Christmas in Texas

Getting there was quite the challenge, as my job at the medical lab refused to give me the time off despite the fact this trip was planned months in advance. I halfway expected it, but it was quite the drama when it all happened.

The day I left they told me to let them know when I was back as if they might have a position for me, that obviously has not come about. I can't say I'm too upset about it, thought the paycheck would be nice. However, I don't think much work is getting done there in the past week as I heard reports the roof caved in. It's difficult not to at least smile about that (no one was hurt). J.R. jokingly says it's God's wrath for not rehiring me. :)

So on to our trip. Rather than blather on about what all we did, I'll just show pictures as they are at least a little more interesting. :) (Warning some pictures aren't of the greatest quality as they were taken drive by style.)

Christmas Day

Driving to Shreveport for some shopping

Shreveport

New Year's Eve

(We stood in the rain watching friends set off fireworks.)

Parents side of the house/backyard.

The whole family

(No we didn't color coordinate)

Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas this year, nothing too much out of the ordinary. We always spend Christmas Eve with J.R.'s mom. We ordered Chinese. I wasn't too upset as it was from my favorite Chinese place. It's actually pretty healthy compared to most Chinese places which is saying something. It's a small hole in the wall place that is ALWAYS packed. It's fantastic and they are extremely quick with their waiters and waitresses almost running around the tiny little restaurant. Anyway.

I was excited to get a dvd, Prince Caspian. I absolutely love these books and the movies that have recently been done are very true to the story so I love them too. Then I was surprised to find that J.R.'s mom got us a Wii. It is so fantastic!! I love this thing. J.R. and I have wanted one since we played at his aunt's house over a year ago. We obviously spent the rest of the evening playing Wii and had a really great time.

Christmas morning J.R. and I headed over to my parents where we had cinnamon rolls. Yumm! Then we opened presents. My parents gave me some nice warm socks and gloves (along with the wonderful hair cut I already got!) They also got me a nice new devotional. J.R. got me another dvd, The Bourne Ultimatum, to finish out the set. He also surprised me big time when he gave me this necklace. (Except mine is in all white gold.) I absolutely love it!

Before and after dinner were spent playing the Wii. Neither of my parents had ever played and they are now hooked, especially my mom who never plays video games. In fact, my mom wants one of her own now. We told her we would bring it over whenever she wanted. She said, "Ok, everyday then." : ) I told her if she wanted us to bring it over so often she should buy us a bag. She quickly agreed. We then spent the next week trying to track one down. I didn't realize it would be such a big deal finding one. Silly me.

After dinner with my parents, J.R. and I headed out to his aunt's house to spend the rest of the day with his dad's family. We had a nice time with all the family. I got a call from my parents while we were there telling me they had to take my grandfather to the hospital. I was a bit more than upset about it. My parents talked about leaving right then and there but then decided to go on with our plan. J.R. and I didn't stick around too long because we had to go home and pack. Fun! Thankfully I got some sleep in there. So our Christmas was very nice this year!I'll be writing about our trip soon. ; )

Christmas Already?

I can't believe that Christmas is a week away! This month has flown by. I'm just about done Christmas shopping which is great. Once I'm done the wrapping will start. We've kept things pretty low key this year. We obviously can't afford to go all out. But I'm ok with that. Besides the whole presents thing is not why I love this time of year. My tree has been up since the day after Thanksgiving. I love it!

Ok so that is a picture from last year as you can see there are presents and I just said I hadn't wrapped any yet. But nothing has changed from last year as we have an artificial tree and we have no camera at the moment.

Not too much has happened in the last couple of weeks. I did finish my creative writing class. I'll be honest I didn't put my full effort into the class after the first couple of weeks. I'm sure I squeaked by with a B. I should have gotten an A. I would have gotten an A if I had really tried. But they are right when they say its hard to go back to school. I didn't think it would be for me but it really was getting back into the swing of having assignments due and that sort. I'm used to giving out assignments not doing them. :) So that's over and done with. I'm glad I did it. I did learn a lot. But I'm also very glad its over with.

As far as working, well, that hasn't been going too well. If you remember a few months back I said I had a job. I was very excited about it. And I do have a job. It just doesn't do much good if you aren't actually working. That's right. They haven't given me any students yet so even though I have a job, I'm not working. That sucks. We are still muddling through and God is continuing to be a faithful provider.

We are looking into moving. Where we aren't sure. We're praying about that one. We don't know if we are supposed to move into a place locally that is a little cheaper (though we'd really like it if our landlady would drop our rent, we'll see about that one. I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to lose us as renters. But I also know she's pretty cheap.) We'll just have to see what God has in store for us. I'm excited and anxious about it. I just want some answers already. :)

Finally, the last few weeks my family has been in a mad rush to plan a quick trip. My mom got news that her dad wasn't doing too well. She's been telling me for months that she feels like she needs to go see her dad. So that phone call from her mom sealed the deal. The day after Christmas we are borrowing the church van (thank God for that!) and heading to Colorado. Pray that the roads will be clear for us. We definitely don't want to have to drive through the snow and ice.

It's been over 8 years since we've gone to see my grandparents. The last (and only time) they came to see us was when I graduated from grad school. Yep that's right they didn't even show up for my wedding. I don't totally blame them. The travel is really difficult on them and my grandmother freaks out at the traffic here. They live in a little town out in the country so Southern California is a huge change.

It's going to be a big surprise. My uncle (who I haven't seen since I was 10) is going to be there. My aunt has decided to go as well. Some of my cousins might even show up which would be nice. The more the better. I'm also pretty excited about showing J.R. around Colorado. That has always been home for my family (even though I haven't lived there since I was 4.) He's never been and it's just so beautiful.

So that's what's been going on with me the last few weeks. There are a few more things. But I'll get to them later.