Clarity.

Besides my husband being stuck in Dallas studying for an upcoming test, the weekend was close to perfect.

Friday night when I got into Athens my mom and I got to go eat dinner and catch up. We had a tough time deciding where to eat with all the options in town. Applebee's or Ochoa's? Since my mom had gone with friends to Ochoa's for lunch, Applebee's it was. We walked in and while waiting for a table I listened and watched everyone as they passed by. Everyone knows everyone in our town and that's pretty clear at the local Applebee's. ;)

On Saturday morning I got up early to head to Newton (where my Daddy lives). When I showed up he was outside welding/building fence. I've never known this man to sit still. I've also never known him to not do something on his own. That is one of the biggest things I admire about my Dad, he's a hard worker. That's something that I also admire in my husband. They may be different as night and day in some ways, but working hard isn't one of them.

My stepmom and I spent all day outside cheering my Dad on and occasionally helping when he'd let us. So we grabbed some lawn chairs under a shade tree, sipped on some sweet tea and ate watermelon. Perfect Saturday I think.

It's been such an amazing experience getting to see my Dad turn a piece of land into a home. When he bought this 100 acres about two years ago it was nothing but trees. Now it's cleared off, has a house, roads, he's building a lake, and as you can see above, the fence is coming along. That may not sound like a lot in two years but when you do the majority of it yourself with a little help from family and friends it really is a lot in a short period of time. I'm proud of him. And I can tell how happy it makes him to have this place to call home.

On Saturday evening I took a walk on the land and snapped a quick picture of the sunset. Not because it was the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen but because I found myself really appreciating that moment.

As I looked around me surrounded by everything God made I felt overwhelmingly joyful. As Daniel and I like to say, I got a 'heart jump'. That moment when something makes you so happy your heart does a flip. And at the very same time I found myself wanting to cry because I don't feel like this more often where we live. If I needed anymore clarity that I was not made for the city life, this was it. 

We are still working on our next move and waiting on answers about jobs but everyday is a day closer to getting those answers and we are thankful for all the prayers that have been given.

As Promised...

So as I had mentioned, my life has been very busy lately.

I had also promised to finally fill you all in. So this is going to be kind of a potluck post.

I will start with this last Friday....

My kiddos had their Christmas program at school and they were just the cutest little things I've ever seen.

They made me and Ms. Lyndsie so proud with their adorable singing antics.

Their playlist included Jingle Bell Rock and Away in a Manger.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that I'm not allowed to post pictures of them outside of school I can not let you partake in adoring their cuteness.

As they sang, it was so hard to believe that these little children were babies when I began my job two years ago. I was so happy I wanted to cry. I immediately began to realize this has to be how a parent feels when their child is growing up. Except I'm sure it's 100 times worse.

And once again I realized I'm not ready for children. I would never be able to let mine out of sight for even a second.

I hope I'm not, but probably will be the parent that tells you some lame excuse like, "I'm sorry you can't hold him because he's an anthropophobian (afraid of people)." or maybe something along the lines of, "She's allergic to everyone but me, doctor's orders."

I don't even like to leave my children at school with a sub because I'm afraid they won't take care of them like I do.

I guess I should work on having faith in others a little more.

Anyway, the children really warmed my heart Friday evening and helped me remember the importance or Christmas. They brought such youth, innocence and cheer to all of us there.

I truly did feel blessed to be a part of it all. I have to say my kiddos parents are very lucky to have such wonderful children. :)

Saturday seemed to be a whirlwind of events that left me completely exhausted come Sunday morning. Who am I kidding, I'm still exhausted now.

As I've mentioned before one of my best friends in the entire world is getting married. Yes, Ms. Princess Mitzi. She's taking the plunge with one of the sweetest guys around, Danny.

Saturday was their engagement party and I had the best time seeing old friends and catching up about old times and making new memories.

Mitzi was my roommate for three years and quickly became my best friend and long lost sister. I have to say she is by far the funnest (not a word) person that I know!

I'm so completely happy for her and I know that her and Danny will truly have a happily ever after like they deserve.

All the bridesmaids. Erica, Alexis, Shellie, Me, Jen, Mitzi (bride), Katie, Ashley and Kristen

I didn't get pictures of the wonderful main course but here are the scrumptious cupcakes and cookies.

