Some Quotes for the end of one year and the start of another

A new year is unfolding – like a blossom with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within. - author unknown

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof. - Barbara Kingsolver

Be the change you wish to see in the world. - Ghandi

We must always have old memories and young hopes. Arsene Houssaye

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. Carl Bard

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning. Einstein

Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world. Joel Barker

Happiness is not having what you want, it's wanting what you have. Anon

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.
Danny Kaye

Happy New Year. May God teach, mold and bless you beyond anything you could imagine this next year.

Breathing

I first heard about this at our Women's Retreat in October. Then, a few months later Josh was watching one of the Nooma videos to prep for a devo. I heard what Rob Bell was talking about from the other room and jumped to go watch the video.

At the women's retreat someone mentioned that they had just read a book that discussed how the name of God (Yahweh) might actually be the sound of breathing.
The Hebrew people considered the name of God to be too sacred, too holy, to be spoken out loud. Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei, the letters that make up the creator's name, can't actually be pronounced. We've added the vowels "a" and "e" and called him Yahweh or Jehovah, but nobody is actually certain that his name can even be pronounced. If you say Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei quietly to yourself it sounds like breathing.

Go ahead, try it. Whisper Yah as you breath in and Weh as you breath out. It seems to fit naturally.

When I first heard this I immediately thought of my yoga class. In yoga we focus so much on breathe and breathing. I realized that I can focus on saying Yahweh while I go through the poses. I have been doing that for several months now and it is such a powerful experience.

“…the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

In the Bible the word for "breath" is the same word as the word for "spirit".
Okay, now think about this. We, human beings, are created in the image of God. The Bible says we are made in His likeness. When a child is born, before that baby can cry, it has to take in a breath. That means that the first thing every human being will do is speak the name of God. We die essentially when we are no longer breathing - or when we are no longer able to say the name of God.

If you stop and think about it, this powerful. Acts 17:28 says "For in Him we live, and move and have our being". All that we are, we are because of God. If we are able to worship Him and call on Him simply by breathing that tells us something. It is a tangible experience to teach us that we are always in His presence, that He is our creator and sustainer. He is the giver of life. How many of us take time to think about breathing? I encourage you to take some time over the next few days and focus on your breathing. Think about saying Yahweh, the name of God, as you breath.

Tagged - 8

My friend Ashley did this one first.... it is actually hard.

8 Things I Did Today: (I am going to use yesterday since today all i have done is work)
1. Went to Church
2. Did Laundry
3. Went on a walk with Josh
4. Read a book
5. Swept and mopped the kitchen
6. Ate a yummy brisket Josh made
7. Watched a cheesy Hallmark Channel Christmas movie
8. Wrote cards to friends who were in my wedding

8 Restaurants I Like:
1. Cheesecake Factory
2. Jason's Deli
3. Red Lobster
4. Hacienda Colorado
5. Olive Garden
6. Thundercloud Subs
7. Chuy's
8. Taco Bueno

8 Stores I Like:
1. Target
2. J Crew (I don't actually buy anything)
3. Banana Republic ( again, I don't buy much)
4. JoAnn Fabrics
5. James Avery
6. Borders (or any book store)
7. REI
8. Whole Foods

8 Shows I Watch (sometimes):
1. Criminal Minds
2. One Tree Hill
3. Murder She Wrote
4. CSI
5. Walker, Texas Ranger
6. Law and Order
7. Grey's Anantomy
8. Friends

8 Things I Wish For:
1. To go back to Africa
2. Grow taller
3. Be able to be a yoga instructor
4. To have my own business making craft things
5. A Master's degree in Counseling or Social Work
6. A ring for my right hand - used to wear a James Avery one but lost it
7. A house
8. A dog (or any pet)

8 Things I Look Forward To:
1. Having kids
2. Going to Vegas in February
3. Kadesh
4. Decorating a house
5. Seeing family and friends
6. Rock climbing and hiking this summer
7. Many more years with Josh
8. Yoga class tonight

8 People I tag:
Amy O, Mellie, Juli Beth, Samantha, Leah, Amy P, Erin, anyone else who hasn't done it.

Prayer request update

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Wes Encalade, one of Josh's best friends, had a cancerous tumor removed. Early last week he had some tests to see if the cancer had spread. It hasn't and the doctors have said he is CANCER FREE!!! They will still monitor his progress and watch him closely but they didn't find anything else right now. God is so good!

