Prayer Request

Hello all! I am asking that you pray for Stephen and me. He has an interview next week for a job in the Dallas area. This is a place that he has always wanted to work at. You know, the Lord works in mysterious ways. When I first moved back to Texas in August, Dallas was out of the question for me. I hated it and didn't want to live there. The traffic is terrible.....Well, I believe the Lord puts you through trials and tests so that you can appreciate all that He has to give to you. And this may not be where He wants us, only He knows. But I am ready to go where He sends me. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. The Lord never puts more on us than we can handle.

Can I convert this to frequent flyer miles...

Oh me! In the past two weeks, I have driven 3000 miles. I never imagined doing that; not even with the craziness of our honeymoon (which was 1900). Two weeks ago, after driving to work for a week, I went to Little Rock and back (600+ miles plus driving in town. I returned home, then went to work (another 500+) and then a weekend round trip to Nacogdoches (1220 miles + in town driving) for a surprise anniversary party for Stacey's parents. You know those oil change guys are loving this...

As for the surprise party, it went well. I don't think they had a clue it was coming. I'll save the details for Stacey's next post.

While I was out in Texas, it rained like crazy (4-5" in 40 hours) - which was good since they are in a severe deficit situation (20" below normal). Yet, it was bad in the since that the roads were in awful shape and it delayed my return home. On the other hand, it meant spending an extra day with Stacey and getting some Cowboys gear dirt cheap. It was weird, some areas had grass just as green as spring, after the rains; while other areas were scorched.

Ramblings....

Here it is Friday Eve and I am SOOO excited tomorrow is Friday. I get to see Stephen tomorrow which I am VERY excited about! This has been a stressful week and I'm ready for it to end!! I had a workshop Tuesday and I'm starting to get REALLY stressed about an upcoming state mandated test that my kiddos have to take which they must pass in order to move on to 4th grade. The thought of possibly having some of these kids AGAIN for another year totally exasperates me! I'm not trying to be ugly, but......today was one of those moments though that make me proud to be a teacher. I have a kid who was retained in 3rd grade this year for that very reason (failing that test) and he is really bad and has a terrible home life. He's the one I mentioned just before Christmas about getting the toy from his secret santa. Anyways, we took an old released test from a year or two ago and he made a very high B on it. I was proud of him!! Not to mention he brought ALL of his homework back today for the first time this year. Small miracles.....Praise the Lord!!

I have gone crazy. I have gotten back into scrapbooking, full speed ahead!! In fact, the other night I went on EBay....evil.....I saw something scrapbooking I like. I should have never bid on that thing but I did. Stephen attributed it to me being a desperate housewife....well actually he said desperate heifer.....Well, I won the thing. I kept praying for a sniper to come in a steal it away from me but that never happened. I guess it was because the biggest college football game was on TV....Rose Bowl....Anyway, I am having to control myself about getting onto EBay!! My name is Stacey....and I'm a Scrapbookaholic!!

Buster....the King!!

Well, this is Buster. This is the dog that Stephen and I got for his mom and dad for Christmas. He has already grown quite a bit since this picture was taken. He is the biggest mess. He loves to go outside and play. He has found that if he cannot go outside, he'll show you...he'll mess in the floor!! The other day my mother-in-law was getting ready for work and Buster climbed up on the couch, lay his head on the pillow, and went to sleep. He will also pull the blanket off the couch and go to sleep on it. He will be a really good dog eventually!! :) By the way, this is the chew toy that we got him for Christmas and he has had a time with it!!

Back home again!

Well, at 7AM this morning, Stacey and I parted ways again and headed back on on the journey trying to get this Texas move complete. Thus, just under twelve hours later, I arrived back in Alabama. It's going to be some adjustment since we'd been back under the same roof since the 18th of December. Nice to be able to spend that much time together, just wish it could be permanent.

One good thing about being back here is that I've seen enough UT stuff to drown a longhorn steer (pun intended). I tried like crazy to find some Astros stuff, but every store was inundated with the Horns Rose Bowl Gear. Then again, maybe it's not so bad when you go to the sporting goods stores here and find nothing but hillbilly, hunting orange UT stuff.

We each had good Christmas'. Stacey received tons of scrapbooking tools and gadgets and I got tons of MSU and Astros stuff. I even managed to get some Dallas Cowboys stuff with my Christmas money. We also got a photo printer from my parents, so that will save us one headache with the elimination of the hated trip to Wal Mart for photo processing.

The weather in Texas has been almost unbelieveable. On Christmas Day it was nearly 80 and New Year's Day was 82. I could not believe seeing people in the Lufkin Mall wearing T-shirts, shorts and flip flops on New Year's Day. Unfortunately, the hot weather was contributing to the grass and wildfires in Texas (fortunately, none are near our family, but all areas are under burn bans). So far, there is no end in sight.

The job hunt continues, but things have been picking up. Two companies within an hour of Stacey's job has expressed interest and I have applied for a couple more places. Maybe things will get moving quickly.

And finally, yes, I enjoyed lots of good eating while I was away. My Fat Guys Club friends in Michigan would be jealous (Clear Springs, Cotton Patch, La Carreta, The BBQ House, Butcher Boys). Let's just say the onion rings at Clear Springs were at their finest...