Christmas Lights

Although Farmers Branch has been under fire in recent news, it shines during Christmas time. Here are some photos I took Saturday night as we went through the historical district. Merry Christmas!

Check This Out!

Sometimes I need to see it to understand it...go here!

"The Doughnut" written by Michael Hall

My wife wanted me to say that I Michael Hall wrote this.

So, we were sitting in Sunday morning church the other day enjoying the announcements and singing when suddenly a chocolate glazed doughnut ricocheted off of my wife and landed in my lap. I can honestly say that this is the first time a chocolate doughnut has landed in my lap in church. Due to my shock, I just sat there for a few moments looking at the doughnut on my khakis. I couldn't believe there was a doughnut in my lap, and for a moment I thought I had fallen asleep and was dreaming. Where could this doughnut have come from? I picked up the doughnut, bent over a bit and looked down the pew to find a tall skinny guy laughing at me. In order to protect the innocent, I won't mention his name, but MATT COLE threw a doughnut at my wife and I. Not only did he throw the doughnut, he threw it during church. Being a rationale individual, I decided not to retaliate at the moment. So, I kept the doughnut, waited until church was over, and threw the doughnut at his first born son hitting him in the head...not really. That was just for effect. But, I did vow that I would get him back, nay that I would seek revenge tenfold. And I will Matt Cole, I will.

This is so crazy, y'all!

Yesterday, I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, enjoying 80 degree weather. Today, I had training cancelled due to this:

I guess it is a good way to welcome in December! Let it snow!

(Meanwhile, Michael is at Disney World with his company.)

Happy Holidays!

This Thanksgiving, all of the inlaws came to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Matthew's birthday! Whew! 3 celebrations in 4 days! Here are some pictures from those fun times:

Happy Birthday to Me!

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday with cards, posters, emails, texts, calls, meals and gifts. I am so very blessed to be surrounded by such loving people.

I'm going to the Stars game tonight, thanks to my inlaws!! Go Stars! (Man! It will be a chilly walk from the parking lot to the arena!)

I won't go into all of the details of my birthday, but it was one of the best! I know I have one of the most thoughtful husbands around. Love you, Michael!!

27 years old. I sure don't remember all of that time passing by. I do feel myself getting older though. I have aches and I tend to wake up before my alarm clock. I can't believe I was sore for 3 days because I cleaned the house!

I hope everyone has a fantstic week! Mine has been and will be great!

BTW, OJ Simpson is sick.

Last weekend, Michael went on a Men's Retreat. He won an iPod for a door prize. That's worth the price of admission! He got to know the men at our church more. One of the elders invited us to go to the election rally where President Bush would be. That was tons of fun. I got off work early and met up with Michael there.

School life has been really busy. I took a bunch of 7th and 8th grade girls on a field trip Saturday to Brookhaven College. We heard from ladies that had careers in fields of math and science. Here I am suturing Garfield! The classes that I went to were mostly medical. I watched the students perform a virtual knee surgery on the computer, take blood pressure and the like on dummies, and take the heart rate on a bulldog and also check out his infected ear!

Tuesday, I voted. It would have been my most pleasant voting experience if it hadn't been for the lady that walked in before me. There were 3 people, including me, voting. The before-mentioned lady was so extremely rude, it still makes me upset.

I was observed this week. Joy. I also had about 30 adults walk through my class (of 30 kids) while I was teaching. Nerve-wracking!

Today, Michael and I are DEEP CLEANING! I am throwing out a lot and reorganizing closets. I have cleaned almost every nook and cranny in this house. I see myself doing this deep into the night. I won't see any veterans today, but if you're a vet...THANK YOU!!!

Busy Times!

Last Thursday night, Michael and I were invited by Nic and Ashley to attend a dinner honoring Texas Rep., Bob Hunter. It was a last minute thing, so I traveled home from a volleyball game at school, showered and dressed for an optional black-tie event in 40 minutes! We really enjoyed the evening, the food, the company, and the reunion of so many ACU folk.

