Texas Time!

{{Interwebs broke last night, so this post had to wait until today.  Oh, and the comments have moved to the top of the blog posts...weird, I know...but, I kinda like it...}}

OK, readers!

So, I promised you more updates this week and here is the first installment: Texas!

{I'm going to do my catch-up updates in reverse order, so that I don't leave any of the awesome that was this precious time in the land I have come to love so, so dearly.}

TEXAS!!!!

TU

Let me start....at the beginning!

Saturday, May 21
Let's just say that the trip got off to a weeeeee bit of a rocky start...This gal slept through her alarm, only to be awakened by the highly offensive **buzz** that is the door buzzer of my building.  And, let me tell you, I am so thankful that the **buzz** is indeed highly offensive...otherwise I might not have made it!  My sweet friend Christine had graciously agreed not only to pick me up at the ungodly hour of 5am to take me to the airport, but also to be the live-in "mom" to my critters while I was away...she's the best, y'all.  Anyways, back to getting to the airport...  Christine had called me when she left her place to come pick me up...but, of course, I didn't hear the call, nor did I wake up to any of my 5 alarms...neeeeat.  So, I woke up when I was supposed to be leaving.  Yep, talk about freak-out.  I wasn't entirely packed as I had a few things I was still debating on taking, so the decision was made by shoving everything without a thought into my trusty, rolly, red duffel bag.  I then splashed some water on my face, threw the hair in a pony tail, kissed the critter goodbye, and flew out the door with Christine's **chuckling** help.  We made it to the airport with plenty of time for me to check my bag, make it through the one open check-point, and spend a little time in the bathroom making myself look a little more presentable.  I got to chat with another lady doing the same thing - this gal was impressively curling her hair!  Props to her!  Then I got to chat with my pops as I waited...yay, weather delays...silly tornadoes...  Sadly, the delay stole a chunk of time that I was going to spend with the fam at DFW, but we were still able to get in an hour and a half or so (complete with a dead battery in the 'rent's car at the airport...there's a free service for that at DFW, though!!), and it was wonderful - they brought me Taco Bueno (judge me all you want, it still screams Texas!)!  It was great to be able to see my Momma on her bday - love you so much!  From DFW I caught my next flight down to ATX where I was very pleasantly greeted by two of my absolute best friends, the Ponders.  Man, I miss them!!  I was able to spend the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday with them, and Josh even serenaded me and Elaine with some guitar playing and singing - thanks for sacrificing your fingertips for us, JP! (*snap! snap! snap! snap! snappity! snap! snap!*)

Monday, May 23
My sweet Tara friend came and snatched me from the Ponder house Monday morning and we went to Kerbey Lane where we had one of the most excellent breakfasts ever...deeeelish!  We spent the day running around, catching up, and hanging out - it was wonderful.  Later that evening our wonderful Kristen friend came to join the party and we got ready for a superb Mexican feast, I am Number 4 showing, and slumber party with a couple of Tara's friends from grad school (thanks so much for all of your hard work and letting us crash in your living room, Noel!!).  It was awesome.

Tuesday, May 24
FUN IN THE SUN!  SUN! SUN! SUN!  Y'all...my skin hasn't seen sun since I moved up here...it was awesome to get to lounge out by the pool...even if I did get some funny streaky lines...no worries, everything evened out before the wedding  :)  It's still a bit too chilly up here to go swimming, too, so splashing around in the pool was delightful.  Later on we went to Gloria's (the BEST tamales I have ever had state side...I'd venture to say they were as good as the Panamanian tamales, family...seriously...I thought I had died and gone to heaven) for happy hour, where I got to see my lovely Alyssa K!!  It was awesome to catch up with her and have good old fashioned girl time.

Wednesday, May 25
Kerbey Lane, round 2!  Kristen and Tara and I decided we needed to go get breakfast there again...just because we could, and we all wanted to dig-in to some lemon poppy-seed pancakes (to die for!).  It was fantastic.  After breakfast the girls dropped me off at the casa de Reed where I got to spend some wodnerfully precious time with my cousins and the little Z-Man...I can't believe he's going to be 4 soon!  So hard to believe.  But we had a ton of fun - oh how I miss them!!

Thursday, May 26
The after getting some Whataburger for lunch, the cousin drove me to meet up with Mak and her other gals so that we could get to work on bachelorette/pre-wedding fun.  While P and I waited for Mak we ran around with Z-Man at a little playground and had a ton of fun with him there...don't worry, he survived the face-plant following his trip down the big-kid slide just fine  ;)  Once Mak arrived I transferred all of my junk into her car and we headed for Buda-land to get to prepping.  We had a fun night out strolling around 6th street and got so not enough sleep...but it was still a blast, and Mak was an absolute trooper at the piano bar  :)

Friday, May 27
THE DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING!!!!  Us bridesmaids got to work finishing the guest favors and helping to make sure Mak had everything she needed for the wedding and honeymoon.  We all made it to the rehearsal where Butch did an excellent job of making sure we didn't forget to take care of our sweet bride during the ceremony the next day - what a blessing to have such an amazing man of God join you in marriage.  After the seamless rehearsal was complete we headed to Lake Travis for the rehearsal dinner - awesome Mexican food and fun with friends.  We finally had our fill of food and people and made our way back to the hotel where we got to hang out with Mak's extended family for a bit before calling it a night.  Man, they are a fun bunch of people.

