May 2015

Easter Sunday

I'm more than a little late this month. :) Oh well.

April was a busy month for us.

Easter was very nice. Anthony was a little disappointed because he was unable to sing in the Easter choir at church due to a throat infection. He is much better now but it had the potential to turn serious at one point. 

It was both of our birthdays, so we celebrated pretty big this year. In honor of both our birthdays, Valentines Day, & our anniversary, we took a short trip to Disney World. We only stayed three days but we were more exhausted from those three days than we were when we went for eight. We tracked our steps while we were there as well and found out we were averaging between 12-14 miles per day. For someone who gets in probably less than two miles (maybe three if I go for a walk), that is quite a workout. 

Anthony trying Beijing Strawberries

Spring is when Epcot hosts it's Flower and Garden Festival. They have started adding food booths at this festival as well, now. So we got the best of both worlds this year: the beautiful flowers and the tasty food. :) The best thing we had, by far, were what they called Beijing Strawberries. Man, they were good! It was three gigantic strawberries on a skewer, encapsulated in a hardened sugar/syrup shell, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. I didn't really think it sounded good but it was AMAZING! We sat down to eat it and we were getting several stares and a few people asked us where we got them. We should have gotten paid a commission fee for as many people as we sent to the booth. Ha!

It rained two of the three days we were there. Hard, torrential rains.

Waiting in the rain to ride Splash Mountain

But, it kept everything fairly cool, so we didn't complain. The first day we got to Florida, we check in at our hotel and then headed to the park. We had a fast pass to ride Splash Mountain. We were about to step into the next boat when they shut the ride down due to the storm passing over. Luckily, I had insisted on bringing our ponchos that day so we stayed much dryer than most of the rest of the people in line. We waited there for over an hour and then just decided to leave our ponchos on for the ride. Ha. 

We love Disney but we made some decisions on this trip:

1. We will only visit Disney every five years or so. That way there are a decent amount of changes between visits and we will really appreciate the trips more.
2. We will save up in order to pay extra to stay at Coronado Springs. Pop Century is fine, its a bed & that's really all you need. But, it is still pretty expensive and if you are going to stay on property and pay that much money, it feels like more of a vacation staying at a place where you will always get a seat on the bus and will never have to wait for a second bus to show up. Coronado Springs just has such fewer people at it. Granted, it is the only conference center at Disney World (that I know of) so you may want to make sure you go when there isn't a major conference going on because I'm sure it really gets crowded.
3. Unless we have grandparents or other help, we will never take children under eight. Our minds may actually change once we have kids but for now, they would have to be some very mature kids to convince me to take them. ;)

I may make a few posts about Disney, tips, and recommendations later but for now, here are a few more pics from our trip. Enjoy. :)

Leaving the Haunted Mansion 

Magic Kingdom's Wishes firework show

Outside Be Our Guest restaurant. You can see
Beast's castle in the upper left hand corner of the pic. 

Riding Expedition Everest

Anthony in front of Spaceship Earth. Goofy & Pluto topiaries gardening. 

These crazy ladies were driving around handing out maps & talking to people.

Anthony trying a cronut

Captain Hook

"Never smile at a crocodile..."

Macaron Guimauve a la Fraise
(Strawberry Marshmallow Macaron)

Frushi

Beijing Strawberries

Mater

Lightening McQueen

Sunset outside our hotel room.

Exhausted but happy to be back home.

Being inspired by all the flowers & gardens, I turned my awesome
Spaceship Earth mug into a succulent garden.

Slow Leak

A few weeks ago, I had printed off some recipes and had separated them into categories on the carpet in our living room. The next day, I picked them up and noticed they felt like they had been in a damp environment. Not wet, just kind of soft feeling. I felt the carpet where they had been sitting & it felt damp. I moved a book case and the carpet under it was soaked and mold had starting growing. I knew instantly we had a big problem. 

We called a plumber who had to cut into our wall to find the leak. He originally thought it was a leak in the slab which would have been very expensive to fix. Luckily, the leak was higher up and he was able to fix it. It was still pretty expensive but better than he originally thought. He said we had a fairly decent amount of water damage and suggested we call a water restoration company. Thankfully, God was protecting us once again and the man from the company told us "I am not in the business of robbing people. My fees start at $800 and you don't have $800 worth of damage here." He then instructed us how to clean up the mess ourselves.