While we were in Abilene for Christmas Josh was able to drive to Denison to spend the afternoon with Wes. He got there right about the time Wes and Naomi got the call from the doctor with the test results. I know if was so good for Josh and Wes to get to spend some time together. Wes has been a great friend and example for Josh in youth ministry. I know this must be a relief for Naomi and the rest of the Encalade family as well. I cannot wrap my brain around how I would feel if Josh was sick.

Thanks for your prayers on our friend's behalf.
"And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick man well..." James 5:15

5 Years (post 2)

Josh and I decided to make a list of 5 things that have changed for us in the past 5 years and 5 things that haven't.
Here it goes:

5 things that have changed:
1. Shiloh folds t-shirts differently.
2. Josh eats vegtables other than green beans, potatoes and corn.
3. Shiloh is much more interested in backsetball.
4. Shiloh has learned not to try to have important conversations late at night.
5. Josh has accepted that he cannot fall sleep on his couch watching sport center every night.

5 things that haven't changed:
1. We still love to hold hands.
2. Josh still loves Dr. Pepper (but should drink more water)
3. We live in Denver - far away from all of our family.
4. Shiloh still gives Josh cards when he leaves town.
5. We still go on dates and learn new things about each other.

For our annivesary date we went bowling and then later went to Cheesecake Factory (where we went the night we got engaged). I had asked a friend to decorat our apartment with candles, put out some photo albums and scrap books, and put our wedding video in the dvd player. It was fun to watch the wedding again and remember all the fun things that happened.

5 Years (post 1)

This is one of my favorite pictures of us that we have taken recently.

Yesterday, December 20th was Josh and I's (is that the right way to say that?) 5 year anniverary. That means we have been married for 1826 days. We had a great day together and I will write about that and put pictures up later. More importantly I wanted to write a few things about this special anniversary.

In some ways 5 years seems so short and in other ways it seems like we've been married forever. We have had to go through a lot of challenges already but the good memories far outwiegh the tough ones. We really are on the same team. I am so blessed to have a husband who is so patient, supportive, encouraging, loving and thoughtful. He also gives great hugs. I really could go on forever about things that I love about Josh and our marriage but we are getting up at 4am to start drivng to Abilene to spend Christmas with my family so I need to go to bed.

More soon.

White Elephant Gifts

Tomorrow is the youth group Christmas party. This is the one event each year that Josh leaves entirely up to the parents to plan. The past few years we have done a gift exchange that is a "real gift" with a $5 limit - that usually means a lot of $5 gift cards.

This year we are doing a White Elephant gift exchange. I love these! They are hilarious and its so fun to come up with stupid gift ideas. So, I thought I would make a life of funny white elephant gifts. Please feel free to add your own!

1. A box of lint (someone did this a few years ago)
2. A potty training book
3. A giant box of styfoam peanuts with something little hidden in it (Josh did this)
4. A pink yard flamingo
5. A roll of toliet paper
6. A doggie dental kit (dog toothbrush and meat flavored toothpast)
7. A giant rubber band ball
8. zit cream
9. A self tape/cd (like the stop smoking one Chandler used on Friends)
10. Huge pair of granny panties

I would love to hear things you have given, gotten or thought of!

Vacation Part 4

I am finishing the Thanksgiving vacation just in time to start the Christmas vacation next week.

One of the highlights of my whole trip was getting to see Mark, Nancy Jasmine and Olivia. Nancy was both of my brother's kindergarten teacher and one of my mom's best friends. Nancy will credit my mom for bringing her to the church. I was at the hospital when Jasmine was born 2 months premature and saw Olivia days after she was born. Both of these girls call me "Sissy" and my brother Jeremy "Bubba". I babysat them all the time in middle school and high school. One time when I was babysitting we went through a tornado! Both girls were in my wedding and are so so special to me!

