Yes, I Am Alive...

Sorry I have been absent from the blog lately...many apologies. Between school, work, wedding planning, and CBS, life has been a bit crazy. I think it will calm down soon (hopefully).

I think my classes are going to be pretty good. I am taking Advertising & Promotion, Human Resources, Marketing Research and Photography. Brad is in the Advertising & Promotion and Human Resources classes with me (which is really exciting because there aren't many classes left that we can take together since we are getting to the end of our college career...THANK THE LORD!! I have senioritis BAD!!). Brad is also taking Labor Relations (the most boring class ever), Retailing, and Strategic Management. He is taking 15 hours (plus Chapel on Wednesdays) and I am taking 12 hours. I can't get myself to sit down and do homework these days. I really don't like that the Human Resources class is a night class...6:00-9:00 on Tuesday nights...what is that anyway?! Who wants to be in class that late??? No one I tell you! We did get to spend the night at mom and dad's on Tuesday night though so that was fun...

I am sad that we have to commute five days a stinkin' week to go to school this semester! I have to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to school with Brad Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays for his 8:00 class and stay till 11:00 or 12:00 even though I only have a class from 9:00-9:50. Bummer, man. I feel like we are wasting so much time. It takes about an hour and ten minutes round trip...times five days...that is over five hours a week in the car traveling to and from school. What a waste of diesel (I surely am enjoying the new Jeep!) and time!!

I don't have two of my textbooks yet because I ordered them online and couldn't expedite them. Not so good considering this is my second week of school. It really is a bummer because I have a test next Wednesday in Marketing Research.

I am SO LOVING the photography class. Not sure why I didn't take one many semesters ago. I could be taking the advanced photography classes now if I had. This is actually the first "fun" class that I have taken in college!! (Kinda sad, huh?!). I have no clue what I am doing really...we are using old 35 mm cameras with black and white film...and I get to develop my own pictures in the darkroom next Thursday! How awesome is that?! I am looking forward to doing the assignments (they will totally get me out of my box because I am used to taking photos of people and will be taking photos of objects for the next couple weeks. I have never worked with camera settings so the idea of setting the F stop and shutter speed on a camera manually is very foreign to me. The teacher looked at the photos I took with the extra film she had (to make sure the camera was working correctly) and she said the photos were pretty good. A lot of them looked overexposed but she said that that is partly due to the fact it was the wrong kind of film. She said if we had developed them we could have fixed that. I had 400 film but 100 film would have been better since the photos were taken in such bright sunlight.

I made the design team at the scrapbook store!! That is really exciting because I have totally missed getting the opportunity to make a couple pages a month with paper that I wouldn't necessarily pick out for myself. I hear that my first kit is Christmas related! I am very excited to get started! :) I have also desperately missed taking classes…the classes are $20-$30 and I couldn’t get myself to spend that much money so I haven’t taken any since I was on the Design Team before.

Brad and I have been getting to work out at the gym a couple of days a week. It is so nice to be able to watch tv while running. I forget that I am running :) (Except when mean teachers change the station from Full House while I am watching it intently!!). We also get to watch Perez and Josh lift weights for their weight training class...quite humorous to watch little Perez lift. :) I have not been working out nearly enough lately. I am such a junk food freak and I need to work out! We have taken the new rollerblades out a couple times (around the neighborhood and to the park). Brad runs and I blade. I am still too slow for him to run consistently. He walks a while and then runs to catch up with me when I am going down hills. I am really lovin' them though! :) It is a lot easier to rollerblade in the park on the concrete than on the pavement.

I have a plane ticket to Colorado for CBS training in November (4th-7th) and I get to go with a couple of people that I know from Teen CBS. They are going to training for E Teen CBS (early teen for 6th-8th graders) which is really awesome. There is a big need for a ministry for middle schoolers in this area. I am really looking forward to training...and I am hoping that I will see some SNOW! It has been way too long since I saw that wonderful white stuff!

Haven't gotten to scrap much lately which is always sad because that is my stress relief. When I can't do it is when I really need it because more than likely if I am too busy to scrap then I am stressed out. I have made a few cards lately but that is about it. Hopefully I will get to scrap soon...

CKU is coming SOON!! (For those of you who are wondering what that is...it is Creating Keepsakes University where I get to attend scrapbook classes taught by really awesome scrapbookers). I really need to start getting pictures together for my classes. I still can't believe I get to go!! It is going to be SO FUN!!

Well, I must go. I have to finish up a group project charter and head to bed. I am an old lady that is not by any means a morning person...I keep napping on the way to work (from school). I am exhausted all the time!!!

1 Shower Down, 3 to Go...

We had Perez's first wedding shower at my house last Friday. It is still hard to believe that she is getting married...and so soon at that!! Only 36 days till the wedding!!