Saturday, May 28
WEDDING DAY!!!  We got the day off to an early 7am start to make sure that Mak had plenty of time to get prepped and not suffer too much stress in the way of time crunching.  Her mom treated us to a lovely breakfast at the house and we all set to work prepping for the 2pm ceremony.  We made it to the church around 11:30/12 and did our final preps before it was time for the pre-ceremony pictures.  Once those were done it was a short wait and then it was show time!  The wedding itself was beautiful, intimate, and God-centered...perfection.  I'm pretty sure we all let a few tears fall as we watched Wes as he saw his bride walking down that aisle toward a lifetime with him.  She was stunning and he was so obviously in awe of her beauty, inside and out, that tears were inevitable.  The reception was a fun time with friends and family and I was so happy I got to see the Ponders one last time.  It was incredibly difficult for me to say goodbye to Mak and Wes as we ushered them off to Jamaica...I miss them!!!  And, saying goodbye to my sweet Josh and Elaine was equally difficult.  But, saying goodbye to those sweet people transitioned me into the next leg of my trip.  My dear Bolwerk was gracious enough to come pick me up from Buda, even though he was too sick to attend the wedding with me - what a champ, eh?  He drove his sick self 2hrs just to pick me up so that I could spend some time in College Station.

{Have I ever mentioned how much I absolutely love my friends??  Mmk, well, I adore them...there are simply no words to express how much I love them and how much they have absolutely become my family.}

B and I made a little stop back at Tara's for dinner and some general hangout-age...such a blessing.  After that he and I made a stop at the convenience store for some Blue Bell (Texas, I love you!), Sour S'ghetti, Vanilla Coke, and Cherry Dr. Pepper.  That my friends, is a recipe for success!  We had a really great drive to CS, brimming with sugar-highs, laughter, good tunes, and excellent conversation.  He granted me the pleasure of driving me through campus and stopping at the giant Aggie Ring so that I could actually see and touch it, as I hadn't been able to see it since it was placed.  I love Texas A&M...there is simply no place like it.

Sunday, May 29
Church!  B and I went to Grace Southwood for service Sunday morning and then met up with Poarchy-Poarch and Powell at Fuego for lunch - oooohm gahhhhh how I have missed Texas food!  We had an excellent lunch and then made our way over to the 'doons for some coffee and face time with Cam - man I love that kid...he's so freaking tall!  While there I got to have some sweet time with Poarchy as well as my sweet Powell girl.  I've missed those kiddos so much!  There was another lovely, lovely surprise I got at Muldoons: Katy!!  I'm sure most of you are familiar with my sweet sister in the Lord, Katy, who has been in Africa with her husband Kahler this last year.  Well, she and I finally go to make our friendship "real-life" official!  She was so sweet to make time to come visit with me for a little bit and it was such a blessing to finally meet her face to face and give her a real hug.  But...as she and I were discussing earlier today...we both failed to document our meeting with a picture.  And we call ourselves bloggers...shame on us.  BUT!  We'll remedy that come the Christmas holidays, don't you worry your pretty little heads  :)  After coffee time B, Poarch, Powell, and I made our way back to B's house to watch a movie while I waited for for my sweet Kacy and Justin friends to pick me up for dinner.  Once they arrived we made our way to Blue Baker for some pizza...ah, it brought back memories.  We had such a sweet time together - I was so happy they were able to make the trek up from Houston.  From there we went over to the Humphrey's House for dessert, where Miss Powell joined us as well.  After sending Kacy and Justin off...and ushering in the tears that would not completely stop flowing for the next two days, the Humphrey House settled down for some Kung Fu Panda before calling it a night.

Monday, May 30
Happy Memorial Day!!

{I'll have another post to share some things about Memorial Day a little later on this week or next}

A bunch of us started the day off with some precious time out at the Freeman House...it will always feel like home  :) and then made our way to Layne's (oh how I wish I could have brought you with me!!) where we met up with Pauler and my sweet Metz bug dorks!!  It was sooo, so wonderful to see Pauler and visit with him about his upcoming move for seminary and to see his excitement about what the Lord is doing as he prepares for this new stage in his life.  And, seeing the Metzs was super great on so many levels: they're awesome, they're like my big brother and sister, THEY'RE PREGGERS!!!!  I was so excited to find out that they are expecting this fall - I'll get to see the baby at Christmas!  WHOOP!  After some good time at Layne's I said my goodbyes and ran to the car before I had time to start crying...I could have hugged Bolwerk, Poarch, Powell, Pauler, and the Metz crew forever, I think...but, I knew that if I stayed much longer and continued to hold on to them I would never leave and I would just cry and cry...so, I hopped in Powell's car and she took me back to the Humphrey's so they could cart me back to Austin.  I loved the time I got to spend with the Humphreys on our trip to Austin...I. MISS. THEM!  Once in Austin I met back up with Tara and she and I completely vegged the afternoon/evening away...and, I cried some more.

Tuesday, May 31
I so didn't want to leave Texas, but that flight was calling my name, and it was time to go.  Tara took me to the airport and once I got all checked in and made my way over to the checkpoint line I told her that she was going to have to leave otherwise I was going to bawl my eyes out...and she was gracious enough to spare my eyes and head that sufferance.  Once I was comfortable in the line I called my Pops and chatted with him about the trip and not wanting to leave Texas and I was hardly able to keep my tears from falling.  But, I got on that plane, thanked a precious soldier, caught my connecting flight in DFW, and arrived safely back here in the Melted Tundra.