Nancy was always kind of 1/2 friend and 1/2 mom figure to me. I admire her for so many things. She married Mark about 6 1/2 years ago (I think that's right). He has been such a huge blessing for her.

Josh and I stayed with them Saturday night then went to church and to lunch on Sunday. At church they showed me where Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley sit!
For lunch we went to Rudy's BBQ - "worst BBQ in Texas". Actually, the best BBQ in Texas. I introduced Josh to Rudy's a few years ago and now he can't get enough of it!

That's pretty much all of the vacation. I think being in Austin was good for my soul - reminds me of where I came from and just feels so wonderfully familiar. I always love being with the Jones family. I have the best in-laws ever and look forward to all of our visits. All in all, a great trip. Thanks for reading.


l to r - me, Josh, Jasmine, Nancy, Mark, Olivia

Prayer request

Hi everyone. Some of you may know Wes and Naomi Encalade. Wes has been one of Josh's best friends since high school. This morning Wes had surgery to have a tumor removed. The doctors are fairly certain that the tumor is malignant but we won't know more until Friday.

I know that this has hit Wes's friends and family pretty hard. He is young, healthy etc. so this was a surprise but it is also so close to the holidays.

There are a lot of people praying for the Encalade family today but it can never hurt to have more prayers going up on their behalf.

Thanks everyone!

The Bible According to Weezer

I love Heart Songs by Weezer. No, it isn't really about the bible or God or anything like that but Josh did teach a class based on it.
The song (lyrics below) is about a lot of the different songs that have influenced Rivers Cuomo. It starts out with songs that are older - probably ones he heard other people listen to, then songs he liked, then his own music. The class last Sunday was about Mary's song in the gospels. She talked about things she has heard about, as well as things that she has experienced.
I like that the Weezer song sounds so passionate. It is saying that he can continually come back to these songs. That is how we should be with the bible and stories of God working in people's lives. We should continually come back to those things when times are tough, when we need a reminder. The rich history of faith, people who lived out their faith etc are a part of us just like all of these songs played a part in Weezer's music.

I take no credit for this analogy - Josh came up with it all and it was a great lesson. I'm sure that I messed it up or at least did not do it justice. Really, I just love the song.

*************************************************************************************

Gordon Lightfoot sang a song
About a boat that sank in the lake
At the break of the morning
A Cat named Stevens found a faith
He could believe in
And Joan Baez,I never listened
to too much jazz but hippie songs
Could be heard in our pad
Eddie Rabbitt sang about how much
He loved a rainy night
Abba, Devo, Benatar
Were there the day John Lennon died
Mr. Springsteen said he had a hungry heart
Grover Washington was happy on the day
He topped the charts
These are the songs

Chorus:
These are my heart songs
They never feel wrong
And when I wake
For goodness sake
These are the songs
I keep singin'

Quiet Riot got me started with the bangin' on my head
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Slayer
Taught me how to shred
I gotta admit though, sometimes
I would listen to the radio
Debbie Gibson, tell me that you think we're all alone
Michael Jacksons in the mirror
I've gotta have faith if I wanna see clear
Never gonna give you up,Wish me love or wishing well
It takes two to make a thing go right
If the Fresh Prince starts a fight
Don't you worry for too long
'Cause you know
These are the songs

These are my heart songs
They never feel wrong
And when I wake
For goodness sake
These are the songs
I keep singing

Back in 1991 I wasn't havin' any fun
'Till my roommate said "Come on and put a brand new record on"
Had a baby on it, he was naked on it
Then I heard the chords that broke the chains I had upon me
Got together with my bros in some rehearsal studios
Then we played our first rock show
And watched the fan base start to grow
Signed the deal that gave the dough to make a record of our own
The song come on the radio
Now people go
This is the song

These are my heart songs
They never feel wrong
And when I wake
For goodness sake
These are the songs
I keep singing

Psalm 13

Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

4 my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the LORD,
for he has been good to me.

