Tagged

Here are the rules: each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well . At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!
Where to start??

1. I am a fanatical Texan. The guest bathroom in our house is complete with everything Lone Star State. For my one year anniversary with Southwest I received a stained glass wall hanging that is full of Texas artifacts. The bathroom is rounded out with a state flag shower curtain. Even my pickup is Lone Star red!

2. I hate painting. Holly loves to spice up the house with painting and accents. I do it out of husband obligation, but I really dislike it. I love the result just not all that blue tape and clean up.

3. I have a goal to see every one of my distant friends this year. I am off to a slow start, but I think I will still make it.

4. My driving routine to work is very regimented. I go the same way every morning and a different way every afternoon. I turn on the radio change stations and turn it off at very specific points. If an accident causes me to change my routine it is very disruptful to my day or evening.

5. If I wasn’t married and lived alone I would be like Hugh Grant’s roommate on Nottinghill. I consider myself pretty well kept, but I know it is all Holly’s doing.

6. I love the Chapel. I attend Plano Bible Chapel. It is significant to me that we don’t call ourselves a church. I love the fact our founders and elders value that difference. I love my Sunday school and especially the people who teach it. I love my pastor and his enthusiasm and passion for effecting change in peoples lives. I love just being in the company of the people of the church.

7. I know a secret about a blog-world friend, but I can’t tell. I am however open to bribes…

I tag Holly, Seth, Jonathan, Paul and Sarah. Sorry but everyone else is taken so I second the tags on Ethan, Armand and Jelanie!

Main Landing Gear Warning Light

It was a normal flight, for the most part. I was riding as a crew member from Fort Lauderdale on a packed plane to Houston and then on to Love Field. Our early arrival into Houston Hobby was well received by the passengers. I always like being early and I like to see the passengers happy when it is announced. As we landed we learned that we had an aircraft swap. There goes the time savings.

We went to our new gate to board our new plane and it was late. Every board showed delayed, so something crazy was going on somewhere. The crew and I board the plane, go through the pre-board checklist and start to re-board passengers. We takeoff with no problems. After we reach 10,000 feet I jump up and start to pass out peanuts. I get three rows of peanuts passed out when the captain calls the flight attendants. Normally this occurs when he is going to request the FAs sit down due to turbulence. I stop passing out peanuts and head to my seat, in anticipation. Right then the captain comes on the intercom and says that we have a ‘Main Gear Warning Light’ and that we are returning to Houston.

Now there are precious few things that you don’t want to go wrong on an aircraft. Almost every system on a passenger airplane in the US has two and three backup systems. This fact has made air travel in this country the safest in the world. The last thing you want to hear on an airplane is that the one system you need to land without incident has a warning light.

Thankfully all the readings in the cockpit showed that the gear was functioning properly and that the light was faulty, but those were some intense minutes. The other thing that was odd was that the flight crew knew that the system was operating as normal, but the passengers were not informed of anything other than a warning light. The FA stated that for the most part the less the passengers know the easier it is to handle any situations that arise. I found that very interesting.

Well we landed at Hobby without incident. We then transferred our passengers back to the original plane that we had left at the old gate and headed on our way to Love field. I was originally irked that we were taking off late. After our incident it made me ignore the fact that I was getting home 2.5 hours later than scheduled and glad to know that I work for an airline that values the safety of passengers so much that they don’t ignore warning lights just to get a flight on time or make money.

Imus in the Mornings

by Justin

I don’t know Imus. I have never even heard of him till last week. I am quite sure, based on what I am told, I wouldn’t enjoy listening to him. I do, however, have a problem with him being fired.

The problem I have is the discourse of racism in our country. Imus said “nappy headed hos” or something like that to cause him to get fired. No sooner than he said it did the NAACP, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were on a plane to protest.

My question is why isn’t the NAACP, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson protesting at the record company’s door step or the phat pharm corporate headquarters? Why are they not protesting the MTV awards show?

The answer is simple, they are not white.