The trip was incredible and I wish I hadn't left, but leaving means there's another trip to be had with more memories and more time with my Texas loves later on down the road.

For now, all is well up in the Tundra and I am happy to be back in my own little home with my critters.

Research is getting back underway and the summer will be a buzzy one full of research and sunshine.  Y'all, it is so lush here right now, I can hardly believe it.  I'll try to snag some pictures before it all fades back to white!

Well, that's all for now, my dears.  I'm off to bed.

Love y'all dearly.
Shalom!
~MW

Happy, Happy. Joy, Joy.

Ah, Sunday.  How I do love you.

I absolutely love taking the pup out to play on our Sunday morning stroll/run around the dog park (as does he...all behavior goes out the window once he realizes that we are going to the dog park to....PLAY!!!).  This preceding or following my morning cup of coffee that is paired with scrolling through the weekly Post Secret - wonderful.  Then some general maintenance/clean-up around the apartment that got neglected or I simply didn't get to on Saturday...pretty wonderful, indeed.  All of that followed by Skype dates, homework, work, and church...makes for a pretty decent day.

So, I've been neglecting to post my joys for each week...but I most certainly have not been neglecting finding my joys in each day.  But, in an attempt to re-establish some accountability in the blogger world, here is this week's bundle of joy  :)

Saturday, 19 Feb 2011 - dinner at Kieran's Irish Pub, followed by an evening at Shout House Piano Bar with the gang in celebration of Trisha's bday!

Sunday, 20 Feb 2011 - truly enjoyed a relaxing snowy day...even though I was sad to see the green grass disappear again.

Monday, 21 Feb 2011 - I picked up my birthday present from the 'rents (more on that later!), followed by coffee & lunch with Megan on our way into campus (after having the morning off for a half snow day - happy bday, Trisha!!); new shipment of moths arrived at the lab!

Tuesday, 22 Feb 2011 - wonderful breakfast at Baker's Square with Megan and saw Christine for the first time since she had "abandoned" us to go back home to Germany for a week!

Wednesday, 23 Feb 2011 - was surprised by a little snowman awaiting me out on the Taurus, after a long...looong day (thanks, Fraser!).

Thursday, 24 Feb 2011 - super productive day (complete with a lovely little surprise of deeelish potato salad!) followed by Smash Burgers and Quest for the Holy Grail at Corey & Callies...we were all in serious need of some mindless humor.

Friday, 25 Feb 2011 - TURNED IN MY MINI GRANT PROPOSAL!!!  Whew!  And...found some pretties on sale at Jo-Anns  :)

Saturday, 26 Feb 2011 - went to the first hockey game I've attended since about 7th grade (way to rock it, Katy!), followed by breakfast for dinner, potluck style, at Megan's...mmm, mmm, gooood!


This week was beyond insane.  We were all on edge as the majority of us had numerous deadlines to meet this week and none of us felt like we were going to make all of them and stay on top of course work...well, we were right...we really didn't get much done in the way of course work, but we did meet our deadlines!  It was one of those weeks where you have to force yourself to stop and go do something (breakfast...watch a movie...) other than the pile of things awaiting you...or else madness will undoubtedly ensue!  We were able to curb the madness for the most part, though there were a few days that simply were too much...even profs were going a little crazy this week.  As RH put it early in the week: We've entered the vortex...it's going to be a long week.  Sooooo true.  But, the week is well over and after recouping a bit yesterday, most of us are back to normalcy, or so it seems, today.  We still have too much to do and so NOT enough time to do it in, but it will get done, don't you worry your pretty little heads  :)

Something I wanted to tell y'all about is what Spring is like here.  As I mentioned in my last post, we got a little taste of spring a few weeks ago.  Y'all, I am so excited for spring to finally get here - for real this time.  Momma, do you remember the beginning of the Beatrix Potter videos - how they start off with spring-time water trickles as she hikes off with her paint set?  That is what it is like here.  Everything melting (feet upon feet, upon feet of snow) as the sun starts to peek out from behind the clouds, so it's still a touch overcast.  Trickles of water running continuously (so it's always perfect for taking a little cat nap).  Green peeking through the melting white snow (really ice, at this point).  Birds chirping.  Insects humming.  It's lovely.  I saw a darling little chickadee yesterday with its tell-tale call of, "chickadee-dee-dee-dee-dee," and I just had to smile thinking about how awesome spring is going to be here.  I absolutely cannot wait!  Though, waterproof shoes are definitely a necessity - it's quite...squishy with all of that snow melting!

Ok, I told y'all I'd tell you more about my bday present from my parents, so here you go!  As many of you know, I've been in the market for a sewing machine for the last few years.  I've been looking at used ones, new ones, way old ones, etc...and just haven't really found something affordable that actually works...so, I've been holding out for that steal to come along.  Well...much to my surprise (I seriously could not believe my eyes), that is the very thing that my Momma and Daddy sent my way for my bday!  I love them...have I mentioned that before??  :)  They showered me with a brother xr-7700.  It. Is. AWESOME!!!  Ok...so I haven't used it quite yet, but dang, it can do SO much and it came with so many little extras!  So legit.  Look!!