Friday night, Michael's parents and we went out to eat at Tokyo One. Janie and I made sure what we ate was cooked. I had the strangest sweet potatoes, but they were really good!
Then, Michael and I met up with Tim and Stephanie at the DC football game. It was Homecoming, so there were a lot of alumni there. DC won, so all was good! Cold weather, hot chocolate, and high school football...gotta love fall.
Saturday, I got up early and met with some women and teenage girls in the church. I am on a panel with other women to discuss topics with the teens. I'm looking forward to getting to know the women in the church and getting to know the teens better. This month, we discussed every"girl" topic under the sun. (worst date, most romantic thing ever done, favorite chick flick, etc.)

Saturday night, the young couples/families went to Michael and Abbe's house for dinner. What a cute house the Wombles live in! It is one of the old homes in Dallas near Abrams. All wood floors and old-fashioned charm. Abbe is a great hostess. She even had a movie playing that represented the theme of the party.

Later, we (almost all) went swing dancing. This was my first adventure into this style of dancing. I had only danced with Michael a few times before this. We danced at a few weddings over summer, and we aren't very good. So, we show up 30 minutes late to the "swing dance training" and are immediately asked to switch partners every few minutes. Poor Michael has to be the lead and has no clue what to do. We finally just get to dance and Michael and I have picked up on a few steps. I had a lot of fun...don't know about Michael! We may have pictures to show if a friend shares the pictures they took.

Sunday night, the church had "Trunk or Treat." Micheal and Jill were Indians (due to their darker tones) and Landon and I were Cowboys (due to our lighter tones). The kids costumes were great! Some were obviously bought, but there were fantastic homemade ones! I hope y'all had a great Halloween!

Jump On The Bandwagon!

If you would like a FREE copy of Dave Ramsey's book, Total Money Makeover, visit my brother's (Brett) blog. NOW!

Much Ado About Nothing

Michael and I went to see Much Ado About Nothing in Addison last night. (Michael got tickets from work.) It was COLD! Even though I was bundled up, I was miserable. We left at intermission. The "Artsy" crowd is so different than us. It was cool to see a play that was written so long ago in modern-day flare.

I've noticed that the town of Addison only had SUV cop cars. I think they are Dodge Durangos. Last night I saw a Jeep that was a police car. Addison is sooooo hip. (That was written sarcastically.)

Rainy Weekend

Michael and I got up early Saturday morning to meet with other young couples/families to do another 2nd Saturday Service Project. We went to Central Dallas Ministries to work in their food pantry and help "neighbors" receive food. Here is a tip if you are wanting to donate canned goods soon. It seems that canned fruit is in demand. They have plenty of canned green beans. (I wonder why people are wanting to give that away?!?) Also, diapers and toilet paper are good things to donate as well.

I purchased pansies from a girl in the youth group for a fund raiser. I got these flowers Sunday. I was told that the flowers shouldn't stay in the flats for more than 4 days. Well, Sunday would be the fourth day, but it was raining Sunday. I began to think about my week and I realized that most days this week, I won't be home before dark. So I went out in the rain and planted my pretty pansies. Hopefully, they will do well and flourish! I don't have much of a green thumb, so we'll see.

If you haven't heard of Dave Ramsey, here's what you need to do. Download ITunes if you don't have it. Once you have it, do a search on Dave Ramsey. Subscribe to his podcasts and listen to his wisdom. Both Brett and Blake got us hooked on him. (I think Blake really sunk the nail in.) We have decided we will be debt free in 2.8 years. This means that we will only owe on our house and we plan to get rid of that debt in like 10 years. Dave Ramsey has this in a simple plan and always puts the spiritual twist on it.

With that being said, if you want to eat dinner with us, let us know in advance so that we can save up for it. We'll be living very conservatively now!

I've Got A Headache THIS BIG!

So recently, I have been getting the strangest headaches. It started about two weeks ago when I had a horrible pain where your neck and the back of your head come together. It would hurt so bad whenever I took a breath, which is pretty often. I went through my day at school, but it did make me stay home for a hockey game. I later got sick with that sinus thing. While I was taking the medicine to get rid of my sinus infection, I would get your typical headache. It is so hard to be patient with loud 8th graders when you hurt just existing. But, I'm off of my medicine now, but today, I get another strange headache! This one is pain right at my eyeballs! It hurts to open my eyes. I feel okay when they're closed, but opening them kills! I do not see how people with migraines manage. God bless them. If you know anything about health and these headaches are cluing you in on something, please let me know!