I am sure I am racist in some form or fashion. I am sure that I have discriminatory beliefs and actions. I do however try not to be hypocritical. If they want me to respect the NAACP or even begin to listen and learn about a “new civil rights era” in this country, then it is time to clean their own house. Till then, stay our of mine.

It is time for a change is discourse in this debate. It isn’t white vs. black, cacasion vs. African American or even you vs. me. It is all of us trying to learn from each other. It is about us all holding each other to same standard. If you call your friend, brother or even your mother a ‘ho’ and it is an endearing term, then don’t be shocked when I call them the same thing.

A Glimpse Into My Day

by Holly

Wow, we’ve fallen off the wagon, haven’t we??
I keep thinking of great things I want to post but most of them have a picture to go along with them. We don’t put our pictures on the computer and even if we did, I don’t know how to put them in the blog. Justin keeps forgetting, so… no posts.

So I thought I would bore you all with what my day has been like so far. I’ve committed to a renewed effort of focusing on work while at work and leaving the email and blog world till after 4 (this comes in handy since I work on a quota system!)

Anyway, I work for an insurance company, reviewing medical claims. We pull them up based on their aging status and priority in a program called Get Work. We look at the documentation for each claim in a program called Image, which has been scanned in to eliminate the paper trail. That background given, our inventory of backlogged claims has been mounting for weeks as the units that send us work have been cleaning house and sending us junk we shouldn’t even be seeing. Its bad enough that we’ve been asked for voluntary overtime, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll move on to mandatory overtime.

Sounds simple enough, right? No. Image hasn’t been working for the last 2 hours and we aren’t able to work at all. Its like I can hear the inventory count clicking and spinning out of control as we continue to get dumped on and can’t even defend ourselves! Aaagggghhh!!!!!

So that’s my day. How are you?

One Year Ago Today....

By Justin

Who knew what started as a post about stripper and striper fishing would turn into a whole year of fun. One year ago today was our first blog. Holly didn’t think she would enjoy it; now she is an avid reader. I figured we would have some drop outs along the way, I just didn’t think it would be all the boys. Maybe my blog New Year resolution will be to inspire some long lost friends to join in the community again. As any alcoholic would say, it is never too late to jump back on the band wagon.

A year later and the blog would read the same. I am leaving this afternoon for Twin Arrows. The weather looks perfect. Nice crisp 50 degree evenings and warm 70 degree days with a chance of rain mid week. As I am so often reminded, it doesn’t rain at Twin Arrows, it is just heavy dews.

Holly is using some of the great benefits of working for an airline and hopping on a plane to West Texas for the evening. She will fly right over me on her way to Amarillo. I am jealous that she gets to see the family; it has been since Christmas since we have seen them. That is a long time in Justin and Holly world.

So that is the update of the next week. Happy Blog-verseray to Us!

Why I am bad at email

By Justin

I am sorry Ethan. I am sorry Erin. I have no excuse. None.

I am horrible at email. I love receiving them. I keep them for weeks on in and read them multiple times. I just have a hard time responding. I want to have the time to put forth thoughtful responses. I want to have the time to share a piece of my life with my long distance friends. I want to have the time to make the emails flow and somewhat witty. I want to have the time to make them count.

I have the time to do these things, but it is always at 6 p.m. after work. I never seem to be in the mood to sit and compose a hello to my friends that are defending my freedoms, my friends that make me laugh and cry on the east coast, or to my friends right here in town that I never see.

So to all my friends that I never email, I am sorry. I promise the reply button is at hand and my response, thoughtful or not, is quickly behind this post.

Healthy Snacks

by Holly

I am trying to eat more healthy foods and exercise regularly, two things I don’t normally relish. Justin and I love french fries of most varieties, but particularly Jack in the Box’s ‘seasoned curly fries’ and Scotty P’s ‘cardiac fries’. (Need I say more there?) We could live on Coke (no diet, thank you) and Sonic cheeseburgers with mayo. All this to say, our clothes no longer fit. And the budget really does not allow for new ones, but maybe the point should be that we need to be more healthy. Hmmm…

So, I have a few product recommendations for you:

1). Pringles has a new variety of chips, Pringles Selects. They are smaller and thicker, with a different kind of crunch, and they come in a bag, not a can. Four flavors: Sun Dried Tomato, Parmesan Garlic, Honey Sweet Potato and Szechwan Barbecue. I am in love with these, although I have only tried the first two. Next trip to the store though, and the next two are coming home with me!

