we came, we unwrapped, we conquered :)

aaaahhhhhh...

that is the sound of my first breath as I come out of my food coma.

Technically, it is only Christmas Eve but for our immediate family, 'Christmas' has come and gone. As we dig out from the mounds of paper, we realize how immensely blessed we are.

We started the week with a packing frenzy. Tubs EVERYWHERE, counting and creating an inventory for enough books to end up rivaling the Library of Congress. We spent a few days mailing off some things, contacting shipping companies, realizing we now have two unexpected cars to sell and getting ready to spend time with family where we are temporarily helpless to get any NZ stuff done. We did have to take down the awesome floating Christmas tree that Jared made. This doesn't show how cool it is but its the best I've got.

MG and the sister in law rode up with Jared and I. A six hour trip full of shopping, torrential downpours, Finding Nemo and good conversations and we were in Crossville.

The night before we open our Christmas gifts, we do gag gifts. This is a tradition that dad started but this year has been the first official 'everyone exchanges gag gifts'. Now this does not always turn out well for all. Dad is known for wrapping owl pellets, armadillo and toad purses, etc. Needless to say this night is approached with mild trepidation. This year Jared got hillbilly fishing glasses and i got a redneck speaking teddy bear...trying to tell us something?

Jim and Kaley got us both some Jim Tam Slammers. This is a typical package of Tim Tams with a picture of Jim's Shaquille O'Neal Halloween costume pasted on the front. Nice one.

Friday morning, we woke up early to wait on MG to wake from her beauty sleep. An hour and a half later, she made her adorable entrance. Dad (Saba Santa) had stacked a John Deere wagon full of an Orange Crush Christmas tree. Watching MG was so much fun because she understands that her presents are for her to have and she loves it! We hauled it in big. Grammie J and Saba outdid themselves this year. J said this was his best Christmas ever. I think it may have something to do with this wagon riding little cutie.

Christmas Eve dinner at FuFu's with 2 grandparents, 2 uncles and 1 aunt, 11 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren that would scream every time one of them would turn out the lights. This was not even close to capacity. Following that, a movie night and playing with Jim's old Hot Wheels has become quite a tradition.

This morning, we all got to go to Christmas breakfast. Jim and Kaley never get to be there so it was a treat to share that with them. Musical chairs, old family Christmas videos (good thing Jared and I are already married. lol.) and lots of great food (including my Mema's fried pies.)

Jim and Kaley headed home to make Santa some chocwate chip tookies with MG. That is when the rest began! :) Mom and I chilled while the manly men went fishing.

I say all of this to get the point across that I am a very blessed woman. Family, food, getting things that I actually need for Christmas and the prospect of sales on Monday...who could ask for anything more?! The food onslaught is not over but I am tapping out. However, I will keep my word on introducing the Tim Tam Slam to the Donnelly family tomorrow. Super excited!

Tomorrow, I get to wake up and go with my family to worship my God. I don't celebrate Christmas as the day of Jesus' birth but let me tell you...celebrating Jesus in small ways every day is just as important as celebrating when the world makes it convenient!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

under God.

I just realized today that for 18 years of my life, I have started the morning with the pledge of allegiance to our flag...

...of the United States of America

...and that New Zealand schools obviously wouldn't say the pledge of allegiance to our flag.

As a teacher, I have tried to emphasize the importance of being thankful for the country we live in. I ask my kids to stand and say the pledge. I talk with them about the sacrifices that our men and women have made that gives them the opportunity to have an education.

 When we stand to say the pledge, I put extra gusto on the 'under God' part. I know that He is the only reason that our country is blessed.

My students realized today that tomorrow morning will probably be the last time I get to pledge our flag in a school. They asked me if I was going to miss it.

I had considered this before and still found that the answer was YES.

What I hadn't considered was that the most important part of the pledge are the words 'under God' and that my citizenship lies somewhere else. I am a citizen of God's kingdom.

What a blessing to know that no matter where on this Earth I go, I am 'under God'.

I am under His protection.

I am under His guidance.

I am under His care.

And with this revelation, I am able to say a new pledge.

I pledge allegiance to my God who blessed me to be a citizen of His Kingdom. And to His Word which always stands, One Son who gave His life to give liberty and salvation to all.

Tomorrow, when I stand and put my hand to my heart, I will appreciate it more than ever. I will appreciate the fact that I live in a great country and that I am together in the same place with these children for a moment more. Above all of this, I will appreciate the chance I have been given to be 'under God' now and for eternity.

happies

Okay...I am not sure that 'happies' is actually a word. The thought occurred to me as I was writing it on a bag of notes I am taking in my suitcase. This bag has notes from retreats in college, random notes from roommates, cards from best friends on birthdays, Christmases, etc. gone by. I have a whole ziploc bag full so that I can pull out a funny memory or sweet card if I get to missing everybody at home.

