I'll be seeing you in all the most familiar places....

Well, in this season of life, I have discovered that blogging is no longer a release or form of sharing; it is now a to-do in my day.  Realizing that I feel the need to blog because I feel guilty signals a change in habit.  I am officially taking a blog hiatus through May of 2011. This holiday season should be a time of rest, reflection and relationship -- not posts.  Next up is my spring semester of graduate school, including student teaching -- not an ideal time for posting either.
I promise to return with more Henson antics and stories once I have maneuvered through the spring season. Many pictures will be posted, and I will be ready to post once again. I love this blog, and I love you for reading it. See you in the late spring...in all the most familiar places.

Merry Christmas!

Finished (and in denial).

Yesterday morning I completed the last of my graduate work for the fall semester.  With no finals (thank you Lord), I merely have three more classes to attend at which point I will turn in a paper or project.  It was incredibly anti-climatic to finish the last paper yesterday. As my title denotes, I feel as if I am in denial --- there must be something I still need to do?  Three graduate classes while working conditions you to always have something to work on or do. Nope. nothing else.

Truthfully, the next five weeks will be a break, but also a mere shift from graduate work to PRAXIS II prep. I need to learn some calculus by January 15th!

Faster & faster..

Sorry for the lag in my blogging. 90 miles per hour would be a nice slow pace compared to what we've been doing these past few weeks. I'll be back soon, I promise!

In the meantime a few summarized highlights:

* Chris continues to study hard for his CPA exam before work each morning! First test date is next Sunday!

*Went and saw Life As We Know It --- loved the flick!

*Took my first Praxis II exam; crazy! One more in January!

*Approved for student teaching woo hoo!

*Grad classes are busy, but almost over. Two more of each class!

*Birthday yesterday was wonderful! Way to go 2-7!

*Christmas cards ordered: check!

*If I don't have your address; I need it.

*Christmas tunes have been playing now for two weeks. Amazing.

*I have killed 2 iPods playing the Christmas tunes... Not amazing.

Thank you Kraft Singles

Thank you Kraft Singles. Chris and I took our family photo this past weekend with the kids (dogs). It was nothing short of an experience. Hilarious does not begin to describe Hannah facing backwards, Tex running off or Jack sitting on his sister! In the end, with a camera remote and a brilliant husband, we got a great picture of all 6 of us. The secret: With all of us in position, Chris tossed Kraft cheese singles at the camera tripod and the dogs stared right at the camera.! Brilliant!

So, when you get our Christmas card this year, know that it was all due to the Kraft Singles.

T-minus 4 days until it begins...

November 1st is the day! The day that Christmas music begins its long run of musical bliss in my home! If I had it my way, I would play it year-round. You can't feel sad or stressed when the twinkles and melodies of Christmas music are playing.

For those of you who share my passion for the tunes of the season, you'll be thrilled to hear what I asked my husband to get me for my birthday (Nov 14). He is creating a Christmas nano iPod for me. Yes, hundreds of my favorites to play on shuffle! Yay!  Certainly a simple gift considering that we have the nano and Chris is a music master, but it's priceless to this girl. Once the iPod is complete, he is going to set up a cable to our surround sound system so I can play it throughout the house.  Does it get any better than this? I dare say not!

Merry Christmas everyone! It's October 28th and I am thinking about Jesus' birthday! How wonderful!

Back to the Grind

After a small hiatus, Chris is back in the office as an official tax accountant for Dixon-Hughes. It's a wonderful job that suits him so well. Just watching his first week in the office, I can tell that God is enabling good relationships and positive business opportunities for Christopher. Cheers Dixon-Hughes, welcome to our life!

Mr. & Mrs. Lopez

My sister got married this weekend in our hometown of Ithaca. It was exactly what she had dreamt of as a little girl! Here are a few pictures to share. I wasn't on my best camera duty because we were having so much fun!

 Christy being Latina at heart, wore a beautiful salsa dancing dress!

 Here we all are waiting for Christy to walk down the aisle. Bride and groom both cried! They exchanged vows in English and Spanish. Christopher played guitar while Lucas' sister Becca sang for communion and worship.

