Hailey is 2!!!!!!!!

I haven't posted in ages, but I thought I'd post a few pics from Hailey's birthday celebrations. All three of them.





Eating Baskin Robbins ice cream cake on her actual birthday.

With the ladybug cake that I made. It was the beginning and end of my cake decorating career. But you can't tell that the cake is leaning in this picture.

I don't know how to rotate this one, but it was too cute to leave out. She was trying on her birthday outfit. Half of it, anyway. And hamming it up for the camera.

On her favorite "ride" at Chuck E Cheese's. That's right, the slide. That costs no tokens.

Riding the horse at Chuck E Cheese. Probably her second favorite ride.

Religion, Journalism, and Politics

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/08/fox-tiger-and-christianity-a-defense-of-brit-hume/

I know that the incident with Brit Hume happened a couple of weeks ago, and I really did not get the whole story right away, then forgot about it, et cetera. Living in the world of a toddler, I don't see the news much. This caught my attention, because as soon as I heard it, I thought, "This guy is only doing what all Christians have been charged to do-spread the word! What is it that they don't get???"

Then, while driving home from my parents' house last week, I caught a snippet of a talk radio show that was discussing this incident. It was a Christian radio station, and they were taking callers to comment on Brit Hume's "mistake." Most of the callers were full of praise, but there was one who jumped to the defense of Buddhism-sort of. He didn't seem to know much about Buddhism, and while he did have a middle eastern name and accent, I never could determine if he was Buddhist, or just ticked off at the audacity of Hume.

Let me just say, I get it. He's a journalist, and is therefore not suppposed to have an opinion. He's also human, and a Christian. Humans in general have opinions (much like the posterior region of our bodies, right??), and as Christians, we have been charged to be fishers of men. To spread the Word of God. That's the only thing that Christ asked of us. In return, we get eternal life. And Hume spoke the truth. Check out the website listed above. I didn't do a lot of research on this, but merely read one article, and I was so amazed at Hume's story that I felt I needed to share this.

I don't claim to know anything about Buddhism beyond recognizing the little fat guy as Buddha (right?). I have been raised as a Christian, and have never felt the need to research other religions, but from what this article says, Hume was right. Buddhism doesn't forgive. In fact, you get retribution for the sins/good deeds you have committed. In other words, payback. Which is definitely not what Christianity offers.

Brit Hume may not have been practicing journalistic integrity, but he was behaving as Christians should, in a pretty mild way. There was no attack on Tiger Woods, or on other religions. He did not shout that "I'm right and you're wrong." He simply made a suggestion. One that has to get him a check mark with the Big Guy.

White Christmas

It has been a while since I've posted anything, because I haven't felt like I had much to say. Today, on the day that we celebrate our Lord's birth, I am feeling particularly blessed. In all my life, I have never had a "real" white Christmas. That is, snow (enough to REALLY play in) on Christmas day in the town that I live in. We've done plenty of ski trips at Christmas, so I have seen snow on Christmas day, just not like this.

And we weren't supposed to be here. We made plans to go to Temple to visit my family briefly, then a quick stop at Chad's parents' house on our way back north. It was going to be a brutal trip-14 hours of driving for a visit shorter than 24 hours. Ouch. But it is my nephew's first Christmas, the pastor at my home church's final Christmas, and my best friends are in town. We heard the weather reports of terrible storms headed this way, but being from Texas, refused to believe them. After all, when in Texas does it actually snow when its supposed to? So we made our plans. Chad got to leave work 2 hours early yesterday because the roads were starting to get a little bad, and we were afraid that if we didn't get on the road, we weren't going to.

About 1:15 we headed out of town. It was sleeting, but the roads weren't too treachorous yet. We had discussed all the "what ifs," so we felt somewhat prepared. If we got too far down the road to turn around, we'd get a hotel, or if we felt okay driving to Chad's parents' (just north of Dallas), we'd stay there. Otherwise, we'd just keep on trucking. Even reports of highway shut downs in Western OK and TX didn't stop us.

Here's where I pause for a little background. For those of you who don't know, I DO NOT drive on ice. Period. The first summer that we lived in AK, on our way back in Oct, we hit some bad weather. I was driving, and like most other Texans I know, had no experience driving on that stuff. Long story short, I was going too fast, fishtailed, then spun, then rolled our Jeep. We were fine, even the Jeep was okay enough to drive the rest of the way to Texas (and then back to AK the next year). However, that little adventure scared me to the point that I am probably a worse driver on ice now.

So. All this means that while I was very anxious to see my family and friends, I was not anxious to brave the ice. Chad was driving, and for the first 30 or so miles, the roads weren't too bad, and there weren't too many accidents. Then, approximately 40 miles from home, we watched as a car on the northbound side of the highway spun out of control into the median. At that point, I decided it was time to turn around. We stopped to check on the family in the other vehicle (they were fine, just shaken up) and headed home. This 80 mile round trip took us about 3 hours. At the rate we were going, we wouldn't have made it to Temple until it was time to leave again.

