The Essence of Who I Am

As a child, I remember a sleepless Christmas Eve night,waking up every hour checking to see if the sun was out yet, finally seeing the sunshine through my window, and waking up mom and dad for a real early Christmas morning. Those were good times. Happy memories. And although I am no longer a child, I still find myself waiting for Christmas morning with anticipation. This Christmas, Kevin and I celebrated our 2nd Christmas together. He bought me some books (I love to read!), a purse, and some perfume. Burberry Summer. Kevin bought me that exact perfume as a wedding gift. I ran out of it last year and when we went to buy more, they said they had discontinued it. I was upset. It smelled sooooo good. Come to find out, it is seasonal and only comes out around this time of year and Kevin bought it for me! It brings back some really good memories when I smell it. I bought Kevin some Dolce&Gabbana cologne, a special forces book, and a nice leather binder he wanted to hold his notes in whe...

This past Saturday night, Kevin's dad, step-mom, and three sisters came over for dinner. I didn't know what to cook, so I decided to look at our church's new cookbook. I finally decided on my mom's crawfish fettuccine. We also had peas, garlic bread, and tiramisu for dessert. I was so caught up in making sure everything was perfect, that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. I wound up making my mom's recipe into my own, by adding a certain ingredient by mistake thanks to my wonderful husband. Note to self: never send Kevin to get groceries. lol. Nah, I guess it was my fault too. I should've looked before I put it in the pot. But, hey, it still tasted good. They would have never known about the error if I wouldn't have told them. The ingredients. Notice the two different Rotel cans? One of these Rotel cans said: Rotel Chili Fixin's - Ready for your Chili dishes. It even smelled like homemade Chili. Not something you would want in your crawf...

It was only raining as I drove to Slidell this morning. Then when I got on Gause Blvd., down came the snow! It was beautiful! I didn't have anything to do at work since I was the only one who actually showed up this morning, so I decided to enjoy the treat! The snow is falling! My snowman! A pic my boss sent me! We checked on Turt when we got home, and he buried himself in the mud to stay warm. Kevin tried taking him out, and he hissed at him. He is probably warm and cozy underground like that. Still, just in case he's not, we brought him inside tonight since it is suppose to get really cold. I put him in my laundry basket. Now we get to hear the sound of his feet on the plastic all night. Great.

Wow. It's been a long time since I posted. Sorry. So, let me give you an update of what's been happening in my life. Let's see. We've finally finished painting our kitchen. We probably should add one more coating but we're worn out. We didn't realize what we had gotten ourselves into until it was to late to stop. lol. I love our home. We have plenty of plans for it, but we will do what we can little by little. We had to pay our first mortgage this month. Me and Kevin now feel like official "grown ups". Kevin turned 26 at the end of November. We celebrated at The Olde Ice House in Slidell. It was really nice there and he enjoyed it. He had to preach that night too, so we rushed home so he could prepare. I always get butterflies in my stomach when he gets up there to preach. I think I get more nervous than he does. He did great. God definitely spoke through him. For Thanksgiving we went to his Dad's house and then to my parents'. The next night, ...

We normally feed Turt shredded lettuce, but we have been out for a while. So, Kevin decided to see if he would eat cucumbers - and guess what - he likes it! At one point he took the cucumber and ran off with it! Check it out . (Make sure you turn the sound off the slideshow below so you can hear the video.)

Yesterday, Kevin and I went to the closing for our new home! We are now homeowners! Yay! Go us! Our home was originally built in 1888, and in 2003 Kevin's aunt bought the house and remodeled and added to it. Here is how it looked when his aunt bought it: This is it after she was finished with it: Thank you Aunt Jill for seeing something in this old house and giving us the opportunity to purchase it!

Yesterday in between church services, Kevin and I went to visit his Grandma King in the hospital. The doctors say that she's not doing to well and that there is nothing else they can do for her. So Sunday we got a prayer cloth for her and brought it up. She has dementia and has a hard time remembering, but when Kevin gave her the prayer cloth she immediately put it to her head as if she was annointing herself with the oil from the cloth! She wanted to pin it to her gown but they didn't want the nurse to accidently throw it away. She kept hold of the cloth the entire time we were there. She lost it for a second and frantically began to look for it. I'm absolutely positively sure she still remembers and believes in the power of prayer! Please continue to keep her in your prayers. Also, please pray for her children and grandchildren. They all know the truth and have seen God work in her life. (The pic above was taken a year ago.)

