Peace out 2009!

Finally! This is idiot year is over! Needless to say this has not been the best year I've ever survived. And yes, I literally had to go into survival mode. This year saw it's fair share of boy trouble, the diagnosis of my dad's cancer, and the passing of another grandparent. It came with a scary Christmas Eve when several family members found themselves in trouble and the leaving of a best friend. Plus a few surgeries and the most ferocious semester of school I have ever tried to work through. However, it wasn't all bad.

It also brought about an awesome summer of vacations including Las Vegas and Europe! I found a wonderful boy who makes my heart and face smile constantly. My father was CURED of his cancer! (Hallelujah!) I worked and got all A's in school again this semester, and my family came through disaster on Christmas Eve in a miraculous way. Best of all, the Lord has showed his unfailing love to me time and again. Oh how he loves ME!

In all honesty, I'm not really sad to see 2009 go. The bad things find a way to taint the entire year. So I am grateful for a new year and another chance to make things better. "I made it through the year and I did not even collapse. Gotta say 'Thank God' for that!" :D

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

It was a bit rough getting here, but it turned out to be a wonderful Christmas. Even though we had a bit of a scare with both grannies and my uncle, everything worked out fine and we STILL had a fabulous day. There were stockings full of goodies, a tree with presents stuffed underneath and a delicious dinner to feast upon. I got some great presents but I think the best gift was obviously having my sweet brother home for a whole week. We've had a blasty-blast and I'm sad that it has to end, but I know that all great things eventually come to a close. Oh well. Granny and Uncle Randy are okay - that was another great gift! All in all, it was an absolutely fantastic day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! :D

Christmastime....

.....is here! It is officially 4 days until Christmas and I am super excited. Well as I excited as I can be without hurting my jaw too much. These wisdom teeth need to hurry up and get better...seriously. I'm told that today is the last of the bad days. Let's pray this is true, as these medically induced naps are really cutting into my holiday time. Jesse comes home tonight! Hallelujah! I've really missed that buckethead. He'll be home way after I'm asleep but I'm sure tomorrow will be jam-packed with jokes and rough-housing. I can't wait! All my presents are wrapped - well except for "Santa's" presents. Plus I was informed earlier today that my darling brother has presents...that need to be wrapped. So I shall wrap his presents tomorrow and then I'm calling it quits on the wrapping game! Mom and I have a bit more cleaning and decorating to do. School and teeth really cut into our decorating time. But hopefully I'll be feeling good enough after dinner to do a little. My room is FINALLY clean (anyone that saw it knows this is a miracle in itself), and the bathroom only lacks a bit of straightening. All in all I'm getting excited. I want to tear into all those presents under the tree. I did not do much spying or investigating this year because I wanted to be surprised. It's much more fun NOT knowing what everything is before you open it. Trust me, I've been on both sides of the spectrum on that. Well I think Mom and I are going to do some baking here in a bit so I'll bring this to a close. If I don't post again before, HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! :D

Cheese Popcorn...

...is probably one of the most disgusting holiday treats that is absolutely irresistable to eat. You stuff a handful in your mouth and think "Eww...this is really horrible!" as you squeeze the chewy kernels between your teeth. You force a swallow and shudder. Then somehow your hand reaches back into the bowl for more and you find yourself with another giant mouthful thinking "Why am I eating this? It is not tasty." You swallow and suddenly find your hand going back into the bowl for more! It's like a neverending cycle of horrible taste/texture going into your mouth. And you know it's disgusting, yet you keep going back. When the bowl's almost empty, you think to yourself "It wasn't so bad I guess," even though you know in your heart that yes, yes it was, probably worse than ever want to admit. Thank goodness THAT is one tradition reserved specifically for the holidays. Good grief!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Just like the ones I've never know. Haha I always change the words to that song because I've never celebrated a white Christmas. A white Easter once, but not Christmas. I can't believe it snowed! How absolutely fantabulastic! The last time I saw it snow in San Angelo I was in Jr. High. I saw the beginnings of it last night around 2:30 but it wasn't sticking so I didn't hold my breath for a white morning. However, once I rolled my lazy butt outta bed and saw the brightness of the backyard...I was shocked! I actually texted a friend to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Sadly, it has already melted away. (That's Texas for you.) But it was nice and pretty while it lasted. I didn't get to make a snowman or a snow angel or anything but I did throw a snowball at my mom. Haha. Plus I got to layer on the clothes! I love winter clothes and I love them even more when I have a reason to wear them. :D So yay for snow and yay for Christmas! There is no way I could NOT be in the Christmas spirit now! Bring on the Christmas carols. "Let it snow! Let is snow! Let is snow!"