2). Kellogg’s has a new cracker called All Bran. They are little whole grain crackers similar to Wheat Thins, and they are wonderful! There are Whole Grain and Garlic varieties. They are both yummy, but if you don’t mind dragon-breath, go for the Garlic!

3). The Laughing Cow has little triangular shaped soft cheese wedges, ¾ oz size. They come in a round disc and have 8 wedges in each disc. I’ve found Original Creamy Swiss and French Onion flavors, both quite good. Ours were next to the deli meat and cheese cases.

For those of you familiar with Weight Watchers (I’m familiar but don’t pay for their services), you can have one serving of the Pringles Selects (28 chips) OR one serving of All Bran crackers (18) with one wedge of Laughing Cow cheese for 3 points, which is quite a decent snack.

So there you go. Your nutritional tips for the day. Enjoy!

And your final score is........

by Holly

So my long-awaited year-end evaluation was this morning. I was nervous of course, although I know that I do my job well, but nevertheless, someone is putting a score on your livelihood for an entire year! It went really well thankfully. My supervisor is extremely nice, easy to talk to and quite funny. So she put me at ease, we took care of the business part of it, chatted for a few minutes and then…..

That’s right. We discussed my raise. Woohoo! It was a nice one, combined with many compliments and thanks for being a team player, dedicated to ethical behavior and good business sense, and best of all, an overall valued employee. So nice to hear those words!!!

I hope you have good evaluations, good bosses and good jobs. And that includes the non-money-paying type Aimee! Hug your kids and your husband and thank him for the opportunity to be there for them each day.

An Apology, A Thank You and

by Holly

Seems we’ve been consumed by our personal lives this week and out of touch with the outside world. Sorry about the lack of comments on everyone’s blogs and the serious negligence of our own posts.

We’ve found out this week just how loved and supported we are by our family, friends and church family. I think we had an idea, but until you are the one in need, you don’t really know to what extent people will go to show you their love. Its been nice to realize that. Sorry about the generalities- not anything that needs the public eye.


Do all of you experience the yearly performance evaluation? Its that time of year for me, and although I know I do my job well, the anxiety is there nonetheless. It should be coming up in the next couple of weeks, so I’m trying to just keep plugging along and not let it preoccupy my time and mind, but its still there.

On a similar note, I came in this morning to an email informing me that I have been placed on a task that only one other person in the department has access to. Without getting into the mundane details of Medical Reviewer responsibilities, I’ll just say that this is a huge honor and makes me realize that I have done something to please my supervisor. With the nature of this responsibility, I feel sure they were looking mostly for professionalism in conduct. What a compliment!
Now if we could start off every Monday morning with that kind of lift, the week might seem a little shorter! Ha!

Weekend Madness

By Justin

There is a saying that Albert Einstein says something like “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.” Sometimes I think this can be translated into “Work is what remains after you have survived your weekend.” While by no means did we ‘survive’ the weekend we did do a heck of a lot.

Friday night we meet some family friends in Fort Worth for supper. We ate at a really nice restaurant that has relocated from the top of the tower that was hit by the tornado. I was telling a coworker this and she commented that she might have to eat there just so she could tell her mother this story. It seems that tornados are a ‘cool’ thing up north.