Lori had her baby girl, Faith, on Tuesday. Mom and baby are healthy. She was nearly an 8 pounder. They should come home today. She reports that the baby looks like Stacy. I'll have verify soon!

Cool Stuff

You can go to this website and it will put together the words you have most often in your blog. How cool is that? It is interesting to see what I discuss the most on here.

 

Saturday

 

We rented a rug doctor! Man, I didn't know how much dirt was in our carpet! Pretty amazing!

We also visited Mom and Dad who were taking care of Maddie. Here she is trying on here new hat and doing a Mary Kate and Ashley pose. 

The Burrows Spend the Night!

Last night, the Burrows came over. While Shaun and Emily went out to eat, Michael and I took Andrew, Ashley, and Kaley to Chuck E Cheese. First thought on the way - Man, it is hard to do those car seats! It tooks us about 15 minutes just getting into the car. We make it to Chuck E Cheese and the kids behave wonderfully. We ate first and then we played! The kids had a real good time and won prizes.

On our way back, we stop by the grocery store to pick up a few items. Michael drops me off and I go in so we don't have to do that whole car seat thing. When I exit the store, I see all of the kids in the car and Michael locked out! How did that happen? I leave them alone for five minutes...

When we arrive back to the house, we start decorating pumpkins! The kids took markers and drew all over their pumpkins (Andrew's is a gray pumpkin).






Everyone spends the night and things go well. In the morning, we're surprised to see all sorts of emergency vehicles outside our house. Our neighbors had a fire. Everyone is okay and it is a source of excitement for us (or me anyway).

 



We played basketball and air hockey today. Ashley and Andrew have soccer games today and are excited about that.

 

  

I'm always impressed by the Burrow kids because they are so well behaved. The night was a lot of fun and I hope we can do it again soon!

Dallas Stars!!

I am still at home with laryngitis today, but that didn't stop me from being an observer in a hockey game Saturday! (It is very weird to be silent at a game!) Michael and I have been given this voucher for two free tickets worth $35 or less. The beauty is that we decided to go kinda at the last minute, so we arrived at the game late. We only had to pay $1 for parking and I thought we had struck gold. Little did I know, I was just now stepping into the pot at the end of the rainbow. Because we were late, all of the $35 and cheaper seats were gone. They gave us tickets 6 rows behind the net!!!! My smile widened with each step I took, getting closer to the rink. Here are some of the many pictures I took. (I love always having my camera on me!)





The Stars were down most of the game. Then, with little time left in the third period, the Stars tied it up at 3. Could this be my first time to witness a shootout?!?!? Last year, the NHL implemented a shootout after 5 minutes of sudden death overtime hockey. The Stars were the best in the league at this thing, but I never got to witness it in person. Michael witnessed one when he went with his company. So, I just know that this will be the night. Things are falling into place beautifully!!!

Overtime begins. The Lightning are peppering Turco with shots. (This is the end where I'm sitting, and it is nerve-racking!) But, the Stars survive the penalty kill and we go onto a powerplay at the end of the overtime. I'm watching the clock. I'm getting pretty excited with seven seconds left!!! Then, with 1 second remaining, the Stars scored! WE WON! But....that means no shootout! I had disappointment attached to an OT win. Oh well. That may have been my best chance to see such a sight so close.

What a night! I loved every second of it! Too bad I didn't get to cheer the way I wanted. Here are some things I noticed:
1) Eric Lindros is one BIG MAN.
2) Brendan Morrow will be captain this year. Interesting.
3) I couldn't keep track on who will be on what line during this game. I wonder if they were just trying a bunch of different combos before the regular season.
4) Sergei Zubov is just cool.
5) Mike Modano is really fast.
6) Marty Turco worries me some.
7) I have a lot of new players to learn about.
8) Brett Hull is doing something with Razor this year. The two of them can be very funny!

