Whew! Home for the holidays!

Heavens what a whirlwind of a week it has been (ok...an almost week)!

My lovely friend Judy took me to the airport circa 5:30am Saturday morning, and my was I glad I asked that she pick me up around 5!  Checking my bag was no trouble at all...but TSA...eesh, that took ages.  It really wasn't that bad, and surprisingly everyone was rather cheery - even with it being so ridiculously early in the morning.  I was one of the *lucky* travelers to get to go through one of those fancy new scanning machines...I don't really know how I feel about them.  It's quick and painless so it's not all that awkward during the actual scanning process.  And, if the example images TSA puts up are accurate, then I really don't think there's any issue with them.  But...who knows, really?  Well, enough about TSA.  I made it to my gate in plenty of time and even got to do a little leisurely reading!  Say, what?!  Got on the plane and took a snooze on the very smooth little flight - we made way good time!  I actually sat next to a Minnesotan who had never been on a plane before!  It was fun to get to chat with him and get his take on flying.  His general consensus: It's kinda fun...but doesn't feel as fast as I thought it would. 

Setting foot on sweet DFW ground was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.  It was absolutely wonderful to get picked up by my faja and to head home to my sweet, sweet family.  Oh how I have missed them!

We've been having a pretty wonderful time thus far.  Lots of hang time, movies, CHUY'S!!, birthday celebrations, churching, and, sadly, finishing up final projects for the semester...but it is all done now!

****HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!!  So sorry I didn't get to put up a birthday blog for you...but, I loved spending the day with you!  LOOOOOVE YOU!!*****

I've loved getting to visit with my family and so many wonderful, wonderful people.  Oh how blessed I am.  And I can't wait to see more and more of you as the next week or so unfolds!!

I have lots of fun updates to share, but for now I am going to close.  It. is. time. for. bed!!

Praying you all have a wonderfully blessed Christmas remembering the birth of our precious, precious Savior.

Shalom, and blessings to you!
~MW

..::Remade::..

Sometimes I forget Who has made me, Who loves me, and who I am...and why...

Sometimes I wonder why God still loves me when I think about all of the ungodly things I think, do, say, etc...

Sometimes I wonder why God still loves me when I choose to not do godly things - when I chose to not love, to not exercise mercy, to not be thankful, to not give of myself, etc...

Sometimes I forget that I have been remade, and that God isn't finished with me - that He is continuously refining me in and through His pure and perfect love.

Sometimes I forget that the scars I have acquired along the way don't have to be ugly, but that they can be a beautiful reminder of God's amazing faithfulness and absolutely unconditional love.  Even when they hurt from time to time.  Even when I allow myself to question everything because I am reminded of the past.

But I do know this: God never forgets why He loves me, why He sent His precious Son to die for me - to die for everyone - why He will always be there even when I lose my way and lose sight of Him and His love.  And, what a reason to rejoice that is!  Even when I fail - mmmmm, which is pretty much all the time - He is right there to pick me up and love me...even when I try to push Him away.

For those of you who might not know me as well as others, one of my absolute favorite bands is Tenth Avenue North.  This band writes amazingly honest and broken songs.  I know I can always be pointed towards Christ by working through their songs.  Two of their songs that really serve as a reminder of God's perfect love -even when it absolutely hurts- are You Are More and Any Other Way.  This first video below is the music video for You Are More and the second video is the video journal talking about Any Other Way.  They are both really outstanding videos. 

God is always there, even when He seems far away.  He is always in control, even when it seems like everything is falling apart.  We are always going to mess up, but He will always be right there waiting for us to run back into His healing arms...always.


Praying everyone getting ready to travel around to see friends and family has safe, safe travels and wonderfully blessed times with loved ones.

I'll be home soon, family!  Just one more full day and I'll be in your arms!  Oh, sweet Texas, I cannot wait to be back on your solid, unfrozen ground.

All my love, always,
~MW

Happy Birthday to....

This handsome 19 year old boy!

You used to be SOOOO little....when did you stop being this small??

 

 

 

 

 

     Panda Bear, you have grown up so, so much - I can hardly believe it sometimes...but, I will never forget running around the woods with you and Fariz, going "collecting," camping in the tree house, making our base camps in the back yard, cooking our whatever they were concoctions, wakey-wakey-click-click, pokemon-ing it, yugi-oh-ing it, watching Oswald, making up our own games and adventures inside of Zelda, listening to musics together, watching LOTR, Star Wars, Firefly, etc...etc...etc...our list of insanity can go on.  

     I hope and pray that no matter how crazy life gets for you, my outstanding actor of a baby brother, that you will never ever forget the little things.  Remember the crazy random crap we did as kids and try to throw some new crazy and some new random into each new chapter of your life.  Remember it.  Live it.  

