Black Friday shopping with crazies!

These crazies are also known as 3 of my favorite women on the face of the earth....my Mom and my two Aunts.

These women are hardcore and I've been in training for years. In my family, you don't go shopping with them on Black Friday until after you're married, as this is when you start buying your own Christmas gifts for the family, and have the motivation to save the $$$!

We rolled out at 3 a.m., and headed to start our 13 hour day of shopping! Hubby was a little worried about me being tired this year due to little Bambino Bolz, so he said I could go if I was in bed by 9:00, which I begrudgingly agreed to. They are like the Energizer Bunny and never get tired, it's unbelievable! They actually took extra breaks this year (for my benefit) which they would lie about and say they needed, so I wouldn't throw a fit about being babied. I guess hubby was right because I actually had to sit down on a step stool in Kmart for like 10 minutes, I guess Bambino Bolz made me get tired a little quicker than I thought! :)

It's one of my favorite days of the year with some of my favorite people. It's a family tradition that we all dearly love, but not nearly as much as I love these crazies!!! :)

Operation Christmas Child

I kept thinking I was going to blog about this weeks ago....but well that just didn't seem to happen. This year the tiny little church that I go to gathered, packed, prayed for, and delivered 121 boxes to Operation Christmas Child. I couldn't be prouder or feel more blessed to be part of a congregation. Our church has come so far in the way they think about missions, and what is going on in the world around them, and I definitely pray that this is just the beginning!

Here is the picture that was used for Operation Christmas Child this year. Wish it was a little clearer so that you could see the true joy on their faces. What a privilege to be able to give them two gifts this Christmas season- a shoe box full of dolls, flashlights, pencils, etc. and also introduce them to Jesus. I pray that these boxes find their way into the perfect tiny set of hands! If you get a chance check out Operation Christmas Child, they are being the hands and feet of Jesus all over the world.

Anniversary Trip to Vegas

Matt and I went to Las Vegas to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. We stayed for 3 days, but I'm pretty sure we walked 1.3 million miles...give or take. :) I think I'll just let the pictures do the talking... Please excuse the lack of make-up and the super shininess (is that a word?). It was the last stop of one of the days we walked all day long. We always tried to end with the fountains, they were our favorite part of Vegas!

Here we are in front of the Bellagio. Matt was excited to go into this one because he LOVES the Oceans 11, 12, and 13 movies. It was fun to try to figure out what was filmed where!

This is the statue of liberty at New York, New York. We ate several meals inside. We stayed in the Monte Carlo, which after visiting all the other casinos, we discovered that it was one of the quietest casinos on the strip. Very family friendly, and lots of older couples, which was kinda nice it was quiet and we slept great!

So on the first morning there while we were still asleep, there was a knock at the door. I of course freaked and jerked the covers over my head. I couldn't figure out why Matt wasn't freaking out, and responding to my shrieks. He calmly answered the door and brought in this gorgeous vase of flowers for our anniversary! He had called the hotel ahead of time and had it arranged to suprise me!

This is the picture we took after we went to the Blue Man Group show. It was incredible, and I highly recommend it. After the picture I turned around to thank him and to say how much we enjoyed the show. He of course stared at me with the same look that you can see in the picture. I guess you just can't take the Oklahoma out of the girl no matter where you put her. :)

It was a fantastic trip, and a great time for Matt and I to celebrate 3 years of marriage. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways, and the relationship that Matt and I have ranks pretty close to the top of the list!

ummm....is this thing still on??

So I've totally dropped off the face of the earth this summer. I have no excuse other than the busyness that was our summer. I'll give you a rundown with some pictures and explanations, and I will be better about posting...I hope! :)

The summer has been completely full of all kinds of wonderful things, but it has definitely left me wishing for a few less events scheduled on our calendar. More time to cook out, and take my puppy for walks, and sit on the couch and relax...definitely more down time in the near future I hope!

