"I Hate Goodbyes!"

That title might be lost on some of you if you've never seen the movie "Dumb and Dumber".

Anyway our good friends Jay and Gina moved to Oklahoma last week. Definitely not a favorite moment in our friendship. So instead here are some that are favorites...

1. Realizing that Skip and Gina are birthday twins (both born on September 20, 1979)
2. Going to Wrigley Field togther in 2005
3. Knowing that Jay would always order the best appetizers when we'd go out ot eat
4. Gina bursting Kate's bubble and telling her that there's no such thing as a "hosepipe".
5. Kate and Gina having an all day conversation by texting (we had to get an unlimited texting package due to their addiction)
6. Skip and Jay playing softball for crappy teams (Sorry Doves, we really weren't that good)
7. Seeing movies at the Movie Tavern
8. Day O' Fun at the O'Steens (not elaborating on this one :) )
9. Jay & Gina hanging out all day at the hospital waiting on Reese's arrival
10. Finding such great friends when we weren't even looking

Always on the move...

Remember when we use to say "I don't know if she'll ever crawl."? Yeah... we're not saying that anymore. She's mobile, she's agile, she's NON-STOP! It's almost as if this one step in our house calls out to her and says climb me please!

...Pondering anew

I read the blog of a dear friend yesterday and she was talking about not 'fretting'(click here). It was very convicting and challenging to me. I have found myself fretting quite a bit lately about different things: selling our house, new jobs, money, church, family, daily annoyances, living a significant, impactful and meaningful life, blah, blah, blah :) Well, I was listening to a hymn cd in the car this morning(which I love!) and heard the words from 'Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.' (Go here and read all the words if you havent before...they are awesome!) Now, if you don't know, I love hymns: a love that was instilled in me by my parents when I was little. They are wonderful and powerful if you take the time to truly meditate on the words.

"Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do..." Wow, I thought. How often do I truly stop and ponder what our amazing God can do? And how often do I truly meditate on the fact that our God will do abundantly more than than we could ever ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20)?? How often do I just stop and praise Him. Not often enough. My mind gets bogged down with worries, busyness, worldly pursuits. I mean, there has never been a time when my God has not been faithful or has not sustained me. He sustains me daily. I am challenged to think with a renewed and fresh mind on the majesty, power, faithfullness, love and goodness of my Lord and Savior and to take time to "praise the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!"

take that, hurricane emily!...

We visited our dear friends, the Perez family (click here), this weekend in San Antonio and had a wonderful time visiting, eating mexican food, and going to sea world...such a nice little vacation...considering that the last vacation we were on with them included us being boarded into "the ark" to wait out hurricane emily, only to emerge 18 hours later:

(-knowing the entire harry potter trilogy by heart, en espanol,
-starving because the only food we were given was past expiration,
-exhausted because our 2x6 plot of floor was not super comfy,
-not being able to go to the beach due to the fact all the sand was gone,
-not allowed to swim in the pool due to all the dead fish that now were inhabiting it,
-and my favorite, having to eat pringles on the rest of our 'paid-in -advance, all-inclusive vacation', because none of the restaurant employees could get into work),

...this one was a DREAM!!!

Here's to 8 years of friendship, the Mayan Riviera and Sea World!!

(Skip and I, Rosey and Jimmy at Sea World)

...the simple things

...my precious little girl who reminds me every day that
it's the simple things in life that make it so sweet!