My Oh My, where has the time gone...

Hmm, there seems to be a reoccurring theme here. I have BIG plans to update the ol' blog and then my plans get derailed.

So, I'll do my best to at least come up with something FUN! I don't think I'll ever look back on this time and think to myself, "boy, I wish I had something to do!" My life is so crazy and busy and fun. Oh, And tiring! But that's okay.

I've been on the go constantly and that's what I will continue to do for the months of December and January. 

Plans have finally come together and I won't be traveling to South Asia as I previously thought, but I am going to East Asia and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sure the country I'm visiting has changed alot since I was previously there, so I can't wait to be there and experience it all. I'll be traveling with 3 college students, so I'm pretty confident the experience will be an adventure.

Thanksgiving was ablsolutely delightful and I need to go run about 26 miles to burn off what I consumed over the holiday festivities. I had two Thanksgivings, so that means I consumed countless calories. I started Couch to 10k last week, so i need to be vigilant in following through with the plan to run the OKC Memorial half marathon in April. My friend Allison are going to run this one together, so I've got accountability.

I've got so many pictures to post of all of these wonderful things that consume my life. Along with a few friends I hosted a Sip 'n' See for my dear friend Lindsey and sweet little Ainsley last weekend. While we were in town, A and I spent some time with some of our favorite babies and their parents. One day, we went to the park to play and found ourselves reminiscing about all the old playground tricks we knew and decided to attempt them. Jumping, Flipping and Swinging ensued and thankfully none of us ended up in the E.R.

At least not on that day.

Merry Christmas Ya'll! Don't get consumed by all the Stuff and focus on what Christmas is truly about.

Neil's on The Pioneer Woman's website!

Breaking News!

My precious nephew Neil and his mommy, my bff Anna, went last night to a book signing in OKC with The Pioneer Woman. You won't believe who is featured on Pioneer Woman's blog today? ..........Yep, it's Neil and he is just too cute for words.

Anna made a super cute onesie for him to wear, along with his cowboy boots and cowboy hat and he is just darling.

I CAN NOT wait to see that precious boy tomorrow. We're going to do a little Halloween Carnival-ing and of course stare at Neil and take a million pictures of him.

It should be a fun event. Pictures to follow. Of Course.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Compassion International

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Check out this Compassion Video. It totally sums up why giving $ 38.00 is SO WORTH IT! My Mom and I are both Compassion Sponsors of little girls in India. I can't explain what a blessing it is for me to sponsor, my little girl Salomi.

You can literally CHANGE a LIFE by sponsoring a child! Break the cycle of POVERTY!

Exciting Days Ahead!

My friend Allison and I started a business! We've had so much fun getting together to make things for our friends and we've come to realize we should put ourselves out there! Along with the things we have already made, we are also available for custom orders too. I've personally had 7 friends who have given birth to babies in the past 6 months. Which makes for lots of baby gifts and lots of money spent. Hmm, how do I make these two things work for one another? Simple, put my creativity to work and make awesome baby gifts!

Work at my 60 hour a week office, has been crazy but it's finally starting to level off. I'm so thankful for that, I couldn't keep going at that pace.

I have lots of great pictures to share! So many fun events have happened lately. I'll try to share them really soon.

Here is the link to my business with Allison, check it out www.alacartedesigngirls.blogspot.com

just trying to keep my head above water

this week has been filled with so much FUN! friends from overseas have been here all week and i've basically been working until 10:30 or 11pm each night. i'm so tired but somehow still going.

i am blessed! it's just been such a great week, filled with Great conversations, encouragement,pictures and praying. i'm so thankful for this week, the Lord has allowed me to have.

also today, i got some news that my papa had to have a biopsy this afternoon of a spot that was found on his kidney. please pray for him and for the spot to be non-cancerous.

tomorrow, i'm looking forward to leaving work early and getting away for a bit. i have so many pictures to post but new camera card doesn't work too well with my computer.

i will overcome this soon and post lots of new pictures. can't wait to share them.

hope you have a happy weekend!!

Pretty Dresses

Today, I decided to participate in Kelly's "Show us your Life"- Wedding Dress! Since I'm not married yet, but prayerfully I will be, one day, I thought I would share with you some dresses that I think are just beautiful.

