Rather than upload the pictures twice, I'll post the link where you can view our Christmas pictures!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67998&l=9ac52&id=504212412
Merry Christmas!
We are in Texas and enjoying our time here with our family. Last night we went to the Christmas Eve service at the church where Chris and I grew up and that my dad is the pastor of. Eva went with us and sat through the service. She did pretty well, even clapped her hands during the music!
We let Eva open one present last night and then put her to bed. Then we opened presents with my sister and parents. That was fun. I love my family. We were planning on letting Eva open her presents this morning, but she woke up at 5:30 a.m.! Thankfully, my mom came to the rescue and took her and let Chris and I go back to bed. I thought we would have a few more years before Eva understood the whole waking up early to see if Santa came thing. Guess not! So we're planning on doing her Christmas at lunch. I'll post pictures of that later!
For now, here are a few pictures I've been waiting to post because I was giving a lot of them as Christmas presents:)
Hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas! Make sure to hug your family and tell them how much you love them.
How is everyone doing? Hopefully well. The more active and mobile Eva gets the harder it is to find time to write on my blog. So for now, pictures will have to suffice! These are just a few candids I snapped yesterday so you can see what she's been up to. She loves pushing her little toy around and is very proud of herself for doing it! She loves playing with her toys, pulling Toby's tail, and reading books.
I can't believe that in one month she's going to be one.
Eva had her preschool pictures taken while we were gone to Romania. I wasn't sure how they would turn out but they are so cute!
Enjoy the pictures and hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!
Ok, I don't usually like doing stuff like this, but I'll give it a try! I'm supposed to list 7 random facts about myself. I'm kinda boring so I don't know how interesting this will be! So here we go!
1. Chris and I have known each other for 18 years. He asked me to be his girlfriend the summer between 7th and 8th grade. I told him no because he was three years older than me. I eventually came around and our first date was to my Senior Prom in 1999:)
2. I'm a PK. That's short for "Preachers Kid". A lot of people have preconceived notions about what a preachers kid is like. Let's just say I lived up to all those ideas.
3. I went to Baylor for a year then transferred to Texas A&M. EVERYONE on my dad's side of the family went to Baylor, so when I decided to transfer, I was the family outcast. However, my when my younger cousin decided to go to University of Texas, I was quickly reinstated to the family and he was deemed the outcast. Those liberal Longhorns!!!
4. I LOVE California. I would vacation there every year if we could. I've been to San Francisco, Monterrey, Carmel, and LA. Next year I would like to visit San Diego. I want to take Eva with us so she can go to the zoo:)
5. I work at Browns Bridge Community Church now but I used to be the Children's Director at a church in College Station, TX. In fact before I took the job that I have now, I couldn't imagine not working in children's ministry.
6. Almost every night, I get the baby out of bed and rock her and pray over her while she's asleep. That's my favorite time of day.
7. I can sing. But I don't take requests. Sorry.
Ok, so here's the rules!
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Tell 7 random facts about yourself on your blog
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Tag 7 people and list them (with their blog links) on your blog
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Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
You've been tagged:
We're home! I'm exhausted. But SO happy to see my baby girl.
When I can gather my thoughts, I'll post more. All the pics are on Chris' computer so I'll have to see what I can do.
Until then, thank you for praying for us. We had a wonderful time.
Ok, I sat here for five minutes trying to come up with a catchy title to my blog entry. But I was too tired to be creative. It is what it is!
This is the last full day of the conference. We have something really special planned for tonight and I hope it all goes well. (More on that tomorrow!) So you can pray for that. Things are going well...I think I'm finally getting over the jet lag but a nice LONG nap would do me some good:) Last night Chris and I were able to get out a little bit when our team took a walk to McDonald's. I normally don't eat McDonald's at home, but here I had a strong craving for a McFlurry and some french fries. The McDonald's we went to was the nicest one I've ever been too...except for their advertisements. Swedish models whispering in to each others ears, while eating french fries. Kinda weird...but I digress.
We've also discovered an new snack food called Joe's. They're wafers covered with chocolate and let me tell you...they are highly addictive. We've had to make several runs to the store to buy more because our team keeps eating them so fast! They are made by Nestle, so I think I'm going to write them when I get back to see about getting these in the U.S.