We ended up having to purchase a new book shelf, patch the wall, and we will have to replace a section of the carpet pad and shampoo the carpet when we are done with everything. All in all, a little hole in a small pipe that has been slowly dripping for at least a year is going to end up costing us quite a bit of money and effort that we would have preferred spending in other ways.

That concept had me thinking today. Here we have a house, with lots of pipes, wires, wood, brick, concrete, etc and our whole life was turned upside down for a tiny little hole in one small pipe. This small, drip over the span of at least a year, ended up causing so much damage. 

I've been relistening to the Strange Fire Conference hosted by Grace Community Church in California in 2013. This conference addressed some of the false teachings that have slipped into the church, have been tolerated, accepted, and finally practiced by much of the church today. It had me thinking about how a small leak of bad theology has grown into a full movement and has infiltrated most of what claims to be "Christianity."

Galatians 5:9 says, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." A little false teaching can bring down an entire church and even a whole denomination and eventually taint the reputation of the universal church to where what most "Christians" claim to be the Gospel is actually no gospel at all. 

Justin Peters says that many false teachers today do teach quite a bit of truth, but there is just enough false teaching that it becomes deadly. He compares it to putting a tiny drop of strychnine in a glass of water. The contents of the glass may be 99% healthy, beneficial water but that tiny fraction of poison will kill whoever drinks from it. 

We must address false teachings when we hear them. Even if they don't seem like a big deal or like something most Christians would fall for. We cannot let even one small drip, one small grain of yeast to exist in the church. We must root it all out. 

The best way to do this is to not neglect daily reading the Word of God.

This was part of Jesus' prayer to the Father for all those whom would become Children of God:

"I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth." (John 17:14-19)

This leak also got me to thinking of the Christian life. How much "damage" can a small leak of good theology, of Truth, do to the enemy, to the false religions of the world. The small, constant, dripping of one voice can begin to eat away at a big conglomeration. A small leak is typically silent and can go on unnoticed for a long time, it usually isn't noticed until substantial damage has taken place.

Yes, the loud voices, "the burst main lines," are needed in the church today. Those who make dramatic differences in the world today. Missionaries, preachers, debaters, authors, speakers, etc. But it is the sheep within the church, the ordinary man, the layman, the "silent slow leak" that really causes a whole change in trajectory of a group, church, city, state, country, world. 

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 says we should "aspire to live quietly" in order that we will "walk properly before outsiders." Teaching a correct view of God and worldview leads to people being saved and equipping them to go out and do the same. A group of a thousand protesters usually does little than just upset those who are on the other side of whatever movement the protesters are upset about. I'm not saying their isn't a place for protesting but much more is done by the changing of the worldview of the masses. 

We must pray for our leaders, political and spiritual. We must pray for each other as well. Not merely prayers of addressing felt needs (health, family, finances, etc) but prayers for wisdom, discernment, to be protected from falling into sin, to remain faithful to God, and, above all else, to bring glory to God's name. 

If you need help knowing what and how to pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ, check out the openings and closings of the epistles. These are letters from the Apostles to the churches. They often open with how they thank God for them in certain ways and then close telling the church how they will pray for them in specific ways and then tell the church how they can pray for writers in specific ways.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." (Philippines 1:3-5)

"We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you," (Colossians 1:3)

"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

"We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." (2 Thessalonians 1:3)

"Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one...May the Lord direct your heads to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ." (2 Thessalonians 3:1-3, 5)

"Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all." (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

We must also pray for a real revival in the church, not a manufactured, emotional high type revive, but a true drawing close to God.

"We cannot organize revival, but we can set ourselves to catch the wind of heaven." ~ G Campbell Morgan

"We must set our hearts to treasure the God who describes Himself in Scripture, never again be satisfied with His absence. It is His name which is at stake. It is also our everlasting joy to have Him near." ~ John Snyder (Behold Your God, p. 263)

"Regardless of the spiritual and moral decline, it is never so dark that God, the Eternal Light, cannot expel the darkness." ~ John Snyder (Behold Your God, p. 262)

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." (James 4:7-10)

April 2015

March wasn't super eventful. However, it was a month of personal realizations. Most of what went on in March is personal and not really something to put out for the world to read...and be bored with. It isn't anything serious or world rocking, just normal life things.