 The ceremony was lots of fun. Christy was completely in her element! Can you see me there over her shoulder -- proud sister!

 I was paired with one of Lucas' dear friends Mike.

 Mom and Dad did great!

 26 airports in 17 states kept them busy over the past two years!

 Ah yes, Mr. & Mrs. Henson

 (aka dancing pros!!!!)

It was truly a celebratory wedding! Their love of Hispanic culture and music was well represented. We danced, some sang, everyone participated in the traditional New Mexican wedding dance, and yes, they are now Mr. and Mrs. When they return from their honeymoon, they will pack up the truck and drive to New Mexico to begin life together!

Dixie Classic

This past weekend we headed to the Dixie Classic Fair. It comes to Winston every October and enriches our lives with livestock, rides, games and funnel cakes! This year we spent the day at the fair with our Lifegroup from church.  So much fun!

 Ethan, Caleb and Ben took airplane rides!

 Savannah was showing off the sheep!

Graelyn loved the sheep. Julie took the girls inside the gate.

Jessica, Graelyn and Livy on the train!

The boys loved the funnel cake!

 

 We went to the derby car races. Hilarious!

According to Kim, these guys make the best funnel cake around!

Chris cleaned house! Way to go!

The Raiders - U11

No, not the football team.

Christopher is coaching for Twin City rec league this season. He is Coach Chris to the U-11 Raiders. He coached his first game on Saturday, and Tex and I went to check it out. Beautiful day and lots of little soccer squirts everywhere. Next time I'll bring our Nikon, but here's a preview via the iPhone. Soccer at age eleven is still a relative concept, but they played their best!

Tex is a commited fan. He could hear Chris' voice from across the field.

 Hard to see, but Chris is behind our goalie in the red shirt. You can't see it, but I attempted to circle him in the picture, but there's only so much you can do with a phone camera.

Post-game huddle. Next game, Saturday at 10a.m. Field 9b.

Round 2: lots of tupperware

Well, here we are in the midst of week numero six of school. If you scroll down you'll notice a previous post which explained my attempt to "cook" for us when I couldn't. AKA - frozen meals.  It actually worked really well. It got us five weeks into the semester. When I got home from class at 9:00 at night and wanted a meal, there it was homemade mac 'n cheese. When Chris was on his own for food, he had his choice of tupperware containers.

So, this past weekend, I went for round two with greater wisdom than the virginal cookoff. Many thanks to friends who provided new recipes for us. Variety is key! In four hours, I made five different meals. Chris went and got me more tupperware, and basically, I am putting Stouffers out of business by making my own frozen dinners. I was exhausted at the end, but now I don't have to really cook for at least five weeks if not more!

Hannah Girl: Much better

Miss Hannah Girl is doing much better. Blood work came back on Friday with great results. The vet was ecstatic!  Everyone's prayer completely impacted Hannah's recovery.  Now, we're home for good with special food for the next week or so, and yes, a stylish cone.  Hannah loves trying to pull her staples out! Ouch!

Thank you everyone for helping us walk through two weeks of intense circumstances with one of our babies. We are so glad that she is going to be with us a while longer!

Fighting Nana

Our sweet Hannah continues to fight through great illness.  We thought that pancreatitis was the final diagnosis, but we were quite wrong.  After taking a turn for the worst on Thursday night, I readmitted her to the vet for help.  Concerned as well, our amazing vet decided to do exploratory surgery on Hannah's stomach to see what was causing all of the problems. 

Surgery seemed drastic and scary, but we had no choice.  The vet was right and saved Hannah's life by operating.  She found multiple pieces of a tennis ball stuck in Hannah's intestines.  Parts of the organ were dead and very sick.  Thus, post-surgery we returned to the E-vet for overnight treatment not knowing if Hannah would pull through the experience or not.

Our vet told us that such an evasive surgery is sometimes too much for the patient.  She shared that the next 7 days would be critical.  Let the prayer.... continue! Our friends and families have rallied around us so beautifully throughout this ordeal.  I know that Hannah's little body is constantly being touched with prayer.

