Papa's Got a Brand New... Toy.

Joe and I decided about half a year ago that we would take part of the money we got for tax return and buy a nice, professional camera. We both love to take and value photos. It has been a ton of fun to get to know the camera and see the AWESOME pictures it produces.   For fun we also downloaded the free 30 day trial of Aperture (mac's (better) version of photoshop). The top two pics were taken with our new camera and adjusted in Aperture, the bottom was taken with my Canon PowerShot.  My PowerShot will always have my heart. It was the first nice camera I owned and took pictures from my senior year of high school through our first year of marriage. Anyway, this weekend we are looking forward to getting out of the house and having a normal weekend together. It will be our first since January.  Pictures (I'm sure) to come. 

The first picture we took with the camera. 

My beautiful 13 week preggers sister.

 In Colorado last summer. 

I Dreamed a Dream

Last night I had the strangest night of sleep. I woke up several times and I was just sitting up. I was also very concerned with the cat and if she was ok, and I "had" to make sure that Joe hadn't smooshed her. Apparently teaching math has my brain all weird.  My sleep ended with me dreaming that: I attended, along with my family as well as Joe's, some annual celebration for the queen of England. We had front row seats. She had a very royal entrance. Dan and Amy Rice were also supposed to join us, but they were running late and I was very concerned. Several strange games were played by the knights and the evening ended with me showing off my French with some waiter so he would give me truffles.  By far one of the strangest, most far fetched dreams I have had in a long time. Is it Friday yet?

A Week to Remember

I don't even know where/how to begin a blog about our spring break.  Rather that give you a play by play, I will just share some pictures.  I don't have a picture but we also got to celebrate my m-i-l Terry's birthday on Friday! It was great to see/be with family!

 Yay! They are finally here!

 We enjoyed our walking friendly neighborhood and walked to Rosarios for dinner. 

 Tuesday we did some shopping, met Joe for lunch, enjoyed tea at Mad Hatters Cafe, and walked around the King William district.  

 Wednesday we had breakfast at the San Antonio institution Schilos, I shared my knowledge of Texas history, and cooked dinner together at our house. 

 Thursday we headed to to Houston and went to the Rodeo. 

 I guess we didn't take pictures on Friday, but Saturday morning we had a ton of fun at the driving range.

Our week ended at the Latvia reunion party. 

 I'll end with this: We finally got to meet baby Gray. You can read more about his adventures here. ADORABLE!

I am so thankful for the time we all got to share together. 

Memories were Made

Like they say, "All good things must come to an end." This past 'spring break' was one of the best yet! My dear masa (sister) Sandra and her husband Time came to Texas for the week. I will blog more about it and post more pics later, but one of the highlights was our annual 'Latvia get together' at Janie Neighbor's house. My dear friend Agrita was also in from Latvia. It was the biggest get together we have had in a while, and I loved catching up with people (some of whom I hadn't seen in years). God is good! Of course it was the last thing of the week and was followed by a tearful goodbye the next morning. I always cry.  Joe and I got our new camera so we were able to take lots of pictures at the party. Yes, we are now those people. Looking forward to a beautiful (hot) spring here in San Antonio.


Happy Spring,

Out of Towners

My sister is here! Blogging will not be very frequent this week.

50 Things

I might have totally stollen this idea from another blog that I might read religiously...maybe.

50 Things about us:

1. They have already designed the floor plan of the house they will build in 15-20 years. 

2. He wakes up every morning and begins the day by singing a song. 

3. She may go to bed in a bad mood, but will never wake up that way.

4. He listens to sports talk radio in the car. 

5. She listens to Jazz or Christian or nothing. 

6. He reads books on art and design. 

7. She reads blogs and books that vary in topic from French life to letters written to Jackie Kennedy after the death of Jack. 

8. He has the name picked out for their future son.

9 She has the name picked out for their future daughter. 

10. He would fill their home with impressive art and photographs from the 1930s-1960s. 

11. She would fill their home with art from places visited and photos of loved ones. 

12. They, by the grace of God, are a perfect set.
13. He plays video games.
14. She blogs.
15. He loves to wear bow ties.
16. She hates to share dessert unless predetermined before arrival to the restaurant.
17. He interrupts himself constantly.
18. She likes to think of herself as well spoken.
19. He finds great joy in searching and finding new music.
20. She has the tendency of relying and settling for music that is familiar and comfortable.
21. He wants to go back to school and get a masters.
22. She wants to be a mom.
23. He oohs and awes over little girls, and dreams of being a father to a daughter.
24. She loves the thought of a son in over-alls.
25. He loves quietly and steadfastly in the background.
26. She loves with outward affection and gifts.
27. They LOVE  dreaming of their future life together.
28.  He laughs just like his father and grandfather.
29. She doesn't laugh out loud often (except for him, he makes her laugh all the time) but when she does it is at something that is observed and not obvious.
30. He has a definite opinions on home decor.
31. She doesn't like her food to touch.
32.  He wants to work with youth in their church one day.
33. She will cry with and for anyone.
34. His hair stands straight up in back when he wakes up.
35. She is a closet southern belle.
36. He likes to drink scotch straight up and smoke a pipe.
37. She wishes she had the patience to wear cute little 1960s nighties like on Mad Men.
38. He loves her chocolate chip cookies.
39. She loves Gilmore Girls.
40. They love Psych and White Collar.
41. He hates to talk on the phone.
42. She secretly dreams of owning a bakery.
43. He would stay at home every weekend, all weekend (except church) if she let him.
44. She loves her hour long morning routine.
45. He has a personal style.
46. She was born in the wrong decade, or so she feels.
47. He does 60% of the cooking.
48. She loves to plan, organize, and make lists.
49. They are Christ followers.
50. They are best friends.

