Poor Dog!

So I had to get on today because John informed me that there were several grammatical errors in my last post...I told him it was because it was 11pm when I was posting last night and I was tired..anyhow, errors corrected! :)

I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you the before and after pictures of our dog, Stewart's, hair cut...Get Ready!

Before: ( doesn't he look just pissed)

After: ( I have a treat in my hand hence the tongue sticking out of his mouth)

Go ahead and laugh...we know, he looks like a dork! We like him with long hair,even though the before pic is a little extreme! :) I think he freezes all day now! Poor guy!

Now- Since 6 pm I have swept and mopped the floors, vacuumed, cleaned out my fridge from Thanksgiving, done all my dishes , blogged of course and I am going to go enjoy the HUGE fire that John just built- YAY!

My first Thanksgiving!

Does anyone know how to make this pic stand the right way?

Well, John and I hosted our very first Thanksgiving! Thankfully it was a small one. My mom and her husband Jerry came down and we had a great time! It was great practice for me and I hope to host more Thanksgivings in the future! :) I baked my first turkey, which is actually pretty easy and my first Buttermilk Chess pie! YUM!! You should definitely make one if you have never had one! There were lots more dishes and my mom helped as did John, we all made a great team!
We had a fire going from Thursday until Sunday- I loved it! Now we just need to clean out our fireplace so we can keep having fires throughout the winter!

So now I have 2 1/2 weeks until I leave for Portland for the rest of the year! Can you believe it! I will be working some and spending time with friends and family that I miss very much! My planning lead to an email to Kourtney to ask her to dog-sit while we are gone...this was a risky email considering her first ( and only) experience dog-sitting for us just a couple of weeks ago...She had quite a time! First of all, we only gave her maybe 2 hours notice. ( I didn't know I was going on the college retreat with John)...When we came back Kourtney began to tell me two hilarious stories..I was laughing so hard that I cried- and I don't laugh that hard very often! To sum it up Kourtney had to tear off a window screen from a very muddy lawn ( with only socks on!-and pj's) and one night she woke up at 5am thinking Stewart was dead, so doing what anyone one do she picked him and started shaking him! That was when I was laughing so hard I cried! You should ask her to tell you the story! Surprisingly she agreed to watch our dogs again after I listed the reasons why this time would be better! We still have to find someone to fill in for when she goes home for Christmas but I'm sure we'll find someone- let me know if you'll be in Denton over Christmas day! I promise our dogs are not that out of control!


For a house update, we finally got our bed up!!! YAY! We are not sleeping on the floor anymore! We also got the room painted- green! I really like it and I can't wait to get the master bath painted as well!
In the formal living room John brought in his comfy chair, a table and lamp so that has become his reading/studying room- he enjoys it in there..drinks coffee and reads!

I have a new discipline that I am starting as well. I told John that I want to start waking up when he does...I want to make his coffee and get him off to work. I know, I know sounds like the Cleaver's or something! This is hard for me because I am not a morning person and since I work from home I can easily roll out of bed and go straight to work...I want to change my ways- wake up, get John's coffee, my tea and have some time praying and then get to work. You can ask me about this discipline! Please do! I am starting tomorrow!

Things are slowing down a tiny bit at least for 2 weeks so I will post a little more often, I feel like you all have missed out because I've been a slacker! ;-)

Texas is so weird

How does it drop 40 degrees in 2 days?

Mon 80°F 61°F
Tue 83°F 60°F
Wed 62°F 36°F
Thu 47°F 32°F

In the 80's today and tomorrow BUT the 40's on Thursday....random!
Oh, well I am ready for the cooler weather!

This is for Molly!

Molly, meet our other dog, Lilly:


And now, Stewart and Lilly:









So Molly, yes we would love for you to invite your self over...our house is always open to anyone, you just have to love our dogs! Except for Kimbo, she doesn't love our dogs and we still love for her to come over! :)

I hope everyone is doing well. John and I are good. We worked on the house non-stop yesterday and today. We got lots of painting done which is exciting. I will post pictures soon. We painted our dining room blue, which I am typically not a blue person but I love it. Funny thing, when I told my Mom that I painted it blue she said " Blue ???" in a very disgusted voice..just wait Mom, you'll love it!

We also went to a Shane and Shane concert tonight and it was amazing. Got to meet little Olive Everett- adorable!!! I also was reminded of Olivia tonight, I think I will be reminded of her everytime I worship. Its hard because when I sing I can just picture the Lord in Heaven being glorified and I just picture Him so grateful and pleased, smiling...and then I remember that Liv is with Him- its bittersweet.

We've been busy!

So I know its been awhile since I posted...we have been very busy... why is it that life seems to always be that way- busy!
Here is some of what we have been up to:

John went to his first Village Staff retreat! Josh and Anne Lincoln were two of his flag football teamates!


John's grass...he planted grass in the dog run because we were getting tired of washing the dogs paws everytime they went outside! We already have some baby grass!


The Yard work begins...we have lots of trees so that means lots of leaves and lots of branches that need pruning! I did the raking while John worked on the big branches! Stewart stands by making sure everything is ok.



John and I also went to Olivia's funeral last weekend. I can't beleive it was just last weekend. The service was beautiful, John ended up doing more than just leading the worship, he also read some scripture, talked about Olivia and read a couple journal entries from her. It was a very hard time,lots of tears, and good hugs but good in that we know she is worshipping and I can't help but think that she was so happy that the Lord used her life to touch so many of us. And it won't stop. The Lord's impact through her will continue to touch people as we strive to let the Lord live through us in similar ways! That is our prayer! Thanks so much to those of you who have been praying for us and Liv's family, the Lord has been faithful and we appreciate your support!