Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas! Here's our Christmas card photo this year. Wish we could send them to all!

It was the first one we took, but don't you know I tried like 20 more only to be unsuccessful, ha! :)

Merry Christmas! He's Here!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! Hope your day is filled with blessings and great family time, as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus! I love Christmas music, but this song has been my favorite and has really spoken to my heart. I can't imagine Jesus' birth from Mary's perspective. Enjoy!

Hold on now, I gotta take a deep breath
I don’t know what to say when I look in your eyes
You made the world before I was born
Here I am holding You in my arms tonight

Noel, Noel
Jesus our Emmanuel

You’re here
I’m holding You so near
I’m staring into the face of my Savior
King and Creator
You could’ve left us on our own
But You’re here

Don’t know how long I’m gonna have You for
But I’ll be watching when You change the world
Look at Your hands, they’re still so small
Someday You’re gonna stretch them out and save us all

Noel, Noel, God with us Emmanuel

You’re here, I’m holding You so near oooh oh
I’m staring into the face of my Savior
King and Creator
You could’ve left us on our own
But you’re here, you’re here

Someday I’m gonna look back on this
The night that God became a baby boy
Someday You’re gonna go home again,
But You leave your spirit and flood the world with joy

You’ll be here, I’m holding You so near
I’m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator
You could’ve left me on my own, but you’re here… You’re here
Hallelujah, You’re here
Hallelujah, You’re here

Giving Thanks 2010

So, I suppose I should update with the Thanksgiving post before the next holiday comes! :) Well, to give me a little credit, it's actually a combined holiday each year, so not too late! I had to work on Thanksgiving day and the Friday after, as well as Colby had a short break from surgery rotation so Colby's fam all traveled to us for Thanksgiving, which was a sacrifice but at total blessing for us as we got to spend time with everyone and still enjoy the holiday. We had our "Christmas" with the family on Wednesday night, which was so much fun with sweet Callyn-even though she wasn't feeling great, she was such a cutie with the presents and helping out. I did some cooking that afternoon so it'd be ready for Thursday. After an exhausting day in the Bone Marrow unit, I came home to a wonderfully cooked meal and we had Thanksgiving dinner! My mother in law is awesome- let me just throw that out there! She did lots of cooking in my kitchen and I didn't have to worry about it a bit! Kirsten made some yummy mac & cheese and it was fun to have everyone together in our home, even though we were piled up on each other for the weekend! :)

Kaylan was my chopper-extraordinaire

 Oh the boys did a TON of this, sigh...oh playstation

 Got to get out the fancy- love it!

 Artistic photo by Paige

 Yes...the chocolate covered cherries- a Reo tradition

 Hmm... what's in here?

 Uncle Colby! What the heck do you have on your face?

 No really, is that attached?

 If I could just get my fingers on it and pull a little harder..haha, hilarious!

 Traditional Family photo- so blessed by all of you!

Grateful for Easter

I've finished with my classes for the semester-whoohoo! And Colby will take his Surgery shelf exam tomorrow morning and then we get a 2 week break together! I'm so proud of him for making it through this semester. He's had lots of long call nights and shifts, lots of studying, research in his "free time" and yet he doesn't complain and just goes with the flow with attendings, etc. Unlike me who can be pretty whiny at times with my schedule.  I know it is by the grace of our Lord and your prayers that we've been treading through this course, and I thank you for all of your support!  I'll still be working of course, and actually Colby will be going to Midland to work with an ophthalmologist for 3 days, but then it's Christmas with my family!  Got lots of catch up to do with the blog, but this is for me to remember, so thanks for your forgiveness for posting about Halloween in December-ha! Story of my life! :)

So scroll down for a few more posts!

But first, I suppose you're wondering why I've entitled my post Easter. Well, Colby was on call this past Saturday night and I worked and had a pretty long emotional day. Plug real quick for my patients and their families- it's been a rough month with losing kiddos, and dealing with cancer (especially during the holidays and being hospital bound) is just crummy and they really need prayers for strength and healing. Anyhow, I got home and on television was the Chronicles of Narnia. I loved reading these and the movies have been awesome, can't wait to see the new one! Well, I can't watch this movie without bawling, it's imagery is so amazing.

