Howdy, everyone! Jeremy and I are going to be in Chicago the weekend of January 1-4. I looked up churches in the area, but I wanted to see if anyone knew of any in the downtown area. We'll be staying near the Magnificent Mile, and we won't have a car, so we'll probably be taking a cab to services. Anyone know of congregations in the area? Thanks!

"My God is so BIG,
So strong and so mighty,
There's nothing my God cannot do!"

We sing this song with the kids in Bible class and at Vacation Bible School. I now kinda have this running joke with a few of the girls about this song because one day when little Abby was in the car with us and I was driving, I started to launch into a tirade about another driver but Tracy reminded me there were kids in the car. So, instead I launched into singing Abby's favorite song..."My God is so big..." I now use it all the time to try to help me control my road rage issues. It's really, really hard to be mad at another driver when singing this song. Not to mention picturing all the little ones singing it.

Anyway, this song has run through my head all day. Not because I've been driving all day, but because the words ring true and deep in my heart today. My dad, who's not been faithful for the past year, went before our brethren at Humble and confessed his sins and asked for forgiveness. I know this was a truly difficult step for him to take, but he did it! I knew he couldn't ignore God's power and grace forever. He has a long way to go and a lot of questions and things to work through, but our God truly is BIG and mighty. He softened my daddy's heart, and answered many, many prayers. Please continue to remember my dad and us as we try to encourage him.

Today is my dad's birthday. I know it's silly and it has nothing to do with his actual birthday, but he truly is a brand new person today. Praise God for washing our sins for us!

I love you all!

EDIT: I forgot to let you all know the other good news (though not near as important as the above). :) We have a new son! He and Windy are already best of friends. Hehe.

I never realized how much less stressed I would be about my "home life" just by planning to not eat out during the week and cleaning. I know, I know. It's sad. However, since Jeremy and I have started the daily cleaning schedule I put together for us, I never have to worry about "when am I going to find the time to clean the house". Since we've pretty much stopped eating out during the week, I never have to decide what we're going to do for dinner on my way home. I already know!

For anyone struggling with finding the time to do silly things like clean your house (hehe), I highly recommend doing a little each day. I realize everyone does not have a husband who is necessarily eager to help out with these things, but even if I did it by myself, I think each day I could probably be done in less than an hour. There's no ambiguity on what needs to be done (the schedule is posted on the refrigerator), so Jeremy even does some things before I get home. It's great! We have company coming this weekend, and I know that all I have to do "extra" is dust and vacuum the guest room and the game room and clean the guest bath (which I could do in about 45 minutes by myself). Yea! The best part about the schedule is that we don't have to do anything on Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday. :)

So, Wednesday is our new taco night. We've had them the last two weeks, and I'm looking forward to having them tonight, too. We don't really get tired of them (at least not so far), and it's an easy thing to fix before church services, especially when I'm teaching and trying to get there even earlier. I've also tried to plan ahead with dinners for other nights, without putting the pressure on myself to do a meal list every week. I like to plan ahead that much, but if I only give myself that way to plan out my week, I end up getting discouraged if I don't find the time to get it all together and buy everything on my grocery list. So, I've tried to just make sure we're stocked up with several kinds of meat (and everything else, of course) and take it a day or two at a time. It's great! So, for tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll thaw a couple of chicken breasts, and make some sort of pasta dish with the chicken and have the broccoli I got at the Farmers' Market. Yum. :)

Okay, that's all happy, so I don't want to talk about anything else. Yea for singing night tonight! I hope everyone is having a great week!

P.S. Tomorrow is Jeremy's birthday. He'll be 29. We're going to celebrate his last year of youth (hehe) by going roller skating on Monday. Yea!!!

I'm sorry I haven't posted much lately. Most of you who I'm in contact with outside of pleo know that my surgery went well. The recovery was a little more than I was expecting, but I made it. My scar is not too noticeable, and the swelling has gone down dramatically. It's still not quite down to what it was, but I've been told to give it time.