I, along with around 20 other people from my church, went to a local lake here in Oklahoma and put on a week long Backyard Bible Club with carnivals in the evenings. It was a great experience, and so fun to get to work with people as they experience mission work for the first time. Some of the kids we worked with came from backgrounds that would make most adults shudder, and yet they were still joyful. Some of it was heartbreaking, but it was rewarding to get to be his hands and feet and love, hug, and teach these kids for a week.

Here are some pictures from our trip...

I didn't want to put any pictures of the kiddos on here, because I'm not sure I'd appreicate that if I was the mama!

I also went with Matt to Falls Creek as a sponsor. I just love those kids! We had a great time, and it's such a blessing to see their eyes be opened to all sorts of things going on around the world. I was really impressed with the way that they helped to focus them (and us adults) on others and the pain, sorrow, hunger, etc. that is all around them. They also encouraged them to not be so centered on themselves. I unfortunately was only concerned with myself at their age, so it's great to see them teaching that!

We did fun things like karaoke and theme nights, it was a blast! More pics...

This is Matt and his twin brother Mike, and their little sister Mallory dressed up!

Lastly, Matt and I helped with VBS this year, and the theme was Veggie Tales, The Pirates who Don't Do Anything. Matt was an eccentric scientist named Professor Red Beard, and I was shipmate Ali who was in charge of the 4 year olds. We had a blast, but we were TIRED by the end of the week! Here is a picture of us in our costumes. The picture is terrible, but you get the idea.

There's more, but that's enough for one catch up post! What have you done this summer? Did you relax enough and take time to smell the roses?

my 25th post

I know people normally post 100 things about them on their 100th post, but who knows if I'll ever make it to 100 anyway! Since this is my 25th post I thought I would put up 25 random things about me....

1. I really hate scary movies. I think life is scary and sad enough, and that I should only watch things that make me happy!

2. I am super close to my family. I talk to my Mom like 5 times a day, and normally atleast 1 or 2 of my other relatives each day...Dad, Aunt, cousin, sister in law, etc.

3. I'm convinced that our puppy Bear is the cuddliest dog in the world, and I never thought I could love an animal so much. I'm dangerously close to being one of "those" dog owners! Sorry Care :)

4. Matt and I have hearts for orphan ministry. We feel called to serve in this area, but aren't really sure how yet. Right now we help sponsor an orphanage in Africa, and we hope to go work and serve there in the near future.

5. I love Oklahoma State University, and still say that there is nothing like the pride that graduating from a University will give you. If they win, it feels like I just won some award, and I'm equally as sad when they lose.

6. Quality time is the way to my heart. I love spending time with people I love, and it totally recharges me. Quality time with friends and family ranks WAY up there on my favorite things to do with my time.

7. I love the relationship my husband and I have. We have worked hard for it, and still do everyday. Having a good marriage doesn't come naturally, it takes work, but it's some of the most rewarding work I've ever done.

8. I really dislike when people are racist or discriminatory. Really, really, really dislike.

9. I miss college.....a lot. Sleeping in, working out whenver, spending lots of time with friends...good stuff all around! Plus, the real world is pretty stressful.

10. I'm a country girl at heart. I grew up on a farm, have hauled hay, given animals shots, and helped farm animals have babies. I was recently buying dog food for Bear in the large 40 pound sack, and the cashier's eyes got really big when I just picked it up and tossed it onto my shoulder. He was on his way to help me take it out to my car. I did it without thinking, and then he started laughing at me. :)

11. I really like all kinds of music....red dirt, old rock, acoustic, Christian...you name it, and I will listen to it. I'm totally okay with Hank Williams, Jr., Bebo Nornman, Ben Harper, or .38 special.

12. I am a really happy person. I'm smiley, affectionate, and if I see you will really truly be genuinely happy to see you. I've always been that way. If I'm having a bad day, I'm more worried about making your day better with a smile and a hug, than being mopey about my bad day. It may come off as me not being genuine, but I am. That's just me! :)

13. In a few months I will be a licensed counselor, which kind of scares me to death. I'm not even really sure what I want to do with my degree. At this point, I feel like it will probably be something in the area of adoption.