This Psalm has been resonating in my heart and mind recently. It seems like life gets so busy, stressful, uncertain and overwhelming that I just keep asking "how long?". Yesterday at church Josh and I were able to share with our church that we have been having a rough few weeks. For me especially, the pain and loss of the 2 miscarriages has been coming to the surface.
It is good to know that no matter what, God's ways are higher than our ways. He will be faithful. He works for the good of those who love Him. So, I will keep reading and living Psalms as they so often reflect what I am wanting to say better than I could ever say it.

Vacation Part 3

So after I hung out in Austin I came back to Mansfield. Josh had driven in from Colorado Monday so when I saw him Tuesday that was the first time in 5 days! We went to Simply Fondue for a late birthday celebration. It was a great dinner and the restaurant wasn't very crowded. I love birthday dinners!



Wednesday we went to lunch with the Berry family. Sharron was Josh's "camp mom" and Josh and I have always been close to Jenny (Partnuh). It was great to catch up.



Then it was THANKSGIVING. We did all the usual stuff - cooked, ate, napped, ate more etc. One of my favorite parts of the day was watch my Longhorns slaughter A&M. Josh's family is full of Aggie fans. Lauren and I were the long UT supporters and took a lot of teasing, but it was all worth it.

Friday consisted of shopping that morning then going out for a surprise. Sue (Josh's mom) had wanted to go to the Ice sculpture tour at the Gaylord, Texas hotel/convention center for several years so this year we went. It was 9 degrees in the tour so we all had to wear these giant blue parkas. Gary didn't want to wear one because he thought he was tough....
In this pictures virtually everything is made solely out of ice. We even went down a giant ice slide! It was a really cool experience and provided lots of fun picture moments.
After the ice tour we went to a Brazillian Steakhouse - Josh and Jared were in heaven! They had a great salad/side bar (which the boys just considered filler) and then 14 types of meat. If you have never been to a Brazillian Steakhouse, don't eat for at least 2 days before you go. Each person has a little stop sign thing and when you turn it to green you are attacked with people wanting to give you whatever type of meat you have. My favorite quote was when Jared asked one of the servers what type of meat he had; Josh's response was "Who cares, it's wrapped in bacon, just eat it." We were all so stuffed we were in "food comas. I was trying to find a place to lay down to take a nap. All in all, a great day - shopping, Christmas decorations, and lots of food.

Friday Night's Activities

This past Friday was awesome! To give you a little bit of the back story, Mitch is a boy in our youth group. His birthday is 2 days after mine. Last week at church he handed out invitations to a party to all of the high schoolers. Josh asked why he didn't get one and Mitch either ignored him or made some smarty pants comment about how he wasn't invited. So, all week last week Josh had been teasing Mitch and making comments about not getting invited to the party.

Josh called me one day while I was at work and told me his brilliant plan. He decided that we should go toilet paper Mitch's house during the party. He told this idea to several of the other youth group parents who also agreed it was brilliant, there were even a few parents who really, really wanted to come but couldn't.

So, Friday night Josh, myself, Dennis, Pam, Don and Gale went to dinner and then put "Operation Crash the Party" into action. As we walked up to the house we noticed that Mitch's parents Lori and Jerry were sitting in front of the big living room window. This meant we had to be super quiet and sneaky. We were able to get the house and trees pretty good for about 30 minutes before Lori looked up and saw a roll of toilet paper go flying by. During that 30 minutes the neighbors came home, looked and us, waved, and went inside. Also during that time a boy left the party. He walked out the front door while Josh was standing there with a roll in his hand. Josh asked if he was going back in and he said he was going home. So Josh replied "cool" and kept working. It must have been pretty funny to see 6 adults papering a house. Just a side note - one of those adults is a police officer!

After we were done/almost got caught we drove back to one of the other couples houses to play cards. While we were there, their son, who was at the party came home. He asked if we had done it - we all played innocent and asked "done what?". By the time Josh and I left Justin was convinced it wasn't us.

