Star light... star bright...

This evening, as I was putting up Christmas lights on the house (yes, I'm almost done) I looked to the Southwest and remembered an email I received earlier today from our science department.

As you can see in the picture I took to the right, Venus and Jupiter were very closely aligned with the moon this evening. It was a beautiful sight to see three of God's creations right there together. And later, I saw the two planets even closer to each other.

I have always enjoyed looking up at the sky at night, trying to count the stars, gazing at the moon trying to find its face, etc. I have also been known for using silly lines about the night sky, such as "Your dad must be rich because he bought two stars and gave them to you for your eyes" - or something just as cheesy.

All joking aside, stars are brilliant sources of light that stands out in the darkness. Their beauty is unsurpassed, and I guess I have always been struck by their majesty.

Here's to hoping the people I come in contact with see me as a star - not one with a big name or someone famous, but one who stands out in the darkness of the world and one who reflects the beauty and majesty of the God I serve.

Decking the Halls

As soon as we got home Friday night we began decorating our house for Christmas. Joey had gotten the decorations down from the attic before we left, so we got started as soon as we got home. Since we both had a Christmas tree before we got married, we have two trees. We decided to put one in the living room and one in the dining room in front of our big front window.

As we were decorating, our front door bell rang and my Mom and Dad were standing on the other side of the door. They had been in Abilene shopping and decided to come and spend the night with us. So, they watched us decorate and helped us out some. I jokingly said that they came to be our Christmas Tree Consultants. Mom also found the camera and decided to take pictures of us decorating. Joey had a basketball game in Austin on Saturday, so I enjoyed having Mom and Dad here for the day.

Here are a few pictures of the decorating and the finished trees!

The Living Room Tree

The Dining Room Tree

Turkey Day Fun!

We enjoyed a fun Thanksgiving Day with both of our families! We are thankful for the blessings of wonderful families and for the time we get to spend with them. Here are a few moments from the day!

Abbye helping to set the table!

It is time for the feast!

The women cleaning up from the feast. Our tradition is to sing Christmas carols while cleaning up the Thanksgiving dishes!

After lunch nap while the women clean the kitchen! They do say that it is hard to sleep with the caroling, but it doesn't seem to be bothering them!

Cousin Picture (those of us who were able to be there) - Brooke, Courtney, me, and Amy

Joey and I before leaving Gran's house to go to Granny's house in Abilene!

Congratulations Mom!

Today I had the honor of attending a reception for my mom. After 27 years of being at Snyder Junior High, 15 of those as principal, she is being promoted to Director of Human Resources for Snyder ISD. She has moved her way up the hall from the English classroom to counselor, to assistant principal to principal. She has always said the next place was out the front door, and after tomorrow she will go out the front doors to the administration building. Today she enjoyed a time of reminiscing and visiting with past and present administrators, faculty, staff and friends. There were many smiles and laughs and a few tears.

I was so glad to get to be there and share the day with her. I also enjoyed seeing faces that I have not seen in a while and meeting new people. As one person said, I have spent many hours being at school with mom. From my young childhood when I would play as she worked to being a junior high student to being able to help her type, organize, or decorate, I have also have many fond memories of Snyder Junior High.

I have known since a very early age that I wanted to be a teacher because of the role model of my mom. She has shown me how to love what you do and do what you love. I have watched her my whole life be a wonderful, dedicated teacher, counselor, or principal while at the same time being a wonderful, dedicated mother. I hope that as I continue through my career and my life that I can follow her example.

I know that she will carry the love of students and teaching with her as she begins her new job, and that she will be a wonderful, dedicated Director of Human Resources as she has in every other hat she has worn in Snyder ISD.

Congratulations and Good Luck Mom!!

The Saturday To Do List

This past weekend we enjoyed a weekend at home with not a lot to do except for my Saturday To Do list! Joey is such a great husband to help get the things on the to do list done even if he would rather be watching football! Most of the list was things to do outside. Even thought the weather was not cooperative, it was cool and windy, we carried on! We cleaned out and organized the garage, mowed the yard, and Joey even went up in the attic and put somethings from the garage up there and organized what was just quickly put up there when we moved in.

Here is a few pics of the garage work.

Joey going through boxes

Getting it all clean

Everything is now hanging in its place!

Now Playing

Now Playing... Christmas music! Joey is at a basketball game and I am home cooking for a potluck at church tomorrow, doing laundry, and cleaning house. I was looking on the music channels on Direct TV to entertain me during my cleaning and noticed that "Holly" the XM Christmas music channel is now playing!

I just had to take a break and share the news. I know some of you think it is crazy to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but I am going to break that rule for a little bit tonight. We are both so excited about our first Christmas in our new house! We have talked about getting decorations down before we leave for Thanksgiving and maybe even getting the tree up before we leave. Then when we get home we can decorate the tree and deck the rest of the house in Christmas!

On the road again...

After a weekend or two of staying at home, I can't remember the weekends all run together, we were on the road again to Lubbock! I always enjoy a trip to Lubbock to see family and friends, but every time we go I find myself wondering how Joey and I survived driving back and forth the year we dated. It is almost a 4 hour drive that can seem pretty long sometimes!

We left Stephenville Friday afternoon and drove straight to Lubbock for some yummy Chickfila with Charlie and Amy. Then after playing with Abbye for a little bit, Joey, Amy and I took advantage of Kohl's late night shopping and good deals.

Saturday morning Sara and Hudson Simpson came over to Amy and Charlie's for breakfast. Sara was one of the bridesmaids in our wedding and she also teaches at the same school as Amy. I have not seen Sara or Hudson since our wedding, so we had a great time visiting and watching Hudson and Abbye play.

Hudson smiling for the camera! Isn't he cute!

Hudson and Abbye looking out into the backyard at Sky (the dog) while we all enjoyed visiting at the table.

Saturday afternoon was full of shopping! Mom, Gran and Hollye all came to Lubbock. I even got some Christmas shopping done! While we were shopping, Joey was in Canyon watching the Texan football team end their season with a loss to West Texas A&M.

Abbye and I had a photo shoot together after church on Sunday.

One benefit of the long drive from Lubbock to Stephenville is that you can break up the trip in hour and a half segments if you stop in Snyder and Abilene. Today we stopped in Snyder for a visit with Mom and Dad and then we went a few blocks and visited with the West family. Then an hour and half later, we stopped in Abilene to meet Bill and Donna and Granny for supper.

It was a great trip to see friends and family!