And, never ever forget to remember this: I. Love. You.

Cannot wait to see you this weekend and play with you and the Fariz over Christmas.  

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

LOVE YOU!

~Heath

snow... Snow.... SNOW... SNOW... SNOOOOOOW!!!

So...things have been pretty crazy here...like...a whole TON of snow got dropped on us within the last 24hrs or so.

Let me just give you a little introduction, before getting to the Blizzard of 2010, though.  Here's a snippet of our first snow...video is a little rough...I got tired of messing with it, but I think you'll get the general idea  :)

And now...here is our RECORD BREAKING SNOW STORM.  The most snow "we've" seen in 19 years.  We got about 16.5 inches here in the Twin Cities, and the snow drifts have been ranging from 3 to about 7 feet deep.  Yuh...it's intense.  Like way.  So....without further ado...enjoy!

[EDIT: I just realized that I misspelled bury...but I could always try to play that extra "f" off as being due to the cold....brrrrr...maybe...?]

So, yeah.....we have a lot of snow hangin' out here.  Yup...just a little.  And with that, I am off.  Those videos took forever and uploading them was a nightmare...why did Microsoft have to go and change Video Maker..whyyyy???  Ah, well, I'll survive, I suppose...or just suck it up and buy Adobe...maybe...some day...

Shalom!

~MW

My First 10 on 10!

So, a few of y'all might have found your way over to my lovely blogger-friend and sister in Christ, Katy. I've mentioned her and linked up with her a few times before. And she is way more blog savvy than I am, just sayin' - so love you, Katy! Anywho, she's does all these fun bloggery things and then I jump on her bandwagons...mmhmm, I am that person. Maybe someday I'll have enough time to be as awesome of a blogger as Katy is :)

So, Katy is a big participant in this neat little thing called "10 on 10" where you take a picture every hour for 10hrs on the 10th of each month. FUN? I. THINK. YES!! So, here goes my first 10 on 10! (I'll be honest, I missed a few hours here and there, so there's a touch of a gap in some of my pictures...TIGS, need I say more?)

So, here's my first 10 on 10 - December!

9 AM

This is what I wake up to every morning - MOM! FEEEEED MEEEEE!

10 AM

Coffee + Gihrardelli Peppermint Bark in 

Christmas mug = most legit homemade peppermint mocha EVER!

11 AM

Decided to wear earrings for the first time in about 2 months.

12 AM

Walkin' into Hodson...sorry for the mitten in the picture...they're kind of fluffy.

1 PM

Worked on my cerambycid illustration for a bit

2 PM

Took a break from the bug and worked on some manuscript stuff for the Wharton.

3 PM

ENTO vs EEB dodge ball - pretty epic.

6 PM

Went home to take Jakers out before heading back out

7 PM

Decided to lite the tree for Jakers before I left.

1 AM

Called it a night after hangin' with the bugdorks in celebration of 

being done with Insect Ecology!!!!

***Sorry for the major lags: dodge ball lasted forever and then my phone memory filled up after I left the house for the evening...


I'm going to try and remember to do it again next month - anyone care to join in??

Shalom!
~MW

Avoiding finishing an assignment?

I invite you to enter the wonderful world of Blogger :)

Yes...I am indeed procrastinating. It's so hard to be motivated when something isn't due until 3:30pm and the actual class is no longer meeting...yuuuup, I am there. Is it possible to have "senioritis" in grad school? Maybe it's just a case of "holidayitis" or "homesickitis." Stay tuned for the diagnosis.

But, for now I am going to prove to all y'all that I am indeed still alive and that I am still a contributing part of the blogverse...even if 90% of my contribution of late has merely been in the way of comments...MY APOLOGIES. As my lovelies in Africa say TIA (This Is Africa), so I shall say TIGS - This. IS. Grad. School!! I have come to accept the sad but unavoidable truth that grad school will indeed keep me from gracing your monitors and screens from time to time.

So, how goes life in the FT of late?

snow...Snow...SNOOOW!!! (<-- White Christmas style, Daddy!) We've had quite a bit of snow here, along with single digit and negative degree days, daylight that disappears circa 4:30pm, and...wind. So, the snow I love, the single digit and negative degree days I really don't mind...like my property manager said the other day, "It's so cold it's like it actually makes you warm." I know y'all probably can't understand that, but it's true! It's so cold that it's like our endothermic capabilities actually finally kick into action and boom! - you're warm and toasty...well, if you have a decent coat...and some good socks...aaand a hat...and maybe some long underwear...yup, that aught to do it :)

The ever so essential base layer....does this not remind you of Peter Pan's shadow??
Right about the time he gets ready to stitch it back on..?


Definitely one of my best investments since the move up here.

