Ryann said my name last night!!

Thats all. The title explains it all. She said my name last night and it made me very very very happy! I love her!

We Got A Puppy

So we got a puppy. I dont love her yet....maybe I love her, but I dont like her yet. Im not sure. Beyonce, our other child/dog is not super fond of her and that makes me sad. I cannot hug the new puppy or give her kisses because Beyonce looks at me like I am cheating on her. It makes things really hard. Plus the new puppy (Bailey) is not potty trained yet so that makes life difficult. Anyway, this is her.

SOO GOOD!!!

I cant explain it. I started reading it and thought, "This is a good book, but I have read better." Then I got half way through it and could not put it down. The day I finished it, I went and bought the next one in the series and read that in 2 days. Finished it last night. They are both about 600 pages long. There are two left and I will buying the third one on my way home tonight from work. I am obsessed. I cannot wait one more day without finding out what happens next. I highly recommend all of them. The basic theme is that there is a girl who falls in love with a guy...he is a vampire. But not really. I mean, yes, he is a vampire, but the books aren't like that. There really isn't any blood and gore. It is just such a beautiful love story and a great page turner. The lady who wrote them is Mormon so its all very clean. Know that you will probably not pay attention to your spouse when you are reading them. You are so enthralled in what is happening that you kind of forget about real life. I highly suggest these books!!!

Conflict....Resolution

Oh my goodness. Can I just tell you how stressed out I have been for the last few weeks? I had this "conflict" with a friend and I was so stressed out about it. I am not good and confronation and so it never even crossed my mind to talk with that person about what was going on. Instead, I just built up frustrations as time went on and did stupid stuff like try to handle it through email (very very very bad idea...FYI). Luckily, I have a husband who is smarter than me and suggested that we talk about what was going on. Oh my gosh. There was nothing going on. I mean yea there was stuff, but it was all stuff that we just needed to talk about. We were all missunderstanding eachother and all we needed to do in the first place was talk it out. I have never felt a weight lifted off my sholders like this one! Its awesome and I am now a big proponent of talking it out. I think that Satan tries to trick us into thinking that stuff is actually a bigger deal than it is and he tries to trick us into thinking that this person is against us when at the same time that person is thinking that you are against them. Not the case at all. Satan is a butt head and Im really glad that he didnt win last night. I highly suggest to anyone who reads this (the three of you) to talk it out with someone if you are having problems, because I will guess that its not as big of a deal as you think it is and then you will no longer need to have panic attacks....yea thats right....a panic attack while driving.

Grief

So, I try to leave my work at work. I try not to bring any of the sad stuff home with me, and I often succeed. I am pretty good at leaving stuff there, but I cant shake this one thing. I had a client come in two weeks ago. She was 31 and was pregnant. The father of the baby was a drug dealer and "a bad man". She did not want to have his child. She said she couldn't do it on her own. She was such a sweet woman, and I pleaded with her to look at how she has raised her other daughter alone. I tried to encourage her and show her that God does not give you something you can't handle. She is a Christian and believes abortion is wrong and she cried the entire time she was in my room.



She had an abortion this last Saturday on October 18. This baby is no longer alive. This innocent child's heart is no longer beating because a "surgeon" decided that giving abortions was a good profession and because this woman made the mistake one night of sleeping with someone that she did not love or trust (besides the fact that they weren't married, but don't get me started on that). I'm sad. This little baby was supposed to be born on June 5 2009. She or He was 7 weeks and 1 day old but now wont have a birthday. I'm also mad. What gives us the right to take a baby's life? I know some people will argue that these women should not be having children, that these kids being born will just grow up in poverty, that they might have a bad life, but when did we decide that we could choose whether or not they would get that life? I think it's sick and sad that we have told women that this is ok. When I called her yesterday, I asked her how she was doing. She said she was very sad. She sounded weak and lost. She will have to deal with Post Abortion Stress Syndrome. Why did we as a society tell her that this was ok? Why did we decide that this was humaine and a woman's right? Half of these babies being killed are women...what about them?

What a Fun Weekend!