That's some of the fabric I found at Jo-Ann's - super on sale!!  Wouldn't you all like to know what my plans are for it...?  Well...you'll just have to wait, it's a surprise  ;)


Here are some more sights from this week: the little snowman and deeelish potato salad, courtesy of Fraser - props on the potato salad, yo - you'd do well in Texas!

It's still quite snowy and frosty here.

 

Jakers got a new toy!!!  And he loooooves it!!

And now...after running around outside this morning and then playing with his new toy...he is one tuckered, pup  :)  Did I mention that he's spoiled...?  ;)

Well, I do believe that's all for now, kids.  Praying blessings on your Sunday and the week to come.

Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - it just started snowing again...

Texas, Our Texas! So Wonderful, So Great!

 courtesy of flickr

Ah, hello my reader loves!

It's been a while, and for that I apologize, but the last three weeks have been jam-packed with the pure awesomeness that is Christmas, Family, Friends, and, of course, TEXAS.

Wow, I so did not want that time to end.  It was wonderful being home in that great state, and being surrounded by my wonderful family and my dear, dear friends was the best Christmas present ever.  I certainly missed my FT friends, though - y'all are definitely dear to my heart...sorry, can't be helped  :)

The break got off to a wonderful start in Arlington with the fam, Jake, friends, and some good ol' music - Hamilton style.  I love music nights with the Hamiltons - so great.

It was a huge blessing to get to spend some time with a few of my girls from BSLC - I miss those precious daughters, and it was wonderful to get to sit and spend some one-on-one time with them, simply listening to what life has looked like for them over the last semester.  Having that time and listening to everything that's been going on with them did make me a touch bitter that I can't be around to walk this part of life with them.  I want so badly to be there to pour into their precious hearts in person...it's just not the same from this far away.  But they are growing up into beautiful daughters of the King - I only hope I get to continue to be a small part of their lives.

Spending time with a few of my ladies from high school was incredible as well - I so miss those girls, and I'm sad I didn't get to spend more time with them and that I didn't get to make it around to everyone there in Arlington - time is SO fleeting!

Christmas was small and quiet, but it was such a huge blessing to get to have Momma home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!!  It's been a while since we've been afforded that privilege.  Christmas dinner was chill, but it was nice to be able to spend it with Mr. Teasley - he's been such a blessing to our family and we were blessed to be able to share the day with him.

From there it was on to the Great Texas Tour - December 2010!!  Jake and I hit the road from Arlington to Lufkin to spend some awesome time with Kristen and B - those three taught me how to shoot, y'all!  I shot Kristen's shotgun and pistol and B's pistol as well.  Jake had a revolver (I think..?) that kinda terrified me...I'll work my way up to that one  ;)  I didn't hit any of the clay disks with the shotgun, but I did hit the target with the pistol!  I'll get those clays next time!

After Lufkin we hit up Huntsville to spend some time with Jake's sweet parents - Mom and Pop Pry, thank you SO much for welcoming me so warmly into your home.  I had so much fun just sitting and visiting with y'all and I can't wait to see your sweet faces again!!  Pop - that fire was epic and I can't wait to sit around more of those chatting with you and listening to your stories and the latest celebrity news ;)  Mom - can't wait to play in that kitchen with you!!

From Huntsville we stopped in CS to hit up Fuego, and coffee shops - super lame that all the good ones were closed for the break, though.  It was nice to get to visit with the Humphrey and Freeman families, too - I so miss y'all!  Girl time with Ricci and Alyssa was such a blessing...I miss that.  Jake and I had a blast hanging out with Kristen and Aaron before making our way down to Houston.  Fuego round 2 and then hitting up Christmas in the Park was sooo so fun.  I was amazed that after 5 winters in CS I had never managed to make it to Christmas in the Park...I feel gypped, just sayin'.  But, it was way fun to experience it with a few of my absolute favorite peoples  :)

Christmas in the Park was a lovely send-off as Jake and I undertook the next leg of our tour: Houston!  We were incredibly blessed to be able to spend time with Chris and Jennah at their rockin' new house - well done, you two!  Can't wait to see how y'all continue to make it into your own.  We had so much fun there, and watching Jake and Chris together, oh man...so fun.  They are definitely brothers who love each other a whole, whole lot.  Love it!

We rang in the New Year with Kacy and Justin, complete with some Just Dance 2, of course!  I should have known that Kacy, the dancing queen, was going to force us to dance with her - I'll admit that it was pretty fun...quite a workout, too!  I was suuuuper sore the next day...a touch pathetic.  It was nice to close the night with some fireworks watching around the neighborhood - well done, Cypress  :)  We started 2011 off marvelously with lunch with Chris & Jennah and Kacy & Justin, followed by some girl time with Kacy (Barnes & Noble + Target...of course!) and the guys crashed at the house.  It was so, so great to spend that time with you, Kacy, love.  I miss your face!!

