Lily Shakin' Her Groove Thang!

Lily Shakin' her Booty. My mom is also getting into it in the background!!! LOVE IT!!!!!!

Thanksgiving at the Lobb's

I was also able to spend Thanksgiving day with the Lobb's. It was a great time and so fun to hang out with them. Here are my two "sisters", Jenni and Amy
After dinner we went on a hike out at Lake McBride.
Here are two of the Lobb boys, Josh and Luke, going after a deer. Luke has his wooden sword with him just in case they get close enough.
Josh shows us the way...
Jenni and I had to take care of some "business" in these woods!

It was so good to spend time with these girls, they are beautiful and so lovely!
Sharon and Mark having a sweet moment with Maddi!
Jenni, Amy and I climbed through the wilderness and down to the lake. It was beautiful!
It was like a family picture, until I realized Zach had his pajama pants on!
It was beautiful in Iowa while I was there, in the 50's. I realized how much I had missed Iowa and the fall. The leaves changing and the leaves falling. The bare trees, the smell of fall.
The Mazuniks came over that evening, it was good to see them!
We of course had to do a cheezy picture!
Last Christmas Jenni and I got out the old Christmas piano books and worked up some duets. So we pulled them out again and had a great time! Lots of laughing!
Then Greg came in with the guitar...
Then Luke came in with the ukulele, and Zach grabbed the Little Tykes keyboard!
Mark grabbed the djembe and we had ourselves a band!
Jenni and I named ourselves "We're Gonna Rock Your Pants"
See next post for a video!!!

Christmas Fun @ Thanksgiving

The setting: Lobb House The band: "We're Gonna Rock Your Pants"

Baby Guillermo

I got to see Meghan and baby Guillo for a short visit at Kohl's! It was so good to see them! This was my first time seeing Guillermo. He is PRECIOUS! Meghan and I laughed so hard (imagine that) because Guillo and I had the same hair!! Isn't that awesome!!!
Meghan was taking lots of pictures to get the right angle to see the little swoop in front!
I like this picture because of his lips! He is so cute!
Meg, you have to try and get a picture of him with his hat on! I know he doesn't like it but maybe he will learn to love it!

Sewing Rocks!

Lately I have been really interested in learning how to make clothes. I am even thinking and praying about taking some fashion design classes. My mom wanted to take me to Barnes and Noble to show me some cool books that she found there. She looked so cute sitting on the stool looking so I thought I would take a picture!
We found some cool books and when we got back home she said that she couldn't wait until Christmas, now that I have my books to give me her Christmas present...
A Sewing Machine!!!! I LOVE it! It's just a mini/starter one and I LOVE it!! It weighs less than 5 lbs so I was able to fit it into my suitcase to bring back to Austin with me! I'll keep you updated with any clothing I make!

Flat Emily

I went and visited my old co-workers! It was so good to see them too! I miss them. Before I left they drew a life-size "Flat Emily"! It was hanging on the backside of the staff bathroom door! They have now moved buildings and share a bathroom with the patients so they figured the patients would get a little weirded out by that, so now it is on the Lounge door!

It's feeling Like Christmas.

So I'm in the process of putting together my "Thanksgiving Post". It's been a process and then Blogger was down for awhile last night. So it is coming. Be patient! It will be a good one!
Today it is FREEZING in TX. Those of you up north are probably laughing because I know it's colder there.
It's 37 degrees!!! That's COLD for TX! It feels like Iowa here and it's making me a little homesick. Even though I was just home and I'm coming back home in 23 days.
It now officially feels like Christmas season...although, no snow. Hopefully it will snow when I am home!!People around here are starting to put up lights, but it seems they don't get into it as much as my neighborhood in Coralville. Maybe it's still too early for them.

Jesus is Awive!!

Check this out... my precious nephew!!!

Here With Us

Tonight as I was pulling out my Christmas music I came across a CD with a song on it that I sang last Christmas at Parkview's Christmas Program. It's a song called "Here With Us" by Joy Williams. I quickly put it into my CD player and as soon as I started listening to it I started crying. I was overwhelmed with the memories of singing this song with the orchestra and choir. The memories of singing out Hallelujah and feeling the Spirit overtake me, making my legs weak. It was an amazing experience. I miss that feeling...of being on stage...worshiping Jesus...being overwhelmed by the Spirit...singing out. This is such an amazing song....check it out and listen to it completely and listen to the words and feel yourself be overwhelmed by the Spirit. (Click on the link and then on the right hand side you will see a list of a few songs and click "Here With Us") I sometimes wish that I could go back and do it again.
All of those feelings came back as I listened to this song...I miss singing so much. I'm praying that God will give me opportunities to sing here in Austin. I'm waiting...and praying that my eyes would see where He is leading.
Here are the lyrics to this song...be blessed.