I love Pampered Chef and was so blessed to have a Pampered Chef shower before we got married...my kitchen is full of Pampered Chef treasures...and so will Perez's :) She got everything on her registry plus more...

It was really nice to have some of the family together again...my cousin Liesel (Perez's sister) was able to come from Galveston to attend...my aunt Nelwyn (P's mom) looked really proud to be the mother of the bride (they are in the picture on the right)...my aunt Imogene, cousin Kristi, & her daughter Emily came to my house for the first time...also Vicki (she matched the bride to be!)...

Anytime we're together there is always a lot of talking and laughter...some say our family is a little crazy when we get together...

We had around 15 people at the shower...we enjoyed watching Perez cook the Taco Ring, ate a lot, and ordered a lot of products. I think a good time was had by all.

Say some prayers for the bride if you would...she is going to school full time (hard nursing classes!) and working all the time...pray that she gets some time to relax and destress!!

Hanging in There...

Tonight was the first night of CBS...it was a little stressful for me but I survived. We had 48 people (leadership included) in all...with 3 new gals. We only had 2 boys (total!!) so hopefully the boys will bring their friends! Apparently all the boys are busy with football and other sports. The place is just so magnificent, though! Even the bathrooms are beautiful! I am a little overwhelmed by all of the stuff that I have to store...we have so much junk in the house as it is...I don't have room for all this stuff. Plus, I have a shower for Alyssa Perez on Friday so the house must be *clean*. Sorry Vick, your room is going to be a BIG MESS!!

Have to register for school tomorrow...not very excited about it. Hopefully we don't have to wait in too many lines (like usual). I think this semester will be a good one...even though we have to drive 5 days instead of 2 or 3. I have only one class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Kind of a bummer to waste all of that time driving and waiting through Brad's 2 extra classes! Hopefully I will be able to manage my time well...

Had a wonderfully lovely birthday celebration on Saturday...and I will post some pics later. Food, games, awesomely wonderful presents, and PIE...does it get any better than that?! A good time was had by all.

Speaking of my presents...boy do my friends know me well...I got rollerblades (from my boy), scrapping stuff (from Julie and MAM), a new honkin' purse (from Vicki who doesn't have a blog but should get one), chocolate (from Julie and Perez & Josh), a fancy blue necklace & bath fizzies (from Amanda and Dave), a Hobby Lobby giftcard (from Perez & Josh)...so I can now wear a pretty necklace, be organized, stay in shape, scrap a lot, take a relaxing bath after a hard day, and eat chocolate...ahhhh I feel more relaxed just thinking about it all... :)

Request for prayers...

1. Mom is reevaluating her career and needs direction from the Lord where He would like her to be. She is really good with people and loves clothes but doesn't want to stand on her feet all day. Pray that God would lead her to the perfect job for her where He can use her to make a difference in the lives of others.

2. Pray that all of my actions would be glorifying to the Lord this year and that I can manage my time well.

3. Please pray for my friends Melanie (serving in Peru) and Dayna (serving in Indonesia). Pray that the Lord would continue to use them and that doors would open up for them to share their faith.

Check This Out!! . . .

It's my birthday (23 whole years today!)! And I got rollerblades from Bradley for my birthday...

It has been a while since I rollerbladed. Vicki used to have some and we would take turns wearing the rollerblades and hanging on to the back of the bike...we would hold on for dear life while the other one peddled away.

If you ask her about it she will tell you about the time (she claims) that I took the corner way too fast on the bike and she ended up laying on her back in the middle of our table and chairs outside. Quite an interesting memory if I may say so myself :)

Good times, good times...

One of the joys of owning a home with tile in it is that I can rollerblade wherever I wish :) I have been rollerblading around the house for a while now...

Hopefully Brad can now run at a normal pace while I rollerblade. He doesn't so much care for running at granny pace with me...not sure why...

All in all, it was a wonderful day. I took the day off work and organized all of the CBS stuff that is taking over the house. I printed name tags and made roll sheets and laminated memory verses. I got quite a bit done! (And my wonderful boy helped me with verses when he got home!)...

Brad took me to Mangia Pizza for lunch and we ate the yummy leftovers for dinner...then he took me to get a Bombstick...my favorite :)

We also got wireless Internet tonight which is really, really cool. Less wires to fight with!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes...I really appreciate it :) We have plans to celebrate all of the August birthdays on Saturday...should be a ton of fun!

Feeling a Little Ovewhelmed...

in a good way :)

So, those of you who know me know that I have been involved in TCBS (Teen Community Bible Study) for the last 6 years (this is my 7th). I started out as a student for a few years, then became a Core Leader and did that for a few years, and this year I am the Coordinator. It involves using the computer software to take roll, print name tags, update the online lesson, cut and laminate Bible verses, keep binders up-to-date with lessons, etc. Well, I go to training in November but our Bible study starts this Monday. I am feeling a little lost but met with a past CBS Coordinator (also my Sunday school teacher) to try to figure out the system.

