the back door

this beautiful young lady is my oldest niece....i love this girl!! i remember the day she was born. i was sitting in 9th grade health class when someone brought me in a note that i was now an aunt. being all of 15 i was super pumped! she was an adorable little baby that i loved playing with. today she is 19 and an incredible young lady. she has had to endure a few trials in life that are in no way fun, but she has handled them with grace. she is a joy to anyone who knows her. talk about a girl that is just happy. i happen to think she is beautiful too..but maybe that is because everyone says she looks just like me!?!!? he he! anyways....i see in her a girl that seeks to do right. a girl that loves her Savior and longs to please Him with her life. she seeks Him. i also see a big sister that loves her siblings. she genuinely likes them. i see a girl that enjoys the simple things in life and gives to others. i feel blessed to have her as my niece. i pray that as she con...

so, we all have them..those people that become a friend for a lifetime. the one that can never be replaced. while i feel so blessed to have had several friends that have a forever spot in my heart like this, today happens to be one kindred spirit's birthday....so this is for you brooke!!! us in 1995 like most of my lifetime, forever, best friends, i thought she was quite the snob fall quarter of my freshman year. she lived above me and would vacuum at 2 in the morning...drove me nuts! then she always had her hair done, make-up on, and wore suite coats to classes...can i just say weird!! she would also sit down front. i on the other hand - rolled out of bed and barely made it to class, sat near the back, and pretty much doodled my way through class. and vacumming? well, did we even have one of those? but nevertheless, we were forced to associate when tennis rolled around. she was on the team too...geesh...honestly, by the end of our freshman year i'm pretty sure i totally annoye...

too cute for words

do you have those times when you wish you could just retreat and hide? you know - like a turtle pulls himself into his shell. yep, that is exactly where i am. sitting inside my shell thinking of how different i wish i everything had gone. i have had a lack of trust in something. and with that came a whole set of struggles that i was starting to cope with. i was learning to how to deal internally with that. then i spoke. yuck!! i believe there is a verse in the Bible about being quick to listen and slow to speak. i guess God is still working on teaching me that, although i think i have learned my lesson this time. slow to speak is most definitely the way i am to go! in the past 36 hours i'd love to erase many of my words, but the damage is done. i love, okay - well honestly i hate, that it is in the midst of yuckiness God refines me. it is the yuckiness i don't like, but it seems that is how i best learn. sitting inside my shell, retreating. i once was a strong wil...

...according to mapboy! when he is president he will... have less drive-thru's (definitely his father's influence) make the US have 51 states. he would divide texas in half. (interesting thought) make bigger recycling cans (we always complain about our small recycling box) make there be more nfl teams (definitely influenced from momma's side) make more cool places (definitely daddy) the school day would be shorter (not from momma) make there be more orchards (daddy, again!) save all endangered living things (daddy, and maybe a little bit of hippy momma) tell others to be kind (momma, daddy, and Jesus) make a law that sea horses would wear a mini cowboy hat (giving credit to daddy on that one) make a new invention for the snow (i'm going with grandpa on this one - he's always trying to invent things! so there you have it.....i think he has some ideas with great potential!!!

while we actually have been extremely healthy around the house this year, the kids and i have been hit with the head and chest cold. i felt really miserable for about 2-3 days and the kids have handled it well. but last year my sil passed on a great tip for night time coughing. i may have shared it hear before - i'm not exactly sure... before going to bed, rub some vicks on the bottom of your, or your child's feet. rub it on the part around the arch of your foot.....i don't know why - just put it there. then put socks on and keep them on all night. now, this may sound silly, but i will tell you that it works!! my kids don't cough until about 6 am if at all....and last night i tried it on myself and slept all night long! so there you go....give it a try!

okay, when hubby and i were dating briefly, we discussed dreams of one day having a retreat type home. he would talk about having a cabin and i would get all giddy. i mean...a cabin on the shores of a lake or ocean!! talk about heaven on earth. well, then i heard him, i mean truly heard him. his idea of cabin location was, well a little different. a wooded lot in the middle of nowhere. and close to home. geesh...who wants to drive 20 minutes to the middle of nowhere and sit with just trees to look at. i've come a long way, and while i still dream of a lake retreat i can totally appreciate the cabin in the woods a little closer to home. our kids would love having the land to romp on and if i could curl up with a book - fine by me. kind of?! in my mind, this really isn't close to being a reality so all the talk is okay. but a few weeks ago, a friend of hubby's found a cabin not too far from here. it apparently needs a lot of help, but hey, hubby restores things right??? so a...

i noticed while reading a friends blog that it had been awhile since i have updated my own! i'd like to say it is because i'm busy, but i think it has more to do with being uninspired. or feeling like i don't really have anything funny or wise to share. but here are some snippets of things i've been pondering lately..... ...my grandparents celebrated 70 years of marriage on monday! what will hubby and i look like after 70 years??? he'll be 100! wowzers...but if we make it that long in life i believe we will be happily in love still! ...how does one's head fill up overnight with incredible amounts of gunk?? where does that all come from? ...i learned that my esophagus muscles might be working against each other. that is why i've had this hard to describe bubble type thingy off and on for over a month. hmm...a friend asked me if the good doc gave me exercises. nope - just a good drug! ...i have gotten super spoiled by hubby's buddy's 42 inch...