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Thursday was quite a big day for us! I drove my wonderful Toyota for the last time.  I have been so blessed by that car, and certainly got my Dad's money's worth out of it! He bought it for me in February 2003, 9 years ago to the month. Between Tommy's automotive know-how and an overall excellent vehicle, the repairs and such have been minimal. We've probably spent as much on maintenance (oil changes, registration and inspection) as we ever did on anything else. 


It's been a little sad, missing it, but I am very happy with my 'new' car. However I thought I'd reminisce a bit.

I miss you old friend, hopefully you will bless your next owner as you did me!

-I had only driven a stick twice before driving off the lot!


-Shortly after getting my Corolla, my friend Stephanie had a little birthday bash and had a tub of butter left over which I didn't want to go to waste, so I brought home. Except I forgot to take it out of the trunk. By the time I found it, it had completely melted, and was soaked into the trunk. But it never seemed any worse for the wear.

Rockin' the tape adaptor

-My car was in two accidents, both happened while I was parked at the curb. Once at Maker Mama's house, and once at my not-yet inlaws.

-The rear driver's side hubcap fell off 6 1/2 years ago, shortly before we moved to Fort Worth, when I drove from my apartment to Thundercloud Subs, just a couple miles away. I never replaced it, but was often told, "I saw you driving, and knew it was you because of your missing hubcap."

I hit 100,000 miles in October of 2007. When we traded it in there was almost 165,000 miles on it!

-I put close to 130,000 miles on it, but the furthest I ever drove in it was to St. Louis, MO.

-I used to get 40mpg and could drive from my apartment in San Antonio to my parent's townhouse in Houston and back again on one tank of gas, 400 miles exactly.

Our 'new' car doesn't have tons of bells and whistles, but it is a great fit for our family. And besides, what's a car in light of eternity?

2004 Subaru Outback

Some fun things about our new car:

-heated cloth seats

-cruise control! Yay!

-paid for!

-all wheel drive

-roof rack

This is a cool car Mom!

Save the Date

So I don't actually have any sure dates yet, but two very important things will be happening within the next 8 months.














1. Daniel will turn one year on August 24.

2. This December, provided I pass all my classes, I will graduate from UTArlington. Seven and a half years after graduating high school and 12 semesters at a total of 4 different schools, and I will be done. After this current semester, I only need to take 12 hours in the fall. The UTA calendar says graduation is December 10-14th. I know that's a crazy time of year for most people, so don't feel you need to be here to congratulate me, gift cards and checks are welcome in your absence.

April For Real

No joke, here are some of our goals for the month of April.

School
Plan and register for the fall semester. I will be taking 12 hours (hopefully fully funded by the Maverick Promise). Tommy will most likely be taking 7 hours. And Daniel will be attending a Mother's Day Out or part-time pre-school while I'm in class.

Financial
We've heard about the envelope system for years, but never had the desire or will power to do it. We will be instituting envelopes of $200 for groceries, $80 for eating out and $10 each for drinks and snacks. We opted not to use one for gas, because as much as I like the idea of saying "My gas envelope is empty and so is the car, guess I can't go to school!" it's just not realistic.

Physical
We plan on running in the Seminary Stride 5K. I've never run a whole 5K before, and am looking forward to it. I am currently "training" for it and ran 2 1/4 miles last night!

Spiritual
I've been greatly enjoying Tommy's new ESV Study Bible lately. I think I use it more than he does! It has motivated me to read through some of the Old Testament that I find intimidating. (I find just about all of the OT intimidating). I'm thinking I'll start reading Ezra this month.

What are some of your goals for the month? How much do you spend on eating in a month? I'd love to know where we stand on this, I know we spend more in Fort Worth than we did in San Antonio where we had the luxury of generous family nearby. Are there parts of scripture that overwhelm or intimidate you? My previous method of dealing has been to just hold my breath and read it, or to stick to the NT.

Christmas Questions

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Feel free to join in if you need some blog inspiration! Thanks Tiffany!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I am a professional wrapper, thank you very much!

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial, they got me at pre-lit.