From Houston we made our way to the Austin-Round Rock Area to see Patrick & Sarah and little Zach, who isn't quite so little anymore!  I canNOT believe how much that munchkin has grown since August!!  I'm gonna need him to slow them horses down!  We also got to visit with Miss Awyssa for a bit which was way fun...her parents loved talking to Jake about Africa...we admittedly abandoned him to go chat outside while they asked him question after question...in our defense we did tell him we were going outside...  To close Austin we made our way over to the Ponder home for a lovely dinner and some Mexican Train and all-around wonderful hangout time.  They certainly have done a wonderful job of pulling that home together so quickly - I. Am. Impressed!  We definitely loved our time in the Austin are - miss y'all so, so much!

After that we stopped back in CS for some final rounds at SRPH, the Heep, and BioControl...Jake had to see his A&M peeps and I had to see mine - it was super awesome meeting his old crew and introducing him to some of my favorite people from the ENTO world.  We closed out the day with some Fuego (are you noticing a trend here?) with the Stanfields and a quick visit with Kristen and Aaron before making our way back to Huntsville for some more time with Jake's fam.

I was so glad that I was able to go back to Huntsville to visit with the Pry family some more before Jake and I had to begrudgingly go our separate ways at the close of our break.  I love being around his family.  It's fun and feels like home.  I miss y'all!!

Then it was time to head to the IAH and send Jake back to Africa...one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do.  Standing there completely helpless as we watched him disappear as he turned the corner to head to his gate was awful.  That's a kind of helplessness that I can't really explain, other than: it was horrible and I never want to experience that again.  Sadly, life is full of goodbyes, and I reckon I should be grateful for the ones that, God willing, aren't forever.  While knowing that we won't see each other for a good 7 months feels like an eternity we are resting in faith that God will bring us safely together again come summer time.  I will say this, though: it was an incredible blessing to be able to stand next to Jake's family at the airport (we missed you, Jennah!) and having B, Kristen, and T there to help distract me was wonderful.

After sending Jake off and drying the tears B, Kristen, and T and I met up with Brandon for some way fun times...Chuy's + hangin' around a park with pretty skies, swings, and cameras = a pretty awesome day.  We got to snag a quick visit with Kelly at the Outlet Mall on our way back to CS, as well.  It ended up being a bearable day  :)

I spent my last day in CS wonderfully (though I missed far too many of you): lunch with the Wharton's and my Ginger girl, hanging at the Health Sci Center with T, B, and Kristen, complete with a brief, yet wonderful visit with my bestie Ricci (miss you so much, lovely!!), dinner at Layne's with Mak, and finally a mini road trip to Waco with B, T, Kirsten, and Bean.  Before the J-Man and his buddies picked me up to make the rest of the trek up to Arlington we roadtrippers from CS dined at the Claypot there in Waco and were blessed to be joined by the wonderful Mal (great catching up with you, lady!!).  Good food, great state, even better company!  Finally said farewell to my loves and hopped in the car with Panda, Harrison, and Jimmy.  We had a rather...eventful trip home...I'm just sayin', if you have to pee around Grandview...wait until you get to the Grandy's in Alvarado...it will save you from banging on gas station doors, Subway doors, and finally running off to a field only to be followed by a state trooper car that will appear from out of no where and will definitely proceed to run it's lights and shine the spotlight on you as you do your business...BUT!  If you just so happen to be an Eagle Scout and have your card on (along with your license) you just might get off with a stern talking to and the advice that the Grandy's up the way is open 'til 4am or so.  Yeps, that happened...thank you Jimmy for providing us with our entertainment for the night  :)

I got to spend the last two days at home with Momma and the boys (Faja is still in Cali with the fam out there).  Sadly, we had to send Fariz off to Chicago for his Cavaliers audition thingy - he should be back home now - and Mom had to work on Saturday and Josh had a zombie party dealio, bummer  :(  But I loved getting to spend Friday with Momma talking about fun things and telling her about my post-Christmas adventures.

I so love my family!!  I miss y'all terribly, terribly!

For those of you who I wasn't able to catch during my time over the holidays: (1) Please forgive me, (2) COME VISIT ME!!!!  :)

Well, I head back to the lab starting tomorrow.  I took today to recoup and settle back into living in the Frozen Tundra and putting my apartment back in order.  BigBoy decided to lay claim to a number of things while I was gone...including the couch...both cushions, neeeeeat.  Oh how lucky that cat is that I fell in love with him in 7th grade ;)  I will say that I hadn't realized how much I miss having him curl up next to me at night until not having him there for 3 weeks...it was nice to have a snuggle buddy again.

Praying you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas and New Year celebration.

I'll keep y'all posted on how grad school semester 2 goes!

Shalom, love, blessings!
~MW

P.S. - it came to my attention during our travels that there are quite a few of you who read the blog but have never made your presence known!  I'd love to hear from y'all on here!  Let me know when you're around the site  :)

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

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

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

"I'm too lazy to come up with a title and actually forgot one initially...."

Hello, lovebugs.

How's life? Marvelous, I hope.