"It's still a mystery to me
That the hands of God could be so small
How tiny fingers reaching in the night
Were the very hands that measured the sky

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Heaven's Love reaching down to save the world.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Son of God, Servant King
Here with us, You're here with us

Still a mystery to me
How His infant eyes had seen the dawn of time
How His ears had heard an angel symphony
But still Mary had to rock her Savior to sleep

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Heaven's Love reaching down to save the world.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Son of God, Servant King
Here with us, You're here with us

Jesus the Christ
Born in Bethlehem
A baby born to save,
to save the souls of man

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Heaven's Love reaching down to save the world.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Son of God, Servant King
Here with us, You're here with us

Goodbye Iowa :(

Well, My mom and Don just dropped me off at the airport and I'm headed back to Austin. I'm waiting for my plane and just thought I would do a quick post to say that my time in Iowa was GREAT! I loved every minute of it! I have taken 233 pictures!
I will post some soon, maybe not all of the...but a lot of them because they are so fun! I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving as well. It will soon be Christmas and I will be going through all of this again. I already can't wait until I get to come back to Iowa and I'm not even out of Iowa yet!
So...more to come on my Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow

I just got a voice mail from my mom and she was singing..."Tomorrow...tomorrow...I'll see you tomorrow...it's only a day away!"
I was crying I was laughing so hard...and I'm at work...great! It was AWESOME!
Can you tell that she is excited to see me!?!? I'm excited to see her too...and everyone else! I can't believe that it's tomorrow!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Waiting...

As you can tell with all of my posts today, work is extremely slow and it seems that the minutes are getting slower and slower as it gets closer and closer to the time I get to come back to Iowa.

I just started writing and this is what came out...

Sitting and wondering, is this it? Is this what You have for me? Could it be that I missed it somewhere? Can I miss it? Or am I in it?
Conforming to this, my mind has expanded, but not for You. Can't I just wear what I want and have pink hair? Be who I am, instead of who they want me to be? Professional.
There is something more in me, something that is wanting to scream, to yell, to dance, to shout. It's like a wave welling up but not yet crashing. Its mist is just a taste of what's to come. What is to come is something with force, something greater, something more powerful.
I wait.
I have been waiting.
I'm just still sitting, wating.
I have grown tired of sitting. Can I wait standing up? Can I wait walking a bit? How about running? Or maybe just exploring?
I wait for You to open my eyes, to open the doors, to realize and recognize the work that You have been doing all along.
I wonder what it will be, what it will look like, how I will be used...my dreams.
I wonder who he is, I wonder what he looks like, his character...my love.
I wonder who I will see there, I wonder how it will feel to breathe in perfect air, I wonder what I will do when I see You...my home.
I will continue to wait.

Chemo stinks, but there will be joy...someday

I shared these quotes with Melody yesterday to encourage her through her chemo. Thought they were fitting and was encouraged myself...hopefully they will encourage you too...

"Joy comes in the morning. Joanna discovered this in a miraculous way on Jesus' resurrection day. She went to his tomb expecting to minister to his dead body and to grieve. Instead, her sorrow turned to tremendous joy. Our joy may not come this morning or tomorrow morning or even the morning after that. We face too many hardships, too many difficult situations, too much sorrow here on earth to think joy will arrive with each morning. But it will come. God has promised: there will be a joyful morning for all who trust in him." --Jean Syswerda and Ann Spangler

"God loves us so lavishly and outlandishly that our blessings in life are too numerous to count--if we have eyes to see. But no human being, be she eight or eighty, has only good days. The good news is that the most incredible best that is yet to come is beyond even our incredible imagination!"--Marilyn Meberg

"For every single thing that has happened in our lives, we can learn to say with confidence, even with joy, 'Not my will, but yours be done.' This means saying yes to the happy and beautiful gifts, but also to the child you lost, the husband who never showed up, the breast cancer, the lost opportunities, the broken dreams, the endless list of human suffering. I do embrace the mystery that, in the darkest valleys the Light of the world is with us, and we will come to know him, to love and trust him, in ways we never have before."--Sheila Walsh

Spurgeon Devo

Here is a cool little devo from Spurgeon...good stuff...read it a couple of times.

"Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him."-John 12:2

"He is to be envied. It was well to be Martha and serve, but better to be Lazarus and commune. There are times for each purpose, and each is comely in its season, but none of the trees of the garden yield such clusters as the vine of fellowship. To sit with Jesus, to hear His words, to mark His acts, and receive His smiles, was such a favour as must have made Lazarus as happy as the angels. When it has been our happy lot to feast with our Beloved in His banqueting-hall, we would not have given half a sigh for all the kingdoms of the world, if so much breath could have bought them.
He is to be imitated. It would have been a strange thing if Lazarus had not been at the table where Jesus was, for he had been dead, and Jesus had raised him. For the risen one to be absent when the Lord who gave him life was at his house, would have been ungrateful indeed. We too were once dead, yea, and like Lazarus stinking in the grave of sin; Jesus raised us, and by His life we live-can we be content to live at a distance from Him? Do we omit to remember Him at His table, where He deigns to feast with His brethren? Oh, this is cruel! It behoves us to repent, and do as He has bidden us, for His least wish should be law to us. To have lived without constant intercourse with one of whom the Jews said, "Behold how He loved him," would have been disgraceful to Lazarus, is it excusable in us whom Jesus has loved with an everlasting love? To have been cold to Him who wept over his lifeless corpse, would have argued great brutishness in Lazarus. What does it argue in us over whom the Saviour has not only wept, but bled?
Come, brethren, who read this portion, let us return unto our heavenly Bridegroom, and ask for His Spirit that we may be on terms of closer intimacy with Him, and henceforth sit at the table with Him."---C.H. Spurgeon

"A Place in this World"--El Arroyo

My new favorite thing in Austin...
This morning I went to the downtown post office for work and my co-workers wanted me to stop by El Arroyo and get some breakfast tacos. This would be my second experience with breakfast tacos. The first was also at my work, someon brought in a huge box of them. TASTY!
Anyway, El Arroyo is this little shack that sells $1 breakfast tacos! They were amazing! I think it's my new favorite thing that I am going to try and not get addicted to. I think the best part was walking up to the "shack" and hearing Michael W. Smith's "A Place in this World" blasting through the speakers! It was AWESOME! Kinda weird.

Slim Jim Part 2

Sorry Gret, you knew this was coming!
So...my mom, my sisters and I usually get together with my aunt and my two cousins every year, usually more than that, for a girl weekend, otherwise known as our "Ya Ya Weekend".
This last October they all went to a Women of Faith conference. I wasn't able to go with them this year, which made me very sad, but like always they had a GREAT time! I was sent this picture of my cousin Gretchen, in support of my Slim Jim love. (See previous post and comments)
That is seriously the coolest thing I've ever seen! You Rock Sister!!!!

IKEA

I have let y'all down.
I have not yet been to IKEA. I hope to get there soon though!

I'm So Excited...and I just Can't Hide It!

5 days until I get to see my family and friends in Iowa! I can't wait. I get so excited!
Things that I am excited about:
-- Getting off the plane in Moline and walking out to see my mom and my two sisters! (I will cry!)
--The girly car ride home!
-- Staying at Laura and Joe's house in my old room.
-- Waking up Thursday morning and seeing Jack, Noah and LILY!! (I will cry!)
-- Seeing Will and Sam!! ( I will cry!)
-- Thanksgiving dinner with my family! Lots of food and craziness!
-- Buns and pickles
-- Spending some time at the Lobb's House!
-- Seeing baby Guillermo?!?!
-- Getting picked on by Damon and Joe.
-- Seeing Lily shake her booty to music.
-- Taking lots of pictures.
-- Lots of hugs and kisses from little people!
-- Going to Parkview Church
-- Visiting Peds Assoc. and seeing Em!
-- 30-40 degree weather...oh wait...no...not really excited about that!
-- Don's jokes and magic tricks...there better be some!
-- Snuggling with Mom.

Those are just a few things...

Quote

"If you are not feeling close to God, guess who moved?"

Sweet Sam

This morning my nephew Sam had surgery :(
He had to get tubes put in his ears, AND tonsils and adenoids out.
He was a trooper. This picture was taken before the surgery. How cute does this little man look in a hospital gown!!?! Seriously. I love his red socks. That's my favorite part!
You can read more about the day on my sister's blog.