Oh...do NOT forget your gloves or a scarf - those are key as well, especially the glovies. Man. My finger tips get SOOO cold!! I need to invest in a legit set of glovies, I think. My layered knit gloves just don't seem to be cutting it anymore *sad*

BUT! All that to say, it's really not so bad until the wind gets to blowing. Even a little breeze can feel like a million little ice daggers slicing right through you...yuh, it's pretty brutal. Sometimes I'm convinced that by the time I make my trek through the snow to/from my car that the wind will have successfully taken thousands of little nicks out of my face - the only part of my body that is not layerfully covered as I brave the winter weather. So far the wind has not won, although I can't seem to get enough fluids into my body to keep my lips from cracking/peeling (gross, I know...welcome to my life.). Ah well, hopefully I can recover for a spell in my beloved TX before making my return to brave another 3-4 months of winter...neat.

Now that you have some sort of an idea what winter is like here allow me to share some of my favorite things with you.
* The snow. I've already mentioned it, but my goodness is it gorgeous! There are a number of fields around the "Cow Campus" (Ags, it's somewhat equivalent to West Campus) and they are all currently blanketed in a beautiful white, glistening, sparkly layer of powdery snow. Every time I walk past one of the fields all I want to do is get a running start and leap into the middle of the field (what? It's totally humanly possible to do...) and just land in the foot or so of snow that is resting around town right now...I think I'll wait until there's another foot or two, though.
* The sound my boots make walking on packed snow. It's this fun little squeaking, compressing sound...I don't know, it's weird, but I just like it. Probably because it's still novel...but hey, I'll take it for now.
* Footprints in the snow. I love seeing all of the animal tracks that have started turning the fields into puzzle pieces. I have to admit that they are starting to tease my imagination...I want to know where they lead and who they belong to!!! I totally have Beatrix Potter scenes running through my head...hmmm...maybe I can work on finishing that little story of mine over the holidays! Hey J-Hump, shall we play around with some illustrations over the break? Yes? Mmmk, great :)
* Wintery Christmas spirit. It's been super fun to ring in the season with snow on the ground...seriously fun. Ups the awesome by a good 50%.
* Driving in the snow. I know it terrifies some of y'all, but I seriously love it! Especially when it's actually snowing while I drive. Mmmmmhmm. Perrrrrfection. Ice, however, is a different story - I don't really want to talk about it.

Ok...so pretty much everything I love revolves around snow right now...it's just that awesome.

Last week was pretty insane...I really don't remember all that much of it. A number of us attempted our first preliminary exam (one of the requirements of our program) - we'll find out how we did in about 2 weeks. We also had a number of final projects, papers, etc. due...TIGS. There were a few nights I definitely did not sleep. We hardly saw each other...I think that was the weirdest and most difficult part of last week...being pretty much cut off from everyone, even here. But we survived it!

Well, I've also been a little busy around my little apartment! With...what? If any of you know even a little about me I'm sure you could guess this one pretty easily...CHRISTMAS!

Me Mum sent quite the goody-filled box of love last week...complete with ornaments to fill my tree which, at the time, only had 4 sad, lonely ornaments...It is now pleasantly full :)

Only a small number of fatalities.

Jakers helped me decorate the tree...looks rather enthused, doesn't he? ;)


Haha, I could NOT resist giving this one to y'all...doesn't he look like he's
singing Christmas songs??


Nonna sent this to me via Aunt June earlier in the year...I love these things!

Snowman nutcracker, mini nativity, and seasonal candles...perfection :)

Hope chest Christmas style. A Christmasy runner, Christmas
traditions calendar, nativity, snowman plate...sparkly garland...I'll take it.

I tried to get a little creative with some Christmas "orbs" and spiralling the garland in the
tree dish I would have filled it with candies, but Jake would clean it out...meh, it'll do.

Stockings! Had to hang them somewhere! My very empty wall seemed like as good a
place as any...One for me and one for the kids...Jake and BigBoy can totally share.

NUTCRACKERS!!! I miss our big collection back home :(

I've had this little tree since my junior year of high school...I felt it fit in nicely
in my whimsy corner.

My very own Advent wreath!!! Thanks parentals :)

And finally......


THE TREE!!!

I'm pretty proud of it :) I won't lie. A HUGE thanks to Momma for sending me all the little balls and the extra ornaments...especially the Aggie and Texas ones :) I think my favorite part is my Aggie Santa hat...I've had that thing since freshman year at A&M and it has made it's appearance ever Christmas since. Gotta love it.

Well, kiddies, I'm signing off for the night. Hope all is well with each of you. Praying blessings on you, my sweet readers. Love to you all!

This is what happens when you don't sleep for a good 2-3days...at least BigBoy
and Philly were there to keep me company =]

Sleepily Yours,
~MW