So...remember a few weeks back when I posted that huge long post where I talked about a buuunch of stuffs, including my ventures to Town Talk and a quick brush-over on fair trade vs. ethical trade? Well, if not, you can refresh your memory here. My amazing big brother who is much more well-versed in these topics than I am gave a little more insight into Celestial Seasonings as a company. Here's what he had to say (very good to know):

As for celestial seasonings, it really depends on how deep you're willing to go. celestial seasonings is owned by the hain celestial group, which is a publicly traded company with majority ownership going to heinz, and other large shareholders being exxon-mobile, phillip morris, monsanto, citigroup, walmart, and lockheed martin. all of these companies are unethical. that means that every product you buy from hain celestial puts money into the pockets of big tobacco, the war industry, the (arguably) most insidious agricultural company in the world, one of the largest oil companies (environmental destuction much? talk about the opposite of stewardship...), a company responsible for the collapse of of the u.s. small business domain and the transference of work and vast sums of money out of our local economies and directly to china, and a financial institution that received enormous bailout monies (to the tune of the u.s. government covering 90% of it's losses on it's $335 billion portfolio), who's largest single shareholder is the prince of saudi arabia, and who awarded approx. 1200 employees bonuses ranging from $1 million to $10 million *EACH* after it received bailout money. on the surface celestial seasonings may seem like an ethical choice, but you don't have to dig too deeply to see some of the problems with supporting this company. but like i said, it really depends on how deep you want to go with it.

So, for those of you who were wondering, there you have it - a run-down of who Celestial Seasonings is...kinda depressing, but good to know.

Let's see, what else is there to say...

OH! The J-Man did an outstanding job opening night of Anybody Out There? The kid was pulled into the show last minute and had a week to learn an entire role...he's awesome...just sayin'. The entire show was a hit, but my did that thief steal the show?! (It's funny cause he played a thief...hahaha...ok, I'll stop now) All the kiddos did a great job. I love that they all know me now and always come see how I liked the show or if they see me before the show starts come say how excited they are that I'm there to watch it and hope I enjoy the show - they -- are -- awesome! I also get lots of hugs from them, which is always a plus :]

{I'm not ridiculously proud of my little brother or anything...}

And, tomorrow, Fariz has a trumpet competition that the public is allowed to watch! Who's excited?!?! =] I'm pumped to see (er...hear??) how he does - he tells me that he has a solo in the first piece and a duet and TWO solos in the second one!! Yeah...he's kind of a big deal.

I am officially done getting all of my TB tests out of the way for the U, I sent my final transcript in, have all of my letters, now it's just a matter of filling out some final paper work and finding a place where I, BigBoy, Jakers, Little Bubba & Tevye, and Squishy (if he's still around...) can crash...that won't break the little bank of this future grad student, haha. I'm optimistic, for sure. I've found quite a few places that allow cats and doggies (the kicker on the dogs is the weight limit...Jake is not under 25lbs, hmmm...)....and the roaches and beetles....well, we just won't tell them about those dudes - they really don't need to know ;)

Nothing new on the car search front...contemplated looking at a **little** Toyota Echo, anyone familiar with them?? The estimated gas mileage is AWESOME!! We'll see, I'm taking this as slowly as possible. While poor old Cornelius is in no condition to brave the frozen tundra with me he is still running, so a "new" car is not imperative at this moment in time.

Welps...I'm hungry, so I'm outty. Lata!

Shalom,
~MW

P.S. - here's Josh's latest Man Talk post.

Life = Emotional Roller-coaster....

Up...and down...Up...and down...

* One week and two days ago I was in quite the state of inner turmoil...I had NO idea what direction I was supposed to take my life and was having some painful issues of the heart.

* By the close of that Monday my heart issues were coming to their full painful fruition, while God was simultaneously showing me that all I need is Him, and all I have to do is trust Him in faith. He really does have everything under control (see previous post).

* Two days after that crazy Monday God dropped me in the middle of the world of academia for a few days and basically told me what to do (no worries, I'll give a full post on my trip to the Land of 10,000 Lakes soon)...I was on such an emotional high that I could hardly even react! Weird feeling, to say the least.

* So, in a short 5 days' time I was broken & mended, lost & directed. Pretty crazy, but I started this week on a crazy high, especially after getting to spend some good times helping out and hanging out for J-Hump's bday.

* Monday rolls around...I'm thinking, "This is going to be an awesome day! I have the Humphrey home all to myself to simply decompress and -STOP-...does life get any better than this?? And I can go play with peeps should I feel up to it...not to mention Hope Group!!" That was my day in my head...and for the most part, that's exactly how it went down. I caught up on emails and such most of the day, grabbed a late lunch and spent the afternoon with Alyssa, grabbed the Humphreys (Curb-side service! Talk about perfect timing!) for Hope Group and off we went to invest in and be invested in by our brothers and sisters in the Lord (such an incredible blessing). Business as usual, I would say. Then it starts to shift.

* Got a somewhat vague text message seeming to grant me condolences...I'm thinking, "What on earth?? What happened??" I quickly head out to the garage and call the 'rents. Finally get an answer at the house and mom informs me that Grandma (dad's mom) went into cardiac arrest after her dialysis treatment that morning and that she was currently on life support at the hospital. "I'm sorry, what?? Did I really just hear that correctly??" Yes, I had heard her correctly; my grandmother was dying and there was nothing I could do about it and I had no way of getting to California to see her. My dad flew out there ASAP and got there in time to see her and say goodbye. They eventually switched her to just a ventilator (respirator? I can't remember which it was) and took her off that, I guess around the time my dad got there. I think the time frame there-after was 10-12hrs.