The other day I found a list of what makes me happy. I had written it several years ago and it was stuffed into the pages of a book which incidentally...books make me happy. I thought I would write it into here so that everyone can learn one thing about me.

It's not hard to make me happy because it's the little things that matter.

Here's the list I found although I am sure it will grow. (Notice to reader: Husband is not on there, because I wrote this several years ago but feel free to mentally place him at the top of the list)

1. Snow Cream

2. Rain on the roof especially a tin one

3. a freshly sharpened pencil or a good pen

4. a brand new planner (so full of possibilities)

5. New Zealand

6. belly laughter

7. simple quotes

8. flowers with dew

9. forests that you can't see through

10. the smell of the pages of a brand new book

11. hikes and caving

12. open air markets

13. tomatoes straight out of the garden

14. vintage perfume bottles

15. my grandmother's jewelry

16. standing out of a sunroof

17. stirring cake mixes

18. tractors

19. crepe myrtle blooms

20. singing on a hayride

21. white water rafting

22. BLTs

23. the stars on a crystal clear night

24. the saltwater smell before you even see the ocean

25. the book of Psalms

What makes you happy?

Full Circle

Let me tell you, this weekend shaped up to be pretty great. Early last week, I scored tickets to the Freed-Hardeman benefit dinner. I was excited for Jared and I to have a fun date that involved a place that is very nostalgic to me.

We left Friday after work and made it to the dinner part a little late...due to my having to change, locking ourselves out for the second time in one week, etc. We got to eat in the Main Gym and the food was delicious. Brisket and vegetables with an absolutely divine dark chocolate cake. Judge me if you will...I ate the entire thing! We were able to sit with some lovely friends and enjoy laughter, good conversation and (need I repeat?) excellent cuisine.

A little before 7 my handsome husband and I headed over to the auditorium. We were so excited to see none other than BOB NEWHART!

I knew him from the show 'Newhart' which I watched with my parents as a kid. Jared knew him as 'Papa Elf'...

I knew he was funny on the TV show but I really enjoyed his stand up. I laughed out loud several times and surely (i hope) embarrassed those around me!

An extra awesomeness of the show was when we got to hear Dailey and Vincent, a bluegrass band. I have requested their cd for Christmas and I am hoping Santa comes through.

Before they dismissed us from the auditorium, they asked that we pray together. Jared grabbed my hand and I realized in that moment that I had come full circle. Here I was, sitting in Loyd auditorium holding the hand of the man that I love and praying to our God. It's what I always thought about and envisioned for myself. I am glad I got to share a little bit of Freed with him. It meant a lot.

Even though it was 10:30 when we got out, we spoke to friends and then headed over to see Allison, Adam and the girls. Allison is my best (girl) friend in this world. When we arrived, the girls were wearing their Christmas pajamas that Jared and I got for them. Al is always so good at that. She makes sure that you know she is using what you have given her and that she is thankful for it. We have decided that since we will be celebrating Christmas in NZ on their Christmas Eve, our gift to them will be their Christmas pajamas. That way, they get to either open them on the same day as we open gifts, or at least wear them! I am excited about that. Spending time with Allison and Adam is so effortless and fun. Anyone that knows them would say that too. I gave Allison her Christmas present early which was a hand painted sign with four snow men. (Notice, no picture for a reason). I think she liked it.

Saturday we took it easy and then spent the afternoon and evening in Columbia for the wedding of two of our friends. They made a special effort to come to our wedding. I appreciated that so much and couldn't wait to be at theirs. The reception proved to be reunion time and it was just what I needed. College friends that turn into lifetime friends are the best. Jared finally got to taste what a good wedding cake tastes like and it was delish. From there we shared a hilarious dinner with Jim, Kaley and MG.

Today, I went to worship sans husband. He hasn't felt well today and I hope he gets better soon because I don't like seeing him like this. He is good to me though...he isn't like all other women say their husbands are when they get sick. I thought men were supposed to be big babies, but he isn't. He is awesome. That's why I married him. :)

Movie Time...gotta watch Bob as 'Papa Elf' now that we have seen him in person!!

oh christmas tree...oh christmas tree.

I laugh at myself in my head when I think about the dreams I had concerning the first Christmas I would have as a married woman.

We would live somewhere that had a fireplace and we would hang our stockings with care. The mantle would show a display that Southern Living would be calling about.

I would flawlessly decorate a tree and prove my domestic ability to my husband by making our house feel like a cozy home. Everything would be coordinated to match. Presents would be wrapped in a gorgeous fashion. So gorgeous in fact that no one would want to rip the paper.

I decorated for Christmas last night.

Here is our tree and our stockings.

• We don't live in a house with a fireplace.
• We don't have a mantle, much less a display worthy of Southern Living.
• We didn't hang our stockings on a mantle, in fact they are hanging on the door on Command Strip hooks.
• Our tree is two feet tall and is standing on a tray table covered with a tree skirt.
• It has four ornaments on it. I think Charlie Brown would love it.
• Our gifts are wrapped with wrapping paper left over from years before so we don't have to buy new and throw it away when we move.

That may be what someone else would see when they walked into our home. That may be what I would have seen had I looked a few years ago at this sad little spectacle of Christmas decorating. But what I see now is so different!! Here's what I see now...

• We don't live in a house with a fireplace, but we live in a warm home.
• We hung our stockings with just as much care, no matter where we put them.
• My mom gave me our 'Beary Merry Christmas' Decembear calendar from when we were kids which means the world to me.
• We have a tree that is the perfect size for the number of ornaments that we are taking with us.
• The four ornaments are absolutely sentimental and my favorite.
• These are the ornaments that I love the most. There is one from Gatlinburg that we got our names put on from our honeymoon, a hand painted ornament from my best friend Allison,  a knitted K initial and a pickle. (look up the legend if you don't know it)
• Our gifts are not wrapped flawlessly, but our gifts are from the heart and are for people who mean the world to us. 

I had dreams of what I thought a perfect Christmas would be...God showed me different.

This is my first Christmas as a married woman. My husband is awesome. My real life is better than my dreams. I am so happy. :)

finishing the turkey ;)

I left off yesterday right after lunch but that is not where the fun ceased. We went to my aunt Jills house for our thanksgiving dinner around 530ish and really had a great time. She had it decorated so nicely and an awesomely warm fire in the outside fireplace.

Jared, Kaley and I sat with MG, Sheridan, Mema and Jabin. Looking around that table would be enough to give extreme thanks for...much less looking around the entire room! Kaley held up a brownie and said 'I love carbs.' Sheridan said 'I thought those were called brownies!?!' I laughed so hard. Of course MG promptly asked for more 'dirt' (brownies).

Mom really outdid herself with the food she took over. Hashbrown casserole, frozen cherry salad and waldorf salad. woah. seriously good stuff.

Sheridan played me in a game of checkers. I am very competitive and so I felt just fine when our game got interrupted so that we could give thanks for the food. I was losing badly. :)

After an dinner that no adjective can do justice, Jared spoke to us about ThanksLiving. You bet I stole the title of my last post from him...he is the master of things like that! I was so thankful to be in that moment. To have my husband sharing with my family and wanting to do a really good job, to have MG and Sheridan in my lap and to be able to breathe and feel home. It was great and greatly needed.


After a thoughtful prayer from Jim and the amens were said, MG decided that she wanted to paint her 'ornment'. Jill, Nicole and Charity had prepared salt dough ornaments for the kids to paint. They did such a great job with them and had a lot of fun.

Kaley and I challenged Jim and Jared to a foosball game. I don't think Jared had truly seen my competitiveness come out in that way...probably a good thing. He said he was excited to see that because it means our kids will have a competitive spirit. ha. I have a feeling that we are going to eat those words.
We slammed them in the first game and then they made this rule about how it was against the official foosball rules to SPIN the handles. Needless to say, spinning is essential to winning for me and we lost. My apologies to Kaley.

Today has been pretty laid back. The boys went to play football this morning while the girls went shopping. Mom decided to stay home and get out the Christmas stuff for tree decorating tonight. As I type, I am sitting on the back porch, watching the geese swim and play in the water; wrapped up nicely in a coat and scarf even though i don't really need it. The boys are fishing together and the rest of the ladies are resting their pretty heads.

I am finding this year that my greatest challenge is to be in the moment. Not labeling everything as 'the last one' but knowing that it is for a while. Enjoying the laughter that comes from anything and everything but especially from Matti Grey.
It's a pretty simple life I lead and small things make me happy but I am telling you, God is great. I don't thank Him enough. My life is beautiful and for Him and to Him I am grateful!

Happy ThanksLiving!

ThanksLiving

Well it's been a while since I have been on here. I know that I will do better once I move to New Zealand and since beginning after the move was the original intention, I don't feel too bad. If I decided to blog an endless stream of conciousness, no one would stop to even read here. However, I have found that I write more about my life in my smashbook and then think of things that I would like to share. If you are wondering what a smashbook is, it is just a journal where you write but then you smash things like pictures, notes, tickets, etc. into the book so its a journaling scrapbook in a sense. love it.

I digress.

It is THANKSGIVING!!!. I have been excited about the holiday season since the beginning of the year. :) Knowing that I don't have to drop Jared off at the airport during any point is quite fabulous. I am so thankful for a consistency of time together that we didn't get to enjoy this time last year.

Yesterday, we headed up to Nashville early to have a 'date' before we spent the week with my family. They are awesome so we like to be with them and don't take time to spend alone together. We used up our last wedding gift cards and went to Olive Garden. Jared is in love with their breadsticks so he had some breadsticks and chicken gnocchi soup. I love that he is such a foodie. He gets excited and interested in how things are made or why things taste the way that they do. Very cool.

After Olive Garden, we went to see HUGO. It was the first screening and in 3D. I was a little concerned that the 3D would make me dizzy but Scorsese did such a classic job, I didn't even realize that I wasn't actually in the movie. I highly recommend this book in the first place. Selznick is a master (judge my nerdiness if you will) and the story is just phenomenal. If you see the movie or love the book, let's have a conversation. :)

Dad gave me a hard time about waking up to watch the Macy's parade. Every year, I intend on doing it and either we don't have TV or I don't make time for it. Last night I made a vow ;) that I was going to watch this year because I have been to NYC now and feel a little more a part of it...I really enjoyed it. Well, the 30 minutes of it I saw. Dad and Jared had been up watching it for at least an hour. Jared was so into it. I loved seeing that.

They also did an impromptu duet of John Fogerty's 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain' while he performed at a concert in the Times Square Hard Rock. Priceless. It's true that if you give men football (sports), barbeque (food) and music...culture is no barrier.

Speaking of food. Dad bought what seemed like an entire side of beef for us to eat. He truly is a master at grilling steaks. I hope that he will grill for us when he comes to NZ to visit. I felt like I had signed up for the 72 ounce steak challenge...if you eat it all, its free. lol. It was really good but I could only eat about half of it and that was it. No salad, a bite of potato but nothing else. so good I am immobilized and hence I have the presence of mind to blog about it.

This is becoming a book but I have just had such an awesome day and MG, Jim and Kaley aren't even here yet! So much to be thankful for.

One of these is not like the other

The picture with the red background is the picture I had of the wedding cake I wanted.
The other picture is the picture of the wedding cake that I got.


One of these is not like the other.


I asked all of the wrong questions but got all of the right answers.
Let me explain what I mean.

Can you do a cake like this? Yes.
Have you done a wedding cake before? Yes.
Do you have any references? Yes.

and so on and so on... these are some of the questions that the 'books' tell you to ask.

but I didn't ask...

Have you ever seen a design like this before? (They would have had to say no because I learned afterward my friend INVENTED the icing style)

What types of wedding cakes have you done before? (they could have told me what they were successful at)

Do you references mention any favorites that you do really well? (just because they have references doesn't mean they have references for what you want)

Honestly, I am posting about this because I have come to two realizations based solely on my experience with this wedding cake.

1) We sometimes ask all of the wrong questions and get all of the right answers so we go with it.
2) The original designer is always the best choice.

Satan has a funny way of telling us what we want to hear. He makes sin sound good to us. If sin was ugly and unattractive or harsh and hurtful in the beginning, we would stay far away from it. But that is where Satan uses creativity, power and a little bit of our own curiosity to do us harm. We fool ourselves into thinking we are asking all of the right questions. We ask others if they think we should partake in activities. We ask ourselves the questions that get us to the result we want in the first place. In the end, we get a disappointing final product.

God is always the best choice. He is our designer. He is the one that know our inner workings and everything about how we are supposed to turn out. He asks all the right questions and gives all of the right answers...so why would we consider turning anywhere else?

Like I did with the cake, we all have a choice. To this day, I wish that I would have chosen to ask different questions but its a good lesson learned. To be clear, this is simply an illustration of something that opened my eyes to God again in my life. I have no hard feeling toward the cake makers. They did what I asked them to do.

and so it begins...

Even though I am new to this thing, I thought it would be a great way for me to communicate with my friends and family. To keep everybody updated about the travels and adventures upon which I am about to embark. :)

Starting mid-January, my husband and I will be moving to New Zealand. God has been very kind to me. He allowed me to fall in love with the beautiful country and then to fall madly in love with a handsome soul.

I am sure that Jared will be pumped to know that I am speaking in a gushy way about him on a public website, but there it is folks...and done.