For example, both of our birthdays are in April, so like a lot of people, the last month of the year, you seem to reassess where you have been and where you are going. It seems that the whole world usually does this in December with January being the "month that I change my life." However, for me, that has always come in the March/April transition. It seems like most of my big life changes have occurred in March/early April. When I lost a lot of weight several years ago, I started in March/April; I quit my job and became a stay-at-home/work-at-home/small business owner in March last year; I got married in March. So, this year wasn't much different. It is just a look at where I am, where I want to be, where I'm afraid I may end up. It is turning my fears over to God and praying about what I need to do next. Most of that is just a very personal journey that my be very impactful for me but probably really boring to the world. ;)

The best thing about March was that Anthony and I celebrated our third anniversary. I cannot believe it has been three years. It feels like we just got married a few weeks ago but at the same time, I feel like we have always been together. We were told so many times before we got married that marriage is hard and especially the first few years, getting use to living with each other. I fully expected that to happen but it didn't. We have had a few bumps such as me being stressed about work and crying a lot and him having to comfort me; Anthony learning I get a little crazy from time to time, especially in the kitchen when I mess something up and him learning to calm me down; learning how to share a queen size bed. However, nothing really that I would call "hard." I've done hard things and the first three years of our marriage has not been one of them. In fact, I really can't think of anything I've done in my life that has been easier than marrying Anthony. We may have had a few struggles like having issues with getting pregnant, but it isn't as difficult when you are doing it with your best friend. Our burdens aren't as heavy when two people are carrying them together. 

Our marriage and relationship is a testimony to the work of God in our lives. I was thirty when I met Anthony, he was twenty-eight. We both thought God had forgotten about us. I had heard people say that God was preparing my future husband for me. So, I use to pray, "Lord, hurry up & finish fixing him so we can get on with this!" Little did I know that He was working on both of us. There are things that if I had met Anthony even three months earlier, I may not have been as interested in him. And, he tells me that if he had met me earlier, he was in no place emotionally to be starting a serious relationship. 

God is truly YHWH-Yireh, Jehovah-Jireh, "The LORD Will Provide." He does provide, and He does so in His own, perfect timing. I look back now on my life and wouldn't have changed a thing. We also know that if He ever sees fit to bless us with children, it will be in His perfect timing and in His perfect way. 

It is half-way through April now and it has been a busy month and it doesn't look like it is going to let up for a while, but I'll write about that more next month. ;) 

March 2015

Well, February wasn't that busy. The last weekend, I went to a conference with my friend Tara. It is called The Art of Homemaking and is presented by the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth. We had a great time. Next year, I hope to get a fairly decent size group to go. I have been to several very bad women's retreats, so I wanted to check this one out before inviting a bunch of people. I wouldn't say it was the best conference I've ever been to but it was the best women's conference I've ever been to. I dream of hosting a women's conference one of these days & I would do a lot of things differently but this one is still one I would highly recommend. Next year it will be in the fall, so we have to wait almost 18 months for the next one but it will be worth it. :)

On Valentine Day, Anthony got up early and made me breakfast in bed. It was so wonderful. Red roses, heart shaped biscuits, man, I am one blessed woman!

I said in my last two posts that I was going to talk about my goals for 2015. I am going to be really general because I have a very, very long list that speaks of the specifics of each goal so there is no need to address that here. So, here I go.

I have categorized all of my goals into nine main groups: spiritual, physical, mental/educational, entertainment, emotional, family, social, home, and work. Because I'm a little bit crazy when it comes to making lists and outlines and organizing (despite my home not exactly evidencing that), I have subcategories & subsubcategories. Hehe. So, I'll only share a few of them with you and tell you how I'm doing on them so far, being that we are almost 1/4 of the way into 2015. :)

I. Spiritual

     A. Prayer

          1. Prayer journal - I am no where near consistent in setting aside time to pray. However, when I write my prayers out, I can concentrate better. I have also seen how my prayers often start out me-centered but end more God-centered. My husband and my mother-in-law both got me journals for Christmas that I am using as my prayer journal.