* Grandma went home to be with our Maker around 1pm central time (11am pacific). My dad said it was a peaceful death and even more so knowing that she is in the arms of our dear Savior. Glory! Isn't it strange how even in the face of trials, loss, and hurts we are called to rejoice in the Lord? Isn't it strange how in some cases rejoicing comes almost as though it were second nature? I pray that rejoicing and giving thanks and praise to God in all things truly becomes something I don't even have to think about...that it would be like breathing...a part of my being.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19

I love the last verse of this passage: Do not quench the Spirit. What a wonderful command and reminder to not do what I think so many of us tend to do without even thinking. We try to grab our circumstances by the reins and in so doing quench the Spirit...I could be reading that verse wrong, but that's what I take away from it: in ALL things God is in control and so we really don't even need to worry about a thing (Phil 4:5-7)...when we worry/get anxious/whatever and we try to do it all on our own we basically tie the Spirit's hands or gag Him, and therefore don't listen for His all-wise direction. Wow - isn't it amazing what God can teach you through the most difficult of situations??

If I were to say that I don't feel any loss regarding Grandma I'd be straight-up lying to you, but I know that God is in control and works all things to His glory and for good (Rom 8:28). I am praying that He will take this situation and draw my family to Him. Many are lost and have been searching for things of the world to fill those holes in their spirits...and, as might be assumed, to no avail. I pray that they will turn to and cling to God in this time of loss and that my dad will be able to be a light in the darkness throughout the rest of his time in California. Anyways, Grandma was an awesome woman...and an amazing cook! She made some of the best Italian dishes I have ever had...probably all that Italian blood that flowed through her veins...just a hunch... She was active in her community, was an amazing mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, even to people outside of our family. In a word, she was awesome. Absolutely awesome. She was so incredibly full of life...a true inspiration. I love her dearly, dearly.

Grandma: you were loved so deeply by so many.
You touched so many lives in your time here on earth...none of us could ever repay you for the love, encouragement, and selfless devotion you gave to others.
You poured out your love as though it were never ending...and it truly is.
That gift is something everyone who knew you will cherish forever.
I love you and I miss you terribly.
I absolutely cannot wait to party with you and our Heavenly Daddy - cause I think we all know that you, ma'am, know how to party!!

Shalom,
~MW

Happy....Monday?

Yes, indeed!! Today is definitely off to a great start. Saw the boys off to school (Daddy-o said he would take them today), visited with the Momma over a lovely cup of coffee, and here I am, with the entire day in front of me! Errands, prepare to be run! Books, prepare to be read! Yeah! {complete with fist pump}

Oh yes, today will be a good day. Dreary as it is. Yes, I did just show dislike for a dreary day...I'm officially ready for spring. I'm desperately longing for those crisp sunny days that are so perfectly divine for frolicking around in the great outdoors. Soon :)

Well, as most of you have probably come to realize, when I go to CS for a week or so I'm the absolute worst blogger, ever. I know, I know, I really need to get my priorities in check...working on it! But really, can you blame me? I mean, the people that I allow to pull me away from the internets are ridiculously amaAaAaAazing!! You would drop everything else if you had the opportunity to play with them, too. Promise.

My travels started off with a roadtrip to see SKate with CarrieHammie and Catia. After staying up til, oh 3:30AM or so we made an appearance at Sherwood Forest - oh the peoples we saw... Never imagined I would lay my eyes upon a centaur named Larry. Yep, that happened. It was fun times. We were all ridiculously exhausted from pretending like we were back in high school and getting something like 4hrs of sleep before spending a day strolling around the Forest, but you know, we made it through.

From there I scurried on over to CS for a week of visiting with my college loves...and working in the laaaab. Both facets of the week were awesome. I decided I can "sleep when I'm dead" so I stayed up crazy late every night trying to squeeze every ounce of visit time with my peeps that I possibly could...paying for that now, but it was totally worth it! And, we were super productive at the lab! Got tons of pics taken and we made some huge progress on the egg stats! WHOOP! Um....we are thinking we can have a rough copy ready to send off for peer review by the end of this week - oh yes, it is finally happening! Publication, here we come!!!!!! Oh! I also tested my hand at tennis this week...for the first time ever. It was way fun! Though I really need to work on my aim...the first ball I hit flew about 3 courts over to the left....woops! Haha, yeah, I was totally that person. But, I can't wait to volley around again. So fun! Doubles was fun to play too. While experiencing tennis I got to make a new friend, too! She's an old friend of B's and she was passing through CS on her way home. Can't wait to continue building up our new friendship. She's totally awesome and has an amazing life story. Hooray for new friends!

The week was just straight-up awesome. That's all there is to it.

And, what made it all even better was this: I got to visit with my darling, darling Ponders!!!! Oh, it was glorious to spend the weekend with them. I miss them so terribly. Moving to MN is gonna suck :( But! It's not forever!! :D

So, guess what?! This week I get to sub Tues-Fri for the 7th/8th grade teacher at PCA! Hooray!! I'm terrified out of my mind!!! Haha. I'm super excited about it, but quite nervous, to be completely honest. I've never taught in a classroom setting, so this should be interesting. But, ya gotta start somewhere, am I right?! I'm sure I will have LOTS of fun stories to grace your eyes with this week - be looking for them starting tomorrow evening.

I'm also going to try and get some hard, on paper plans drawn up for my mommy's garden! I'm excited. As is she. We talked about some ideas I have, many of which were influenced by Mr. Powell. Should be fun! I'll throw something up, at some point, for y'all kids to take a gander at.