During the scene where Aslan was killed, I couldn't help but cry and rejoice for the amazing sacrifice that Christ gave for all of us and was overwhelmed with God's love and constant provision for me. As fast and furious as life is, I can't allow myself to be too busy to spend time in prayer and thanksgiving for the radical love of my Savior and the blessings that He greatly bestows upon me. It hit me pretty hard that I can't get caught up in the hustle and bustle. I love me some Christmas and love anticipating the joy that comes with Christ's birth. My nativity scene is my favorite decoration and Colby and I have been going through our Advent devotions and lighting our candles, yet there is so much more PAST Christ's birth. The virgin birth and story is a miracle and shows God's power, but if it stops there, it simply isn't enough to redeem us from the wages of sin that we all deserve. It's Easter that I long for and the sacrifice that God gave for me on the cross that overwhelms me. I'm not a mom yet, but there are so many of my patients and my niece Tatum that break my heart to have lost, and I can't imagine God turning over His Son as a sacrifice after having Him here on Earth for so many years and the difference that he made in so many people's lives. What an amazing gift that I am not worthy of receiving.
Just wanted to share what's been on my heart lately and I am so grateful for the miracle of Christ's birth and the grace and salvation that Easter brings us. Thank you Father for your love for us! Praying you all are having a wonderful holiday season and that you take some time to be thankful for this amazing gift!
Then, the angel of the Lord said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." Luke 2:10-11


"He is not here, be He is Risen!" Luke 24:6

Light the Night

Once again we went to the Light the Night walk that raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society- an amazing organization that does so much to help out my patients and families, and ultimately searching for a cure!!!

 Love my nursing friends!

 Work girls and spouses

 Red balloons are participants, white for survivors, and gold in memory

  Beautiful!

State Fair!

We popped over to Dallas one Sunday after church to go to the State Fair with my good friend Ashlee. We had some free tickets, so couldn't pass it up. It was a lot of fun especially because Colby had never been before. I went a long time ago when I was 10 or so, so it was a fun experience to go and see how big everything has gotten! The people watching....yes! And oh, the food- delish! Couldn't eat anything fried for awhile after it, but it was so funny to see all of the weird concoctions that people came up with! They do a contest every year- so it gets pretty extreme!

Mmm...sweet potatoe tornado with marshmellow creme, Colby's shrugging b/c I left him unsupervised and he ate almost all of it! Grr...

 A lot of our patient's hands were on this car- awesome for Hyundai to donate $!!

 No, we didn't have any...gross!

 Nothing says fair like dancers, ha!

 The line for a Fletcher's corndog, but so worth it!

 Yummy! Thanks Big Tex!

 Fried Alligator? Hmm..

 Delish!

 Ash and I with our token State Fair photo in front of Big Tex

 Colby and I with said token photo

 Go Bears!!! Well....

 Ferris Wheel- huge!!

 Mature....

 We went to the Birds of the World Show-fascinating!

 B-A-Y-L-O-R, Baylor Bears Fight! We've had a great season!!

 Farmer Tom carving pumpkins

 Yah...we rode that, after eating, not a good combo

 Ash with her funnel cake, that I ate half of, ha!

 Chocolate covered frozen banana...doesn't that face shout yummy?

 The animals are my favorite part of the fair!

 And the dog show...yah, not so much

 Hey hot stuff!

 Fried Butter, Fried PB&J, and Fried Cookie Dough- didn't try it!

Happy 60th!

Both my mom and my step-dad turned 60 this year, so we had a surprise party in October to celebrate! We had it at the Contemporary Arts Center which was a really neat place and the exhibit that was on display was actually by one of my mom friends that was invited to the party-and we had no idea beforehand.  It was lots of fun to spend time with my parents and they are so deserving of a fun celebration. Although my mother was VERY hard to surprise. She had no clue that we were even in town, but my aunt had to pull teeth to get her there. Thanks Re! You worked wonders! Thanks so much to you both for all that you do. Love you both so much!

 

 

We had signs blown up of their pictures from their 20's that everyone put up over their faces when they came in the door

 

 My little brothers- that aren't so little anymore, sigh....

 Obviously shocked!

 Love them!

 Who you calling old man?

 The Fam

 Us with my mamacita- my brother-in-law Joe put together a great slide show of old pictures that was really fun to watch

 Aunt Re and my mom

 My sister and me with Mom- love you!