Sunday, December 30, 2007

My second baby...

Most of you guys know how attached I am to my dogs. They are like my children - not exaggerating at all! I spoil them rotten and treat them better than some people get treated.

Anyways...I've been wanting another dachshund for a LONG time...like since we brought Riley home ;) But I haven't quite gotten Greg to go for it until just recently. I reminded him that we're moving out of our apartment in 6ish months and if we get a puppy now, that would give us 6 months of potty training time in an apartment where the carpet is already ruined by our first baby.

We got back from Kansas on Thursday night and I started searching the internet for puppies. I found an ad in the paper for some older puppies - 3 and 4 months old and decided to go check them out. We drove all the way down to Wimberly, TX...which is really only like an hour or so away to see a puppy they were calling "U-Turn" because she had broken her tail when she was just a couple weeks old and now it curls over at the tip. Of course, I had my mind made up that we were coming home with her before we got there ;) And we did!

Her new name is Samantha, aka Sammy, and she is a 4 month old black and tan piebald miniature dachshund...she is SO different looking from Riley, but precious and adorable in her own way. She weighs about 6 pounds right now, but she'll probably only gain about 4 more pounds and be right around Riley's size. She and Riley are getting along really well. Sammy likes Riley a little more than Riley likes her, but they're playing well together. They really love tug-of-war :)

So here are pictures of my late Christmas present...MANY more to come soon, I promise!









Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Dear Texas,

I do not live on the equator. I live north of the equator. In fact, Austin is what I would call "significantly" north of the equator. You seem to have forgotten this fact.

It is December. Let's spell that out...D-E-C-E-M-B-E-R. Good! Actually, it is MID-December...The 19th to be exact. Do you know what mid-December means? It means snow. It means Christmas. It means cold weather...or at least kind of cool. It does not mean highs in the mid-70s to low-80s. It does not mean beach weather where I could walk around in a tank top and shorts. December means sweaters and fuzzy slippers and lots of blankets at night. I should not have to use my air conditioner, for goodness sakes!

Texas, I gave you a break in November...I mean, it's not really winter yet. And even though I was kind of peeved that it was really warm on Halloween in October, I realize that we live closer to the equator than our friend, Colorado. But gosh darn it, I want it to feel like Christmas around here!

I've been trying my best. I've made hundreds of sugar cookies (okay, maybe only 72) and thousands of gingerbread men (or really only like 60) and I'm cooking chili (which smells deliciously good) and I've listened to Sleigh Ride and Silver Bells more times than I want to acknowledge. But something about all that doesn't mesh well when my weatherman tells me, "It's gonna be a warm one, today, folks!" I don't want it to be a warm one, folks. I want it to be a cold one.

So get your act together. Get all buddy buddy with Wisconsin or Michigan or Colorado. Learn what COLD means. And do it.

Sincerely,

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Be Still and Know He is God

God knows you. He knows the patterns in your eyes, the lines in your thumb print. He knows the way your spirit feels when you see a sunset. He knows the variations of your laughs when things are hilarious, mildly funny, or you’re just being polite. He knows which foods disgust you and which makes you close your eyes and say “yum." He knows your wildest dreams and your darkest fears. He knows what makes your heart leap. He knows how you feel when you’ve been rejected and forgotten. He knows how many tears you’ve cried. He knows you and loves you.

Know that He is the God that has command over the wind. He is the one that tells the sun to rise and set each day. He is the one that breathes life into everything. He is the one that shaped the mountains, smoothed the hills, and molded the bottom of the ocean. Demons fear Him. Angels worship Him. Animals obey Him. Everything with life answers to Him. And He sent His Son to die for us.

Be still and know that He is God. Let the fear fade away and your heart fill with peace as you remember that He is for you. He would slow down the sun for you or split open the sea for you. He will make a way. Rest and know that He will make a way.

***
A friend from my classes this year wrote this and I thought it was amazing...Thank you Lauren for blessing me with this new perspective.

Friday, December 7, 2007

It's that time again...finals!

Oh, thank heavens...I only have to take finals ONE MORE SEMESTER...ever! I am so thankful for that. I have been so incredibly busy lately - I had a final on Monday night, a final today, and two this coming Monday. I will be glad when they are finished. My 50 book evaluations, original book, and thematic unit were also all due in the past two weeks, so I've been crazy trying to get all that stuff finished...thank God I didn't procrastinate and put those things off to the last minute...I don't think I ever could've finished them all on time! In other school related news...I made a 100 on my Unit!! This is fantastic news because making a 100 on the Unit for Curriculum is pretty unheard of. I worked my tail off getting that thing perfect and I'm so glad I did. Now if I just was able to do well on the final today, I could scrape by with an A! But I'll settle for a B if the final didn't go too well (which I'm not thinking it did...which is okay with me).

God has been stretching me to trust Him so much lately. I think I have trust issues and I'm not really sure where those came from. I really don't think I have a reason to be leery of trusting people and God, but for some reason I really am...He keeps showing me that the only way to do things is with Him in the lead and SO many times I try to rush in front of him and do things myself...and then I end up in tears crying out to Him to get me out of the mess I've made, and he always does. So why do I find it so hard to trust Him? Money is tight right now, which is difficult no matter what time of the year it is, but especially when it's Christmas time. God and I had a little heart-to-heart the other night and even though I know logically that I shouldn't, my heart won't stop feeling failure for continually running to Him about the same things. I feel like He must be tired of me not learning from mistakes and repeating them...gosh, I know I'm tired of it!

Our COM group went down to feed the homeless again on Tuesday night and I kept thinking that I feel like Greg and I don't have money, but in the grand scheme of things we are kings compared to them. We are so lucky...we have a home (even if it isn't where I want to be, it sure is better than the shelter on Trinity), we have enough money to buy groceries, we have money for electricity, running water, we have two awesome cars, and we even some left over every month to do some fun stuff like rent movies or go out to eat. I just need to keep some perspective the next time I'm feeling crummy because I haven't been able to go shopping for myself in awhile.

Photography is going so well! I had my last wedding last Saturday and it was really fun. I feel like I'm understanding things a little bit better and am starting to get a little more creative with my shots. Allen even posted one of my pictures on his blog - http://doberenz.blogspot.com - it's like the second post down. It made me smile! Working in his office is going really well too, although I miss my kids like crazy! I never thought I would feel that way because I hated my managers at the daycare so much...but I really do miss seeing babies every day. I think that's how I know that I'm meant to teach. Yes, photography is fun and I really love it and would love to pursue it as a hobby in the future that I could even make some money on the side with...but my heart is really into teaching. I love being in the classroom and I love seeing kids learn and discover new things. That is what God created me to do and I know I could never be happy not spending my weekdays teaching children in some form or fashion.

I hope your holiday season is so blessed...I miss you guys so much. Dustin, I hope you are feeling loved and prayed for wherever you are because you are! We really miss seeing you and hearing your hilarious stories all the time - I think Greg misses you a ton! It will be so nice to have you back in Austin to hang out with from time to time. And Hannah, I miss you like crazy, beautiful cousin! Gosh, holidays just aren't ever the same without all you Brown girls running around Grandma's house. I'm so glad you're finished with everything though - what a blessing! We will have a phone date soon :) I love you so much!

I'll post pictures of all our Christmas decorations soon. It's really neat having a real tree for once...it smells so good! And our Willowtree Nativity Scene (a wedding present from grandma and grandad) is AWESOME...so gorgeous :) I'll try to take pictures to put up next time I'm on here.

I love you guys and I miss you more than words can say!