I have lost my mind!

I guess you don't realize how much you depend on a thing until it's not there anymore. My brain is gone. Our laptop, that is.

Our laptop is deader than a doornail and we have lost everything on it. The hard drive is kaput and every picture that I have taken in the last 3 years that I did not have printed on a hard copy is gone. My baby pictures are gone. I nearly cried. Then I started to realize that every really great shot is probably on my blog. YAY!

Yes. You might be inclined to advise me about the importance of having important information on a separate hard drive. I assure you, any advice about backing up all important information is a smidge late and given my current mood regarding things computer related - potentially ill-received... :) A joke. Sort of.

Anyway, I feel like I have fallen off the edge of the information highway into the abyss of yesterday's news. Please call me with any newsworthy thing you may have, as checking emails and blogs are no longer a part of my everyday life! I have even gotten lonesome for my friends, because I can't cheat and catch up on you by reading your blog - I should just pick up the phone and call for goodness sakes!!

It's not all bad - things seem to get a bit simpler, perhaps even slow down a tad when you're not constantly checking blogs and emails. This computer-less blast from the past may be just what the doctor ordered for the holidays...

As for losing my baby pictures, it still pains me to think about it.

moonlighting

I have been moonlghting as a soprano in a fancy Christmas trio.
We have had a couple of gigs that were oh! so much fun!
I miss being able to use that stuff I went to college for, so these little evenings in evening gowns have been fun. I especially love to sing in 'classically trained vocalist' style.

The other really big plus is that we were HIRED to sing. Don't these people know that I love to sing? Don't get me wrong, the extra Christmas cash is nice - but they must not realize how much fun it is... We Momma's need a reason to get dressed up and get out occasionally. It makes us feel high class and full of culture.

I wish we had another Christmas gig! Alas, it's back to singing Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph in the car on the way to school. I guess it's win/win after all. :)

Confusion or obedience?

It's hard to tell lately.
I feel like I have taken up residence atop the Tower of Babel, my ears for hearing His voice have gotten so mixed-up so many times.

Had I not gone to church this morning and heard God speak through a man whom I love to call my pastor about obedience and following the Holy Spirit, letting the Holy Spirit work in me, for me, through me - I might be more confused about what happened this evening.

A way out in left field experience for sure.

I got offered a job tonight. A real job offer. For a full-time teaching position. I would have turned back flips to get that same offer in September. Heavens! Last week! The only catch? I know that it's not for me. And as enticing as it was/is on some fronts, it's equally as not-for-me on others. So I will let it go quietly - without the weeping and gnashing of teeth you have come to expect from me... :)

Why? Because God has been working with me - very patiently, I might add. A recurring theme in my days and nights when I seek Him. He gently reminds me (repeatedly) about a thing that would be easiest to forget.

There is another opportunity that has been consistently on the horizon, which will require some real sacrifice on my part - but has the potential to reap eternal benefits for many. I don't have this one in the bag. I could very likely be knocked out in the first round of applicants - but still, when I pray, when I really, really lay it out before God, I have come to believe that this is the direction I am to go.

So the proverbial bird in hand versus two in the bush comes to mind.

The bird in hand looks very nice. But when I hold it with an open hand, it becomes clear that it's merely a ploy to distract me from the things God is trying to show me.

So I will chase after the two in the bush, knowing that this story has already been written and God is waiting for me to read it with Him, in His timing, and on the same page He reads.

updation

Chris is fine. (Except for the fact that I keep finding him sniffing and licking himself...)
:}
He spent the afternoon at the clinic. Got checked out and was given Rx.
The city apparently requires that dogs who bite and break the skin be put into quarantine for at least 10 days. So some mean ol' dog's gonna be locked in the slammer for a while.

On another note, I have a somewhat second hand update on Kelly Dunn. He's no longer in a medically induced coma or in ICU. The portion of his skull that had to be removed to alleviate swelling in the brain has been reattached. And from the telling of it, he is able to speak or at least communicate on some level. I have been reluctant to call Mari because it seems like she's a bit overwhelmed by the volume of phone calls she's having to return after she gets home. The information I have came from a co-worker of Kelly's. Keep praying. I believe in the power of the family of God coming together for a common purpose and petitioning for one who needs a miracle.

That's all I got.

Except for one quick complaint...
Whoever designed toy packaging clearly never consulted anyone who would be required to wrap said packaging. I'll refrain from further soap-boxing on this subject lest I stoop to cursing toy packages and fall completely out of the Christmas spirit.

How did that happen?

I know we all have those thoughts where you tell yourself, 'This could never have happened to anyone else. What kind of a freak am I, that this happened to me?'

But seriously. If ever, ever there was a time that thought was true - today was that day and the lucky person was my husband.

Today is his day off. He and I had planned a quickie shopping trip to finish up buying Christmas gifts for the kids during lunch. We went to Academy to get J. a Laser Tag set and were walking back through the parking lot toward our car when suddenly, out of nowhere, a ferocious dog lunged out of the back of a pickup truck and started chomping on Chris' back without provocation of any kind.

Yes, really. Through his shirt (and without making a hole in his shirt), the dog managed to puncture his back in 4 places and draw blood.

He has now spent the afternoon in a Dr.'s office being treated for potential rabies infection.
He's still not home. And because we don't have cell phones, I don't even know what they have found.

What a freakishly weird and awful thing to happen! Poor hunny...

Vote. Vote. Vote.

This is my first time to make Christmas Cards! I'm kinda excited! I wanted to have super cozy winter pics - but my pics aren't that great - so I used the ones from our heavenly Jenny shoot this summer. I know - summer pics for a Christmas card. Tsk! Tsk!

Also, I used a super easy peasy digi-scrap site. I hope those of you who can make scraps from scratch aren't too unimpressed...

I am putting up a voting poll on the side bar so you can tell me which card to order.

Two Word thoughts.

Vacation over.
Terrific time.
Thankful heart.
Bursting belly.
Tight jeans.
Enter elastic.

Bathroom painted.
Christmassy house.
Laundry overload.
Grocery drought.
Kids grown.

School today.
Marathon Monday.
Brain dead.

Avery Xan.

Yesterday was my little angel's birthday.

She turned 4 years old!

To list here in such a small space all the ways she has made our world better would not be an attainable goal.

God placed within her such a magnetic and precious personality. It is impossible for me to look at her and not smile from deep within, keenly aware of the many blessings I have been given.

She exudes beauty. Not just because she's beautiful on the outside, but because she's tender and loving and thoughtful and attentive and cuddly and caring and everything that represents inner beauty. She's got it all.

What a wonderful assignment it is to raise my precious real-life baby doll!

I have been entrusted with such a precious jewel and I thank God for her daily!

Happy Birthday, little Avery Xan!

I apologize.

• for leaving dead wallpaper on my blog for so long
• for not updating about Kelly Dunn - although I have no news. I'll call his wife today and try to get the scoop. Keep praying, I am pretty sure he will be in for a long recovery.
• for not posting about any of the sweet, cute wonderful things my precious kids are doing these days.