Holy Granola, Batman! It's been over a week since I posted anything. That's because the past week has been insane! *Insane!* But it was a good kind of insane...

Christmas in Dallas was fun. We got to see all of the family and get fun gifts like books, tools, video games, and gift certificates. We got back to town on Friday evening and Doug's family showed up around lunchtime on Saturday. The next 24 hours were pure madness, but it was awesome! We did lunch, presents, dinner, karaoke (at home), church, and lunch again. And again it was fun hanging with the family and we got more cool presents like a water fountain/noise machine, an mp3 player, and a new dvd player.

Oh, Doug and I got each other some fun stuff too (tv, tickets to see 'a tuna christmas', the red curtain trilogy dvd collection)! :)

By the way, 4 year olds are intense! Boy howdy! Go Hope, go! It's like having a mini-Keith around! Only she's able to hit that piercing, ear-splitting shrieking note that all little kids are able to find! :o)~

The past three days have been consumed with redoing one of our bathrooms. We scraped the popcorn stuff off the ceiling, took the wallpaper off the walls (a pain in the rump, but good riddance), patched, sanded, primed and we just finished putting some new texture on. Tomorrow we actually get to paint!

Well, Doug is waiting to use the computer, so I'll stop for now. Try to avoid all the drunk people!

Wow, it's been longer than I thought since I posted anything. It's been a busy weekend. It's going to be a busy week. Christmas is like that! :) One lesson that I learned over the weekend - never go shopping on the Saturday before Christmas! Especially in an area that is packed with stores. And extra especially, never set foot inside Pottery Barn this close to Christmas. It's just not worth it.

Doug and I are headed for Dallas tomorrow for a few days of eating and present opening. We just have a few more gifts to wrap and we'll be ready to go! It's going to be a relatively laid-back and relaxing Christmas for us this year, due largely to the fact that my family keeps spreading farther and farther out. It is no longer possible to squeeze five Christmas gatherings into a day and a half!

Psalm 37:39-40 - The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Mama pajama! I just called my dentist's office to schedule a cleaning and they didn't have any appointments until February! Maybe what they didn't tell me is that the office is closed for a long holiday or something. There can't be *that* many people who want to get their teeth cleaned!

Yep, saw The Return of the King yesterday. It's so draining! It's so long! It's so awesome! I cried through the whole stinkin' movie - I'm such a chick! Seriously, it was wonderful. *sigh*

I do recommend not drinking anything for at least an hour before the movie starts and make one last trip to the "powder room" when the previews start. Your bladder will be thanking you three and a half hours later!

Ephesians 1:7 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace...

This Charles Stanley book, 'Finding Peace', is great! I can't wait to go through it with my women's group. It's the kind of book that's applicable to every person alive! :)

I'm going to see The Return of the King today! Doug and I are going with a group of people to see it at 2:15. I'm so excited! I can't wait! We've been preparing ourselves the past few days by watching The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Only three hours to go! Tee Hee!

Luke 15:3-7 - Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

Hello boys and girls! Have you told Santa what you want for Christmas yet? A better question: Do you really want some strange man sneaking into your house and letting reindeer stomp around on your roof?

I had my first singing solo today at church and I lived through it! I sang, "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch" a la Sixpence None the Richer. It went pretty well! Of course, I didn't do quite as well during the service as I did during practice, but the audience didn't notice. It was fun! :)

Doug and I have just been out looking through bathroom lighting and faucets, etc. at Home Depot and Lowe's. We're redoing our guest bath in a couple of weeks and it's going to be fun! Well, the work might not be all that fun, but the finished product will be!

John 15:9, 13 - "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. . . . Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

I just finished up my Bible study for the day. (for those to whom i have not yet raved about Bible Study Fellowship, or BSF, it is wonderful and i highly recommend it!) The lesson said that one of the most important things a servant of God can do is train other leaders who will carry on God's word.

I agree with that and teaching other women about God is one of the things that I really get excited about! Elisha is a person who I think is a great example of this. (his story is in the bible in 2 Kings 2-14) He was a prophet in the Old Testament who spent a great deal of time living with and teaching other prophets. He was cool.

Oh, and I finally figured out how to change my time zone on this website so it does not show my messages as being posted two hours earlier than they really were! WooHoo! :o)~

Well, my allergy attack/sinus infection seems to be going away, but unfortunately it's taking my energy with it! Apparently my body was in severe need of rest after being sick. Yesterday was just wacky! Doug woke me up around 7:30 to tell me he was running late and was leaving and then let me go back to sleep. I didn't wake up again until 10 o'clock (which is unusual for me)! I went and worked out after I woke up and I was just exhausted while working out and after I got home. By 3 o'clock I was feeling so wiped out that I laid down to take a nap and I didn't wake up until 5:30! Mama Pajama!! I don't even *take* naps! Weird. Very weird.