Tomorrow the conference ends around 10:45 a.m. so we are heading to the square afterwards to do a little sightseeing. On Saturday we are taking a road trip to see the Romanian countryside. I'm really looking forward to that! I've heard it's absolutely beautiful.
If you'd like to follow our team (and see a few pictures), you can read their blogs at
http://recreaza.wordpress.com
http://shaesweeney.wordpress.com
http://caseydarnell.com/blog
Their blogs are much more interesting and entertaining than mine!
Alrighty...I've got to run. It's lunch time!
Well we made it to Romania! I can't believe I'm sitting in a room halfway across the world. Very bizarre. We left Sunday afternoon and arrived on Monday around 2:30 p.m. We brought 7 suitcases and two backpacks between the 2 of us. Getting around the airport was quite comical! But we made it to the check-in area and were able to get an agent that was close by so we didn't have to go too far with that many bags!
The first flight was 10 hours long. That's a long time to be on a plane. TOO LOOOONNNNGGGG!!!! Thankfully Chris and I are together though. It was nice to have a traveling/navigating companion! Our first flight took us to Rome, Italy. It was killing me to know that I was in Rome, but could not go outside the Rome airport. The best I could do is look out the airplane window. I looked for the Pope, but I didn't see him:( Oh well.
From Rome we took a teeny tiny plane to Timisoara, Romania. The Timisoara airport is very small-one runway and one baggage claim. We made it through customs ok, but as we were walking out of the door this man stopped us and asked us some questions in Romanian. I tried to drum up an answer but I didn't understand him...until he asked us how much money we had on us. Ummm...wierd! I told him not much and thankfully he waved us on.
The church where we are putting on the conference is really great. It's a very modern building that is three stories tall plus a basement. In the basement there is a large main room which is kind of like their "fellowship hall" (to put it in baptist terms!). This is where we've eaten all our meals which by the way have been really good. Today we had mashed potatoes which is probably my favorite food and these were some of the best I've tasted! On the main level is the sanctuary. It seats about 150 people. On the second floor is the sound booth area as well as staff offices and on the third floor is dorm rooms. North Point Ministries sends several teams a year to this church so they recently finished out the attic space in the building and made rooms for the teams to stay in when they come. They are actually pretty nice and remind me of my freshman year at Baylor when I stayed in a dorm room. In fact the bathrooms are nicer than the ones at Baylor! Each room has two twin beds, two nightstands, an wardrobe, and a computer desk. The beds do take some getting used to though:) Chris and I will be sharing a room until Thursday when another team comes. The way the rooms are layed out, I'll have to move in to a room with one of the other girls who is on the team.There is also a kitchen and an outdoor balcony on the third floor which is really cool. I'm hoping we can have a team meeting out there one night.
We are putting on a conference for worship leaders and support staff (sound engineers, coordinators, musicians) and so far it seems to be going really well. The people are really nice and most of them either speak or understand English. I've already gotten to know some of the girls here. In fact, last night there was a family here with a little baby and I got to talking to her mom. And then she asked me about Eva...and then I started crying. I miss my baby girl SOOO much. But I know she's having a great time and being spoiled!
The conference will last until Thursday morning. We should have some free time on Friday afternoon to see the city. I'm really looking forward to that. On Saturday we are taking a road trip to see Transylvania and Dracula's castle. Should be fun! Then we will fly out of Bucharest on Monday morning.
Wow. This is the longest post I've had in awhile. And no pictures! I'm sure I'll have plenty when we get back. Please pray for us!
I've been looking forward to Halloween for a long time! For several years, we would get together with our friends who had kids and watch as they showed off their prized possession. Well this year it was our turn!
We went to the Petty's for the 3rd annual Halloween Chili cook-off. Chris offered to make the chili and I really appreciated that considering how busy we've been getting ready to go to Romania. In true Chris fashion, he found THE most difficult chili recipe which took roughly two hours to prep and two hours to cook. He spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen while I packed. But it turned out really good! We didn't win, but I think everybody really liked it.
Here are a few pictures we took. Eva was a fairy princess. She was adorable. I ordered her costume several weeks ago and when it came in the mail, we took it out of the envelope and Eva started squealing when she saw it. She was SO excited. And I was so excited when it was finally time to wear it.
We love our little girl so much. She's so happy and she spreads her happiness wherever she goes. Kinda like a fairy:)