This weekend was a good weekend, and I'm sad its over. While I do like my job, I wish that the weekend lasted forever. On Friday night I got to babysit the most amazing little girl in the world (under the age of 2...if your reading this Angie) Ryann and I had a wonderful time. She is saying so many words lately, and I love spending time with her!! On Saturday John and I drove around and ran errands together which was just kind of nice to be together, and then on Saturday night we went to the most fabulous wedding ever! Heather Klein got married. Heather is Erin's very good friend, and I feel blessed that I have gotten to know her through Mark and Erin. She is one of those people that you want to hate because she is so perfect, but you end up loving her because she is so sweet. She is a Dr. She is beautiful. She is kind. She is Heather Fabulous and her wedding was FABULOUS. After the bride and groom said their I Do's, a gospel choir came down into the choir loft and sang "Joyful Joyful." They sang the version from Sister Act 2 and it was rockin! There is so much more to say about this wedding (Sorry I dont have pictures), but I will move on to Sunday. Sunday was Erin and Conni's birthday party (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!) We had really good chicken and mashed potatoes at my parents house and then cake and ice cream and then gifts! It was really nice spending time with family. Sunday night we had church and then got to go to Red Robbin with the Fullers and the Davis's. It was just a good weekend. I was really sad and tired yesterday when I woke up and had to go back to work. Oh well, only three more days until the weekend!

Does Anyone Know A Good Mechanic?!

I do! I do! So, my car has been acting up lately. My radio stopped working about two years ago. It has been stuck on talk radio for about a year, (which I don't mind because I do love me some Rush)but the Mazda dealership told me it was unfixable. So, there was that problem but then recently my car started shaking uncontrollably. I had no idea what to do. While I was driving it would just start shaking, and pushing down on the accelerator wouldn't help at all. It would just kind of cruise along, which is horrible when you are on the tollway. So, I had this big problem with my car and I had no idea what was causing it. Can you imagine how much that would have cost to get fixed at a car place? First they would charge you for trying to figure out what was causing it, then they would charge you for the parts and for fixing it. That's a lot of money! probably about $1,000 or more for everything (because its an engine thing, I assume that would be really expensive).
.....He is the tall one in the back middle. His name is Rob..........



So, we have this wonderful person in our homegroup who works at Lexus over in Grapevine. He is brilliant when it comes to cars. So, when I told him my car wasn't working, he didn't hesitate to take my car and work on it on his day off. Guess what he fixed! He fixed my problem. ( I still don't know what that was, but it had to do with spark plugs and coils) He put new breaks on my car because he said mine were bad, and HE FIXED MY RADIO!!!!! Guess how much we paid for everything! $250! It would have been less because he is such a nice person and refused to let us pay him extra for fixing it, but we slipped the extra in and wouldn't let him give it back (I still don't think we paid him enough though). When I got in my car and saw that my radio was working, I felt like it was Christmas! Do you know how amazing it is to flip back and forth to different stations?! Its amazing!
....Thats him again in the left of the picture standing up.......


So, to sum that up:

Fixed engine
New Breaks
Fixed Radio

$250

My trip to New York

Sorry that I am just now posting these pictures, I feel like I got back from New York forever ago! It was a wonderful trip and we got to meet Harry Potter! He is a very nice boy. Sorry one of his pictures is sideways, I was too lazy to fix it. Also we got to meet Uncle Dursly. He is not a nice man. He was grumpy and did not want to sign our stuff. He was to cool for school. Oh well. Enjoy












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I Got Hit!

So I got hit today on the tollway and it was so funny because I did not care at all. For one second I thought, "You IDIOT!" But in that very next second I thought, "I am so using this money to go shopping!" I am really hoping that her insurance company will let me just take the money and not get my car fixed. I don't think that they should have a say in it, but people have told me that some insurance companies make you get it fixed....is that true? Anyways, the girl rear ended me after trying to cut me off, but I wouldn't let her cut me off because I am an aggressive driver, and I HATE when people try to speed up and pass you. So I didn't let her pass me, and she cut off someone else and got in right behind me. She kind of drove like a maniac...anyways, the car in front of me slowed down to a stop and then I slowed down to a stop. I looked into my review mirror because I am always worried about getting rear ended, and I watched her slam right into me. So we pull over onto the shoulder and she gets out of her car (tiny little teenager type girl) and says, "Did I really do anything to your car?" I said, "Uh Yea. See this dint on my bumper." and she ROLLED HER EYES! Can you believe that? Anyway, she asked me not to report it to her insurance company and she would pay me, but I decided to report it anyway because I thought she was a reckless driver and I didn't like the fact that she rolled her eyes. So, I'm hoping that since technically my bumper needs to be replaced....I might get about $500 out of this. Fingers crossed!!!