          2. Read a prayer from Valley of Vision each night together before we go to bed - I was doing this for a little while and then I stopped. I need to get back into this again. 

     B. Bible reading

          1. BSF - I am almost through my first BSF session. I'm looking forward to studying Revelation. I have different thoughts on eschatology than I did even four years ago so I'll be interested in seeing how they deal with the different viewpoints and it will be good for me to read through Revelation slowly now that my presuppositions have altered somewhat.

          2. Daily Bible reading with Anthony - We have been doing this since we got married. We miss days/weeks every so often but it is a definitely a habit we want to always be a part of our marriage.

          3. Behold Your God study - I am almost finished going through this with my friends. Wow! What an amazing study! It will reprogram your mind to think of God differently, more Biblically. It is by far the best book study I have ever participated in.

          4. Keep a list of what God says about Himself - This was an idea I got from one of the pastors interviewed in the Behold Your God study. 

          5. After reading a passage, always ask, "What does this passage tell me about God?" - The Bible is not all about me, I need to remember that. Asking this question will help me to remember who the Bible really is about.

          6. Practice homiletics - No, I don't want to preach. However, I did take a one hour BSF seminar on homiletics and I can see how it really helps you in studying a passage. I haven't practiced this much but I really want to work on it this year. Plus, I one day want to write Bible studies for women and this will help me practice in doing that.

     C. Scripture memory - I've posted a verse to memorize by our door but I really don't see it that often so I think I'm going to put the same verse in our bathrooms as well so we see it more often. ;)

     D. Church

          1. Get involved - I have joined the audio visual team and Anthony is the hospitality person for our new church, The Church at Pecan Creek. What is great is that we can actually help each other out. Anthony is so gifted at understanding technology and has been helping me & the whole team get some things set up. The other night he was sick so I and another friend of ours took care of the hospitality stuff. I will say that this audio visual stuff is daunting but I'm learning a lot. We have the ability to control both the projector and the sound system from our iPads, allowing us to sit in the audience rather than in a sound booth. 

               a. Audio Visual team

               b. Hospitality

               c. Women's ministry - I want to get a women's ministry going eventually at our new church. We aren't quite there yet but I definitely want to be involved with it.

II. Physical

     A. Exercise

          1. Wii Fit - I got a Wii Fit for Christmas and I love it. I need to be more consistent about doing 20-30 mins every morning, which means I need to get up earlier (another goal further on).

          2. Work up to 10,000 steps a day - I got a pedometer that connects to the Wii Fit so I'm keeping track of this. I didn't realize how sedentary I really am. Very depressing. The other day I walked almost three miles and still didn't even get close to 10,000 steps. I never realized how much walking that actually means. :)

          3. Thirty min move after every meal - Last week I came up with the idea to try to take a 30 min exercise of some sort (gardening, walking, wii) after every meal. I haven't done this yet but I think it is doable and healthy.

     B. Food

          1. Monthly menues - I've been consistent with this for a year; I just want to keep doing so and hopefully be better at sticking to it this year. :)

          2. Try more healthy recipes - I've researched a few new recipes I want to try including cooking with spring rolls, quinoa, and cauliflower, all things I've never experimented or even tasted. 

          3. Keep a food journal - I'm a member of SparkPeople and keep up with my nutrition through their app. I just started back at this last week and I've been pretty good at keeping up with it, with a few meals missed.

          4. Water - I am an avid water drinker however, over the last couple of years, I've gotten into a bad habit of not drinking as much as I use to. I need to be better at getting my water in each day.

     C. Checkups - working on these

III. Mental/Educational

     A. Reading

          1. Read 10 books this year (not including the Bible) - I am currently reading two books. So, I'm already behind but as long as I'm consistently working toward this goal, I'm happy.

              a. Women's Ministry in the Local Church by Ligon Duncan & Susan Hunt - I'm 65% (according to the Kindle app) of the way done with this and I can say it is a wonderful book. I highly recommend it to all women and all leaders (including the men) in a church to read this book.

              b. Everyone's A Theologian by RC Sproul - I'm only a couple of chapters in but this book is so great. It is an intro to systematic theology and is a book that every Christian should read.

               c. 

