10 things we've done in Dallas - week 1

10. Had a HUGE family dinner (13 people) at Bucca de Beppo - a family style Italian Restaurant.
9. Didn't go anywhere for 2 days because of a crazy ICE STORM.
8. Signed Bella up for Little Gym while we're here. She starts Monday - way exciting!
7. Watched too much TV. I seriously don't know how people watch TV all the time. so boring.
6. slept way too much
5. Took Gigi to the grocery store. Sounds mundane...but no...very stressful, actually.
4. Colored a LOT with Bella
3. Played Dress-up with Bella's new PINK Feather Boa...she loves it! ha!
2. Played "Shape Searchers" while we were stuck inside.
1. went running in 60* weather a WEEK ago! I'm looking forward for the temps to go up again!

Christmas Break

Ok, so here's the story of our Christmas stand-down (Christmas break for you non-Navy folk):

We flew in on Christmas Adam (Heather's term...Adam came before Eve... Dec. 23)

We went to mass with my family on Christmas Eve - and Bella successfully sat (stood, crawled...) through her first entire church service - and it was MASS!!

Here's Neil and I Christmas Eve Night at St. Mark's:

Here's my Dad and Bella...Dad is in a choir robe for those wondering, and he's pointing to the Nativity scene...showing Bella Baby Jesus.

This is my cousin Jenn and her daughter Kaylee. Kaylee is almost 5 months now...and has grown a lot since the last time her picture was posted here (see Sept. 08). Beautiful Girls.

So we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family, then drove to Dry Prong, LA (Prospect Community actually...) the day after Christmas to spend time with Neil's Family. We also got to see some long-time friends we haven't seen in a while.

This is Maryann. Awesome Girl. College Best Friend. Bridesmaid in our wedding. We talk and it's like time and distance never happened. She still challenges me in my walk just as much as she did when we saw each other all the time. She's the new youth minister at First United Methodist in Pineville. Isn't she beautiful??

This is Bella's new friend, Kaitlyn. Daughter of Brent and Michelle Sawyer. Brent was a groomsman in our wedding. Kaitlyn Just celebrated her first Birthday - Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

On our way back to Dallas from Louisiana, we had to stop in Tyler, TX for som Bodacious BBQ. Just. Plain. Texas. Good. YUM!!! After we ate, we spent some time playing around outside the resturaunt to get some blood flowing...and to keep Bella from feeling so trapped.

When we got back to Texas, we spent a couple more days with my family. One of those days was spent going to Glenn Rose and Granbury, TX. There is a nuclear power plant in Glenn Rose, and we wanted to check out the town to see if it was a place where we may want to live. It's seriously perfect! Granbury is about 20 min. from the plant. It has one small, cute downtown square area.

Here we are at an ice cream shop that Dad said he and Mom used to take us girls to every time we passed through Granbury. We had RootBeer floats. Bella's first RootBeer float experience, and obviously...it was a good one!

other than the downtown area, it has one street that has tons of resources - Walmart, clothes stores, another grocery store, a bookstore, etc. But that's it! The rest of the place is country...and I can't forget to mention the absolutely beautiful LAKE in the middle of the town. seriously beautiful. So...country for Neil...resources for me...cute downtown...an hour away from my parent's house. About 30 min. SW of the westernmost part of Ft. Worth...we're trying not to get too excited about it this early...but it's hard...

This is Dad and Bella at a playground we "happened upon" in Glen Rose... Dinosaur Valley Park is in Glen Rose, so this playground was completely Dinosaur themed. kinda cute.

We got back to Georgia on Jan 2. and it's been kinda crazy since then.... but, until next time...

Rock my World!

Much to my amazement and pure delight, about 2 weeks ago Neil suggested that we start reading together at night - meaning reading to each other. A little background: We've been at a soul-searching kind of place since Neil's been home the past 2 months...(ok, maybe longer). We've been seeking God in deep ways - with lots of changes coming up, making decisions about the future. It's a great place to be in, because we're open to new possibilities. We've been hungry for something real - challenging us to the core - yet something tangible - how do we REALLY show Christ to the world? How do we REALLY walk in His steps? How can we, in a sense, be "Jesus with skin on"?
We wanted something that challenged us more than just in our marriage. We wanted a fresh realization of God's word - something that didn't just make us "feel good" and we could walk away from it and never think about it again. We wanted something to rock our world as it shed light on scriptures we didn't fully understand.
So, after looking at our home book collection and not finding anything that fit the bill, we drove with Bella to Jacksonville to the Christian Book store, and just started thumbing through books. Neil came across one that he was really excited about and he showed it to me. At first glance, it didn't seem like anything special - but he had read more within the book than I had, since I was kinda chasing Bella around (a kid that LOVES books in a store FULL of books...not a good combination...), but he was so excited about it that I was like "OK, sure. If that's the one you want."
we took it home and read the first chapter that night. The whole time we're reading, we're looking at each other all wide-eyed and after we finished the first chapter, we wanted to jump up and down and shout out loud in pure joy. Perhaps most people wouldn't be, because it challenges everything we have ever been taught about what it means to be a Christian in America. It challenges us to read the Scriptures in a way we never have before...To read scripture and bring it to life! It challenges us to think outside of ourselves in a way I never have before. Our butts have been officially kicked over and over and over, yet instead of feeling defeated and beat down, we feel relief. We have heard something real. something tangible. Something that matters. Something that puts some skin on Jesus in a world that desperately needs Him to be real.
we're still reading...and learning...and growing...and seeking God in every way imaginable. He's rocking our pretty little privilaged American suburbia world, and we can't get enough!
The name of the book?
The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne
Here's just a clip, and it doesn't even scratch the surface...(pg. 41)
"I know there are people out there who say,'My life was such a mess. I was drinking, parying, sleeping around...and then I met Jesus and my whole life came together.' God bless those people. But me, I had it together. I used to be cool. And then I met Jesus and he wrecked my life. The more I read the gospel, the more it messed me up, turning everything I believed in, valued, and hoped for upside-down. I am still recovering from my conversion."

The book of Acts is full of people whose lives were messed up when they met Jesus.
If the gospel hasn't messed up our lives, then maybe we're doing something wrong...