Step of faith

Well, tonight we put our house up for sale.  I've felt for a few months now that God was speaking to me telling me that is what he wanted us to do, but I was too nervous/scared to tell Dean.  A few weeks ago, Dean came to me and said he felt we should sell our house!  I guess God got tired of talking to me about it.  This is a big step and a really hard step for us.  We've only lived in our home 2 1/2 years and we are completely happy here.  So it isn't like we want or need to sell and move.  We are merely trusting God in what he is calling us to do.  We aren't sure what he has for us beyond this home, but I trust that his plan is perfect.  When my human mind starts to worry or "what if" me into rapid heart beats and that sick feeling starts in my stomach, I have to stop and close my eyes and pray for God to take it, I trust him.  I have to continually work to let God have control.  Lord,  I trust you and believe in your plans for our family.

In a land far far away...

About a month ago I traveled to a land far far away and my story goes like this.....

I decided last year that I wanted to go see and surprise my sister in Germany for her 30th birthday.  So, I started saving and obtained my passport.

My flight was to leave OKC at 5:40pm, shortly after getting through security it was announced that my flight was delayed 20 minutes.  A short time later it was announced we would be delayed 2 hours!  Oh no!  I only had a 3 hour lay over in Atlanta to catch my intercontinental flight.  Due to all the delays there was no gate for our plane to pull up to, so we had to exit the plane on its steps walk to the terminal and up the stairs into the terminal.  I literally had to run for 20-25 minutes to the gate and when I'm about 20 yards away I hear the announcement that the gate was closing on my flight!  Pick it up Kristi!  I threw my boarding pass in the airline hostess' face and said "I'm on that flight!"  She told me to run they were closing the gate, I barely made it.  Whew!

I flew from Atlanta to Amsterdam, Netherlands, once in Amsterdam I had to walk a long ways to my next gate and half way through the airport there were guards, customs agents and a security line.  I never felt like I had left a secure area, so I started to panic that I was in the wrong place.  Thankfully it was not busy and one of the agents spoke to me and asked if he could help, that I looked uneasy.  I was on the right track and continued onto my gate.  From Amsterdam I flew to Bremen, Germany.  Here my BIL picked me up and we were on our way to surprise my sis!  We took the autobahn and this is how fast he got up to:

That is 124 miles an hour!!!  I decided it probably wasn't safe for me to have the camera in his face while he was driving that fast, hee hee.

When we arrived at their flat (townhouse), I pulled my sweatshirt over my head, rang the doorbell and turned around.  When she opened the door,

It was perfect!

We visited the North Sea,

Papenburg,



McDonalds, for a McRib that you can't get in the US anymore,

and the old fashion fried apple pies,

The Netherlands,

took pictures with statues,

had a big 3-0 party,

played golf (she did, I watched),

visited a windmill farm,

the railroad tracks,

and a church that was built 10 years before Columbus discovered America!

I took her a small gift for each day I was there, but her BIG gift was a pair of sandals that she wanted like mine. (they are so much cuter in person)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KANDI!!  I hope you enjoyed my time there as much I enjoyed being there! 

And then it was time to leave, sniff sniff

My flights home were good, I had the same stops as before.  As soon as we landed in Atlanta I made it through customs and headed for some American food!  The first thing I saw was Popeye's, yummy!  Fried chicken and a Dr. Pepper, it doesn't get any more American!!  We were delayed in Atlanta for a couple hours and I finally made it home 24 hours after my day began!

I have so many memories from my trip I can't even attempt to list them all!  It was the trip of my life!

I love you Kandi!!

Where's my secret service and limo?

This evening was the first meeting of the year for the Orchestra Parent Boosters at Kimmer's school.  I was elected President!  As nerdy as it may sound, I am so excited!  There really isn't a whole lot that I have to do, but I've never been president or the leader of any group with real meaning!  I will be in charge of planning a few events and will possibly speak/introduce people at  concerts, which completely makes me giddy.  I enjoy helping people plan, but being in charge of it is thrilling and terrifying at the same time.  Then if I do have to speak in front of people, WOW, completely terrifying, but so exciting.  I try to remember to face all my fears that scare the daylights out of me and not let my girls know how hard it is.  If they see me nervous then that is what they will learn to be.  If I hold my own and just do it, that is what they will see and do.

Dean wanted to know what perks and benefits I get....um.....no material benefits.  Just the experience, knowledge and getting know parents and teachers on a new level are all the benefits I want.  Yippe!  let the fun begin.

Football and church

This past weekend Dean and I purchased tickets to attend the OU vs Florida State game in Norman.  Note: this is not normal behavior, we have been blessed to attend many OU football and basketball games in the past, but never have we had to pay anything for them.  Just friends, work, or winning a drawing have always been the source.  Due to some circumstances, we agreed that we would purchase tickets, so that we could ensure our attendance.  OUCH!!  We will definitely think twice before we do that again, as the reason for purchasing the tickets, fell through.  Oh well, we still enjoyed our time, we were in the NE corner of the stadium next to the student section, just above where the Sooner Schooner runs out.  It was crazy fun and insane sitting next to them.  We had to stand on our seats just to see over them and they were so loud we couldn't hear the band and half the time the announcer.  I made sure to cover in sun screen before heading out, but after all the sweating I still burned my nose and top of my forehead.  It was great to see them get the win, it sure made those ticket prices a little more worth it.  BOOMER SOONER!! 

Sunday night at church we started a Focus on the Family Series "The Truth Project."  It is a small group study where we watch a DVD lesson and discuss it in a host home.  The question that the series surrounds is "Do you really believe, that what you believe, is really real?"  WOW, it was a deep lesson that really made me stop and start thinking about what I believe and if I believe X, then why am I doing Y.  I'm looking forward to digging into this study more and growing in my relationship with Christ. 

Stay tuned.....

I did it all by myself!!

Months and months ago we got a virus on our computer and Dean had to restore it back to how it came out of the box.  I lost all my itunes stuff that was on the computer so I just had my ipod "as is."  I had asked him several times if we could "restore" from my ipod and he kept saying no he had tried and couldn't find a way.  Well, today I had just had enough of the same 'ol ipod.  so I went searching on the interwebs and I found several websites and by combining the instructions (none of them fit my ipod and software exactly) I was able to restore my itunes from my ipod and I'm adding my new cd's and some music that I've gotten from websites!  I'm so excited and proud of myself!!  YIPPEE!  GO ME!!

My first blog.....

Ok, so I've been considering starting a blog for a while now, but have been too chicken/nervous to actually do it.  So now here I am!  I read several blogs regularly (well as regular as they post) and I can only hope I can blog decently.  What is your first post supposed to include?  I have no idea, so maybe if I just ramble it will come out okay?  heehee

The main purpose I have in writing a blog is so that I can journal things that happen in my life, not for the random public, but for me and my girls.  I have a horrible memory and when someone or something reminds of something that has been said or done, it frustrates me that I could have filed the memory in some filing cabinet in the back of my brain that I never remember to go back and see what's inside.  So, this is my new memory filing cabinet!! 

I hope that whomever might decide they have enough time in their busy day to entertain themselves with what's going on in my corner of the world, I hope you enjoy yourself and come back for more.

**WARNING** Writing, English, reading or any of the associated subjects in school were NOT the classes I was able to master.  So, read at your own grammatical risk.