Oh. Deer.

The buck stopped [slammed] here.  Nice, eh?  

As I was driving to the grocery store last night a deer ran into my car.  It was dark, and a little freaky.  It was so fast, and made quite the impact/sound as it happened... but thankfully I stayed on the road and just kept on to the store.  What's a girl to do?

I guess it was bound to happen living around these parts.  I'm just thankful it wasn't worse and that it was just me in the car.  

It's the second time in my life I've had an accident that left the passenger door un-open-able.  Hopefully the last :)  

It's Only Thursday??

It's been the shortest of weeks, it's been the longest of weeks.  Time seems to be draaaaaging, but at the same time I feel like it's been a really full week.
Let's see, we started the week out getting ready for Bill's birthday which was on Tuesday.  Running errands, looking for presents, baking bread, baking cheesecake - which seemed like the most amazing dessert at the time, with homemade whipped cream.  We had some kiddos over for a playdate, more cooking, celebrating Bill's birthday, eating the cheesecake, opening presents.  Throw in another playdate, and then not feeling quite right.  Got home, yep - felt kind of like someone had beat me up.  Also, was waiting for my mom to get into town as she had been planning on coming in for a few days.  Thank the Lord, that she came, because I was out of commission with a stomach bug/flu thing...not sure exactly what it was.  All I know is that same amazing cheesecake -- I don't want to touch it with a 10 foot pole.  Today I am recovering, not feeling awesome but feeling better.  It's snowing a lot, it feels really chilly, and time is just slowly crawling along.  Definitely thankful for family, blankets, and laughs even in the midst of less than desirable circumstances.

At Last

It's been a looong time since my last blog entry.  I finally have a minute or 30, that I can guiltlessly spend on blogging.  I can't explain what I have been doing, why I have been so busy....but this has just not been a top priority, until now and these nice free minutes.  

We had a wonderful time celebrating all of the festivities of Christmas.  We spent our time in Michigan visiting both friends and family.  The kids got totally off schedule and ate too much candy - I guess that would be true for their parents too!  Seriously, what is it about Christmas time that entitles us to eat cookie after cookie, throw in some fudge, Christmas candy, gingerbread this, gingerbread that...?  I miss it.  I'll be honest.   My body certainly doesn't!  Thankfully Jillian and I have reconnected for some much needed exercise time.

Bill was off of work for a total of 7 weeks since moving back from Texas.  His first day back at work was last Monday and although we miss him we needed the routine and schedule of normal life again!

In his time off, he built these beautiful bookcases in our study!

We continue to delight in our sweet little children, and at other times stand speechless at how sinful the same cute little creatures can really be... clingy, crying, whining, screaming, flailing, outright defiant.  Perfect for our sanctification, God working in us and our hearts.  Those times of their sin tend to really expose so much of mine!!  So humbling, and thankful that God is not speechless and surprised at my sin, only through the blood of Christ.  Thank you Lord!

Lets go back to the sweet part:  Claire is just a sweet little thing.  Obsessed with Elmo.  Her favorite phrases are:  "I want that", "oh no",  and "low-lu" (love you).   Sophie is just growing up right along.  She is learning how to write some letters.  That is fun, I love watching her learn!!  She also has a brother, ahem, a 16 year old imaginary brother.  His name is Andy, thank you Toy Story 3.  Andy sits between Claire and Sophie in the car (thankfully we haven't had to get a van since his addition to our family), he goes on playdates with them.  He does NOT like Elmo, Sophie has made that clear.  I hate to break it to her, but I am not old enough to have a 16 year old son!

And that is it for now!  I'm hoping to make this blogging thing a little more regular again.  

Time Flies

I can't believe that the last time I posted we were getting ready to leave San Antonio, and now here I am sitting on my couch, looking out the window on this rainy Kentucky day!  Our time in Texas is just a memory now, but I want to continually reminisce on the sweet moments God provided for us while we were there.  Leaving was so difficult, somewhat heartbreaking, but it couldn't have been more of an answer to prayer.  It meant that we had treasured our time and relationships there and that God's power in our lives had prevailed so mightily.  Thank You Lord!


Leaving was emotional, our road trip was once again miraculous.  We made amazing time and our kids did well.  Many thanks to several books, Elmo and Beauty & the Beast dvds, leftover Halloween candy and other appeasing snacks.  The Lord was really gracious to us.  We even made it in less time than anticipated.    We had 9 hours of driving each day and only stopped twice each day.  I call that a successful road trip.


Upon arriving at our house...we found: a bouquet of flowers, a loaf of pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, a pasta meal to make, a crockpot dinner, and a pantry and refrigerator full of the essentials!  We knew we had great friends here, but we were stunned by the love that was poured out on us in a such a practical way.  Wow.  Really, it was another amazing testimony of God's love and faithfulness.  Thank you friends, you know who you are!!!


Since then, we have enjoyed/experienced: unpacking, runny noses, organizing, birthday parties, bowling, family in town, runny noses, thanksgiving, more family in town, shopping for furniture, Christmas decorating, and more runny noses.  I think we have entered the land of perpetual runny noses!!!  Besides for that, everything has been going well.