Check out the Stars first regular season game on Wednesday night against Colorado!

Really Productive Weekend, Really Crummy Week

Yep, I've got laryngitis, but let me tell you about my week.

Last Friday, my old co-worker who now stays home with her daughter, Stephanie, came up to the school to give me a voucher for 2 tickets to the Dallas Stars preseason games. I'm pumped! But I do have this really bad headache where my skull meets the back of my neck. I go home to rest and feel better to go to the Stars game that night...so I thought. On the way there, I make Michael pull over to get some Tylenol. We decide to just use the tickets on Wednesday - when they play Colorado (a better game anyways.) So we rent a movie and I go to bed early. (Oh, and a Bowflex we bought from Michael's co-worker is brought to the house!)

We got up early Saturday and I feel much better. We go to a marriage seminar up at church given by Tom and Sandra Milholland. Afterwards, we eat a late lunch with Tim and Stephanie Avance. The weather is beautiful after morning showers. Michael and I do some MAJOR yardwork. Michael is using the chainsaw and I'm ripping out monkey grass and other stuff. I grade two assignments while Michael cleans the house and does the laundry (ain't he a peach??).

Sunday, we go to another really awesome class at church. We discussed what it means to be human. Fasinanting! Really! We make it to lunch with some people afterwards. We go home and get a much-needed nap. We wake up to go to Life Group, but get a call to unload Michael's parent's Uhaul. We go up to Lewisville and unload the last of their Abilene home into storage. We go up to Denton and eat a dinner with Michael's parents and sister's family.

Monday, all things are good - except for that I'm very sore from the Bowflex, yardwork, and moving.

Tuesday, I come home and do more yardwork and workout to ease my muscles. I take an hour nap and wake up with a sore throat.

Wednesday, I must go to work to get my kids prepared for tomorrow's test. I feel really bad by the end of the day and don't get to make that Stars game.

Thursday, I wake up feeling pretty good and know it will be an easy day since it's just a test day. I come home to take a nap before Michael comes home. I wake up w/o much of a voice, but I can still communicate.

Friday, I can speak loud enough for a class can hear me. I know there is a sub shortage, so I don't even attempt calling in sick. Things are going fairly well until I have to yell down the hall to get a principal's attention. There had been an incident right in front of my door that needed attention during the passing period. I have lunch before I teach this class. Things seem to be going alright, but with 20 minutes left in class, my voice disappears. I have an off period to find a teacher to cover my class and get istructions put together. I leave my last class in the hands of another teacher. May God bless him for taking this pretty bad class. Michael takes off work to take me to the doctor. I thought I could handle it since I felt okay, but was thankful for him to be my voice for me. I leave with 4 medications.

Today, I'm all drugged up. I've just slept and used "sign-language" with Michael. He has been super great- until he says something and I can't make him pay for it with a comeback. He loves that I'm so defenseless. We cancelled an evening with the Burrows. Hopefully we can do that next weekend.

Please pray that I can get my voice back and teach next week. I hate leaving my class with someone else!

Here a Baby, There a Baby

Friends, Alan and Rachel Wages, had a baby boy last night. I'll update this when I find out all of the details.

Brother, Blake, and sister-in-law, Jaime, found out this morning that they are having a little girl in February.

Wonderful friend and old roommate, Lori, will be having a baby girl REAL soon.

Can you hear all of the squealing from these new babes yet????

My Weekend

FRIDAY- Michael and I went over to the Burns' house (Tiffany and Eddie) and had a game night. So fun! It is always a good time to hang out with those that we were all friends with when we were all single. None of us really go to the same church anymore, so we don't see each other that often. Michael and I are the old married couple with these people - which is weird.

SATURDAY- Moving Day! Yippee. We traveled to Abilene to move Michael's parents to Dallas. The Lord finally allowed their house to sell after they have been living here for over a year. So we packed up most of their stuff and didn't need any convincing to go to bed that night.