Saturday morning we didn’t get to sleep in. Saturday morning sleep in is half of why I go to work. We had a close family friend pass away and her memorial service was early in the morning in Bridgeport. I hate funerals. I can have absolutely no feelings towards a person and break down crying. We left after the memorial and headed home. I was afraid ‘housewife Holly’ was going to come out, but instead I coxed her into the bed to take a nap. Man it was a nice long midday nap. We woke up a little late and rushed around to meet our friends for a concert. We drove out to Terrell, Texas to attend a southern gospel concert. We love southern gospel. We definitely eschew the age curve, but we don’t care. The concert got over around 10 and we headed to IHOP for supper. We got home real late.

Sunday we attended church, and really enjoyed the sermon. It was good to be there. After church we went to Mansfield to see my brother’s new house. It is big and nice, he wouldn’t have it any other way. It was great to spend a few quality minutes with him and his fiancé. We got home in the middle of the early evening to finish up a few easy chores and head to bed.

In summary, we traveled to Fort Worth, two hours west, one hour east and one hour south. All we needed was a border run to Oklahoma and we would have covered the compass!

Lastly, I would like to formally welcome the Maney's to Blogger! Paul and I attended Tech together and were roommates for a brief (and illegal) time. He took my place in Moosehead Mtn. when I got married. Paul's wife Sarah and Holly were at Tech at the same time and knew each other as well. Hi Paul and Sarah!!!!

Knox William Tokarz

by Holly

Well, baby season continues…

My friend Amy had her third baby yesterday, January 24th, 2007. She already has two girls and didn’t find out the sex of this baby, so she and Andrew were thrilled to have a baby boy this time!!!

His name is Knox William Tokarz, little brother to Shelby and Jerzy. He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 18 inches (I think!) long. Amy is doing fine and should be home Saturday.

Amy and I met my first week in the dorms at Texas Tech in 1996. She was living across the hall from me and Aimee (check out Aimee’s blog under H’s Buddies!). Amy and I have been friends since then and now live about 10 minutes apart, in Allen. She’s my scrapbooking buddy and a wonderful friend.

Congrats Amy and I can’t wait to meet Knox!!!

Lacking of a Rant

Lacking anything but cars and traffic to write about stinks. I want a new rant. Well I have plenty of rants, but most revolve around work and just wouldn’t make sense without the context. So what have we been up to?

Monday was THE ice day. We rebounded from that for a pretty mundane Tuesday. We spent the night watching The West Wing. Wednesday a mini ice day ensued. We got to come home from work, but it turned out to not be so bad. I think the meteorologists were being gun shy since they missed the last one so bad. Thursday Holly took a meal over to our friends that just had the baby and I met her and our friends at the rec center. Brian and I played racquetball. I stink to high heaven at it, but it is a very good workout. I will play racquetball for an hour, but get bored at trying to lift or run on the treadmill for an hour. Friday was a busy work day. We met some friends for dinner and I played computer games all night.

Now I am here.

Tomorrow we are going for a prolonged walk, weather permitting. Cleaning up the house a little and running some errands. Tomorrow night we are having a couple friend of ours over for dinner and games, so that should be fun. Sunday is church and relax. Next week we start it all over again.

That’s the update!

Ice Day

It is a cold and icy day in Dallas. We don’t deal well with this type of weather. I blame it on our ancestors; they rode horses and never traveled more than a few miles from the farm. As a consequence, we never were appropriately trained on how to drive a pickup in the ice.

By far the most annoying thing in the whole world on ice days are the people who just can’t make it to work. This morning, after my hour and a half 20mph drive to work, a coworker (who lives closer to work than me) called to tell me she couldn’t make it and would I tell her manager. I told her that her manager was here and I would transfer her. She was is utter shock that he was here and asked who else was missing besides her. I informed her that she was one of three not here, the other two living less than ten miles from work, by the way.

Well she just showed up, at 12:50. From the minute she walked in the door she has been going cube to cube to tell her stories of how bad the bridges were. She is making the rounds faster than a politician at a fundraising rally. We all seemed to make it across those bridges.

P.S. She has a 4 wheel drive car too!

