2013 In Review

This year was beautiful.  Restoration.  Healing.  Fun.  Growing closer to God.  Wallowing in creation time and again. Just wonderful, lovely, super fun chaos.

The girls came to visit Auntie Laura and Uncle Isaac over Spring Break.  The Houston Lifestock Show and Rodeo was a huge hit!

Isaac rode in his first MS 150 from Houston to Austin and did fantastic!

 My students raised over $13,000 for a clean water well for a community in Nepal.

 We soaked up as much of London as is possible in a 10 hour lay over on our way to Zambia.

We fell more deeply in love with our God and each other as we spent 3 weeks helping families stay together, shared ideas with teachers, and loved on friends in Zambia.  We also just were lazy in God's amazing creation in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia for a few days.  Um, yeah.  There are no words for all He's made.  It's just too much!

In August, the girls came back for another visit:

Isaac traded in his 20 year old car for a new-to-us car:

In September, Dad turned 65:

We went to an Aggie game:

 We celebrated with Living Water:

And we hosted a baby shower for these dear friends:

In November, the dynamic duo of K & L reunited for life!

And we made it to Arizona to visit with ACE about our work in Zambia with a side trip to the Grand Canyon.

Thank You, Lord, for revealing Yourself in amazing ways this year.  You've refined us and brought us to Your throne so often!

Happy Birthday, Nanny!

The beauty in blue turns 75 today.  My Nanny is an exquisite example of grace, godly wisdom, and living life fully.  I'm blessed to have her influence in my life daily.  She supports my hair-brained ideas, prays over them relentlessly so I don't screw up too much, and loves me endlessly.  We're celebrating her this entire week, and we're so excited to be able to do so.  Love you bunches!

I'm Alive!

Y'all, this has been the craziest month!  I've hardly given you anything to read at all!  I ended up with a double infection at the beginning of the month that landed me in the ER for an afternoon.  I hadn't had to take sick days from work in FIVE years!  For the love.  As I battled to get healthy from the couch, I still had more concerts than I can count to prepare for at church.  Life just flew by between school and getting those sweet six graders ready for their first round of finals.  And when I wasn't in the midst of school and music, I was sleeping.  Oh, sweet sleep, thank you for your reprieve from illness!

All that to say, I am so sorry to have abandoned all of you!  2014 is going to be a great start to get back on the blog wagon. 

BarkBox December 2013

The BarkBox arrived this week in the midst of a flurry of other packages.  The pups were so excited to have something for themselves!

I honestly was hoping for something holiday themed, but the treats in the box made up for the lack of festivities!

Hare of the Dog: Rabbit Recipe $5.99: These cookies are all sourced and made in the US and have dandelion and apple in them for some yummy antioxidant treats.

Planet Dog Chicken Pot Pie and Pumpkin Treats $9.99  Bailey snapped these up quickly.  There's no wheat, corn, or soy, so they are gentle on his little tummy.

Busy Buddy Chuckle ($11.99) Pet Safe makes awesome toys, especially food puzzles.  Aggie Belle loves to receive meals in puzzles.  She has one similar to this one, but the Buddy Chuckle has become her new favorite because it has a squeaker too!

Zen Licks for Dogs ($13.50 for 5) Licks offers an alternative for medication for dogs that hate pills.  Our two don't mind pills hidden in a treat, but I do like the option of a liquid that they lap up in their dishes.  Our dogs like the flavor, and they formulas do seem to work.

Barkworthies Bully Sticks ($7.35) Aggie Belle adores these beef bladder sticks!  So much so, that she didn't let me get a picture of her with the box because she went straight for her stick! 

The total for this month's box is $48.82.  That's a great deal of goodies for the $18 we pay each month!