3. When do you put up the tree? Before Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? In the new year

5. Do you like eggnog? not so much

6. Favorite gift received as a child? good question

7. Hardest person to buy for? My father-in-law

8. Easiest person to buy for? myself... err, I mean Tommy

9. Do you have a nativity scene? we have several, but I only put one out this year, and I'm not sure it's even my favorite

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, I enjoy opening them

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? a re-gifted re-gift, with a card addressed to a person I'd never heard of from a person I'd never heard of enclosed

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Home Alone

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I never stop

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, but I try to avoid what happened in #11

16. Lights on the tree? White

17. Favorite Christmas song? Handel's Messiah

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Who?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Nothing at the moment, our last angel was retired, and I haven't found any good replacement

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? with my family on Christmas Eve and Tommy's family Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year. The Christmas Shoes Song

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I have no theme

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Tamales

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? My advisor to email me and say "We reviewed your transcript, and you have enough credits for graduation, please reply with your address so we can mail your diploma."

Productive

Today has been a highly productive day.

• 6 loads of laundry, washed, dried and put away
  
• made Daniel's 2 month check-up appointment
• made dentist appointments for me and Tommy
• did the dishes
• gave Daniel a bath
• paid bills
• balanced the checkbook
• sent a long over due thank you
• sent off for a rebate
• read Titus
• complained to Snapfish
• and I blogged!

I don't know what will be left for tomorrow!

Three Years

Today marks the three year anniversary of the day Tommy and I got married. Things have only gotten better since then. I thought I'd do a few sets of 3s in honor of today.

Three biggest changes
1. Adding to our family; while Daniel hasn't made his grand appearance, we're excited to meet him in a few weeks!
2. Living in Fort Worth; having only each other to depend on has brought us so much closer together.
3. Tommy has grown and changed so much. He has become much more gracious and humble and he loves me even more than I deserve.

Three favorite places we've been
1. Grand Canyon, Arizona
2. Chiang Mai, Thailand
3. Lincoln National Forrest, New Mexico

Three Wedding Photos





















































Three things we're looking forward to in the next three years
1. Growing our family
2. Seeing where God leads Tommy in ministry
3. Seeing more of God's glorious creation

Three people we couldn't have made it without
1. Joseph and Katie (tie for first)
3. our families

30 by 30

In honor of my 24th birthday, I thought I'd be ambitious and post 30 things I'd like to do, or places I'd like to go by my 30th birthday. Here goes:

1. Wherever K and J and Rx3 go, I want to visit them there
2. Visit the Grand Canyon, and if we drive, Window Rock as well
3. Big Bend, I love it there, and want to share it with Tommy
4. Oklahoma, it’s so close, there no sense in not going (I have been before, many years ago)
5. California, crossing my finger to help Katie and Joseph move out there, but if not, I hope we can visit them before they take off across the world
6. Creation Science Museum
7. Palo Duro Canyon
8. Santa Fe, and general region
9. Hospital, to have a baby!
10. FW Bureau of Printing and Engraving
11. A car show, never been, but sounds like it could be fun
12. Bass Hall, can I include with this buying a nice outfit so I look pretty when we go?
13. Opera, always wanted to go to one, preferably not an English one
14. Stage Play
15. Caedmon’s Call Concert, they’re all I listen to anyway, might as well go to a concert and complete the experience
16. in view of a call with my husband, I’m probably overly curious to see where and what God has in store
17. have thanksgiving dinner at my home
18. have a fruit and/or vegetable garden
19. finish my t-shirt quilt
20. run a 5 mile race
21. learn how to make bread, even if it means just getting a bread maker for Christmas sometime
22. make a wedding scrapbook
23. be a size 8 (or smaller), hopefully both before, and after number 9
24. graduate from UTA graduate, get it done with so I can move on to number 9
25. take a sewing class
26. catalog all my Christmas treasures so I know where they came from and the meaning behind them
27. read one book a year of Tommy’s choosing
28. develop a rich and intense prayer life
29. try one new recipe a month (that's 72!)
    
30. live in a home where I can paint the walls