Sunday morning at church we again convinced the kids that it wasn't Josh that did it. Oh, we left a note on the porch that said "Dear Mitch, you really should have invited us to your party. Sincerely, ?????" All the kids were trying to figure out what the 5 ?s symbolized and who else could have done it. We finally revealed ourselves and everyone had a good laugh - except for Justin who was shocked his parents lied to him when he asked if they were involved.

It was a great night. Pictures below.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I mean, I really love it. I get so excited when store come out with decoration. I could walk around for hours in craft stores, Pottery Barn, etc.

Another thing that I love about this time of year is buying presents. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy getting presents too, but I like giving them way more. I love to shop for things I think people will like. I love to make presents that are personalized and heartfelt. I also look forward all year to wrapping the presents. I try to make each one unique and beautiful. I love it, love it, love it.

This year I have had a little bit of a hard time getting in the "spirit". I think that is mostly because I had packed away all of our decorations because we are trying to move (more on that another time). Wednesday night I broke down and just got a few things out of boxes. I then decided it was time to start wrapping presents. So I put on comfy pjs, made a cup of my favorite tea you can only get this time of year (it's called Joy and is at Starbucks - try it), got out wrapping stuff and put on White Christmas. I watch White Christmas regularly between Thanksgiving and New Year's. It is technically a Christmas movie but isn't all about Christmas so I have some leeway with appropriate times to watch it.



To add to the new found Christmas spirit, it snowed all day yesterday! Today at work we have been wrapping and sorting present that we will give to our kids in foster care at our holiday party tomorrow. We will decorate cookies, have pictures with Santa, play games etc. This is a great time of year.

All day I've been sing to myself "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Ev'rywhere you go; Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again, With candy canes and silver lanes aglow. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Toys in ev'ry store But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door. "

Vacation Part 2

Monday night I was able to meet up with some friends at Chuy's - the best Mexican food ever! A lot of us had been friends since middle school, some I have knows since I was about 7. I got to meet my friend Eric's girlfriend - she is great and I am so happy for them.
Anyway, we talked about a lot of old stories, dumb stuff we did, people we knew etc. I laughed so hard and so much that not only was I crying but I think my abs got a serious workout. I have such great memories with these friends. We went on retreats with our huddle at church to the lake every summer, went paint balling, had lock-ins at the church, and generally were together a lot! I was one of the few girls in our class but I loved being able to be just "one of the guys". I think the night was good for all of us - to reconnect, enjoy memories etc.


Jeremy, Eric, Cal, Me, Sam


Chez Dishman and I ( i look weird in this picture)

Tuesday morning I went over to Brad and Sandra Dodd's house. They have moved since I left Austin. The house they have now is absolutely amazing! They bought the house and lived in the back yard in an RV for over a year while Brad basically gutted it and rebuilt it. One of the coolest things is that a majority of the materials used are from other jobs that Brad has worked on. There is no way that I could possibly describe the house and do it justice but I will tell you a few highlights. Inlaid into the wood floor is a star out of wood, surrounded by stone - beautiful. Sandra had Brad move the fireplace to another wall in the living room. I'm not sure how you move a fire place but it is amazing. One of the guest rooms is called something like the restoration room - it has a sign explaining it all. The door to that room is from Sandra's grandparents house, the 4 poster bed in it is one that Brad carved himself. There are also pictures of Nathan and a picture of a team of Marines that ran a marathon under the team name "Dodd".
Brad and Sandra are my friend Nathan's parents. Nathan's older sister Amy also hung out with us Tuesday. It has almost been 5 years since Nate was killed. This family is so special to me for so many reasons. When I was in high school Amy was someone that I really looked up to and admired. She helped me get through many of my own health struggles as she herself struggles with having MS.
I won't get into some of the personal details of our time together - but it was such a blessing and very refeshing to just enjoy each other's company, talk about Nathan and most of all talk about our Heavenly Father.

I left their house and started the drive back to Mansfield. That night Josh and I had a date planned for my birthday. More soon.