14. As you would assume from number 13, I'm a listener by nature. You could talk for 4 hours straight, and I would totally be good with it.

15. Old rap music is one of my guilty pleasures. You just simply can't beat old school Mase. :)

16. I could live on fresh salsa. Fresh vegetables are some of my favorite foods.

17. I've had some of my best friends since we were 6, and I promise you when we are 76 we'll be just as close. My kids will call them Aunt..... and I am already an Aunt! :)

18. One of my favorite smells in the world in the smell of fresh laundry. Most candles and air freshners in my house are trying to mimick that smell.

19. One of my lifelong dreams is to take my babies on a vacation to Disney World. I think it should be a huge family vacation where all my sister and brother in laws and their babies all go, and we spend a week wearing those really cool Mickey Mouse ears, take pictures, and use it for our Christmas cards that next year! :)

20. One of my life long goals is to be a stay at home Mom, jury is still out on whether that will ever be financially possible or not.

21. I love buying people gifts.....seriosuly. I think it's so fun to try to find something for each person that I love.

22. I am a worrier. I worry about all kinds of things. Some are legitimate and some really just aren't..... For instance, I worry about poverty levels, the number of people that die of AIDS everyday, my Papa having to spend time by himself, my family members being safe when they drive, etc., and then I worry about whether my flowers get enough sun, if Bear likes his toys enough or not, and how disorganized my office is.

23. I love baseball. I went to a million of Cody's games growing up and all the way through college. The Atlanta Braves are my favorite team. My husband is going to coach baseball this year, and I am pumped!

24. My wedding day was absolutley everything I thought it would be. I think about it all the time, and how thankful I am that God allowed me to marry Matt. I've never felt more loved on a day in my entire life. My friends were incredible, and family was overwhelmingly loving. I could tear up at the thought of that day pretty easy.

25. I think that we should love people right where they are with no expectations. That is what Jesus does for me, and that's what my goal is for loving others.

So there you go, some info about me. Do we have anything specific in common? What's something interesting and random about you?

School's Out Forever!!

So this past weekend I finally graduated! I guess they say never say never, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm never going back to school again!

Working full time, learning how to be married, and going to school full time have made the last 3 years busy and stressful to say the least. Matt has been more than incredible throughout this whole process. In fact, would you like to know who ironed my dress for graduation? Yep, you got it!

Friday night he also suggested that I go get a pedicure. I agreed, I mean who am I to argue?? So as a result, my feet were way cute for the weekend!

We didn't get many good pictures at the actual graduation, but of course there always seems to be something funny happen when I'm involved. Since I graduated with my Masters, while on stage I was to get hooded. When the professor tried to put the hood over my dorky hat he almost knocked it off! I grabbed it in time though.... Crazy.

After graduation Matt and my parents had a reception for me and all of our friends and family came. We had a fantastic time, and it was way more than I deserved!

eyes that tell a story....

So I've already told you about how excited we are to be involved with sponsoring a child from the Kebebtsehay Orphanage in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. Well excited, may be a tad bit of an understatement.

We are a part of a sponsorship group that mostly came together through blogs to sponsor this group of children. So many wanted to be involved that our group now sponsors 3 orphanages, all of which are in Ethiopia. There are still spots available for sponsorship in the 3rd orphanage so if you are interested please send Amy an email. I'm sure she will be more than happy to help you get involved! :)

So recently, we got the information on the child we would sponsor. We had been been praying for him/her since we joined the sponsorship group, but to get to connect our prayers with this sweet face was incredible. We aren't allowed to share her name, but I wanted you to see her picture.

Her eyes tell a story, and I think it's one that needs to be shared.

This is "H". She is 3, and she is already in kindergarten! What I wouldn't give to sweep this baby up and hold her for hours. Matt and I are going to do our best to love her the way she deserves to be loved. We are far away, but I hope someday she understands how precious she is to us. These sweet eyes have seen and been through a lot in their 3 years, and I hope that having us (and the One we serve) in her corner will help somehow.

If you think of it pray for "H", and pray that the Lord would help us to be just what she needs as she grows up, whatever that may be.