The CBS Servant's Team met on August 7th to see the new place where we are meeting...it is ginormous...to say the least. I feel like we are out of our league. We are coming from a church with a small and intimate setting, where the kids met closely together to a huge, new place this year. (We are going to be on the third floor if that tells you anything!!) It is newly built and painted. The floor looks like diamond-grid metal (they are actually vinyl tiles) and the place is just amazing. They have an area with café chairs and tables set up where they are going to have a coffee house. The stage is a little bit offset from the floor area. It is going to be wonderful. It is closer for most of the kids that come.

When we met with the youth pastor, he led us through the building and pointed out the classrooms…they will have tvs in all of them (which we won’t use but wow!) and wireless Internet. CRAZY! Julie told me this morning that she realized that I can do all the roll and name tags there while everyone meets for small group. WOW!! That is really awesome, people!! The youth pastor is really excited to have us...he even prayed for us right there in the hallway! What a blessing!!

It is a little bit overwhelming trying to learn all of my new duties. I made bounded books of lessons for all of the leaders (19 books) with Vicki on Sunday (BIG THANKS to you Vick, for all of your help with that and cutting out the memory verses!). They were a big hit on Monday...we have never had them before (we always get the lessons one by one each week) though most of us have wanted the book bounded.

I am such a lucky gal to have one of my best friends, Mary Anna, as my assistant at CBS this year. We have big plans on things we are going to do this year. It will be so much fun to work by her side this year! (Thanks, MAM, for accepting the position!).

The kickoff party this Monday went really well. The theme for the year is: “This is your life…How will you choose to live it???” and the verse for the year is: “What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” 2 Peter 3:11-12

We had a series of rooms for the teens to go in…starting with the baby room (one of the leaders held a baby), then to the graduation room (where MAM gave a speech), the marriage room (with me and Brad and Marcos as a preacher man), a career room (complete with a phone, building plans, and a computer), and the last room was a funeral (my Sunday school teacher was in the casket…Bryan did his eulogy).

In each room they filled out a few questions…like What is your earliest childhood memory?, What are you looking forward to during the teen years?, What are five things you are looking for in a spouse?, What is your career and what will you be willing to do for God during this stage of your life?, What is written on your tombstone?, Will you end up in Heaven or Hell?.

I did the same questions at CBS a few years ago…I should look up my answers and see what I put. I love the way it makes the teens think about the future…such a cool thing.

Brad and I enjoyed getting married again (6 times!)…we actually recited our vows from our wedding. We wore “Bride” and “Groom” shirts and at the end Marcos took our picture (a court house wedding needs a picture, too!).

One of the teens told their leader “It’s a good thing that he is not a real preacher or they really would be married!” and the leader laughed and said “They already are!” :)

We had 33 teens at the kickoff party (with 10 new teens) and I know that we will grow this year.

I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to serve the Lord in this way. I love organizing and typing and doing office stuff in general...this job is right up my alley.

Please keep CBS in your prayers as we get the year started. Please pray that we keep our focus on the Lord and that His Will would be done in every detail of the Bible study. I know He is going to do awesome things this year!

The Newest Addition...


a 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD (Diesel). Gray interior with tinted windows. Isn't it pretty?! :)

Brad has been focused on Jeep shopping since we got back from the Mission Trip. We rode around in Mr. Warden's Jeep Liberty and he fell in love with it.

The Diesel Jeeps are hard to find because they didn't make very many of them...and they won't be making them in Diesel next year. He found some online in Florida but not much in Texas. This Jeep was less than a half a mile away from work!

Brad is happy to have a 4x4 vehicle that has better towing capacity than his truck. He can haul more people, the gas mileage is pretty good (around 23 miles per gallon), and we only have to fill up every 500 miles! (My car needs to be filled up around 320 miles).

We will be looking to sell the truck...know anyone looking for a truck? :) It's still under warranty!

We now have more than two vehicles per person (counting the 2 Thunderbirds we have 5!)...that is crazy! We will be very patriotic in our driveway with a white car, a blue truck, and a red Jeep! :)

Mission Trip to Nuevo Laredo




I never really got a chance to share about how the Lord spoke to me during the mission trip. It is hard to put into words what the Lord did in my life but I will share some of my experiences during the week.

John spoke at First Baptist Nuevo Laredo on Sunday morning. He talked about suffering. The Lord allows us to go through suffering so that he can prune us so that we can grow in our faith, the Lord can bless us, and we can help others come to Christ. Things that Satan means for bad are used by God for good. It was quite a moving message and many tears were shed in the sanctuary.