Tour the State of Texas

Celebrating our western heritage:
Cut n Shoot, Texas
Gunshot, Texas
Gun Barrel, Texas

Need to be cheered up?
Happy, Texas 79042
Smiley, Texas 78159
Paradise, Texas 76073
Rainbow, Texas 76077
Sweet Home, Texas 77987

Why travel to other states? Texas has them all!
Detroit, Texas 75436
Colorado City, Texas 79512
Denver City, Texas 79323
Nevada, Texas 75173
Memphis, Texas 79245
Miami, Texas 79059
New Boston, Texas 75570
Santa Fe, Texas 77517
Tennessee Colony, Texas 75861

Feel like traveling outside the country? Don't bother buying a plane ticket! (Unless you are going to fly Southwest Airlines)
Canadian, Texas 79014
China, Texas 77613
Egypt, Texas 77436
Turkey, Texas 79261
London, Texas 76854
New London, Texas 75682
Paris, Texas 75460

We even have a city named after our planet!
Earth, Texas 79031

And a city named after our State!
Texas City, Texas 77590

Exhausted?
Energy, Texas 76452

Need Office Supplies?
Staples, Texas 78670

Men are from Mars, women are from
Venus, Texas 76084

You guessed it, it's on the state line..
Texline, Texas 79087

For the kids
Kermit, Texas 79745
Elmo, Texas 75118
Nemo, Texas 76070
Tarzan, Texas 79783
Winnie, Texas 77665

Other funny city names in Texas :
Beeville, Texas 78102
Bigfoot, Texas 78005
Buda, Texas 78610
Cactus, Texas 79013
Mercedes, Texas 78570
Nixon, Texas 78140
Telephone, Texas 75488
Whiteface, Texas 79379
White Deer, Texas 79097
Muleshoe, Texas
Loco, Texas

And last but not least, the Anti-Al Gore City
Kilgore, Texas 75662

Baby Season

by Holly

Well… It seems to be baby season in Texas. Our friends from Tech, Charissa and John, are the proud parents of a baby girl born on the 8th, Gianna Joy Ludlow. She was a little early but is doing great. Charissa is reported to be doing fine. For pictures and more info, check out their blog under H’s buddies. (That is pronounced GEE-ah-na).

Abbey and Nathan, friends from church, had their baby boy yesterday the 10th. His name is Jachin Rei Mulder and is doing good as well. Jachin has cleft lip and palate, but is healthy and there were no complications. Abbey is recovering fine from her c-section and is expected to be home by Saturday. (That is pronounced JAY-kin Ray).

Thank you all for your prayers for Abbey and Jachin yesterday. They were felt and appreciated. We hope that each of you are enjoying babies and new life in general as well. I’m sure Trey and Viki can’t wait to see their nephew!

God bless!

Here's Where I Am

By Holly

Although Justin has set the bar pretty high for this new year, I will try to be just as sensitive and gracious in my own soul-searching.

I ended 2006 in a tailspin, not knowing where December had gone. I spent 2 ½ weeks on a federal jury 40 miles from my home, which was both intriguing and exhausting. I am thankful for the experience, and for the kind judge and security officers, but I wish that it had come at a different time of year. You see, it lasted from December 4th to the 20th, causing me to miss out on the usual languishing in Christmas joy that I usually partake in. I don’t want to start out the year complaining; I did enough of that last year. I just hope that I can recover from the anxiety and caffeine-induced high that I was on, before it truly takes its toll on me.

So as I look forward to this season of both physical and emotional renewal, I have spent a good deal of time, as Justin has, contemplating what is truly important in my life. We have made a few observations/decisions/commitments together, but I want to share today my personal ones. Bear with me, as I do best with lists (you understand, Aimee!).

1. I need to simplify my life. This means limiting my church, social, financial, emotional commitments. I feel that the things of my life are all important and good, but too much of a good thing can still wear you down and distract you from your focus, mine being my relationship with God, and my marriage.

2. I want to be a more positive person. While our society as a whole, and me in particular, appreciate both sarcasm and good-natured ribbing, I do not feel that they are the most appropriate or Godly of ways of personal interaction. This said, I aim to use my posts on our blog to be either informative or reflective. Disclaimer: if you find me gossiping or tearing down someone’s character, please call me on it. I want to know.

