Global warming...right

In case you're not on Facebook, it snowed in Houston today, December 4, 2009. I'm not talking a few flurries here and there - we had enough to build snowmen.

Snowmen.

I mean, it snows every so often (when I was in sixth grade - 1993, Xmas Eve - 2005, and last December to be exact), but never enough to make actual snowmen, and boy were Houstonians up to the task.

Here are some we snapped as we drove around our parents' neighborhood. Vote for your favorite by clicking on the comments at the bottom of the post!

Snowman #1 "Reese's Pieces"

Snowman #2 "Parson Brown"

Snowman #3 "Sammy"

Snowman #4 "Aggie Yell Leader"

Snowman # 5 "Tiny Tim"

Snowman #6 "The Snow Queen"

Snowman #7 "MacFrosty"

Snowman #8 Frosty

Again, Blogger has taken over my computer and changed the font on me without my permission. Taylor has already told me to stop working on this because I keep yelling at the computer, and they want me to pay attention to The Godfather 2 which is on in the background and kind of clashing with the Christmas spirit of this post.

I just have to say, I love how most of these snowmen don't have hats and scarves on probably because they're gearing up for the high 50s coming promptly tomorrow. Typical Texas.

Don't forget to vote! (This is really just for me to see if y'all have given up on reading my blog since I haven't been on since July - O Come All Ye Faithful!)

Love,

robs

Treasure and It's Final Resting Place

Here are some more of the priceless treasures we uncovered as we sifted thru la casa de DK and LK:

Yes, unfortunately I regularly donned this ski hat on the slopes in the 90s (does that make it excusable? at least understandable...right?).  Mom is wearing Mark's hat though he would switch between this stegosaurus style and an extremely long stocking cap with a fuzzy ball on the end of it - think "A Christmas Story".

  It's like only wearing a cowboy hat when you're not in Texas because the only time you can get away with it is when you're around total strangers three states away. Needless to say, frigid temperatures melt away my vanity pretty quickly! 

My dad was having a hard time parting with these jackets he and my mom bought in New Zealand circa 1978. Ultimately we were not convinced to help keep these in the family much to DK's chagrin.

Our treasure's final resting place (at least at my parent's house): the driveway!

I think I've mentioned before that I extremely dislike garage sales.  I feel so taken advantage of watching people rifle through my stuff only to offer a quarter for it.  Though somethings are probably worth less.  

Observe Exhibit A:

This little number, jumper if you will, was one of my competitive cheerleading squad's mandatory practice uniforms. 

You know you've gone low when you find yourself defending this outfit in your head because two ladies just paused when they came across it and then proceed to speak Spanish fast enough to rival that old Micromachine commerical spokesman.  A vague image of Elaine in a nail salon comes to mind, and I immediately send Taylor telepathic messages to stop studying and get over here quickly, so he can fill me in on their ridicule.  

It really wasn't that bad on...

I think I inherited my love for garage sales from my dad.

Penned and Packed for Posterity

Now that Taylor and I are home for the summer, my parents are taking advantage of the fact that I can finally sort through my haphazardly packed boxes, of well, let's just call it "crap" for lack of a more appropriate word. My brother, Mark, can attest to this as he has helped me move every time I've ever moved (except this last leg from Charlotte to Houston). And for the record Mark, I don't begrudge you this one second. I know I owe you more than I could ever repay. Because...

I am horrible at packing.

Especially before I got married and had nice things that I didn't want to find broken when the moving truck delivered us to our newest destination. You see in college, my idea of packing was to secure Mark's help in moving my stuff, throw whatever would fit into any shopping bags I had lying around, leave the rest piled in the living room, and then go out of town before Mark came to load and unload. Needless to say, he has wanted to kill me on numerous occasions. I think this may be part of the reason he moved to Hawaii.

Sorry Mom.

Back to my parent's house... As they culled through cabinets, closets, and the attic, they kept stumbling upon bags and boxes of random stuff of mine that contained items like: a scratched beyond belief Justin Barnard CD (good thing I hung onto that these 6 years), one out of the nine cheerleading uniforms I have saved over the years (no telling where the other eight are), stacks of VHS of movies like "Austin Powers" and "Empire Records", and used kid sized t-shirts I bought for 25 cents a piece at Good Will in College Station. What treasures!