Since my surgery, Jeremy and I celebrated our first anniversary as husband and wife. I don't really even know how to express what he means to me. Just for kicks, here are some of the "little" (although I don't believe any of them are little) things I've learned to cherish about my husband:

- He helps me with housework, and by "helping" I mean does more than I do sometimes. I know that doesn't sound like such a big deal, but it means so much to me. I can't wait for the time when I'm not working and I can handle all those things on my own, but in the meantime, it's important to him for me to enjoy my time at home, too, so he helps in any way I ask (and many ways before I can ask).

- He opens my car door. Every time. I know this seems silly, but it means a lot to me. A couple of weeks ago we went to the grocery store. After we loaded up the groceries, I took the cart up to one of the cart returns. When I got back to the car, he was standing by my door in the heat waiting on me. He's so sweet.

- He takes care of me and is patient with my health issues, long past when I probably would have been patient. If you've never experienced hormone issues to where the thought of moving off the couch makes you want to sob, I hope you never do. Not every day is like that, but there are some. I know he doesn't fully understand how I'm feeling all the time, but he has never once asked the question I sometimes want to ask myself, "What is your problem, and when are you going to get up and do something?"

- He thanks me multiple times every single time I cook a meal. He never expects it (which might be a whole different problem, if my hubby doesn't ever expect me to cook - that means I'm not doing it enough!). :) He always, always appreciates it, though (even when I force him to try a new veggie). :)

- He reminds me over and over when I don't feel up to going to do something "fun" that he's happy as long as he's with me.

- He does laundry. This one is definitely NOT a little thing because I HATE laundry. :) I do it sometimes, but he handles it more often than not.

- When I want to try a new project or hobby or schedule or whatever, he always is willing and encourages me in whatever I want to attempt.

Anyway, I could go on and on about this endlessly, but those are just a few. I'd love to hear from anyone reading this one (or more) of those "little" things you love about your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend/or whomever. :)

In other news, we went to San Antonio to celebrate our anniversary (and my birthday, since it happens to fall 3 days later). It was a fabulous trip, and I have several pictures of fire escapes from it, if you'd like to see them. Hehe. I know, it's weird. I just have a strange fascination with fire escapes, so I took a bunch of pictures of them while we were there. I have some other pics, too. :) We went to Fiesta Texas, the Alamo, Ripley's museum, the wax museum, on a nighttime "ghost hunt", the market, Riverwalk, and Seaworld. I'm sure I missed some other things in there, too. It was fabulous to have the time away and just get to focus on Jeremy. When we were at Seaworld, I did an animal interaction thing with the Belugas, and it was so much fun! I got to get in the water with them in a wetsuit and give them commands, play with them, hug them, and get pictures made with them! I recommend it to anyone who goes. It's kinda expensive, but what an experience! :)

I'm back at work now, and I'd just like to ask for continued prayers for my family. I don't know why I thought things would get any easier, but I just feel like some things have been a slap in the face lately. I'm struggling with a lot of different things. I'm struggling with making sure I'm truly grateful for the job I have and content in my circumstances. I'm struggling with maintaining a loving spirit with my dad and my sister. I'm struggling with the fact that I don't feel as close to God or my brethren as I have in months previous. I think a lot of it probably has to do with hormones, but I don't want to use that as an excuse. I'm trying to improve my prayer and study life because I know that will help. I'm really struggling to place my full faith in God. I don't really feel like I've ever been where I need to be in this area. I've always tried to fix my own problems, and I have a huge problem accepting that I can't do it all by myself. I'm working on this, and I hope you'll pray for me.

Thanks everyone for keeping in touch, even though I've been a little absent from pleo lately. I pray for so many of you. Thank you for praying for us!

Well, I think most of you probably know, but my surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday, July 14, at 10 am. I'll be in Memorial Hermann Hospital - Memorial City. I had my pre-op appointment yesterday and received my shower instructions for the night before and day of (weird, right?). :) Everything seems to be on track, so here we go. Thank you for all the prayers and shows of concern. I appreciate you all! I love you!