I cried a little while I told my mom our decision, then again when I talked to my dad. Today, I am at complete peace with it. I have had a very relaxing day with my little family, the first Christmas of its kind. We have gotten to watch Hailey really play in the snow for the first time, and I will be fixing my first holiday meal (cornish game hens, mashed potatoes, and green beans).

This is possibly the best Christmas I've ever had, even though we had few presents to unwrap (we unwrapped them on Tuesday b/c we thought we would be in TX and didn't want to cart presents all that way), didn't get to go to church (the church closed due to weather), and I am missing a rare opportunity to visit with an old friend in Temple. My family is here with me, we're warm and safe, and God blessed us with that accident yesterday (no one was hurt, so I can be thankful, right?); that was what let us know we weren't meant to go to Temple.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. -John 1:14

Woohoo!! Yea Jesus!! I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas, and have a blessed new year!! Bring on 2010!!

Thanks-giving

Is it wrong to WANT to be thankful for something that I do not have yet? I graduated from HS in 1996. I spent 2 years at a JC in my hometown. I then transferred to TWU, my alma mater. It took me until 2004 to graduate. Not because I couldn't "hack it" at a "real" school, simply because I had NO idea what I wanted to do. So I changed my major. Again, and again, and again. (Repeat 2 more times.) Finally, I graduated with a BA in English. Which is great and all, but no one really cares about a BA in English, unless they need a paper written. In which case, I'm in great demand.

I worked for a couple of years after I graduated as a waitress. By choice, because we were traveling. I don't regret it. I finally got a "real" job. Which, to be honest, I hated. Turns out that the only job I could get in DFW was in a call center. NOT my thing.

In Tulsa, I can't even get that. So I applied to the alternative certification teacher program. After I changed my major to English, everyone asked me if I wanted to teach. The answer? No, emphatically, no, every time. If I wanted to teach, I would have majored in education. So I got approved to the program, and here we are. The first of several tests (Oklahoma is not as desperate for teachers as TX was) is in January, and I'm not even sure that I'm that interested in taking the test.

I want a job. That much I know is true. I love my daughter. And I want another child. I like making dinner. But to be honest, I would give up making dinner to have a job. Mostly at this point because I don't know anyone here. But also because I'm not sure that "stay at home mom" is the job that is meant for me.

Someone mentioned nursing to me the other day. And I was intrigued. *Small* detail....my grades, not so great....I might be able to get into an LVN program. Maybe. And then move on to an RN program. But still, I'm not sure......

So. Is it wrong to pray and pray and pray and hope for God to FINALLY let me know what I am called to do???? And be thankful for it before it even happens???? (And will all of you, all 7 of you who read this, please pray that I can hear it when He lets me know????)

By the way, I AM thankful for the things that I have, such as a beautiful daughter, a wonderful husband, an amazing family, and terrific friends. I'm just struggling with this particular issue....

Just some pics....

I just learned how to do this (and I feel like a moron for having to figure it out), so here are some pics from the last month or so.


New cousins!!! (She's not really sure what she thinks of him.)

The happy new family

In Katie and Ben's hospital room, getting into things.

With Daddy at the pumpkin patch. Probably the best shot of the day.

The 4 Enemies of Integrity*

1. Self Interest: things we want
2. Self-deception: A refusal to see things clearly
3. Self-righteousness: an end justifies the means attitude
4. Self-preservation: by any means necessary.

*Must give credit, my friend Danae posted this on her facebook. She found it in the Anchorage Daily News. I thought it was good enough to repeat.

Grapes

Hailey and I recently went to Temple to visit my family and meet my new nephew Ben. While we were there, my parents had some red grapes in the house. Because they're SO easy and portable, I took grapes with me everywhere while we were there. As a result, I now have a grape addict on my hands. She calls them "bapes."

Since grapes are in season, we have now gone through two bags of them. We got back last Thursday. Tonight I was getting her dinner ready, and as usual, I got some grapes out. I did a poor job of picking the bag today because there are lots of small, shrivelly grapes. As I picked through the "bad" ones, it occurred to me that maybe we're like grapes. Maybe sometimes God thinks He might not have picked the best bag. I know sometimes I'm a shrivelly grape.

So I ate one. It wasn't the best grape I ever had. It was a little mushy, but the flavor was still good. I won't say I won't check the bag more carefully next time, or seek out the ones that are firmer, but I'll definitely keep this bag of grapes in mind the next time I feel the need to say something mean about a stranger. Or talk about a friend behind their back. Or even just go to sleep instead of saying "Thanks" to God for not throwing me out when I'm not the firmest grape in the bunch.