With the likelihood of moving to Scotland in mind, I have been sobered by all of the treasure crap I have collected over the years. However, among the scratched CDs and obsolete videos, I came across an envelope overflowing with random pictures from my childhood and school years and of course, had to stop and look through all of them. You can't throw away professional pictures taken by Olan Mills of you and your brother aged 2 1/2 and 4 months can you? And what do I do with all of the wallet sized senior pictures of my friends that were so eagerly traded after we penned heartfelt personalized notes on the back (ie - "Stay Sweet! I am like going to miss you so much next year. Have a gr8 summer! LYLAS, Your BFF Jill*")? Do you just throw those away?

So what did I do with all of that stuff? Well it's probably not hard to believe that Justin Barnard ended up in the trash, the cheer uniform set aside to eventually be repacked with the others, the VHS sold to the highest bidder in a garage sale, and the t-shirts restored to their rightful place at Good Will. But the pictures got put back in the envelope, packed, neatly this time, in a new box until I come across it in the future in which I am certain I will again be compelled to stop whatever I am doing, sit down, and leaf through them again.

Who knows, maybe some day one of my ancestors will hang that Olan Mills picture on their wall among their other ancestors like the trend seems to be these days. And without this blog maybe all they would know is that long ago she was a teacher and he a boat captain. The moving wars, cliff diving, Heavenly snowboarding, John Grisham trading, Jack Johnson listening, stir fried beef eating, Mexico mission tripping, Ghost playing, Destin vacationing long forgotten.

I am OK with this because someone very wise often reminds me that only two things in life will truly last: God's Word and people. So I don't need to horde my Christian CDs and t-shirts for posterity. The photos however, I'll keep - maybe one of my schoolmates will become president someday. What?! It happened to my mom! We keep trying to talk her into selling her yearbook with Obama's senior picture in it on eBay.

Don't I look innocent? The truth of 2 year old me is reflected in Mark's eyes.

*Disclaimer: This is not my actual high school friend Jill's note on her picture. It's an allusion to what TV commercial...anyone? Bueller?

Photo Shoot!

Again, never a dull moment at Sus and Jas' house.  We were eating take out from El Rey (so good by the way; try their Summer Special), and I noticed Lizzie had disappeared from the kitchen.  I figured she was headed for her favorite place, the stairs, so I discreetly tailed her. She was making a beeline towards her target, so I followed her, and Lillian followed me.

We ended up in Lizzie's room in which she discovered that fans are obviously hilarious and provide endless hours of entertainment.  Who needs Baby Einstein?  

Not Lizzie!

How cute is this?

(I have no idea why this is blue...my computer has a mind of it's own!)

Lils and Thrills loved it too. With a nick name like that, how could she not?!

 

(And we're inexplicably back to normal font again.)

This girl can strike a pose.  

I think this is a tribute to John Travolta. I can hear it now, "those suhummer, niiiiihhhhhiiiiiiiiights."

Lizzie, did my Danny Zuko impression scare you?

The serious pose.

This one is my fav!

Lils, wind blown is a good look for you!

Ahhh! Blue then back.  This computer is starting to scare me!

Thank you Vornado.

A Bunny named Maxi

Oh, the joys of living with Susannah and Jason. Here is just a little slice of life at their house.

"A Bunny named Maxi"

Once upon a time, there was a baby named Lizzie.  Her sister, Lils, thought Lizzie's life would be enhanced greatly if she were a bunny instead of a baby sister (maybe her motives were less pure, but we'll leave the inner workings of the 3 year old psyche for a another story).

With her new bunny ears, we felt it appropriate to name her Maxi. 

Maxi loved playing with Lils. Who wouldn't love having a big sister who could change babies into bunnies? Maxi felt so proud to have such a creative big sister.

Maxi was very content on staying a bunny as it gave her the ability to do beyond what a 1 year old human could do.

She was now proficient at playing the piano.

And she could read.

But still, her very favorite thing was to be held by Mommy.

She was a happy little bunny, but soon wished to become a little girl again.  She looked and looked for her sister to change her back, but Lils was nowhere to be found.  