I AM TOTALLY JUICED!

So I totally just made my first ever significant purchase! By "significant," I mean over $1000 dollars.......of my OWN money! :D

I am currently typing this blog from my brand-new All-In-One Touch Screen computer. Oh I am so super excited! It is 100% absolutely amazing times a zillion! You cannot understand how much I like it. The keyboard is fabulous, and if you know me you know that a computer is all about the keyboard. Not only is it paper thin, it's also wireless! Plus I'm loving the fact that I can just touch the screen and it responds and does what I want. This thing even has an app that will read me a recipe whilst I cook! Who needs that? But still so totally AWESOME!

So I'm probably done bragging.....at least for now. Haha. I just had to take the chance to be excited since so many people (and by people I mean idiot men) keep telling me what a frivolous purchase it was. Well newsflash! I'm 22. It's the season for frivolous purchases. Sigh...boys are dumb. They all have a nact for sucking the excitement out of stuff. But whatever! I'm still oober juiced that it's brand-new (not a hand-me-down) and it's ALL mine and I bought it with my very own hard earned money. So great. *squeals like a little girl* Haha.

Okay now...He's just showing off!

Okay so for those of you who don't know, yesterday I asked for prayer because the wound that Jesus bandaged last weekend on the Ladies' Retreat began bleeding again. Well it was because I was having some problems with my boyfriend. Well last night, said problems came to a head and we broke up. It wasn't an ugly break-up in any form. In fact, we were laughing and chatting right after the decision. We're still good friends and we still care about each other. But it's just not the right time for us to have a relationship.

Anyway, this morning I woke at like 9 and everyone else was still sleeping which is highly unusual. So I decided to go for a walk. I donned my tennis shoes and a sweatshirt (silly me - for some reason I thought it would be cold in November, quite the opposite actually.) and popped my headphones into my ears. I put on some worship music (I actually have more than 3 songs now!) and began my journey around the Bluffs. I was conversing with God over the whole situation and how I found it rather stinky that only a week after I surrendered my heart and let him begin healing the wound, my new relationship crumbled. He attempted to get me to understand that his love is enough and to trust him because he'll take care of everything. And to be completely honest, I was being obstinate!

So I'm walking and mumbling and tearing up, and I look down and see this artificial red maple leaf just sitting on the ground right in front of me.

As if this was not amazing enough in and of itself, do you seen any resemblance to this picture?

The above picture just so happens to be the current background on my laptop. I just randomly found it one day and liked it so I put it as my background. So aside from the fact that I found a beautiful red leaf in the middle of the road, and aside from the fact that it's an artificial leaf so it won't crumble and die, it just so happens to be an exact picture of the background on my laptop. Even down to the striking black and white behind the leaf. Amazing? Well here's the icing on the cake. It jsut so happens that "Healer" is playing on my iPod at this time and I saw the leaf during the big crescendo of "Nothing is impossible for you. Nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible for you. You hold my world in your hands." Sigh...

I'm beginning to understand more and more that God loves showing off, and the best part - He loves showing off just for me! :D

Oh how he loves us! Come to me, and let's fall in love all over again.