     B. Sewing - I haven't done these yet.

          1. Learn to make a skirt

          2. Learn to make PJ pants with pockets for Anthony

          3. Learn to make toys

          4. Learn to make window treatments (cornice, drapes)

IV. Entertainment

     A. TV time

          1. Limit TV time to two hours a day (except when sick and doing laundry) - We are actually pretty good at doing this right now. Many nights we don't even turn on the TV. The problem is that when we do, it is very difficult to turn it off.

     B. iPhone/iPad games 

          1. Delete the time wasting games - Done. I had some games on my iPad that I realized one day I was spending hours on and wasting much of my day. They are now gone. I feel so free now; I didn't realize what a slave I had become to them. I still have a couple of games that only take a min to make a move before waiting for the next person to move so those don't suck my time away. I also still have Sudoku but I usually only play that while watching TV.

V. Emotional

     A. Time management

          1. Get up by 6 am - I am so not good at this. I have got to get better at this. If this is the only thing I get in the habit of doing this year, I will cut it a good year. :)

          2. Create and stick to a daily schedule - I have done this several times but I finally think I have created one that works for me. I have been pretty consistent at sticking to it as well...at least most of it...still need to work on getting that exercise in as one of the first things in the morning...hence needing to get up at 6 am. 

          3. Prep dinner in the morning - When I don't do this, I can sometimes dread having to stop what I'm doing to spend the next two or more hours cooking & then cleaning up from cooking. When I get most of the prep work done in the morning, I know if I need anything in time to go to the store, I can know the meat is thawed/marinated, and I usually end up saving myself a lot of frustration and time. Another reason for needing to be out of bed by 6 am.

VI. Family

     A. Family archival - I'm still working on this. I was really consistent of doing this for a while but there was a few weeks that I couldn't and just never got back in the habit. I cleaned off my desk on Sunday so that I would have room to get back at this again.

VII. Social

     A. Game group - We want to create a gaming group that meets fairly consistently. Right now there are four of us but we would like to invite a few other people to join in with us. We are working on this one. :)

     B. Have people over at least once a month - We do this fairly often already but I want to start inviting people who we don't have over that often.

VIII. Home

     A. Major projects

          1. New garage door opener - done

          2. New roof & gutters - I need to call the insurance company to see if they can come take a look at the roof.

     B. Minor projects

          1. New tires - done

          2. Fix door panels - done

          3. Fix fence - not done yet...the weather & our busy weekends had been impeding this. 

IX. Work

     A. Kapp's Kitchen

          1. Make one batch of cookies a day - I'm not doing this consistently yet.

          2. Work the Denton County Community Market - We are trying to get our application in for this but we have a question that hasn't been answered yet, so we are kind of in limbo at this point.

     B. A Narrow-Minded Woman

          1. Research/write 1-2 hrs a day - I am not consistent in this, yet.

          2. Publicly publish the site - Not quite ready yet. I have all the pages up and ready but I want to get at least 10 articles written before I start posting.

          3. Post 2-3 articles a week

     C. COO of the Kapp Family

          1. Create a home management binder - I have created several printables and I am working on more. I have been enjoying a few of the ones I have created so far. One of these days I may put them online for purchase. 

          2. Organize & clean office - I cleaned part of my desk off on Sunday, does that count? ;) Granted, much of this is directly proportional to how far along in the family archiving I am. 

So that is part of what I'm working on this year. Ha. Like I said, I like making lists. It makes me feel calmer and less overwhelmed. Some of these are already complete, some are just habits I want to maintain, others may take many years or a lifetime to complete, and it is highly likely I'll add more to this list as the year goes along. There are a few other things that I didn't list either because they were a little more private or I just didn't want this list to get crazy. Ha. Fail there. ;)

February 2015

January was relatively quite for us. It was nice. I finally got most of the house cleaned & organized after being sick and the holidays. Anthony installed new lighting under the cabinets in the kitchen and put together a bookshelf for our bedroom. I moved all our books (except the cook books) from the living room & into the bedroom so that we could fill the bookshelves in the living room with our board games. What we learned is that either we need more bookshelves (& a bigger house for them to go in) or we can't buy anymore games for a while. :) On an unrelated note, if you like the looks of our bedroom furniture and you have a way of hauling it, we can make you a very good deal on it. :)

New bookshelf in our bedroom.

