't do as bad on the plane as she did in that hotel room! Ugh!


She sucked on 2 lemons in the restaurant! She loved them!
My clothes and boots that I got :)

Veron feeding Brookie in the hotel room
Beautiful Hannah and Grace
Little brother and big sister to be! :) Daniel and Veronica
From left to right: me, Ashley, Jessica, Daniel, Veronica, Hannah, Brooklynne, Grace and Jack (Thanks to him for telling about my birthday! :)
Her new thing: Playing with her tongue! :)

I love my Life (and other random strange thoughts)

Is that a bad thing? I know we are supposed to be strangers and pilgrims here, but I really do love my life. I think I have it the best of anyone else I know. The more I get to know my wonderful husband, the more I think he is an angel. He is perfect, really. Sometimes I can't believe how much he is willing to do to make me happy or make me feel special. I couldn't have asked for someone any better cause he is definitely at the top of the list!
The more I get to know my daughter, the more I realize she is not an angel, but most of the time she is and I love her more and more each day. She's teething now so she is pretty miserable. I got so frustrated with her yesterday that I just put her in her crib, shut the door and turned off the baby monitor because I couldn't listen to her cry anymore. I feel bad for her but there was just nothing I could do. Eventually she fell asleep, thank God.

Oh Yeah--I'm writing why I love my life.

At least most of the time I do! I enjoy everything about it. I love to have a nice clean house for Nate to come home to at the end of the day. I love taking Brookie for walks. I love eating healthy and working out every day (I'm actually a fanatic about it, which makes me realize "bodily exercise profiteth little" is true. I work out like an animal and take one look at me and you will know the verse to be true too! :). I love making Brooke smile, I love making Nate smile and I love laughing with him. I have a beautiful house and a great family who has welcomed me to the lone star state with open arms.
Which reminds me--the state of Texas is definitely a "loner" state. Everyone here thinks that it is the best state ever (why??? I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I have yet to see something that really impressed me, although I did love the beautiful ocean in South Padre) but nonetheless, it is the lone star state. They have one lone star on their state flag if you didn't know. Come here and you will probably love it too but you will be flabbergasted that Texans in general are extremely prideful about this vast humungus place. It's ok. We know what come after pride, don't we? And I will say that it is very beautiful, I love the weather and the people are generally friendly.
How in the world did I get on that? This is a really random post, and not in the least bit edifying.
I love my life...oh yeah. I love that I get to live in Texas, despite what I say about it. It's nice here and I love it because my lover loves it and we will have hundreds of little Texan decedents running around someday--Italian Texans! Watch out Texas!

(this is turning into an endless ramble)

I love that I was raised in a Christian home and that I have godly parents who love me. I talk to my Mom several times a week and I talk to my sisters every single day. I love that we all have Verizon and it's free to talk to them! Seriously, we are giving Verizon a run for their money! Can I tell you a secret? The first month after I was married I used 3600 minutes talking to Verizon phone people. That means only my hubby, family and 2 friends. Unbelievable! Thankfully I am not so lonely anymore and I have cut that number way down! At least to 3000! (Just kidding)
I don't even know if I should post this. But I think I will. I'm in a strange mood right now. Maybe it's the little bowl of ice cream I ate after my very healthy lunch. It did something to my mind I think.
I'm gonna post pictures of Foofer soon...she is getting so big! Today she laughed out loud for no reason!
I think she is gonna be like me....oh no.

Swept off her feet! :)

Well, that title was a little dramatic I must admit. But that's what I am--dramatic! So, (drum roll please......) I am so happy to tell you that my sister Claire is being courted by a very (godly, cool, handsome--just had to throw that in there) guy named Greg Pritchard. I am so so so happy for her!

They met when Greg drove a bus up to N.Y. from Alabama to bring down a group that was going for the Jubilee. A few weeks later they started communicating with Dad's permission to get to know each other. I guess they liked what they got to know because on Wednesday Greg asked Claire what she thought about courting him. She said she thought it would be a really good idea! :) So after he talked to my dad and his Pastor they were officially a courting couple! Yeah! Congratulations you guys!