Thankfully I was able to get up at 7ish this morning to have breakfast with Doug and have not lost consciousness since then. I'll keep you posted... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

I'm pleased to report that I do seem to be improving. I still have a head full of "stuff" and a slightly rattly cough, but I *feel* a lot better! WooHoo! Thanks for praying, to all those who have been! :)

I just read the first chapter of Finding Peace by Charles Stanley. I'm thinking of using this book for my women's small group in the new year. The first chapter is good (asks the question, "Who's in control?") and I think it will be relatively easy to come up with discussion questions.

Finding peace seems like a pretty hot topic these days. Some people look to God for it, some people look inside themselves, and some people try to find peace by 'doing.' There are certainly a lot of books written about it! I'm excited to see what I have to learn from this one!

So, I've been suffering from the mother of all allergy attacks for the past couple of days. I think it's trying to turn into a sinus infection. Bleeeeeeck! I honestly think it might feel good to have someone step on my head right now. I'll have to talk to the cats about that...

Speaking of the cats - you know how cats have the amazing ability to step on vital organs and body parts with their pointy little feet? Well, they do. Charlie considers it his sacred duty to wake me up in the morning and he did this a couple of days ago by leaping across a pillow and landing with all four feet and 16 lbs. on my abdomen! I can sleep through a lot of things, but not that!

You know, I really plan to post to this site daily, but it's amazing how quickly a day can go by! Whatever... :)

No parts of the house self-destructed this week in an attempt to keep me from going to BSF and I'm glad! It was great! I'm also sad that I didn't go late to last week's meeting. I could have after Doug came home from work, but I opted to start the weekend early instead. My loss! I just read the lesson from last week and there was so much good stuff in it!

I love the fact that even when we seem to be alone, God is still with us and for us. We find ourselves in situations where we can stand up for God, but we feel outnumbered and intimidated so we remain silent. If we remember that God is with us and we can never be outnumbered when He is on our side, we can stand up for God with confidence. And He does amazing things when we let him! Last week, I mentioned the story of Elijah (starting in 1 Kings 17) and I'll bring it up again because he demonstrates this very thing many times in his life!

Well, we're back from Houston. We were able to get the spring replaced on the possessed garage door so we can open and close it manually for now. Doug's working on fixing the opener. So far, no other parts of the house have tried to attack me.

Thanksgiving was great! There was all the usual stuff - turkey, sweet potatoes, broccoli & rice casserole, etc. I'm pleased (ashamed?) to announce that I single-handedly ate a chocolate pie over the course of three days! And I was back in the gym this morning!

I'm trapped! I was just trying to leave the house (to go to BSF) and I pushed the garage door opener button, walked to my car and opened it, and then the stupid garage door opener self-destructed! It got about 1/3 of the way open, stopped, started buzzing and vibrating violently, the plastic cover over the light bulb shot off of it, then something broke and the door came slamming back down! *freaked me out!*

Now I can't get my car out of the garage. I tried pulling the red handle that is supposed to disengage the door from the opening machinery and I can't tell that it did anything. I pulled some other things that looked like they might help and... nothing. I can't get the door open. Now Doug is extremely amused and on his way home to see if he can free me from the beast. He says it's the rise of the machines. Ha. Ha.

So much for BSF...! :oI~

Ack! I was just cleaning the kitchen and noticed it was awfully warm near the stove. I checked and one of the burners was on. The stove hasn't been used today, so that means it had been on since last night! Good thing it was on medium-low... :oI~

I don't know how many of you are like me, but I tend to get extra stressed around the holidays. Even if nothing has changed in my schedule, I suddenly feel like I have *so* much going on and it's kind of overwhelming. I don't know if it's the prospect of all the driving between and within cities that will take place or if it's thinking of the millions of family members I'll see or what. My threshold for stress just decreases.

But you know, God has given me a large family and He has given me many responsibilities. And if God calls me to a task, He will give me the strength to do it! So, I may find the holidays extra stressful, but I can have faith that God will give me an extra measure of peace and patience to handle all the activity. Cool, huh? Check out the story of Elijah in the Bible (1 kings 17-19, 21). It's one of the many stories that's helpful for understanding God.

Curse it all, I've been sucked in by the latest fad! I accidentally ended up on blogger.com and decided to read a few posts. Then I thought it might be fun to have one of my own. And it's free... alas, my inner-trendy came out!

On a less dramatic note, this will be a good way for people I don't call or email as often as I should to make sure I'm still alive! Plus, I can tell people random things like, "My husband thinks I've sold my email soul to Blockbuster, all for a free rental!"

:)