Our games are taking over.

But what has really made us feel like our house is now a home is the purchase of a lamp. It is so weird that that one little thing has made our living room so much more cozy and homey. :)

January 18th was our first official service as The Church at Pecan Creek. We held it at our future site, Pecan Creek Elementary, and will be meeting there once every two months until we move there permanently in August. It was a great service. We are really starting to make some close friendships. It is very exciting for us two introverts to make friends. :)

Pastor Trey Talley

We visited Malta for a few days and shelled some pecans. Anthony made pecan chicken & pork chops that was amazing.

Other than that and a couple of game nights, January was pretty quite. Seemed so much busier at the time but when I look back, it seems less impressive. ;)

I did say last time that I would discuss my goals for this year. I still plan on doing that. I've got them written out but I am still thinking about how I want to talk about them here. :)

2015...January

December...well, that was marked by me recovering from a 3-4 week long respiratory infection/cold followed by the flu. 

I have typically been anti-flu vaccine, not because I thought there was something wrong with it but because, when I worked for the hospital system, we were essentially forced to take the flu vaccine. I do not respond well to being forced to do anything. I was born with a rebellious spirit (just ask  my parents) & it is something I have struggled with all my life. Another reason I didn't like the flu shot was that I would always come down with a terrible cold, which I thought was the flu, each year that I had taken the flu shot with the exception of last year. 

This year, since I no longer work for the health system, I was going to take the shot...because I wasn't being forced to. Then I got that awful respiratory thing. Then I just forgot. I will say, that after this bout of flu, I can only think of one other time where I may have had the flu. That was pretty, stinking terrible. Even when I was feeling better, I was so weak I couldn't do anything productive. Christmas day was the first day I actually felt good. Thank God that we didn't have any Christmas orders through Kapp's Kitchen. I would have hated to contact people a week before Christmas to cancel their orders. Talk about a blessing in disguise. :) Needless to say, I'll be taking the shot next year. :)

December wasn't all kleenexes & Tamiflu, however. We did manage to get in our annual Christmas lights drive and we had several Christmases this year & all of them were wonderful and we were very spoiled, as usual. I am also so very thankful for technology. Since I was sick, I stayed home from the first Christmas but was able to FaceTime for it. I also was able to FaceTime into my sister's Christmas with our parents and we were able to have one of my sisters-in-law Skype our Christmas with the Kapp's. It is amazing that despite being thousands of miles away, we can still connect with those we love. Sure beats the days of telegram & Pony Express. :)

We spent New Year's Eve at home. We were supposed to have some friends over for a game night but they were stuck by winter illness as well. It was a nice quite NYE for us. We had Kahlua Carnitas Street Tacos with homemade corn tortillas (made by Anthony) and pineapple pico de gallo. Then we watched Jurassic Park II and III. LOL Anthony got the whole trilogy for Christmas and we had watched the first one earlier that week. Good times. Can't wait for Jurassic World. :D

New Year's morning Anthony made Crème Brûlée Oatmeal and we had sparkling cranberry-apple juice. :) 

Sooooo...New Years Resolutions. I've never been one to make resolutions but I always think about my goals for the next year, which I guess is essentially the same thing. I try to break them into different categories because I am a list maker and that is how I work. :) The categories I like to consider my yearly/monthly/weekly/daily goals for are: Home, Work, Physical, Spiritual, Emotional, Mental/Educational, and Social. And...since I am a big fan of outlines, there are subcategories under each of these categories. LOL Anyway, I won't bore you with all that now. I'll be kind and make a separate post on these goals for 2015.

2015...can you believe it?! This is the year that Marty McFly visited in Back to the Future II. 2015 sounded so futuristic in the 80's and 90's. We do have some pretty fascinating technology now. Maybe no flying cars or self-drying clothes but look at what we do have. Phones that are more powerful than most mainframe computers in the past. The internet is a vital part of our day-to-day lives. Like I mentioned earlier, FaceTime and Skype to see people on the other side of the earth. Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Etsy, Hulu, blogs, Pinterest, iPads, Kindle, podcasts, apps and all the other new words that have entered our common vocabulary that represent how we live our lives today. The future may not have turned out as we imagined in the 80's, 90's, 50's, 40's but it is pretty fantastic, after all. 