We went to one Vacation Bible School (VBS) in the morning and two different afternoon VBSs (we went to one of them twice and the other three times). We gave the kids snacks, made crafts, and did recreation (baseball with a wiffle ball, jump rope, tug-of-war, piggyback races, soccer, volleyball etc.). Ladies from the host church did the Bible lesson.

Despite the fact that the children had very few material belongings, they were so happy. Their faces would light up when they saw us coming. They were filled with joy. Little things made them happy. One of the little girls in the afternoon VBS was so excited because she got to take a couple Ziploc bags home to her mom after she finished the craft.

Seeing the beautiful faces of the kids and how excited they were to color on a sheet of paper or make a cross necklace was unlike anything I had ever seen before. There was such joy on their faces! They were genuinely grateful...grateful that they had the opportunity to make cross necklaces...grateful to eat goldfish...grateful to have piggback races...grateful that we came to see them...

It was heartbreaking watching the environment that the kids have to live in day to day. It is extremely hot with little shade, very few trees, hardly any grass, and glass and garbage cover the ground. The play area at our morning VBS was covered in mesquite trees with huge thorns. The afternoon VBS looked like a desert.

Most of the children were basically on their own and some young children were in charge of their younger siblings. A young girl was sleeping on a chair in the bed of a pickup while her mother held her baby sister on another chair. It is so different then children are treated in the US. We would go to jail for treating kids that way. In Mexico, it is normal.

While we were at the hotel, Brad and John noticed a man that was drunk and beginning to get violent. They saw him slam his hand into a car windshield. Some people attempted to get the man to stop but he chased them away. John noticed the man's little baby was walking around in the street so he picked him up and walked over to the man. He told the man that the Bible says not to get drunk. The man said, "Am I drunk?" and John said, "Are you?" and the man said, "Yeah, I'm drunk.". John talked to him and got him to calm down. The police came but the man had already calmed down by that time and they left after they realized everything was okay. Afterwards, John talked to the man's wife and she said, " I am Catholic and he is Baptist. Every time he gets out of hand, God sends a Baptist to get him back in line". God is so awesome (and He has a pretty good sense of humor).

Everywhere we turned, the Lord was working. He was working in the lives of the waitress at Pizza Hut, the man from the Auto Parts Store, the drunk man in the hotel parking lot, the lady Brad and John went to pray with, etc....

I have a hard time looking at the pictures without getting emotional. Saying goodbye to the kids was so hard. One little girl had tears running down her face and she would look away and wipe them away and then look back at us. It is easy to get attached to them. Seeing them all line up as we drove away...watching them wave goodbye...some of them were really sad to see us go...I know I was sad to leave them...

There is nothing like being used by the Lord. It is amazing. Be available!

He did things through us that we never could have done on our own. If you have never been on a mission trip before, I highly recommend that you go on one! You will not regret it!!!!!!

My 50th Post!

*50. Can you believe it? Me neither. I write a lot I suppose...that is what Brad always tells me but I believe it a bit more now. I haven't posted much lately so I thought I would check in on my lunch break today...

*Life is good, life is good. We have been working and trying to make the house liveable again. It got a little bit out of hand while we were out and about and away from home. Hopefully I can get all of our laundry done soon.

*Our room is such a disaster area...our bed frame broke so we have a headboard, footboard, and all of the storage containers that were stored under our bed, beside our bed. We can't even walk around on one side of the room. In a room that is kinda small to begin with, this is NO GOOD!! I'm trying to get Brad to learn how to weld so he can fix it. I miss the bed being way high up...now the bed is on the floor. I hurt my back folding laundry, lol!

*I am getting excited about showers and parties for the little Perez...the wedding is going to be here quick!

*I am trying out for the design team contest again...I am doing a page about Perez & Josh! Go vote for me after August 8th please! :)

*We start back to school on the 23rd (yuck!). We have to travel to school 5 stinkin' days a week instead of 2 or 3 (double yuck!). The gas to get there and back is going to be painful to the ole checkbook. Plus, on Friday we only have *1* class so we will be driving over an hour (round trip) for a 50 minute class! What kind of logical sense does that make?! None.

*I really love the Tide-To-Go-Pen. If you don't have one, get one!

*CBS starts back up really soon...I am going to be the Coordinator though I don't know my duties of how to do them yet! Hopefully Miss. Paula can explain it all to me next Saturday!!

*Someone really needs to be remind me to make cards for my Camp Crestview kids! I bought Bibles for two of them but I haven't made any of the cards yet! I have all of my pictures from camp printed that I am going to send them.

*I surely do miss the pina colada slushes that Brad and I got on the mission trip!! YUM!!!

*Brad is heading out for a little business trip tomorrow so I am heading to the Corn to see the parentals. I'm sure a lovely time will be had by all. :)

*I will try to post more tonight (but I can't promise!)...