We all remember that jingle from school - at least I do. On October 12, 1492, Columbus first saw the islands of the new world, landing in the Bahamas. Then in 1792, one of the first known celebrations marking the discovery of the New World took place in New York. Other celebrations followed that. Then in 1869, Italians in San Francisco celebrated October 12 calling it C-Day. To mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage, in 1892, President Benjamin Harrison made a commemorative proclamation. But it was Colorado, in 1905, that became the first state to observe a Columbus Day. Since 1920 the day has been celebrated annually, and in 1937 President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day. That's where it remained until 1971 when Congress declared it a federal public holiday on the second Monday in October. ( http://wilstar.com/holidays/columbus.htm ) I hope everyone has a Happy Columbus Day!

Here he is. Prince. Kevin's 15 year old dog (he's 105 in dog years). Old huh? Yep, and he has the typical signs of old age - arthritis and poor eye sight. But hey, he gets around pretty good. He occasionally (or should I say frequently) bumps into things, but eventually finds his way around. And Kevin spoils him. He even has his own room. For some odd reason, he loves to eat newspaper and grass. Let's just say, you're lucky you don't get to see the aftermath of that. LOL! Here are a couple of pics of him. Notice his mohawk!

Ephesians 6:10-18 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for a...

Hey you guys! Sorry for not posting in a while. I've been busy lately. Me and Kevin are in the process of buying a home and so we've been trying to get quotes on homeowners and flood insurances. Talk about a headache. A migraine. Anyways, last night Ginger told me that my blog was almost as boring as hers. Thanks Ginger! So today I'm posting ok. It's not much, but hey it's a start. My mom-in-law sent me a funny email and I thought you would enjoy it. Here it is: Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season Is Like Christmas 10:Decorating the house (with plywood). 9:Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season. 8:Last minute shopping in crowded stores. 7:Regular TV shows pre-empted for 'Specials'. 6:Family coming to stay with you. 5:Family and friends from out of state calling you. 4:Buying food you don't normally buy . . . and in large quantities. 3:Days off from work. 2:Candles. And the Number One reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas: At som...

His name is Turt. Turt the turtle. Kevin named him. A lady at my work gave him to us a couple of months ago. She brought him to work one day in a little cardboard box and sat it by my desk. Turt was shy and quiet the whole day. He wouldn't even come out of his shell to eat. When 3:30 came, me and Turt headed home. I placed his little box on the passenger seat and thought he would be still on the way home. Boy was I wrong! lol He climbed out of his box and started climbing up the seat. I hit the brakes and down he fell - back into his box. This continued the rest of the trip home! Finally we arrived home and I made him a little pen in the back yard. You should of seen Kevin's face when he came home from work and noticed our little friend and the home I made in the back yard. At first he didn't want him - but I finally talked him into keeping him. Then one day, we let Turt out in the back yard to roam around. I asked Kevin to keep and eye on him so we don't lose him. I...

"Hmm, which one should I buy." Life's decisions can be soooo hard. LOL! As you can tell, we had a great time in Tulsa last week. The praise and worship was awesome, the preaching was phenomenal, and the fellowship was great! The second night, Bro. Cody Marks preached and awesome message about the last days. "Who preaches that kind of message at a youth conference?" you may be thinking. He did and it was awesome. He told everyone to pray like you would pray if you only had 3 minutes left on this Earth. Everyone fell to their knees in sincere prayer. About thirty minutes later, everyone was on their feet shouting. Gene said he went to the restroom because he thought service was about over but when he returned everyone was shouting. That's how quick the service changed gears! It was an awesome experience. Here are just a few pics. For some reason, most of my pictures came out blurry. The plane ride to Tulsa was nice. I snapped some pics of the clouds. In one of...

The following pictures are not animated: Your eyes are making them move!

For our one year anniversary. Kevin and I went to San Antonio. It was beautiful. Our hotel was located on the River Walk. For some reason Kevin is fascinated with ducks. This duck was cute! The ducks like to hang out by the restaurants along the river. The tourists throw bread and chips and all the little duckies get excited! This is a pic of the Tower of America's. It is 750 feet tall, At the top is an observation deck and one floor down is a restaurant that rotates! We also went to SeaWorld. We got to see Shamu and feed and touch the dolphins! This is Kevin with his head in the body of the World's Fattest man. I don't really know what this other guy is doing! As you can tell, Kevin had a blast at the Guinness Book of World Records Museum and at Ripley's. We had an awesome time. The only bad thing about the trip was that the Spurs one a game one night and we had to listen to cars honking all night long!