Brother and Sister???

You think they are related???

Prayer

My heart hurts right now... For so many reasons. I ask that for those of you to read this to just put me in your prayers. I know I must lean on God for He is the only One who can help me in these times. His grace is enough, allowing us to overcome any obstacle that comes in our way. It does. And I know that as long as we let God's plan of Christ forming in us work its ways, He will take our sorrows and enlarge our hearts.

Thank You Jesus for your unconditional love. Thank You for pulling us through the rough times. Thank You for celebrating with us through the good. And most of all, thank You for all that You've done so we can be set free. Help me to prove myself faithful to You as you test me through life's difficulties. You are an amazing God!

Happy Veteran's Day!

The land of the free... because of the brave!

That's something I saw at the parade this morning. I am so proud of everyone who has taken the time out of their lives to help fight for our country. It's definitely not an easy task. And those times that they are sent overseas without their family, they risk their lives each day as their families wait patiently for their return.

Military children are called "brats." After my dad retired this year, Diamond and I received "BRAT" certificates and here is what it means...

• B - Being the day of your father's retirement, we are honored to present you with this certificate, as a special member of the team that helped contribute so much to the Air Force over a long and distinguished career.
• R - Rightfully so, an "Air Force Brat" is a special type of person and an important member of the Air Force team. Air Force Brats do not sign up to be in the Air Force, they are born into it. They have sacrificed so much fo their country as their parents.
• A - Air Force Brats know what it means to pick up and make new friends. They know what it means to have their parents miss a school play, a sports event, a recital, a birthday, or a holiday, just because they had to work late, go to the field or deploy somewhere in the world. They know that it is as hard to be an Air Force Brat as it is to be in the Air Force.
• T - Thus, above all, Air Force Brats understand that their job is very important to the Air Force and to America. You are the reaso your father proudly supports so much time to the United States Air Force.

So thanks Dad! Thanks for all your hard work and dedication supporting our country. And to all of those who are still in there fighting, remember that you are their inspiration to keep going.

It's Friday...

Enough said...

Oh, and it's a 3 day weekend!

Christmas traditions

This is for you no_iffer. It was such a great idea. It's always so nice to read what other traditions families share. Here are ours:

• We always take out the tree for decorating the day or weekend after Thanksgiving. This is what I look forward to after eating all that turkey and dressing.
• Dime and I always shop together for a toy to donate for Toys for Tots. We also usually also make a donation of old toys to the Salvation Army sometime during this time.
• Since I've moved to San Angelo, every year I have volunteered to work the Christmas Lights. I love doing this. If you ever get a chance to volunteer for this, you will have a blast. So if you decide to do your tour this year on December 28, we will be there to greet you at the entrance.
• We prepare our Christmas meal on Christmas Eve as a faimily, which we call Noche Buena, and usually eat at about 11 at night. Everyone usually tries to make something. That's a lot of people in the kitchen all at one time.
• Dime and I usually get matching pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve to wear while we take our Christmas video. One we always plan to send, but somehow it never makes it out.
• Then at we continue to stay up until midnight to open presents. This gives us Christmas Day to play with all of the new presents. Dime usually gets a game every year so this is our time to test it to make sure it's fun.
• Everyone gets at least one gag gift. It's something to just make us all laugh. Please don't judge me, but a couple (yes only a couple) of years ago, my mom wrapped up some pads for me. She wrote a little note saying "Here my loving daughter. Maybe you will start buying your own this year." Ha ha ha... Not so funny.
• And ever since I can remember, we have always gone to watch a Christmas or good family movie on Christmas Day.

Gosh what a long list...

We'll see how long this lasts...

We finally got our treadmill fixed and I am on the third consistent day of using it. I once learned in a Bible study that it takes 21 consecutive days of doing something to form a habit, which means I only have 18 more days to go. I'm going to try my best. This is probably the worst time to start a diet and exercise plan, but what better time to start than today. I need it.

And if you ever want to buy a piece of exercise equipment for you home, I definitely recommend a treadmill. I like being able to exercise when I want and being able to listen to music or watch tv while I do it. So... we'll see how this goes...

To be or not to be a habit??? Ask me in 18 days.

And the countdown begins...

52 more days until Christmas!!!

This is my favorite time of year! I love going to all of the stores and seeing all of the cute Christmas decorations. I already can't wait to put our Christmas tree up... 52 more days... and tomorrow, it will be 51.

Maybe we'll get some snow this year.

Woah!

I just realized that it's been almost 10 days since my last post. What has happened?!? I think anyone who reads my blog is probably tired of looking at ladies in blue.
Tonight, I had a really enjoyable night with my baby. Sometimes she complains that I don't spend enough "quality time" with her. It's true. I come home from work, and about 3 hours later, it's bed time. I wish I could stay home. I wish I could pick her up from the bus and go to her school functions. I hate having to work and miss out on these things. For all of you stay home moms, you sure are blessed. 3 or 4 hours five days a week just doesn't feel like enough, especially when you spend an hour of that preparing for dinner.
So today, we hung out. We played outside with Ruby, we exercised, we played a couple games of High School Musical CD board game, read together (I actually made her read me a bed time story tonight for a change), practiced piano, baked banana bread, and just spent some good old mommy and Dime time. I really enjoyed it. Thanks Dime! I thank God for blessing me with a child who has a heart like hers. I continue to pray that she grows up to be an amazing woman of God.