Well, day 1 and day 2 went well. So well, that we got to bring her home last night. She was SOOOOO happy to not have an IV in her arm!  Kisses, kisses, kisses she gave us.  Now the fun begins --- can Hannah recover at home the way she was able to at the hospital?  Chris is the best daddy-nurse in the world for this!  We will continue to pray and take this process one step, one day at a time.

Three days down, four to go.  If we make it successfully through 7 days, the vets are very optimistic!

Hannah Girl: Emergency Vet

This is more of a report than a post. Sweet Hannah began vomiting and experiencing diarrhea on Friday. Hoping it was a 48-hour virus we pushed through Saturday (with lots of vomiting and diarrhea), but Sunday I was concerned that she was dehydrated.  Her symptoms weren't going away and basically, Mommy got worried about what may be going on in little Hannah's body. Thus my frist trip to the Emergency Vet Clinic.

I had heard awful stories, but we had no choice, so Hannah and I made the trek across town. She was in bad shape. They took very good care of us. I'm guessing the negative feedback from folks is derived from the exorbitant amount of money you pay when utilizing the pet ER. This is true.

They diagnosed her with possible pancreatitis. This was a jaw-dropping announcement to me, fragile dog-mom in a state of exhaustion.  Chris went through pancreatitis while we were engaged. We all know that story well. Anyway, I left my sweet Hannah over night at the clinic for fluids and medications. I hated it. The plus side was great though: she got treatment and I was able to sleep for the first time in three nights!

This morning I picked her up to transport her to our regular vet for further help. She was so out of it, it broke my heart. Throughout the day I have received calls from our vet (who we love) regarding more tests, etc etc... Apparently we have two problems: pancreatitis and some strange mystery object in her stomach. I am praying that we can avoid surgery.

More update to come, but goodness these moments are defying as a dog-mommy.

I love my husband.

When I arrived home from my 3-hour grad class last night, these were waiting for me with a sweet note of encouragement! I am spoiled!

Home Sweet Home

I've been meaning to put a picture of our house up here for a few weeks. We are loving the new rental property. The neighbors are so sweet and the house is truly an upgrade for us.  We love having a garage! The dishwasher may top the list for me this go around.  One thing that made a huge difference for us was paint. Christopher spoiled me and decided that we should paint everything inside.  It feels fresh and new!  Not to mention I love the colors we chose.

Anyway, this house is completely a product of God's faithfulness. We prayed. We waited, and the Lord once again took care of us beyond our expectation.  Now we haven't received the first round of utility bills, but we're hoping that they coincide with our budget and what's reasonable for a little old Ardmore house.  Regardless, it's such a blessing!  Visitors welcome!

Let the games begin!

Tonight is my first graduate class of the fall semester. I have three evening classes this term --- Monday, Wendesday and Thursday evenings until 8:30.  Thus, if I do not answer my phone or call you back in my normal speedy timing, it's because of grad school. I'm excited to keep pushing closer and closer to my master's degree and this semester will help immensely.

Funny thing, my wife-response to classes beginning involved meal planning. I'm trying to prep-ahead for Christopher's meals, not to mention my own which I have a lot less cooking time for currently. The picture says it all. Since then I have also added homemade macaroni and cheese, yummy! If you have a good freezer-friendly recipe, send it my way! We need variety!

The education department is inside here. Our campus is beautiful!

This may be one of the best ideas I've ever had -- precooked meals!

Cheers! Here I come fall semester. Please be kind!

Ashlee's Baby Shower

I had the pleasure of co-hosting a dear friend's baby shower this past weekend. For Ashlee and baby Ethan we decided to make a blessings quilt.  Yes, I took on making a quilt for this one... I actually loved making it. All the guests signed the back with blessings and messages of encouragement for Ethan. It was quite special. The diaper cake was a Kate and sister Christy creation that turned out great! It was a wonderful party and we can't wait to meet baby Ethan!

Ashlee's baby dress from when she was an infant.

This is the back where everyone signed.

Christy got to be a helpful hostess too since she was in town!