Speaking of exciting and fantastic. We are a part of a new church plant. We will officially be meeting as The Church at Pecan Creek near the end of this month. We will be temporarily meeting at Northview Baptist Church at 5pm on Sunday nights until August when we will move to our first official location at Pecan Creek Elementary School in Corinth. We are very excited in this endeavor but we also ask for your prayers at this time. There are many challenges in starting a church, especially when we it is our mission to do so as closely to the Scriptures as we can, with holiness and integrity, not compromising in any way in Biblical doctrine while living with a spirit of mercy, grace, patience, and gentleness. We do not intend to offend or hurt anyone's feelings but we place the Gospel and living an increasingly holy life in higher importance. We hope through this adventure, we will grow in Christian maturity, encourage one another in our Christian walk, sharpen one another, hold each other accountable, show each other and those outside our circle the love, grace, and mercy that we have all had shown to us from our Father, and share the Gospel with those in our community and beyond. If you are in our area, please consider worshiping with us. If you are not, then please keep us in your prayers.

There isn't much more to say about January except keep warm. This is the month when winter really starts to set in here in Texas. Granted, most of the rest of the US laughs at us shivering in 30º and 20º weather. Of corse in the summer we laugh at the rest of you sweating in 80º and 90º weather. ;) I'm freezing right now but I am also soaking it up. I would much rather be cold than hot. I can always throw on another sweater or drink another cup of hot tea or cocoa. In the summer, there is only so much iced tea and lemonade you can drink. I guess I should just "Let it go, let it gooooo-oh..." Mwahahahahaha! ;)

December

BGG Con

November was a blast.

We went to the 2014 Board Game Geek Convention in Dallas. So much fun. I (Kristy) didn't have a break down from social anxiety this year. Yay! I only got really moody once (that I can remember) but it was super late at night. :)

I played 38 games in 5 days. Anthony played 33. Anthony volunteered in the library for an hour and went to a charity auction for a couple of hours, so I was able to play a few more than him. 

If you would like to see all the games I played, click here. Games I would highly recommend include:

Playing Las Vegas

• Black Fleet (pirates...need I say more)
• Colt Express (very cool game with a cool "board")
• 7 Steps (pretty abstract...not in America yet)
• Machi Koro (we already owned this one but it is worth mentioning)
• Robinson Crusoe (extremely difficult co-op game but very cool)
• Hot Tin Roof (very similar to Ticket To Ride but maybe a little simpler...I liked it)
• Paperback (kind of like Scrabble mixed with Dominion...if you know what Dominion is)
• Planes (like Mancala but with a twist)
• Mysterium (similar to Dixit...also not in America yet)
• Alchemists (cool use of new technology...iPhone)
• Eight Minute Empire (quick, light Euro)

Anthony, Alejandro, Jordan, & me

One night we went with a group to Hard Eight BBQ. It was pretty good, not my all time favorite BBQ place but it is seriously hard to compete with Prairie House...mmmmm....

After staying up past 2 am four nights in a row, we were exhausted when we got home. I was super irritable and ready to fight somebody for two days after that. I even risked going to a post office I had an incident at about 3 years ago but this time was much nicer despite my attitude. ;)

I'm starting to recognize a theme. I would like to ask all two of my readers to please remember me in your prayers. I need God to work on my attitude. 



We spent Thanksgiving with Anthony's family in Paris...Paris, TX, that is. We had a great time and so much delicious food. 

The day after Thanksgiving we all went out to the bottoms on the Red River. A lot of them spent several hours riding four wheelers over the dunes. Anthony's aunt made chili and hot cocoa. We roasted hot dogs over a camp fire and made a campfire dump cake. I had never had a dump cake, much less one made over a campfire and, oh man, was is delicious!

Now December is in full swing. We went to the Denton Tree Lighting and had funnel cakes. Anthony and I are really starting to feel at home in Denton. We tend to run into people we know when in stores or out at community events.

We had our own little tree lighting event of ourselves the other night. We watched Mickey's Christmas Carol and A Muppet's Christmas Carol while decorating the tree and mantle. It was a nice cozy evening just the two of us.

Have a merry Christmas everyone!