And, with that, I am off to go run those errands and get to being productive today :D

Shalom!
~MW

EDIT: OMG!!!! GPISD just emailed me and said they want me to be a sub for them, too! Now I just need to go get fingerprinted and go to an orientation in April!!!!!!!!!!! Hooray! (I mean, April is a ways off, but still - GPISD has a bit of rougher crowd of kids, and, in all seriousness, that's totally where I want to be!)

Birthdays to Boy Scouts

Hello my happy readers. I trust you are all fairing well on this {for me} gloriously rainy Monday. I do apologize for having not updated in a while...it's just been one of those weeks...you know, the kind of week where you just don't want to do anything and so you don't and thus have nothing to report and your brain is kind of void of any form of coherent thought...yeah, it was one of those.

So, Tuesday was my birthday, and I must take a moment now to thank each and every one of you who took the time to call/txt/email/facebook me to send me your thoughts, wishes, and love - definitely made my not so thrilling day a blessed one. This was a very strange birthday for me. For as long as I can remember I've had friends around either day of, or shortly there after, to celebrate with me...and, for the first time in my 23yrs I didn't have any of my beloved friends with me. Don't get me wrong, being with my family was definitely nice, but this birthday made me really realize how dearly I love my friends, and that they have truly become my family, and I miss them all dearly. So, I have been in a bit of a funk about that... This is no tantrum about not having a party or something ridiculous like that, this is simply my heart-breaking realization that I miss my friends much more than I thought I did. Thinking about all of this and reflecting then lead me to a terrible realization: next year is going to be even worse!!! I don't know anyone in MN...oi, if I thought this year was bad, I won't even have my family with me next year. I'd better toughen up and put on my big girl pants now, eh?? Ugh...can I just stick all of my friends in my pocket or a tupperware container and take them with me??

Well, that said, I must admit that I've been a little off this week, due to all the above..err...dwellings, I suppose we could call them. But, my family was so great. The Mamma made me dutch pancakes like she used to do when I was in high school...I did have to get up at 6:45 to partake with the fam, but it was totally worth it. The Mamma and I proceeded to munch on the leftovers throughout the rest of the day - heavenly! And then...I spent a rather hefty part of my afternoon {J-Hump, please overt your eyes...} window shopping online with Miss Ricci...it was awesome...we had so much fun! My evening consisted of a Valentine's Dinner Prep Meeting, followed by Bible study, and finally, my ultimate birthday present: the Season Premier of LOST!!! The only thing that could have made that better would have been being with all my peeps at the LOST party down in CS...I was definitely there in spirit.

Probably one of the best things I did last week was dig my rickety, I mean lovely old bike out of the garage give it some TLC and take it on a nice little 3mi ride. Nothing, huge, I know, but it was beyond great to take it out for a spin and do some work on it...I also discovered, that much as I had suspected, I am severely, severely, out of shape...working on remedying this situation :)

I did finally get my new phone on Friday! Oh, I am so in love with it...I have named him Reuel. Can anyone guess where that comes from?? You get a gold star if you can figure it out. :D

Saturday was quite a full day: took Faja to the airport, had a morning visit with Gela, Alyssa, and Samantha - that was simply delightful, had a mid-day coffee date with Lu - also wonderful. And then, my dear ones...I did it...I - CLEANED - my room!!! I still hadn't unpacked everything from moving up here in December...awful, I know. But it is now done, and it is awesome. Have some pictures us, and everyone seems to be happy. Mid cleaning though, I stopped to have a spot of tea and lost it...the missing all of my friends and not seeing my here-friends very often and not having a job/outlet finally got to me and I broke down. I simply felt lonely even though I had seen a ton of people that day, that might have been enough to put me over the edge. I felt better after allowing myself to put a label on what I was feeling instead of just pushing it under the rug and pretending like nothing was wrong. This is hard...that's about all there is to it.

Anyways, congrats to the Saints on their Superbowl win - props, kids. Although, I must confess that I boycotted the game with KT and went to Borders instead. It was nice to visit and sympathize with each other about feeling lonely.

But, now a new week has begun and it's off to a crazy start! Tonight I will be undertaking the task of teaching the local Boy Scouts of America troop about....you guessed it, BUGS!! I'm really excited about this, but pretty nervous, this will be my first outreach education endeavor all on my own. I brainstormed with KReddick last night and got some awesome ideas on organizing it all and cuing in to how the kids are responding to the subject matter. So, for the rest of today I will be polishing that up and getting ready for the kiddos! I had intended on taking another bike ride today, but the forecast is for rain...all...day...long, which I love just not when I had planned to be active. Ah well, such is life.

Best wishes for the new week to you all!

Shalom,
MW

ES...A...??

Ok, ok, so I know I didn't update on day 3 or 4...but I am insanely exhausted at this moment. I am, however, back in Tejas! I know you all missed me terribly ;) But, I haven't really been able to speak tonight, on account of the exhaustion, so I'm not even going to try and post...especially considering I have made about 20 typos in typing this (I think I caught them all as I was making them...I hope!). But, ehemmm...I graduate in less than 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and Sean and Shyla successfully {and safely} arrived in Texas yesterday - canNOT wait to see them and the rest of the fam. Now for some sleepy time in the comfy, cozy guest room of the Bunte Family :)

Nighty-night.

~MW