However, she had the good fortune of crossing paths with a hobbit named Taylorina who also had the gift of changing bunnies back into little girls.

With a magic kiss, Taylorina caused her bunny ears to disappear right off her head, and instantly she was Baby Lizzie once more.

She was very thankful for that cute little hobbit.

And she went off on her merry way.

The End

Bringing you up to speed

We're loving being back in Houston especially seeing that big Texas sky, living with Susannah, Jason and the girls, sharing meals with our families, seeing old friends, and eating Tex-Mex (this list is not in any sort of order because if it was,  you know Tex-Mex would be first)!

Before we got here and since we got here a lot as happened: I had surgery, Taylor graduated from seminary, I had surgery (yes, again!), I missed the last week of school to go to Houston to see more doctors, Taylor and Matt went on a 50 mile bike ride in the mountains, Taylor visited Shelley and Ben in Lexington, Taylor preached in South Carolina, we moved to Houston, the girls had a joint birthday party, Taylor preached in Houston, we landscaped, we found a possible flat, and we met with a possible future employer for while we're in Scotland - whew!

This is why I have been neglecting the blog.  

As far as my health is concerned, most of you probably already know the details, but if not, I'll spare you.  Bottom line is things are looking back to normal, but I will have an X-Ray in July to make sure, so please pray that it will show that I have healed properly and can put this all behind me.  Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for me! Other prayer requests: we would love you to pray for Taylor's job in Houston, Taylor's Hebrew translation, our visa applications - we can't do this until Taylor finishes this Hebrew translation, and this possible job opportunity in Scotland (will give more details later).

Here are some photos of what we've been up to:

Lizzie (aka Gooster) at her 1st birthday party

Mia and Gooster

Shelley, Ben, Evan, and Taylor in Lexington

Matt and Taylor after the ride

Jason, Susannah, Nathanael, me, Taylor, Mia, and Pops at graduation  

Yes, I regret wearing those shoes!

Taylor, Dr. Kelly, and Matt

We made it - Praise the Lord!

"With a garden there is hope."

Wow, I haven't been able to blog in a really long time because we have been in the process of moving. I have that selective memory thing going that deleted any remembrance of how painful and involved moving is so that I would actually go through with it again.  Otherwise, we would have set up shop in Charlotte...for life. 

It has taken a ridiculous amount of time and energy, but we see the light at the end of the tunnel; however, that light is shining on the city of Edinburgh which means more moving. Ahhhhh! At least our flat will be the size of a shoe box and won't require us to bring anything, but clothes and books. And maybe Merriweather.  

She hasn't taken to moving very well, so I may just leave her here.  We have a love/hate relationship and right now I am not so fond of her.  I'll spare you the nasty details, but it has to do with needing to administer Pepcid AC on a regular basis. Can we say high maintenance? Actually, my saint of a mother-in-law is taking care of her for me, so I guess I can't complain too much.

For Fathers' Day/Mothers' Day, Taylor and I helped my fam landscape their yard.  My dad is chomping at the bit to see the pictures, so I don't have time to think through a clever blog post. I had this grand plan of writing a tribute to each of the fathers in my life (Taylor, Dad, Pops, Grandpa Bob, Papa, and Paw Paw), but that is a lot of dads, and our family is ready to kill us if we don't get our stuff out of their usable living spaces, so I mustn't tarry. These photos and captions are to explain what we did to the yard for my dad, so don't expect anything riveting unless gardening is your thing.

We finished the stone walkway and planted Mexican Heather on either side of the tree. It's hard to see because of the lighting.  Taylor says it will grow up to about 18 inches.  This was Mom and Kaitlyn's favorite plant.
In the main beds, we planted vincas, and on the far right are the agapanthus which will get bigger and bloom though I know not when. We lined the back of the monkey  grass with stones which will help some with drainage and should take the brunt of the rain from the roofline. The edge of the roofline falls right over the monkey grass, so the flowers should be safe.
In this planter, Kaitlyn planted a foxtail fern, vincas, and some potato ivy which will get huge and spill over the sides.
It's hard to see in this photo, but there are foxtail ferns in the two planters by the benches as well as the inside of both of the front beds.

Hope you like it Dad!  We missed seeing you on Fathers' Day. Love you!