SUNDAY- We woke up and hit the road to come back to Dallas. We were able to unpack everything into a storage unit before the bottom fell out. We were literally going back to our cars when the rain hit. We took a Sunday afternoon nap and got up to go to Life Group. Very cool conversation about living life and anticipating Jesus' return. The good conversation continued over dessert with Tim and Stephanie Avance.

INTO THE WEEK: Monday was picture day! All of the students got their picture taken during their Science class. That means I was a babysitter each period today. The kids were surpisingly well-behaved! Then Michael and I took my parents out for their birthdays (belated and early). Good times and good food!

I'm On Board With IPOD

CFBISD is starting an IPOD program for teachers to do podcasts. Our school did a pilot last year with our newcomers. These kids had vocabulary each week to learn. They learned, on average, 40% of the words each week. After receiving IPODs, the kids jumped up to learning 98% of the words. So, obviously IPODs can really jumpstart education. Kids today were born in a digital world and need to be taught digitally. I attended a training last night to get me familiar with IPOD and will soon learn how to do podcasting. Today, I had a professional development on setting up a student email, messageboard, chat, and blog website. Wow! I didn't do half of this stuff right after college graduation....where did this stuff come from???



So, now I have songs downloaded and have been listening to podcasts. How cool is that?!

Walk For Honduras

Today, Michael and I joined our church to do a 5k walk, raising money for a health clinic in Honduras. There is a goal of raising $50,000 by 2009. I feel like the money really helps so many people that desperately need it. So, Michael and I got up early and drove 40 minutes to do this walk. We nearly didn't get out of bed because we were both so tired, but we did get up and found it to be a lot of fun. We got to walk alongside Caleb Cole and Jackson Stevens. They're about 4 or 5 years old and they were hilarious to walk with.





Our church, RE, is holding classes on theology. I have found it to be very intriguing. Very tough questions are asked and you end up really wanting to make your faith's foundation much stronger. I believe there is a book that was written by Randy Harris and others that goes along with the series. I'll have to check that out and I encourage you to do the same.

Have a nice weekend!

A Fabulous Year!

Sunday marked our 1 year anniversary!! I am so glad that the wedding thing is behind us and we were able to move forward in our lives together. Michael has been an incredible blessing in my life. God gave us to each other at the perfect time and in the right place. So many times people comment to me that he seems like such a great guy. HE IS! I wish the people that know me well, knew him better. I guess that just take some time. Michael has been such strong yet gentle leader in my life. I have learned so much from him in the 2 1/2 years that I've really known him.

So...the fun stuff! Michael sent me a dozen, long-stemmed red roses to school on Friday. These roses were gorgeous! Maybe the best looking flowers I've ever received! Big, bold, and beautiful! It was so fun having the kids see them! We got to spend Friday night just relaxing. We both had been working so hard that week and we both just wanted to veg.

Sunday was our big day. Michael gave me an album with some sweet things written inside and a recent picture of us. It is set up in way that we can put a picture of us in it everytime we celebrate an anniversary. So thoughtful! We went to church and out to eat with everyone. Later, Michael took me to Ruth's Chris Steak House. He knew that I loved their sweet potato casserole and wanted to take me somewhere nice. Now, my momma makes a mean sweet potato casserole and she comes close to Ruth's Chris. Michael, who hates sweet potatoes, even tried to finish off my plate because he liked them so much. You may want to order it for dessert some time. They're that good! We were given a complimentary chocolate dessert, but after the steak and sweet potatoes, I was stuffed! Our waiter, Gianpierre, took many pictures of us, including this one:



Then, Michael took us to the hotel where we went on our wedding night. This place is really cool too. We got a little lost on the way. I guess that's because we didn't have a limo driver this time. Las Colinas is such a nice place and the weather was very cooperative. I even got to swim! (I miss swimming so much!)

Overall, Michael was very romantic this weekend. I love you so much, babe!!

Here's another friend who needs prayers for a family member. Tobin has an aunt with cancer. Tobin and her mom are doing a 60-mile walk in 3 days to support the fight against canacer. Tobin has raised about half of her goal. If you would like more information or would like to support this fight, please go here.