Wedding Dresses are so HAPPY! Aren't they? We associate them with Happiness and New Beginnings and I just love looking at them. I've been in my fair share of friends weddings, and attended Many, MANY weddings, so I've been fortunate enough to see different kinds and styles. I'm a classic, elegant with a hint of fun & trendiness kind of girl, so I'm confident that's also going to be my style with a wedding dress. I like watching Say Yes to the Dress and Platinum Weddings, so fun to see what others choose for their big day!

I think the ultimate is a Vera Wang dress, but J. Crew consistently has some super cute styles each year and I adore the other wedding attire they offer for the whole bridal party. I've worn 2 J. Crew bridesmaid dresses for other weddings and they are so pretty.

These are my picks! All by Vera Wang!! Here are some beautiful one's for you to see!

Dinner with a Friend

Last night I had dinner with a dear friend and she just blessed my heart! I drove to Norman to meet up with her after work and we had the best time. We ate dinner at a place, I never eaten at before, called BJ's. The food was great! I highly recommend it, BJ's is a chain, but it feels kind of fancy. Anyway, my friend and I were able to share about recent life events and what God seems to be doing in the midst of it all.

Isn't it amazing when you just get to spend time with people, who get you? I mean really get you? Wow, for me, those are the times I pray for, you don't want those experiences to end and you also look forward to the next time you will see those special people again!

It's really neat, because Holly and I are both in places of transition and wondering what's next? Should we stay, should we move on?

Am I where I'm supposed to be? I'm staying because it's comfortable? Am I supposed to jump out on faith and do something totally different?

I think we have all gone through times in our lives where we wondered, what's next?

Do I want Adventure?

And at the same time longing for comfort and those that are familiar to us. Yesterday I was reading through a bible study I did last fall called "No Other Gods" by Kelly Minter, such a great study! You know the Lord's timing is always perfect and the exact day I turned to was entitled, The Road Ahead- Prayer.

Umm, thanks for perfect timing God. I realized, I can do absolutely nothing on my own, to resolve the out of whack relationships in my life, there's not a thing I can say that's going to "fix things" but the one thing I can do, is give it all over to Lord and PRAY.

Prayer is something I can't survive without. So that's what I'm doing.

Those words that the Lord spoke to me yesterday were such a confirmation of what I should be doing and adding to it, were the words He spoke to me through a friend.

He's GOOD.

If you've ever had one of those days...

So yesterday was just one of those days. You know the kind, where you just want to pull your hair out because people are annoying you like crazy, even though you want to love them.

You need to love them.

Jesus says love them.

But the flesh just doesn't want to.

I realize I'm being incredibly candid here today, but I'm just being real and know that I'm still a believer, I still love Jesus. Sometimes I get upset at people and that's okay, as long as I don't injure anyone.

So the day started out, trying to overcompensate for things I ran out of time to finish the day before, add to it, office conflict and then, oh like about a million new things I just added to the to do list.

Yikes. Busy.

The day continued on and I had lunch with a person who I used to call a friend and now I'm not sure what to classify the relationship as. The lunch was fine, I was hoping and praying and had many others praying that this lunch actually might bring some resolution to this somewhat broken relationship.

Well, as big of bummer as this is, it didn't. It basically accomplished very little and actually made me even more sad over this broken relationship. We resolved to work together and to encourage one another in what we do here at work but beyond on that, I'm left with a feeling of wondering, "why do things have to be this way?"

I mean we are believers and this is just crazy. This brokenness has been hanging over my head for a year and it's just so sad.

Has the Lord ever allowed you to stay in a place of wondering? Waiting? Wanting something more.

So that's where I am people. Wanting more, wanting life to be better. And praying. And knowing HE's Still in Control.

Psalm 19:8 "The precepts of the LORD are right, giving Joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant giving light to the eyes."

Crepes on the Plaza

I love the Plaza in Santa Fe!

So many pretty things to see and interesting people to watch. We started off our afternoon with lunch at an amazing Mexican Restaurant, followed by shopping on the Plaza and then we ate crepes at a wonderful French pastry shop, that I didn't even know existed. It was delicious and I had such a wonderful afternoon.

I even discovered an art gallery with beautiful photography from all over the world. I bought a few pieces and really need to get them framed! I will be sure to post pictures once they are on the wall.

New Mexico in Spring

I was fortunate enough to attend a conference for work in New Mexico during Spring Break! I had a great time with friends and learning alot about discipleship from a wise man, Max Barnett.

One day, we went on a little driving adventure through the National Forest!

So Beautiful!!