Another new place...

a shot of the front of our townhouse

We have moved again! We are a little closer to school and enjoying a space that we enjoy! Feel free to email us if you would like our updated address:-)

I

Dallas in the back yard!

Care packages...

This week we have been encouraged by some wonderful packages! Our neighbors back in Washington sent us a package full of yummy snacks and food items...what a great gift!~
We also were outfitted for the semester with a bunch of books from Letha! Wow...that is a lot of reading (and two books are not shown here!)

Thank you for the encouragement of thinking of us and the excitement of finding a package at our door!

New year, new helicopter, new nose...

Happy 2012 everyone! To ring in the new year, Doug and I have been enjoying some relaxing days between work and fun. We have a few weeks left before school starts back again and we are loving the break!

This new year we both planned surprises for each other (this was not planned, we both just planned and happened to be at the same time).

Doug's surprise from me was a fun new helicopter to play with...and he has been having lots of fun flying it around the apartment...

Doug surprised me with a trip to get my nose pierced! This was a surprise because I had been wanting to get it done for a while now but didn't think he wanted me to do it.

Getting it pierced...

I made it!

And one last picture for those of you who want a better 'view' of the piercing.

Phew...so far this year has been eventful and fun! What new things have you done this year!??

Merry Christmas!

We had a fun Christmas eve yesterday, we went to walma.rt to walk around and watch the crazy frenzy of last minute shopping. We were going to go to the mall but didn't want to drive that far...so we went to the Olive Garden and enjoyed some good Christmas Eve food.

We are happy that we have some yummy leftovers so we are having Italian for Christmas today! YUM!

We opened our gifts to each other...

Doug got a gift certificate to go to the movies...:)
And he gave me boots!
Christmas boots...
Merry Christmas to everyone!

Gifts that last...

Lately I have been thinking about some fun gifts that family and friends have given us that we continue to enjoy. These are just a few that come to mind...(there are LOTS more that I could list)

*a gift card from Star.bucks, Letha gave me a bag of clothes last week and when I got home and sorted them out I found a card with a gift card to s.tarbucks...trying to stretch this baby out but have been loving some peppermint mocha 'on her'.

*a couch from strangers, someone called someone who called someone, who had our number...and we got a call asking if we wanted a couch...sure is nice having furniture!

*great big cloth (grocery) bags from India, Kara sent me a couple of these over the last few years and I love them. I use them for so many things and so far they have not started to rip or anything! Plus, they are pretty.

*our t.v., on one of our trips up to Vancouver, BC to visit Mom and Dad we headed home with a van completely full of stuff. One of the items Dad so craftfully packed into the van was his t.v. We still use it and are loving it still!

*my kitchen aid, some years back my parents gave me a kitchen aid mixer for Christmas...and oh how it has been loved! It still has it's place on my kitchen counter and I use it each time I bake.

*picture albums, Letha has bought us a few picture albums over the last few years, they are so fun to make and then look at once they are delivered. We keep them in our living room and enjoy showing new friends our pictures from the last few years.

*Coffee!, I have a little bit of Kenyan coffee left that Dad brought back from Kenya this year...man has it been a treat. I also have just a little bit of my Portuguese Espresso that Mom brought back...I am making that stuff last!

*Cranberry scented candle, Marlo gave it to me on our last visit and we keep it burning a few hours each day...we love it!

***A small framed crossword that my Mom gave me back when I was in high school. It says, "I have called you by name, you are mine!" Isaiah 43:1 I have always kept it in a place that I will see it often and somehow in all of our packing, I either left it behind in storage or have not found where I had packed it yet. Either way, I don't have it here and I have missed it.

This is one of those gifts that always reminded me of a greater gift, one that we all have access to yet some still refuse to accept. The gift of salvation is above all, the greatest gift I have ever been given and the small gifts that friends and family give always remind me in a tiny way of the sacrifice it took in order for me to be given the gift of salvation. Christmas is a time that everyone is giving gifts and getting gifts, I am especially grateful for the ultimate gift that the first Christmas brought us- Jesus!

Christmas town addition 2011...

On the way back from Virginia, we decided to take our time and stop at a couple of malls to walk around and look for our Christmas building for this year. (Go here to see our Christmas tradition) This year we were looking for a mechanic's shop since we have spent many days (and dollars) this past year on our vehicles! We were excited to find this lovely 'garage' and 'detail shop'. We thought it was neat that it is also a certified Craftsman tool dealer...we love craftsman tools in our house.

A nice addition to our village...
Another exciting thing is that when we got home, we had a package from Mom and Dad! Yeah for an early Christmas day package!

Here is Doug trying out the flying monkey sling shot...
Very entertaining!
There were lots of fun goodies in the box that we are enjoying...(although the candy is going fast!)
Oh, while we were shopping we also found this Charlie Brown Christmas tree that we had been looking for...
And, in our package was our 2011 ornament for our tree...

Going...

This week we enjoying getting to go on another trip to Virginia to see Letha before she left. We had a good time visiting her and seeing friends! We were so glad to be able to attend a service to celebrate with her the completion of a long process to get to where she is going! It was also a good remind for us because it gave us a renewed focus to continue and complete our schooling so that one day we might be going too!

Letha and I before the service:

Doug's photo-bomb!
And of course...pictures in front of 'the world'
After the service they had a big reception with tons of good food!
We enjoying eating and visiting...
Later that evening we got to see Letha's friends some more at a pizza party...

The end of a good day!