Never a dull moment

Earlier tonight I caught Hubs setting a Frito on fire. Yes, you read that right. When I asked him about it he said a guy at work told him it could be done. Two thoughts: One, how did this even come up in
conversation and two, who tried it the first time?

And if you're wondering - a Frito can catch fire.

Life on the Ranch

This past Friday night I had the opportunity to go to the Big Oak Ranch for Girls. The Women's Ministry at my Church has gone a few Friday nights this year to eat and watch movies with the girls so the house parents could have a night out. This was my first time to go and what a treat! We had a Christmas dinner and did some fun crafts.

The Ranch sits on 325 acres. It has 8 residential homes (where the girls live with their foster parents), a gym, pool and equine center. It is so beautiful there. Even the name is beautiful, it comes from Isaiah 61:3 "And they shall be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified." I praise God for men like John Croyle who followed God's calling to minister to these children.

I had no idea the scope of the Big Oak Ranch and the ministry it is. I also had no idea how much a couple of these girls were going to get under my skin and take residence in my heart. One was 14-year old Nara. She's one of those larger-than-life personalities who attached her hip to mine right from the get-go. She kept me laughing and at one point said she wished she could get a hold of my hair and fix it. Hmmm...

Towards the end of the night we were paired with a girl to talk and pray. I was paired with Vanessa. She's in the 10th grade and from the moment she opened her mouth, I wanted to take her home. She told me she and her sister have been at the Ranch for 10 years. That's so hard for me to comprehend. I don't know her story - all I know is that she looked happy and the things she asked me to pray for were normal teenager things like school and a boy at Church she has a crush on. 10 years ago her list was probably a lot different.

I hope I have many more opportunities to go back. I can't get these two girls off my mind. God arranged our meeting and I'll forever be greatful.

My favorite week!

The week before Christmas is by far my favorite week of the year. Even though things are always extremely busy and rushed, the time with my family and friends makes it all worth it.

I had the best weekend. Saturday night Hubs and I had our Sunday School party which is always fun. I love playing Dirty Santa with this group. It's cut-throat and we're not afraid to steal~ No Mr./Mrs. Nice Guy in this group. It's good to laugh so much your stomach hurts!

Yesterday after Church we headed over to my Mama and Daddy's for a Christmas lunch and presents with our immediate family. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this day. Mama made 3 different types of soup and cooked a ham and turkey for sandwiches. I made hot baked spinach dip and Oreo balls and Mama Hen made a homemade blackberry cobbler. We ate ourselves silly before opening gifts.

(I didn't get good pictures of the kids opening their gifts because I was the hander-outer.)

We always spend the afternoon hoppin' the kids up on as much sugar as we can and then send them home with Mama Hen. I firmly believe this is my role as self-proclaimed BEST AUNT EVER and of course, we all know that's what grandparents do.

Abbie and James were our cookie decorators.

Someone was pretty proud of his creation.

Tyler is getting too big and needs to stop growing PRONTO!

Apparently, Matt was being too mischievous for a good shot because I couldn't find one on my camera.

After that, I stopped by a friends for her Christmas Open House and had some apple cider that made me smile. And if that wasn't good enough, I passed a live nativity with a real camel on the way home. It was a wonderful reminder of the real reason for the season. Thank You God for Your precious Son.

Today I'm linking up with Carissa for Miscellany Monday.

This doesn't deserve a title

I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally be home. December has been treating me like I'm a social butterfly and dropping more festivities in my homebody lap than I know what to do with. I decided to come home straight from work instead of going to Church because I didn't think I could "turn it on" till 8:30. You know what I mean - all the smiling and talking. Oh I kid, I was just really tired.

I did make one little detour through the Taco Bell drive-thru. I never thought I'd go back there since we broke up after the stomach revolt of 2009 after eating a Nachos Supreme. I think that may have been when I first realized my stomach had officially entered adulthood.

Thinking back, Taco Bell hasn't been my friend for a long time. I met my one and only stalker there the summer before my Senior year of high school. We used to hang out there on Sunday nights after Church and I met a real cutie. Unfortunately, things didn't go so well and I ended up dodging him for months. The last straw was when he showed up at my dorm my Freshmen year of college wearing a doo rag.

Needless to say, I didn't go for the food. About 3:00 today I started craving one of their Strawberry Frutistas and I made a commitment in my heart to move heaven and earth to get one. Only in Alabama does it make more sense to get a frozen drink in the middle of December rather than hot chocolate. It was a sweet 61 degrees as I sat in the drive thru with the window down at 5:30.

I'll go ahead and apologize now for writing a post about my trials and tribulations with Taco Bell. It says a lot about the excitement in my life. So I'll go now. I plan on spending the rest of my night snuggled up on the couch under my electric blanket watching TV with Hubs.

The day where nothing really happened

Surprising, huh? I knew my day was going to be less than spectactular early this morning when I tried to fix my hair and it ended up looking like a big pile of poo. It has fully entered an "in-between" stage and is undeniably dreadful.

Somehow me and my hair managed to make it through the 8 to 5 grind without any of my coworkers running away in horror. I will say that the day did go by fairly quickly and before I knew it, me and my hair were off to the gym. The nice thing about the gym is that I can wear my cap and therefore, devote that hour and 10 minutes to counting down each and every one until it's over.

Hubs and I got home about the same time and promptly popped corn dogs in the oven because we have high food standards. We had a lovely time discussing our day as we stood in the kitchen and anxiously watched the timer countdown for the longest 20 minutes ever. And then, we enjoyed our corn dogs on paper plates while we watched recorded episodes of Judge Judy.

Yes, I know - the excitement is almost more than I can take too. Here's hoping to a good hair day tomorrow. It makes all the difference.