3. I want to recognize and appreciate the blessings in my life. There are issues in all of our lives that seem to consume us and overtake any other semblance of thankfulness for the lesser items around us. While these issues are important and will not be neglected, they do not need to take precedence every hour of every day. This may be my hardest battle, and yes, I’m leaving it vague intentionally.

So that seems to be my short list for now. I won’t apologize for the somber mood, but will say that’s where I’m at today. And I will leave you with one last piece of food for thought…

My friend is having her baby today, her baby that has cleft lip and palate. This should be a time of celebration and extreme joy, however it is filled with anxiety, nervousness, fear, sadness, anger, frustration, helplessness. I could go on and on, and I won’t pretend to know what she and her husband are experiencing. I just tell you this to help you reflect on your own lives, to think about your own blessings and to thank God for what you do or do not have.

Happy New Year to you all and many wishes for happiness for you.

The New Year in Paradise,TX

Perched atop a hill, overlooking the tree lined valley to the west, sits my boyhood home. My parents bought this house close to 19 years ago. It is a home full of memories of laughter, crying, discipline and pride. A home like I want my kids to grow up in.

The nature of the beast of getting married is the inevitable figuring out of holidays. Absent of children, Holly and I alternate which parent we spend Thanksgiving and Christmas day with. This year we celebrated Christmas in Paradise over New Years weekend. I wrote extensively about my reflections over Christmas of the farm. While I have learned a lot on the farm, and have a deep respect for the rural way of life, I cannot deny that I am who I am because of the value and virtues of growing up in Paradise.

My dad would say that he is a humble man. I would say he is a proud man. He has a lot to be proud of. He taught me early on, mostly through action, that there is no reason to dodge hard work. He worked long hours, in every imaginable condition, to bring home a wage that we could live on. Rarely did he say no to reasonable requests, and even if it was a little out there he would explain why we work hard not to waste our money.

He taught, mostly by action, that you stand up for yourself but you don’t trample the people around you to do it. He work toward the future, but not at the expense of today. You think about every action and the reciprocal reactions. You love your family.

If dad was the provider, Mom was the executor. She was the one who worked to let the family enjoy itself. She freely gave or horded her salary to pay for the superfluous. She was the nurturer.

I have always been a moma’s boy. That is not to say that I wasn’t dad’s kid, but Mom and I always connected. She would put up with the random requests in whatever game I was playing by myself in my head. She would encourage and push, mostly in nonverbal ways, each and every whim I talked about. She was the voice of the wide open future.

This New Years, I reflected on family. The successes in life caused by two parents who chose to escape the city and raise their family in a small rural community. Parents who, for whatever reason, choose to nature and guide their kids towards far greater success through every means possible. Whether it was through feeding and raising the animals, figuring out the calculus problem or achieving the next merit badge, their non-verbal lives of discipline have made me who I am and will be.

New Years is a time of looking forward. I think you need to look back down the road traveled, to make sure the vision ahead is clear.

Christmas in Texas

On the flat open plains of Texas, where farming and ranching still are king, Holly’s parents have established a homestead. It is a place that seems removed from time. It is a place of peace, quite and stillness. It is a home filled with things that are hard to find in the suburbs of Dallas. grew up in rural Texas.

I count many of my virtues and who I am as a person based on this upbringing. It is one of many things that drew Holly and me together. It is a common bond that is understood; a common set of morals that are taught on and by the land. This Christmas, on the high plains of the Llano Estacado, I reflected and appreciated this more than ever.

Holly’s dad is a farmer and rancher. He is a man of tremendous virtue and hardworking ethics. His whole life has been in cultivating, nurturing and growing things. He might be planting wheat, nursing a new born calf or raising grandchildren, but he is always at work. His whole mind revolves around how to help other people and things achieve their best.