We are really thankful this Thanksgiving and Christmas season.


"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"  1John 3:1 

What I'm going to miss

Holy cow, we are moving in 3 days.

I have to blog about the things I'm going to miss so I can remember it down the road.  Otherwise I might forget the name of that amazing bbq restaurant or why I still have a few pounds to lose...(by the way don't judge me that almost all of what I'm going to miss is based around food and shopping, k?)

In no certain order, here goes:
-I'll just get this one over with - SeaWorld.  That's an obvious one.

-La Cantera.  The nicest outdoor shopping experience a girl can ask for.

-Cooper's, Rudy's.  Excellent bbq restaurants.  I have never been a huge bbq fan before living here.  I mean I ate it, and I liked it, but it wasn't something I craved.  That all changed with Texas bbq -- soooo darn delicious.  Mmm my mouth is watering even now just thinking about it.  They say in college you gain the freshman fifteen, here it's the Texas twenty.  So  just know it's the bbq (and the next point).

-Mexican food galore!  To name a few - pappasito's, mi tierra, tink-a-tako, las palapas.  What I love is that there is mexcian food everywhere, and it's pretty darn authentic.  For example, homemade flour tortillas that are beyond anything you could ever find in a grocery store.  Unless that grocery store is HEB, where they have sweet little ladies making and bagging tortillas right in front of you.  It kind of reminds me of Santa's workshop, but instead of toys you get tortillas.  Anyway, you can buy warm fresh tortillas that never make it home without first being ripped open in the car and munched on, by parent and children alike.  But back to the restaurants, yes they are good.  And when you order a chicken or beef taco at one of these places, don't expect anything else.  A chicken taco is a taco with chicken in it.  This I have learned.  Personally I enjoy a few extra toppings so I have to remember to ask for them!

-Target here, Target there.  They are everywhere!  Seriously you can find a Target at every exit around here.   My favorite has been shopping at the Super Target nearby.   There is no shortage of shopping here.  There are 14 targets and 20 walmarts around san antonio!

-Same goes for Starbucks.  Where ever there is a Target, that means there is a Starbucks inside of the store.  Every single Target I have been inside of here, there is always a Starbucks.  And at every shopping plaza that has a Target (with a Starbucks in it) there is a Starbucks stand alone drive through store as well...just incase you've finished the latte you got in the store and need another while you're driving away.  Happens all the time.  There are a gazillion Starbucks', but the down side of that is that there are only starbucks.  No caribou, no biggby's (which will always be beaners to this MSU girl).

-In all seriousness, San Antonio has been great.  It has had a lot of perks, but I will miss the people the most.  We have been so blessed to make sweet friends here, and have been loved by a welcoming and caring church body.  The love of Christ has manifested itself to us through these people, they have been the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ to us, living it out so well.  Sniff sniff.  I'm so thankful that we don't have to move to a new place, having to start all over.  Although it will be sad to leave, I'm glad we are going to back to something great too.  That makes it easier!!

Halloween

Halloween has become so enjoyable since having kids.   I really look forward to it, and to our mini tradition that goes with it.  It's not a very special tradition, just making apple pie and ordering pizza, but a tradition nonetheless.   And who doesn't look forward to homemade apple pie right?  (and not having to cook dinner for that matter).

This year we did the whole dinner/dessert/trick or treating thing with our friends, Tom and Janelle, and their little boy Liam.  Sophie and Claire adore him.  Sophie calls him her little prince.  And when I mention going to Liam's house Claire always gets excited!  So needless to say, we all had a wonderful time.

The girls were Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.  Poor Sophie didn't get a say in her costume this year since she already had one hanging up in her closet from dress up play.  And Claire's, I got for a $1 at a thrift store.  Can't go wrong with that.  Liam was a dragon, but a very kind dragon who said thank you after every piece of candy he received!   Sophie loved trick or treating as expected.  Afterwards she kept saying "i love halloween."  She did get tired pretty fast though and once it got dark she was done.  I think Claire could have kept going all night, she had a riot.  She knew what to do (minus the talking part), though at one point we were at a house and I was holding her little bag, and she demanded her "beh" (bag) so she could move forward with getting candy.

Great time, and now it's over.  Time to look forward to moving, Thanksgiving, Christmas, oh my.

Disneyworld

Sophie has been asking if we can go to Disneyworld at least once a day lately.  I don't even think she fully knows what disneyworld is but she sure wants to go there.  Today our conversation went like this:

S: Can we go to disneyworld?  I really want to go to disneyworld right now.

Me: Well, we can't go right now because we have to take an airplane to get there.

S: Oh. Can we take an airplane tonight?

Me:  No, we can't.  Going to disneyworld takes time and planning.  It takes money.  We have to save up for something like that.

S:  Oh...then maybe tomorrow we can go.

Obviously the words time, planning, and money don't register in the mind of a  3 year old very well.