Prayers for Stuart

My friend, Tricia, has a nephew that was born this summer. He had some issues with the function of his lungs. (He wasn't accepting oxygen.) Tricia's sister and brother-in-law live in Puerto Rico and serve with the Coast Guard. Click HERE to see a video about how awesome the Air Force was when the this scare happened.

Here is an update on Stuart:
This is the Air Force TV spot that is currently airing on the Pentagon Channel. It was first shot in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 7/21/06, when the Air Force Team came to take my nephew, Stuart, to San Antonio. They did the follow-up interview about a week later. The 16-man team from Wilford Hall Medical Center is the only expert ECMO (the heart/lung machine Stuart was on) team that can transport critically ill infants and children anywhere in the world.
Stuart is doing MUCH better now and I'm going back down to San Antonio this weekend! Thanks for all of your prayers. God is good.

You Have Been the One for Me

James Blunt puts it best when I think about how I feel letting my cute car, Ebby, go. (Title and link are by Mr. Blunt.) Here are some of the lyrics:

I've been addicted to you.
Goodbye my Lover, Goodbye my Friend.
You have been the one for me.

Enough of the sappy love song. I will miss my Ebby. Michael and I decided to sell my car and buy an older model. This is so we can later afford a Pilot in a couple of years and pay mostly in cash. (Check out Brett's Financial Advice Link to the right for some great tips.) So, Michael's parents bought Ebby and Michael bought the green car today.

Friday night, we went out with the Avances to the Melting Pot.
They had a coupon (ended up we couldn't use it) and I got to experience fondue for the first time. If you've never been there before, you at least have to try out their desserts. FABULOUS!!

So school has started. I have good classes so far, but they are so large! I'll keep you updated throughout the year on how things go. My 3rd year to teach the same things helps. I can't believe this is already my fifth year to teach!

Life

I can't believe it is already Thursday night! This week flew by so quickly! Only a few days are left before I'm at the school all of the time. Sad day.

Friday night, Michael and I visited Alan and Rachel Wages. They cooked us a lovely dinner of pecan-crusted tilapia, tasty mashed potatoes, a medley of fruit, and an amazing chocolate cake. Yum-yum! We had a great time! We played a game I've never played before, Sequence. The boys beat us on that one, but we smoked them in Taboo. Girls just know how to communicate better.

Saturday, my roommate of 4 years, my matron of honor, and my best friend - Lori- had a baby shower! Baby Faith is due in early October. We made the shower Parisian themed - Bonjour Bebe! We had so much fun! Here are some pictures:







Saturday night, we met up with all of the couples that were married this summer. Tiffany and Eddie had everyone over. What a beautiful place! We swam, watched Napolean Dynomite and Office Space, watched some Ranger baseball, and ate pizza. Can you believe we were nearly not invited because we had been married too long?!? Today (the 3rd) marks our 11 months!! One more month until a year already!

Sunday, Michael and I taught the high school class. Again, kids at RE are so great. I'm amazed by them so often. Sunday night, there was an ice cream social at church. I had some of the best ice cream in my life that night. John Boyd won the contest for the gelato he made.

Tuesday and Wednesday, Michael and I stayed in FW because Michael would be working there for a few days. We stayed in Sundance Square. Downtown FW is so much better than Dallas. So many more options and you feel totally safe walking down the street. I got to go shopping for work Wednesday!! I love new clothes!

Wednesday, Cingular went crazy. Anyone else not able to connect?? It was horrible for me. I was suppose to pick Michael up from work and I had no way of knowing where to pick him up. (we had made arrangements to call each other that afternoon to discuss where to meet.) For some reason, text messaging was still available, so that saved us.

Today I had a training workshop. It looks like I'll have a pre-AP class this year. BTW, I'm not thrilled about that. I'll have to get 24 more hours this year because of this I think. I never wanted pre-ap, I like my regulars. Oh, and our water heater broke today. Thanks for the emergency fund post, Brett!

Tomorrow, we are going to a "guess who's coming to dinner" that is centered around the youth group at RE. I love the hostess' cooking and those kids, so this should be a good time.

I hope all is well out there in Blogland. I hope your summer has been blessed and that the fall brings blessings as well.