Still on the disabled list

I'm back at work full-time, but in the evenings & on the weekends I'm not allowed to do anything. It's so frustrating. But it has given me a chance to do some great reading. Over the weekend I made my way through three books.

The first book I read was Kabul Beauty School. Such an inspiring story about a beautician who goes to Afghanistan to help with relief efforts after the fall of the Taliban. I really identified with her early on in the story because she felt so helpless the first few weeks she was there. She was surrounded by doctors, nurses, and emergency workers of all sorts who had skills that really helped the Afghan people. She was only able to give haircuts.

I feel like this a lot in life. I'm a pretty smart girl and I have some talents, but I tend to beat myself up because my talents are things like picking out paint colors and finding a good deal at the mall. Not really things that can help change the world.

But the author of the book soon realized that God works in mysterious ways and he had sent her to Afghanistan because she could help the women of that country in a truly life changing way. She returned to the country & started a beauty school to help teach the women of the country how to provide for themselves and their families.

It was very inspiring to read her story. And it was moving to read about the women of Afghanistan and all they have endured and how their lives are so different from ours. I got on my knees Saturday night after finishing the book and praised the Lord that I live in Texas.

Sunday, I was still moved by the strength of the women of Kabul that I decided to read another book with a female heroin. I pulled a book out that I've had sitting in my to-read pile for a few months now, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

Wow. Talk about an amazing woman and a powerful testimony. I have been a Christian for a long time, I look around the world and I don't understand how people cannot believe in a God. If you are wavering in your faith, then this is definitely a book that is capable of changing that. Corrie was arrested for hiding Jewish people during WWII. Her experience in the Ravensbruck concentration camp proves beyond any doubt that God truly exists and he loves his children and provides for them in ways that we cannot comprehend because of our simple human minds.

Her time in the concentration camp was a powerful enough story, she and her sister hid a bible and witnessed to all the other prisoners there. Her sister passed away while in the camp, but Corrie was released and after the war she started a home to care for people who had suffered because of the war and needed rehabilitation. Then, even more amazingly, she took an old concentration camp and made it into a home for the Nazi guards to live in and heal the emotional/spiritual wounds they suffered from being in the position of treating so many innocent people so poorly. What an amazing example of God's command to love your enemy.

Both of these books are wonderful and I highly recommend them both. After I finished them my husband brought me a third book to read, A War of Gifts. It was interesting, that's pretty much all I'll say about it. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't just read about two such amazing women. They were a hard act to follow.

My first home

My Dad's been going through old photo albums lately, scanning all of our family pictures. As he is scanning he'll e-mail one or two my way, and it helps break up the monotony of the work day and remembering back when I really was a halfpint brings a smile to my face.

Recently he sent me these pictures, from a Christmas morning when I was about 4 years old.



That's me on the left & my older sister on the right. You can see my sweet little baby brother in the front of the picture below.

Couldn't you just die? My Mom & Dad made that dollhouse for my sister and I. How amazing are they?

We spent countless hours playing in that dollhouse. And "playing" usually meant moving the furniture around and redecorating the entire home. I admit that even in high school & college I would sometimes sit down and redecorate it.

I don't still play with it though, but probably only because my mom packed all the tiny furniture into plastic containers to protect them. Knowing me I would still spend hours moving around the furniture in the house if I could.

Obviously my love for decorating was cultivated early on by my parents.

Screeching Halt...

I've been really busy lately, too busy to even post for 4 months. Which is great! I've always thrive on being busy. It makes the days at work go by quickly when I have a lot to do. I love the sense of accopmlishment I get when I finish a project around the house. And nothing beats having hours full of friends and family.

Like I said, I've been too busy too even blog. Until 2 weeks ago. When my life came to a screeching halt.

It started out as a normal Saturday for us, we were finally getting around to painting the bedroom as the first step in redecorating it. (I use the term redecorating loosely here, as I had never really gotten around to decorating this room at all. Well, as every home owner knows, before you paint walls, you must move furniture away from the walls. Let's just say this armoire got the better of me.

(Excuse the poor quality photos, these pictures were taken randomly last summer prior to a hurricane, just in case our house was destroyed & we needed evidence for an insurance inquiry.)

Well, 1 herniated lumbar disk later and two weeks later, the bedroom is now painted a lovely shade called "Trench Coat" by Martha Stewart, thanks to my wonderful husband. And yesterday he even hung up some art-work under my supervision, so the room is coming together.

It will be a while before I can spend any quality time with my sewing machine, so the "final product" is pending until my back troubles are finally sorted out. In the meantime, here's a before picture of the room.

And, can I just say how lovely it is to be sitting up again? Lying flat on a couch for 2 weeks is not my idea of a good time.

As a trial run, we went to Church this morning. I made it through Church without too much pain, so I'm going back to work in the morning. I hope I can make it through most of the day, I have a lot of work to do, but between the back pain & how sleepy the pain meds make me, we'll just have to wait & see how it goes.

Finally, words cannot express how grateful I am to my husband for taking such good care of me for the past two weeks. I am so blessed to be married to such a kind man.

Equal time for equal cuteness!

My last post was all about our oldest neice & nephew. They also have a younger sister who is as cute as they are and she was baptized last Saturday so I figured I'd share some pictures.



During the Catholic baptism service, the child is draped with a white cloth, symbolic of the dignitity of Christ. Cora chose to try and eat said cloth. Not the most dignified...







But look at those pretty blue eyes! And don't you just love how her chubby little wrist looks like it has a rubber band around it. A look a woman can only get away with while she's young.

My husband loves babies so much. He's the fun uncle that will wrestle with the kids and give them pony rides. And he loves snuggles from the little bitty babies.

Lessons from toddlers...

If you are cute enough & know just who to beg....

Just get right in their face, say "please" & you can get anything you want!!!



Like sips of Coke...



And gummi bears...

And suckers of course! (Take a moment, giggle at the irony.)

Not a bad haul for agreeing to go watch your uncles play a soccer game.

With a niece & nephew this cute, it's no wonder we don't have our own kiddos yet!

Worst Blogger Ever Decorates for Christmas

So I posted about 2 weeks ago saying I would post these pictures & still haven't done any. I'm horrible at this blogging thing.

Or I was being held hostage by a group of terrorists. I'll let you decide which story you choose to believe.

Anyways, it's 2 days before Christmas & I have about 2 dozen presents to wrap so this will be short & sweet. First up a picture of our tree:




I'm all about random ornaments & a chaotic Christmas tree. I think it shocks people who know what a control freak I am about my decor to see the craziness that is my Christmas tree. They seem to expect a themed tree, or at least one that's color-coordinated. But this is the time of year for me to really let my hair down.

One of my favorite bloggers The Nester put together a deliciously scrumptious garland for her mantle that I was enamored with. So I had to beef up my wimpy garlands.

You can click on the pictures to see the detail of the garland, I shoved all kinds of stuff in there. Birds nests, pinecones, fruit, feather balls, feather tufts, extra greenery/ferns, berries, etc. It was a really fun project & I was so happy I had 2 places where I could put together some scrumptious garland.

Hope everyones' Christmas seasons are going well!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Officially the Christmas season now. The husband and I have our tree up, we attended our first holiday party last night, and we are now watching the 1985 Christmas classic Santa Claus: The Movie.



Over my next few posts I'll be sharng a some of my holiday decorating. In the meantime, here's a picture before we left for the party. Oxley didn't get to come with us, she spent a quiet night at home...