decisions...decisions...decisions...

My goal for the weekend is to complete our house. (well besides the things that cost major money) This comes with decision-making...which is NOT a strength of mine. Anyway, I've been working on our living room for awhile...and have changed it 9.2 million times (seriously...ask Kyle) and I just haven't been able to find something that works for me. My problem is I watch HGTV too much and ideally I would like to have a $5000 budget to do whatever I want. I don't forsee that happening, so I am calling on you guys for help. Which means....I NEED COMMENTS FROM ALL!!!!!!!

Here's the deal...I think I have everything meshing together, not too busy, and in a state I am satisfied with. Except one wall. So, I need everyone to look at the photos below and tell me what you think looks best. OR give suggestions for new ideas. The key to remember is....EXTREMELY small budget. (Kyle would say $0)




Here's my thoughts.




While we are making decisions....which one here too. (The construction paper would be the clock shown in the other pictures if I were to take it off the other wall)

Kyle's Birthday

Last Tuesday I celebrated the birth of one my most favorite people in the entire universe! That's right....Kyle turned the big 26!!!! Man, we are getting old...we gotta start having kids. ha JUST KIDDING. Don't get too excited parents. Anyway, while we were gone to eat at Texas Roadhouse, (YUM!) some of the youth broke in to our house and decorated for Kyle & gave him some awesome gifts! (movie bucks and El Torero gift card...woohoo!) Mainly these gifts are awesome because selfishly I get to enjoy the benefits of them! YAY! Thanks for making Kyle feel special. (and me too)




Then I made him blow out the candles. I even sang Happy Birthday. Scary, I know.

Making Me Smile...and laugh

Just thought I'd post a few things that have made me smile (and laugh) this week. Appreciate the moments that you feel loved by God and others. Appreciate the humor in life.

- Staying up until after midnight on a school night to watch a great movie, The Bucket List, with great people, Vange James & Jodi Nesbit.
- Watching Kyle fall off the stage when trying to greet a new person at youth. hahahahaha
- Receiving Valentine cards with sweet messages from my students.
- Hearing little Griffin (see below in bright yellow snow hat) state his argument to Kyle, "See how there is no hair in the front and some in the back...that is too my dad!"
- Hearing that my dad took my mom to dinner & a movie for Valentine's day.
- Finally getting all of our boxes unpacked from the garage. Woohoo! (still much to be done)
- Knowing that I get a 3 day weekend.
- Getting a Southwest gift card in the mail from Kyle's parents.
- Finally going a full day without a headache. (thanks to Bob I'm attempting to give up caffeine for lent. Hey Bob...you should totally take that as a compliment. Your lessons and words greatly move me to action each week...it just usually is tough stuff that pushes me....so I like to blame you..it makes it easier. haha thanks!)

Snow Day

West Texas isn't the only place that has crazy weather!!
Today it hit 75 degrees....and that is amazing considering last Thursday night we got 8 inches of snow and had a snow day Friday!!

It was soooo nice to sleep in! Kyle and I spent the entire day at the James' house. They happen to have 2 JH girls....and the 2 cutest boys ever....and live near another JH girl in our youth...plus they always have other kids at their house. Kyle spent the entire afternoon towing the girls around the block behind his pickup. They had a blast!! We also went sledding down the side of an overpass that evening. I was scared...but I finally went with Kyle. It was fun! But I'm ok with just taking pictures. Of course, Dawson did ask me go to with him once....and he is wayyyyyyyyy too cute to turn down. So here are some pics from the day: (my camera doesn't do well with the dark & I don't do well with the fast action...ha...so I don't have many sledding pics)

Date Night & Drive-In Church

I feel a deep, insightful blog coming on....ha....but for now here is what you get:

Kyle goes every Tuesday night on "Date Night" with some of the guys. It is Doug's (worship leader) night to deliver music for Sunday...and somehow he started picking up Dan (LifeGroup pastor) and they would go out to eat....and now Kyle and other random people join them weekly. You can read more about their dates on Doug's blog. (link to right) Anyhoo....we (the wives) like to give them a hard time about dating each other more than they date us, but in reality it is an awesome time for Kyle to build incredible relationships with the boys and I know he loves it! So I stole a picture from Doug's website to show you how happy it makes Kyle: (and Dan)

Meanwhile, I usually sit at home and watch HGTV or the Travel channel. Last time I watched the Travel channel it was showing the craziest thing I have ever seen.....a DRIVE-IN church. UNBELIEVABLE! Bob always mentions our fast-paced society and the fact that you can even get married in a drive though. HOLY COW..did you know you can get a "ticket to heaven" in a drive-up?!?!

I'm sure there are good things that happen...but I have a MAJOR hang up with this kind of thing. The people make up the church....not the building...or the parking lot...and I believe the fellowship, relationships, and work together are so vital!! Isn't some interaction necessary for healthy discipleship and personal growth? I don't think I like the idea of driving up, receiving a Word, and driving away. Oh and you can honk or flash your lights instead of saying Amen. Maybe there is more to the story than was shown. I did read online that the pastor greets them through their windows as they drive out. It seems so comical to me!

Venting

So here's the deal....this post is simply here for me to vent...and you to feel sorry for me.

School has been crazy the past several days! Last Thursday & Friday I basically had no voice. Especially on Friday morning when I was simply a whisper. It was quite interesting. Luckily I gave a test on Friday and I had a Title I teacher in my room for the morning.

We didn't have school yesterday. BUT today we show up....and there is NO heat and there are flurries in the air!!! Apparently a pipe froze & busted over the weekend so our heat went out. It has been FREEZING!! Luckily it is fixed now and at least our rooms are warm. The thing that really irritates me is that had they caught it earlier they would've cancelled school. Jerks. Meanwhile, I'm just giving out worksheets and doing my own thing (like typing a blog) and sort of taking the day off.

OH..and one other thing. This is basically to TOMMY MILLER. My blog is NOT to be used for trash talking. Especially when the talk is directed towards me. I WILL send my people to whoop you.

Youth Happenings

So brief, belated updated of Christmas. We had a GREAT time in Texas!!! It was sooooo wonderful to spend an entire week with the families! PLUS I got to eat at Chicken Express, Leal's, Tokyos, AND El Camino. And we were way too spoiled as usual.

Our kitchen is now fully tiled....a picture to come soon once we get the trim all put back in. It looks awesome!! Kyle, Greg, and Doug did a great job!!

Most importantly....Driven Student Ministries has fired up full force since school has started back. This past Wednesday Kyle kicked off the "All In" series with the students. It goes along with the "All In" series the church is doing. I am SUPER excited about the whole thing! Everything is related to poker and going all in and the parallels to our relationship with God. This week we talked about the fears that keep us from going all in...and man...it's worth a whole blog how this has been transforming my life!! The youth band made their first appearance on Wed. and rocked the house! Our JH kids seem so fired up every week...it's awesome!! We also started a high school Lifegroup at our house on Thursday nights and this week was the 2nd week. We had 8 HS students and 4 leaders here and we had a blast hanging out!! I love to see the excitement and drive in all of the JH and HS kids that are getting involved. My extended family will be happy to know that we played Cranium...and have broken it in quite well since we received it.

OHHHHHH...and I almost forgot. Kyle also made his singing debut at LifePoint last Sunday. Since we were talking about fears....and going all in....Kyle sang "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw. He did awesome! Who knew he was a country singer?!

Checkout the All In promo video: