Snow Day!

We got a snow day Saturday, it was so much fun! The snow was gone by 3 in the afternoon, except for our snowman, which is actually still on the front lawn, but only the very bottom section. He actually toppled over as soon as we came in to the house to get dried off and have some hot cocoa. Billie woke up at 6 AM to tell us it had snowed! We got up and started stringing popcorn and making Christmas ornaments for our tree. It snowed all morning long, and we finally went out to play at about 9 AM. We were out for about an hour, until we were sufficiently soaked and cold to the bone! It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday, though. That is the first time since I was a kid in Michigan that I have had snow for my birthday! You know you are in East Tennessee when building a snowman uses up all of your snow in your yard! I can't wait for more snow, they are teasing us with a small threat of snow this Saturday, so we will keep our fingers crossed! I have a final exam today, two tomorrow and one on Thursday. But on Friday I will post some pictures of our home-made tree decorations. We have had so much fun doing this tree this year, Billie keeps saying it is her best Christmas ever! We were forced to make decorations since ours are loaded up in the attic behind mounds of stuff and we can not get to them at all. I guess if we wanted to unload the attic, get the Christmas stuff out, then load the attic back we could, but that would take one whole day to do and I have no desire to spend a day doing that. We are still trying to sell the condo, so we are trying to keep it minimally decorated and make it look more spacious, thus all the stuff up in our attic. More later in the week!

Count Down to Disney

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did. It was a wonderful 4 days off from work and school and we spent it with wonderful family and GREAT food! SO fun. Now Billie and I are counting down to DISNEY! We are so excited. We go in 15 DAYS! Whoohoo! Which also means I have to get ready for Christmas before then. Scary! But we are well on our way. Since we are doing Disney, we are cutting back on gifts so that helps. Billie is very specific in what she wants for Christmas, which also helps. She wants a frog, a real live, pet frog. She is all frogs all the time these days. We even got her a frog ornament for the tree for her ornament this year. I need to somehow put the year on it, so we will always remember the year she was obsessed with frogs. We still have our house on the market, but no luck selling yet. Since we were trying to make it look less like we were busting out at the seams and more roomy, we packed a lot of stuff up and put it in the attic, in front of all our Christmas decorations. I guess we were hopeful we would sell before Christmas. So we got a real tree, borrowed lights from Wanda and Billie and I are making handmade decorations for it. Any ideas you have for easy and fun ornaments will be greatly appreciated! I miss my ornaments and other pretty decorations, but I am OK with it. It will just make it more special next year when we finally get to use them again. I love decorating for Christmas, it is my favorite part about Christmas, and it is fun to try something new and do something different.

Billie is very busy with singing performances both with the school chorus and with church choir. She sang Sunday night for "Hanging of the Green." We are so blessed to have Bob Robinson at Central, the music is always outstanding and he lived up to his reputation Sunday night. I was so filled with the awe of what God did for us through the music and voices that Bob directed that night. It is always amazing to see the church lit up in candles and twinkling Christmas lights, poinsettias, greenery, ribbons and bows, but the real enjoyment is from the music. The hand bells were fantastic, the orchestra and the voices, too. Of course, Billie did a wonderful job. She always sings out and knows every word. She is blessed with a beautiful voice and a has a true gift. She loves to shine on stage, too! I am always so proud of her. She has a Christmas program at church next week, 3 different performances for the school chorus, and a piano recital all coming up! It will a busy two weeks, but fun for us all.

I have been filled with thoughts of what Mary must have felt like, so pregnant with her first child. Probably nervous of the impending birth, and then travelling so far and away from her mother who would have naturally helped her with the birth of her first child. I can't help but think of how terrifying that must have been. And how uncomfortable! Can you imagine being so close to your due date and having to walk and ride on a donkey for many miles, only to find yourself giving birth in a dark stable among the animals? Of course she didn't know at the time the pain and suffering her baby boy would endure to save our souls. I also think of what Jesus would have been like as a baby. It is so hard to imagine! I think of him as so perfect, but as a baby the only way he could communicate would have been to cry, so he had to cry sometimes. He had needs that had to be met, and Mary couldn't have read his mind. But I bet it was a sweet cry! You know, that quiet little precious sound babies make before they get really upset and really mad and really scream? I love to think about Jesus as a baby. I love what he did for me, but it makes me sad at the same time that he had to suffer at my expense, so I love to think of him as a baby - happy and perfect. Years away from the amazing sacrifice. I love to think of Mary then, too, before she knew what would happen to her precious first born. When she thought he would be a king and save her people, which is what he was and what he did, but in such a different way than she must have expected. I also wonder if she was shocked after having such a perfect baby by her other children's behavior and temperaments! I bet they seemed like a real challenge in comparison.

OK, that is my long winded rant for the day! It is fun to get those random thoughts out of my mind. Happy Wednesday to you all!

Michigan Update

So this is Matt and Brian this morning in Ann Arbor at 9 a.m. Matt said they stopped about 30minutes outside of Ann Arbor last night and got a hotel, barely because most were all filled up with Ohio State fans, and they got to the exit at 6.30 this morning and waited in traffic, yes traffic, to get into the parking area. They pulled in their spot at 8 o'clock this morning to set up for tailgating. They are cooking a fine breakfast of coffee, steak and eggs. I haven't heard back from them since this picture was made because they were busy trying to get their breakfast in before they headed to the stadium. The game starts at noon on ABC, Billie and I will be watching for the men in bowl hats! Everyone have a great Saturday. GO BLUE!

Flashback Friday

The BIGHOUSE 2007, Michigan against Ohio State. Matt, for those of you who do not know, is a HUGE Michigan fan. I got him tickets for that game for Christmas the year before, and we went together. He had never been to the Bighouse before, and it was a fantastic time. Ohio State won that game, and it was cold and rainy, but we still had a blast. Flashforward to today--Matt and his dad leave today at 4pm to drive up to Michigan to see the Michigan-Ohio State game tomorrow at noon at THE BIGHOUSE! He is so excited! He has been packing since Monday--no joke. He also made bowl-bound hats for them to wear, I will post a pic later, sorry I forgot to take one. He took big bowls, painted them yellow, put a big "M" on them and we velcro'd them to his hat! If Michigan wins the game tomorrow they will be eligible to play in a bowl, so that is the reason for the bowls. Funny, huh? It is fun to see him so excited about the game, and I am so glad that he gets to go with his dad. They are going to have a blast. He even is planning to tailgate, at 7 am! He is making steak and eggs for them for breakfast. I know for sure they will be exhausted when they finally arrive home Sunday night. Pray for good weather and safe travels! I will update tomorrow!

Buddy's Race 2009

My first 5K


Sunday was the Buddy's Race against Cancer and we have a team every year in memory of Michael, we call it the Bassmaster's. This year I trained for it and ran it with Matt. How amazing that was! I ran with my wonderful husband for my first race ever, in memory of my other wonderful husband. God is good. He has blessed me with two amazing men to love. Matt probably could have won the race, he is very fast. But he stayed back with me at my snail's pace and we finished in 32 minutes. It was a hard race, I thought, with lots of steep, long hills! But I never stopped, I kept going to the finish. (I could be quoted as saying "Crap! Another Hill." as I was coming down one and heading up the last hill of the race, though.) I was so surprised when I got to the end and Angelique, Riley, Jennifer, Billie, and the rest of the bunch were all there cheering for us! It absolutely made me feel like the most special person at the race! I just assumed everyone would be out walking, but there they were as we came around the last corner. I was so surprised. Second time that day I cried. The first was at the very start of the race, when we had a moment of silence before we began to honor those with cancer and remember those lost to cancer. Matt held my hand and we bowed our heads and I said a prayer to God and also asked Michael to be with me and help me to finish. So I had both of them there with me at the same second, it felt like. And almost like he could read my thoughts, Matt squeezed my hand right as I was telling Michael thank you. I started the day out so nervous! Once we got started, I calmed down. I am fighting a chest cold/ sore throat illness, but I didn't let that stop me! I did take yesterday off, however. I plan to go for a run today, though. I think Matt and I might run another race in December. It's the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis. We get to wear jingle bells! Not sure how that won't annoy me, but we will see! This race is in the morning, and I do so much better in the morning. The Buddy's race was at 3pm, the worst time of the day for me. Isn't that nap time? If only I had time to nap every day, that would be a perfect world! So, it was a wonderful day. I finished my first race. I ran with my loving husband for my other loving husband. Doesn't get much better than that. I still get down sometimes, but God is ever faithful to give me days like that as reminders that He is still with me, He has not forgotten me.

One side note for prayers: Billie has a staph infection in her throat. She is really feeling terrible and is not showing any signs of recovering yet. Please pray the antibiotics will kick in and stop this nasty infection, soon!

Flashback Friday

Billie and Courtney and the famous "Hollywood Face"

How cute is this?! Billie was almost 5 here. She had decided that people in Hollywood, when they posed for pictures, used this expression and we all started calling it the "Hollywood Face." She went through a period of time that she would pose like this constantly. We all just thought it was the funniest thing. That year for New Year's, we all went to Disney, and outside of MGM Studios, we all stood there with our Hollywood faces on. It was dark, and there were like 13+ of us, so you really can't tell we were all doing it. But this one was perfect, so I am sharing it for "Flashback Friday!" How fun, I love this idea! Thanks again, Vanessa. Now, let's see what I can come up with for next week...

So Proud of Billie

Billie played her heart out this weekend in Morristown. She just shined out on the field. She played full back and really stopped the other team. She was so aggressive and you could see with every play she made, her confidence just grew. By the third game, she was on fire. She did exactly what she was supposed to do, and she stopped them every time. They only won their last game, and placed 7th overall. I have no idea how many places there were, but she was just tickled that they won a game! They haven't had the best season, I think I mentioned it before. But she has learned so much this season. This was her first season as a U10 player, and she had to go up to a bigger field as well as learn off-sides and play with a goal-keeper. Her skills really have improved this season along with her confidence and level of aggressive playing. She may not be the quickest, but she has figured out how to wait for the other team to get to her, and then cut them off and apply pressure so she can get the ball. It is so wonderful to see, and so fun to watch her energy and enthusiasm. I am so proud of her. It was a very fun weekend, and i am sad it is over and we have to attack the week once again. I have a little case of the Monday blues, but I will work through it this morning and turn it into a wonderful week. Hope you all have a great week, too!