What I'm Reading

These are the titles I am reading as of late. One thing I am really loving about post college life is reading for pleasure. I am also really enjoying reading multiple books at a time. It's nice to have space in my noggin to handle this. 

This is a must read for teachers. Not that I am way experienced or trained, but it puts thing in ways I would have never thought.

I have been reading this one since right after we got married. I guess I shouldn't say anything else, but I highly suggest it! 

I just got this one at the Library. I have seen it at Anthro several times, and plan on buying it when I finish.  It is too fun and too cute. 

I have had a French fetish all my life (my mother is to thank), and this book is right up my ally. 

Believe or not, I am still reading this. I posted about it one year ago exactly. I can't really explain why, but this is a heavy book for me. It stirs up insecurities I didn't even know I had, and makes me deal with them. I have re-read most of the chapters about three times. 

In my opinion you must give every single one of these diverse books a try. You won't be sorry.

I have an announcement!

About two or so weeks ago a friend from Latvia contacted me and expressed that our home church there, Jelgava Baptist, was in need of assistance for VBS. Immediately my heart leapt, but I didn't think it would be possible for me to go this summer. Of course it was on my mind and I told my dad and we both began to pray. After a bit of deliberation, flight checking, etc. we made our final decision: we are going to Latvia this summer.  I still can't believe it. I couldn't be more overjoyed! If you know me at all, you know that at any given moment a corner of my mind is in my sweet Latvia. We could of course use more help so if you feel the Lord calling, join us! 

 "Then I heard the voice of the lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, who will go for us?' and I said, 'Here am I, send me!' "

Isaiah 6 v 8

Look!

Friday and Saturday night we put these beauties together! They were both very much needed. Our closet especially is thanking us!

Come on over we have a place for you to sit now!

2 Timothy 1:7

"For God did not give us a spirit of fearfulness; but of power, love, and self control"

God is doing a miracle in our midsts right now, and Satan is just pounding me with lies of fear. I'm not ready to talk about it just yet because everything is not finalized, but I am overjoyed. I have been whispering this verse to myself all day. I am also being reminded of this verse: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him" 1 John 3:1. I love the translation of the the word lavished. What a great word. He does lavish us. To Lavish: Bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities upon.

Lately I have really been missing leading worship. I want to sing this song with my husband:

By the end of...

Today we will be proud owners of this dresser...

and by the end of tomorrow we will be the proud owners of this dinning table.

Our home is coming together.

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains!

Like I said Joe and I spent the weekend in Oklahoma (Ooooook-lahoma...). Our main objective was to see Maren (s-i-l) in Pagliacci on Sunday. She was wonderful! She attends Oklahoma City University and Joe and I got a chance to look around the music school a bit. I have to admit I was a little jealous of their facility! Must be nice to have a whole floor of practice rooms, offices with actual windows, and two beautiful performance venues. Repeat after me: I love Texas A&M... Anywho, on Friday night we drove to Dallas and stayed at my cousins Peter and Melissa's house. Thank you again! In the morning we got to play with our favorite three and four year0ld boys, Josh and Gabe. They are never lacking in energy and ways to make us laugh. I am always sad to leave them. Once we finally got to OK we hung with family for a while and went to dinner. After dinner we spent about three hours looking for cupcakes and taking a driving tour of OKC. We got to see the moving, memorial downtown. We also got to see several places Maren has been or eaten at ;). We finally found cupcakes at Pinkitzel and they were well worth the wait. Aunt Karen and I got the salted carmel... oh my. It was one of the best cupcakes I have ever had. Believe me, I have had a lot of cupcakes. Sunday we had a wonderful brunch, saw the show, and headed back to dallas where we stated at Aunt Mary's and Uncle Jeff's. It was a wonderfully family filled weekend. Joe and I are so blessed by all of you!

These sisters always make me wish I had sisters!

{Mary, Karen, Terry}

Of course I took a picture of the cupcakes...

March

Happy March!

I don't know how we got here so quickly, but we did. Finally my mister is home from D.C. and we can restart our lives here in San Antonio. We had a crazy busy weekend in OK for my s-i-l's performance in Pagliacci. Which was wonderful. I will post more about our weekend later. It seems with the end of February the spring weather has arrived as well. I guess all we can do is enjoy it.