PS I'm sorry the picture is so small! Hopefully I can post some better ones' soon!

Bro. John Bishop

Bro. Bishop has been preaching at our church this week for special meetings. Tonight was actually the last night, and because of my baby being sick and not being able to put her in the nursery I only heard about half of a sermon. My husband has filled me in on a lot. (I love him! :)
Bro. Bishop got spinal meningitis 12 years ago. Now listen to this. He lost all memory of everything. He had to learn how to walk, talk, use the bathroom, read, write...everything. He forgot all that he had ever known, and everyone he had ever known, including who his wife was. When she was trying to explain to him how they were together, she said,
"I am John's and John is mine."
He replied, "so you are my Donna?"
And to this day, 12 years later, he calls her "my Donna."
Sometimes he sounds like a little kid when he preaches. But for the most part, his messages are intelligent, deep and obviously come from a very intimate relationship with God.
He is blind at the time, a part of the cycle of meningitis. 90% of people who go blind because of this will recover. He says he hopes to be in the majority!
I can't imagine going through what he has gone through, and yet he always has a smile and jokes about everything that has happened to him. One time he and his seeing eye dog were in a grocery store. A man came up and asked him what he was doing.
He replied, "oh, we're just looking around." :)
He cracks jokes like that all the time! I have to wonder if I would be wallowing in self pity if that was me? At one point in the sermon, he started to tell about a man, ..."who was having a really, really hard time. Things were just going really bad for him..."
What? I am thinking to my carnal, fleshly, nonspiritual self. How could you even say that someone was going through a really hard time, when you lost your memory and you are now blind? Look at all you have gone through! Basically, he was an infant! And yet because of his close walk with God he is able to say something like that. What an amazing, holy man of God.
His ministry is called, "God is so good ministries" and I'm sure you could look it up online if you wanted to read his whole story. He focuses on ministering to hurting people.
I just know for myself that I have nothing to complain about. My life has been a breeze! I just pray that if I went through a trial like that someday that I would be faithful enough to be like this man that has such great faith!

I know the Lord is Good!!!

If you are discouraged over something in your life, or down about some circumstances right now, listen to this song and I promise it will lift you up! Even if you aren't down, it's still a great song. It will remind you of how GOOD God has been to you! This was videoed in a service in Alabama we were at in November. Feel free to praise the Lord and lift your hands up in thanksgiving to him with those in the congregation! :) I do! (When I'm all by myself :)

Here are some pictures from the end of December. It was a great month with Adam being able to come home and spend 2 weeks here. We had a great Christmas, which I already wrote about and a wonderful New Years too! I have started on my resolutions--I cleaned out my closet and my dresser and got rid of 5 garbage bags of clothes. Now that I can see the floor in my closet and the top of my dresser I feel much better! :)
I am determined to get my house in order. We are selling it and we have accumulated way too much stuff. I am slowly cleaning out each room and getting rid of as much as possible so I won't have to do when I am actually packing all of my things!
Nate has started on his mission to loose some weight and was at the gym last night. If you guys have any healthy, easy, yummy recipes to share or ideas for lunches I can send with him please let me know. The lunches can be refrigerated but not warmed so it's kind of difficult to find variety.
Anyway, I think that is about all that is new. Please pray that we can sell our house as soon as possible!


The Sunday before Christmas we matched! I love having a girl to match with!
Happy New Years!!!
Brooke had a little friend at the New Years Eve Party named Leora :)
Friends forever! Veronica had just gotten engaged, so she was pretty shocked!
Happy to be sitting by herself and playing (check out those thighs!)

At the airport when Adam came home! It was so great to see him again!
Dave and Veronica got engaged on New Years Day on the River Walk and we got to see it! We are so happy for them!
Our Christmas day family picture. I love that Brooke is smiling!
My beautiful baby on Christmas Eve! She was so happy!
Aunt Debbi sent her a "first Christmas" bear that she absolutely loves!

Sorry that the pictures aren't in order. Thanks guys for your patience with me and my huge spaces between posts! I am trying to do it more often! Love to you all!