I have learned a lot on the farm. I ask Galen thousands of questions. Sometimes I trip him up a little bit and ask a question that is so blatant to him that he has to stop and think how to explain it, like “How does a windmill really work?”. Other times the years of experience let the answer roll off like poetry, “Is a feedlot inhumane to cows?”. He never dodges a question or gives you too much to digest. He never dulls it down or makes it too simple. He shoots from the hip, and challenges you to grow in your understanding.

My many days on the farm have given me a lot of firsts. I saw my first new born calf. I saw my first dead calf. I herded cows by pickup truck and sorted cows onto trailers. I learned how to blow dirt out of radiators. And most importantly, why we don’t wear sandals on the farm. This Christmas I learned how to ride my first tractor. In the truest of styles, Galen gave me an option, drive the pickup back to the barn, or drive the tractor. I picked the pickup, so did Galen. He made me sit in the seat, explained the controls to me and drove in a big circle. Three minutes later and he left me alone on a tractor for the next hour. “No time like the present to learn” is Galen’s heart for growing his children. Even though they might not be his own.

Holly’s mom is the epitome of a southern mom. Never a day goes by that a home cooked meal, with dessert, isn’t served in her home. Over years of childrearing and herself holding down a job, her kids always came home to a hot meal, with dessert. She is a woman of God. The church door swing, and she is there with a casserole and a smile to welcome you in. You walk into her house and her bible is on her bedside for her daily devotional. You stay through Sunday and you will attend her Sunday school class. She reared her kids this way, and it shows. Hers is a family marked by God’s blessings, and it shows.

This Christmas, she showed me how much love she really has for her family. Selecting everyone a perfect gift, favorite dessert and taking the time to sit and talk to each and everyone of us. She was busy, tired and sick but she didn’t let that spoil her Christmas with the family.

Christmas is special. This year I understand more about Christmas. How the farm makes it special, and how family makes the farm.

It was Christmas,
On the farm,
In Texas!

Waiting

I took Holly’s car to work yesterday for the one reason of getting her oil changed. The traffic was delightfully light on the way home, so I arrived at our normal oil changing place around 4:30. I put my name on the list and sat in my car, waiting for my turn to go into the bay. Around ten minutes later they still haven’t got to my car. They ‘invite’ me to wait in their lobby. Being a very nice day outside I decide to stand outside the store and call my grandmother. I hate people who have long personal conversations on cell phones in public. I was on the phone no less than twenty minutes when I noticed that my car had not moved. I looked at the car in the bay and they had it hooked up to a reader trying to determine why the check engine light was on. They were taking that teenage girl to the cleaners, changing her differentials, oil, filters, everything. Besides that I had been waiting for forty minutes with no movement whatsoever. I kindly asked the guy behind me in line to back up so I could get out, this is suppose to be a ‘quick’ lube.

I then headed over to get my haircut. I drove by my normal drop-in place to find eight people in the waiting room reading magazines and three people cutting hair. Not a good ratio in this place. Having lost out on all my chores for the day, I went home. I snuggled up on the couch and watched TV till Holly got home. What a waste…

Doing the Most Good

That is the motto of the Salvation Army. Every quarter my department tries to complete a charity event. Sometimes they are small, sometimes they are simple cash donations, other times we donate our time. Such is the case today.

The Salvation Army’s Dallas and National headquarters are really close to Dallas Love Field. Today we went to a local sorting house where all of the gifts give for the Army’s Angel Trees are stored and sorted. We spent the day double checking families bags to ensure all the toys were in the right place.

This event was very humbling and eye opening. We would see bags for an entire family with no donations or toys in them, although someone had picked their name off of a tree. We would see bags just stuffed to the brim, over flowing with everything imaginable. You would come across bags where the entire family was one child with an unpronounceable name, while your next bag would have eight children with very pronounceable names. Lastly you would come across one bag with three children and three boxes of diapers. It was a moving and worthwhile experience.

While I do not agree with all of what the Salvation Army does or believes, I can truly say that I full heartedly agree with their Christmas spirit. The next bell ringer I see, I won’t ignore.