Have you ever in your life seen such a beautiful little girl? And it kills me to say little girl because she is growing up way too fast!

This is the love of my life...besides John. I love her. That's all.

Ryann Cate showing a little too much under that dress...


Pure innocence!


Look at those eyes!!! Amazingly blue. She really lucked out with her mom and her dad having amazing eyes!


Seriously. I just really really really love her.

My Trip to New York

Just got back from New York last night. I enjoyed my trip, but boy was I glad to be home. This was the first trip that John and I have been apart for more than 2 days, and I missed him like crazy. Typically, I would say that that is sad that we haven't been away from each other more than that, but I just feel really blessed that we have not ever needed to be away from each other for more than two days and that we actually like to be together so much. It's really nice to be missed. It made me feel loved and needed. New York is a great city, but I am definitely a Dallas Texas girl. I could never leave here unless it was to go to Guatemala. So, I have pictures, but I forgot to bring the plug to upload my photos. I will post tomorrow or Friday, but until then. Here is a glimpse into my trip.....

Why I love Ryann Cate

1. She is perfect in every single way.
2. When I had her all day Friday, we really bonded and I felt like her stand in mommy.



3. She reaches her arms up to you for you to pick her up and it is the greatest feeling ever.



4.She tries to say everything that you say and it is so cute.
5. She comes up and hugs you or pats you on the back.



6.When she is tired, she will lay down in your lap and quietly babble.



7. When she is put in bed, you will hear her get really quiet, and then all of a sudden you will hear her having a conversation with her teddy bear.
8. When you take her to the play area at the mall, she will be climbing around, but she will always look back to make sure that you are seeing everything she is doing and she will give you a BIG smile.



9. This weekend when someone else was holding her and I walked up, she always reached for me and she never looks like this picture below. She is always smiling. Erin claims that she is not perfect, but I dont believe her.



10. She was eating in her highchair yesterday and we thought she had eaten almost everything, but when I picked her up after she was finished eating, we found that she had hidden all of her food behind her back and it was now either stuck to her shirt or in the highchair.

Money Money Money Money....Money! (sing it like the song in your head)

I have obviously been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want us to do with our lives (John and me) and I keep thinking about how easy it is to get caught up in money here in Dallas and not even realize that you are doing it. I mean, this is the place where women dress up to go to Target, the place where people try to look their best at church on Sunday, not for God, but for each other. This is the place where women wear makeup to the gym...to get sweaty, the place where there are at least 6 malls within 15 miles of my house, not to mention thousands of stores that are separate from the malls. This is a city where thousands of Christians are in debt because of their over exuberant spending with money that they do not have. This is the place where money ultimately rules our lives. It is scary to me to live here. I have lived here all of my life and have been caught up in all of this for my entire life without realizing how absolutely ridiculous it was. I went to private school. I have always been surrounded by this and I have always joined in. But, do I want to raise my kids in this kind of environment? I don't think so. I am not in any way saying that you cannot be a follower of Christ in Dallas, but I am saying that I think it's VERY hard to be a follower of Him and not get caught up in this desire for more more more.





So, since this has been weighing on me heavily, I decided to look up money and wealth verses. This is what I found. I know that God blesses some of us with money, but no where in the Bible does it then say that we should use that money selfishly and for ourselves only. Sure we give our 10% here in Dallas, but we keep the rest of it for ourselves and feel ok about it, and most of us have to because we have to use that money to pay off our continuously growing credit card debt!



Ecclesiastes 5:10
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.




Matthew 6:24
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.



1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.



Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."



2 Chronicles 1:11
God said to Solomon, "Since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king,



Psalm 49:20
A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.



Proverbs 11:28
Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.



Proverbs 22:1
A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.



Proverbs 11:4
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.



Matthew 13:22
The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.




1 Timothy 6:17
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.



Revelation 3:17
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

Mi Familia

Here are some of my favorite people in the entire world!