Mitzi and Danny opening their gift from all the bridesmaids.

Me and the Bride to be, Princess Mitzi

Our cute gift from Mitzi and Danny for throwing the shower for them. Monogrammed umbrellas.

Thank you Mitz, for being one of the best friends a girl could have. I love and cherish our friendship more than you will ever know.

After the Mitzi/Danny extravaganza I attended Ms. Lacee Lou's Christmas party. Sadly, there are no pictures since I was exhausted from the moment I got there.

It was good however to hang out with old friends and catch up. I also enjoyed seeing people in ridiculously funny Christmas attire.

I slept in Sunday to try to recover from lack of sleep. But was awoke by a phone call. I didn't mind. It was another one of my favorite people in the entire world, Ms. Jenanabelle (Jenna).

She was in Denton visiting the boy so we met up for a lunch date and discussed how wonderful we are. ;)

Then it was off to the grocery store to buy more baking stuff than one should ever buy to make Christmas cookies for the world (30 people).

I began my baking marathon at 4:30 P.M.

Seven hours and 243 cookies later they were packaged, labeled and now sit ready to be handed out to some very lucky people.

I was told that they better be good cookies for all the hours it took. (They are.)

But even if they weren't, they were made with heaping spoonfuls of love. :)

I guess I could have purchased cookies or made one huge pan of cupcakes, but we all know that's not my style.

Martha has taught me better than that.

And I would be utterly embarrassed to send out store bought goods to ANYONE, even the homeless at Christmas.

It makes me a little sick to my stomach when I see store bought cookies wrapped up individually like they are homemade, such fakes...such wannabe's.

Yes, I know.... I'm an absolute food snob.

Anyway, the small trinkets of goodness are shown below......

These are just some of the cookies....there were of course many many more.

Chocolate peppermint cookies

So this about catches everyone up.

I'm currently in the middle of finals so it's another big week.

But when it's all over I get to see the number one greatest person in my life, my Daddy!!! (Mom, don't worry you're tied)

I can't wait for that last final Friday morning!

For now though I will leave you with a few photographs, enjoy.

Me and Santa, 1991
I'm gonna have to say about 1988

I hope everyone has a great week!

Weekend With Daddy :)

So this past weekend was spent with one of my favorite people in the world, my Daddy.

I always enjoy our time together.

The rain put a slight damper on our weekend but we didn't let it keep us down.

I took off work Friday so we could spend the day together. (Thanks for working for me Jenny :)

We went to the bookstore to pick up my school books (I really haven't needed them the past two weeks, but it's now getting to the point that I do.) and Daddy decided to pick up a few Plato books of his own.

We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening looking around in Grapevine and then back to Denton for dinner and then to Best Buy where I picked up a few CD's. One of which is now my new favorite, Matt Nathanson.

Saturday brought much rain, but we didn't complain. We decided to head back to Grapevine where we had noticed the day before that there was a big BBQ cookoff at Bass Pro.

But of course had only brought an umbrella and no rain gear which was indeed in need.

Lucky for me Bass Pro carries a wide range of rain gear.

Of course the cheap stuff was sold out because everyone seemed to have the same idea.

So after spending $86 on rain gear I was then ready to hit the cookout.

Some very good BBQ was sampled and we saw some very unique pits. Including an 18 wheeler and Mickey Mouse.

My Daddy used to make BBQ pits for fun when I was growing up and we used to have this huge pit in our yard that looked exactly like an old tractor it had wheels and even a seat. We decided that we definitely would have had one of the coolest BBQ pits there if we'd have entered the contest. I'm not sure about our BBQ though.

After a couple of hours at the cookout we'd had all the BBQ we could handle and made our way to downtown Fort Worth.

I have never been down to the stockyards and my Daddy hasn't been since the '90's.

It poured on us the entire time we were there. But somehow I didn't even notice. This is where I decided the $86 investment in rain gear was definitely well worth it.

We looked around for a while and enjoyed all the history the town has to offer before heading back to Denton, ordering a pizza and relaxing at the house.

All in all I had a great weekend and I'm thankful for our time together. :)