Bones got a new playmate

A couple months back, my Sister and Brother-in-law, along with my VERY cute little nephew came to have lunch with me. The girs were in school. They drove all the way up here to eat lunch at Poppy's with me. It was wonderful and soooo much fun! We met at my house to drive over to Poppy's together. Hayden loves all things furry, so he had a great time. Sorry the lighting wasn't so great. (P.S. The meowing in the beginning of the first video is coming from Hayden, not Bones.)

Cesar to the rescue...we hope...

The title is referring to Cesar Millan...the dog whisperer. Our canines are out of control! We are recarpeting the bedrooms at the first of the year, so we have decided that the dog's have to live outside permanently. This is going to be a feat. We have one with anxiety and aggression problems and one with territorial problems. One seems to be well adjusted, if not a little depressed having to live with the aforementioned two. David and I agree we are 100% to blame for their behavior problems, so we are taking action. I purchased Cesar's book and we will give it our best! Bryant is getting the nip it surgery the first week of 2010, so hopefully that will help. Our plan is to attempt the construction of dog houses this weekend. Wish us luck! We are going to have such good doggies in the end....we hope....please pray! I'll leave you with a few photos of our babies...Wasn't Holly such a cute puppy!?!?

This is the reason we don't have many pictures of Buddy...they all turn out like this. :)

Holly and Bryant
He loved taking this picture...Ha Ha!

Bryant reminds me of snoopy in this one.

Buddy captured on his way to come sniff the camera and give Mommy kisses.

Holly relaxing on the patio.

Bryant's curious face.

Gracie with her usual "You stupid dogs" look on her face. She's not a big fan of the big furry creatures she has to live with.

Bones...

...is actually in a good mood. Bones had the inevitable visit to the vet where HE became an IT. Poor baby, but it had to be done. It was pretty funny when I handed him to the vet assistant yesterday morning he was purring. I told her he didn't know what was coming. He was still a little disoriented when we got him home, but otherwise in a perfectly good mood. I don't know what will actually phase him. He takes showers, eats dog food, plays with dogs (one of whom is scared of him), drinks water from the Christmas tree stand, and is perfectly happy after THAT surgery?!?! Crazy cat!
I finally pulled all the data from my phone onto my flashdrive, and I found this random video. This is some bagpipers playing at a UA Football game. My Mom and Grandparents will definitely get a kick out of this. Sorry the sound quality is not so great. Can't expect too much from a cell phone.

I will eventually get the data off my camera, then we will be in business!

Christmas is almost here...

I can't believe Christmas is next week. Christmas seems to come and go faster every year. What am I talking about...the year in general seems to come and go faster every year. I guess everyone was telling me the truth when I was younger....enjoy your youth....time flies when you get old.
We went to get our Christmas tree this weekend. We got a heck of a deal....$5! We picked out the perfect tree and I loved it. It was perfectly symmetrical. There were no bare spots in the middle. It was a beautiful deep green. We got it up the register and the trunk was cracked. We got a $45 tree for a steal. I don't care, I love it!
As I thought about the Christmas tree, I couldn't help but notice the symbolism. Everything may be beautiful and perfectly balanced looking on the outside, but what does the inside look like? Nothing is ever perfect, we are are all broken in some way. We all have faults. We are worthless, except for the love of our Father! We are valuable in His eyes! We are valuable enough that He sent His only Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. That is the real reason for this Season. In the hustle and bustle of the holiday, I am so thankful for a reminder of this.

Fearless

"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." -- unknown

I was reading something yesterday about God "showing himself". This person made the comment that "God is not hidden. He is ignorable". I have to say, I completely agree with this statement. He doesn't force Himself on us. He earnestly desires a relationship with us, but He steps back and lets us make that choice. He wants us to WANT to spend our time with Him. I find it funny how He strategically places Himself for us to see His work in our lives though. He doesn't stop spending time on us just because we stop spending time on Him. A devotion here, a bible study there, a comment from a friend, an email that touches my heart.
I was in a bible study yesterday at lunch and the speaker said, "Satan knows he can't have your soul, but he tries as hard as he can to make you miserable or to use you to make someone else miserable." He tries to steal our joy. My Mom has said that for as long as I can remember, but this morning as I read the quote above, something registered. I realized that Satan uses fear to steal my joy. He uses a fear of failure. For years I have avoided doing a lot of things because I feared I wouldn't be successful at them. I can't know the outcome if I don't try. I have to decide to try...to overcome my fear, and in doing so, kick Satan in the face and make it real clear that he has no place here. My devotion this morning had a link to Lysa Terkeurst blog. She just did a spot on 700 Club and she told a story about brownies (Oh, how I would love one, but unfortunately, they didn't make it to the diet list) and life's little mess ups. One comment she made resounded loud and strong. We are not defined by life's little mess ups. The mess ups don't define our role in life. We are defined by our Saviour. We are children of the Most High God. How special we are to Him! He has something special planned for each of us. How can we find that something if we are afraid to try? I have been challenging myself to step out of the mold and find what I truly enjoy...what is important to me...who I am inside...who I'm meant to be. It is quite a journey and with God's grace and mercy, I'm making big steps forward and only little steps back.

SEC...BOUND!

Ok...so maybe David and I aren't SEC (California) bound, but our team is! Roll Tide!

I meant to update this weekend, but alas, I had too much to do. It's the story of my life. We did fit in a little fun though. Saturday, we woke up and headed out to a family friend's property to try to "Griswold it". At least that's what we called it all weekend. Our goal was to find a Christmas tree and cut it down. We didn't, but we had lots of fun driving around and looking at all the Christmas trees that were beautiful, but on someone else's property. Maybe next year.

We gunned it home so that we wouldn't miss kickoff for the SEC Championship game. We swung by Shelton for David to make some wings and fries and some other goodies for he and his brothers to munch on during the game. I am happy to report...I did not cave. I had a scrumptious (insert sarcasm) veggie burger for lunch. No greasy wings and fries passed these lips. :)

Sunday, David and I cleaned the house! I know it seems silly to put an exclamation point at the end of that sentence, but the house needed it so bad. We still have a long way to go, but we put a serious dent in the mess. We finished off the day with Family Dinner at Mary's house for Chuck's birthday.

Long time coming...

So I haven't actually forgotten about my blog, I've just had a lot going on. I am planning to update this weekend. :)