That's Amore!

Ahhhh....Isn't it gorgeous. I was just telling Steven how much I missed Italy. Thought I would finally go ahead and update my blog since I've almost been home a month now! I have soooo many pictures of Italy that I may have to just do a million posts to show them all. The picture above was taken in Sorrento overlooking the Almalfi Coast. We took this pic standing on our balcony. Beautiful!
Here is Steven and I at a local restaurant in Florence. The owner let us try a wine that he hadn't even put on his menu yet. It was from his family's vineyard.
This is a typical street in Italy. You would think no room for a car right? Wrong. Cars would come down these narrow streets and when they did you better get out of the way. There were no SUV's that I saw. Wouldn't be able to fit down the street.
This above picture and the one below was taken in Tuscany. What a sight!
So there are some of the pictures. Stay tuned for more! Ciao!

Flat Baloney

It's Christmas Eve and we just got back from my grandmothers. We celebrate every Christmas Eve at her house, but this year we had a special visitor.....Flat Baloney!
You see we were supposed to have Hank the Hippo come visit us from Baloney's house for Christmas and join us on our trip to Italy, but Hank went to heaven and we get to take Flat Jonni now instead. Yippeee! It's just like having her here in person...well...not exactly, but it's nice to see her smiling face. This is my cousin Lance above holding Flat Baloney.
And of course I had to have my picture with her!
Even my Dad joined in the fun. He missed the real Baloney too. So thanks Jonni for joining us on Christmas Eve. It was a blast. Stay tuned to seeing more of Flat Baloney in Italy.

Family Comes Home

Extreme Makeover Home Edition Keller, Texas - Watch more Free Videos

Extreme Excitement in Keller

So we've had a little excitement in Keller, TX. ABC Extreme Makeover Home Edition came to town on Monday. I really should be working on my Christmas cards rather than keep up with all of this, but how often to do you get to see a house go up in 5 days! Steven and I have a friend that lives 3 doors down from it all. He has posted pics on Facebook everyday so we can see the progress. However, some of us got adventurous yesterday and went to the spectator site to see how it was going and of course hope we would get to see some of the designers. So we were some of the lucky ones to catch a glimpse and watch all of this in action. In fact we actually got to watch one of the scenes take place with Paul and Tracy who are designers on the show. Here above you see Paul and Tracy going over a scene with the some of the crew.
Here are Holly, Paula (who has the famous shirt on and is a volunteer), Cindy and I. It was a windy day as you can tell, but all worth it!
Here are Cindy and I with Josh, the producer. Fun! And aren't we cute!
Here's the house as of yesterday. The house was demoed on Wednesday morning and this is how far they have gotten already! The reveal will be on Monday. Can you say.... "Move That Bus!"
And finally the security people keeping the riff raff out. The family comes home tomorrow and will see the final product. I'm sure they will be shocked. It has been so neat to hear all the stories about this family and actually get to meet people who have some kind of connection with them. How fun we got to see this take place in our own hometown.

Saying Goodbye

I had to do one of the hardest things in my life over Thanksgiving break....say goodbye to my dog Indy. I've never had a dog die on me. The two dogs I grew up with I didn't get to see them pass on. One was stolen and the other ran away. I told you I would blog about Indy, but I had no idea he wouldn't be here when I did. He was a beautiful dog. The most beautiful dog I've ever known. He was sweet to the girls and never complained when they were younger and didn't understand you couldn't pull a dog's tail. Here's A#1 above and below with Indy.
Indy was very protective of the girls when they were young. If they tried to crawl up the stairs, he would sit right in front of them on one of the steps and try to prevent them from going up. When someone would come to babysit, he would follow the person around and watch their every move. However, the first night we brought A#1 home, we were up more with Indy throwing up with nervousness than we were with A#1. He wasn't sure what to think of this baby we brought home.
Indy was the best companion you could ever have. He followed us around everywhere in the house. He was a house dog and hardly ever had an accident. He was potty trained in 2 weeks and passed my mother in law's obedience class with flying colors. Steven even got to do some agility with him when he was younger.
He always posed for the camera. It's like he knew what to do when someone was taking his picture. Indy's breed is very rare. He is a Belgian Tervuren. Many people think he is a wolf or border collie. Not so. We got him from a breeder in Oklahoma who loves these kind of dogs and spends her life competing and breeding these dogs. She is very protective of the breed. Her husband is a vet so all the dogs have a live in doctor. They also have 6 children and she homeschools all of them. When a Belgian Tervuren puppy is born, each child is assigned to a certain puppy and is responsible for taking care of the puppy and training it. This is what Indy was exposed to when he was born. He got A LOT of tender loving care and was around a lot of kids which I think is why he was so good with mine.
This is what Indy looked like when he as a puppy. In this photo the breeder's kids called him orange because of the orange collar. This is how they told all the puppies apart until the owner named him. I miss him so much! Indy died too young, but God called him home. Yes, I believe dogs go to heaven. It's been so hard to get up in the morning and not have him come over to the bed and tell me good morning. It's so hard to go outside to water the plants only to see his old tennis ball sitting on the patio. It's so hard to even eat dinner at the table and not have him there sitting pretty hoping to get some food or that the girls would drop something on the floor. I know in time my heart will heal. And some day we'll get another Belgian Tervuren and we will develop a special relationship with him, but I will always treasure Indy in my heart. He was a remarkable dog. So if you have a dog, I encourage you to spend all the time you can with him or her. Hug them more, take lots of walks, throw the ball a little longer and tresure each momment you have with them.

Give Thanks

So today was our school Thanksgiving Feast. I know, I've been a terrible blogger lately and haven't even posted pictures from A#1's birthday or Halloween. But after much talk today with some fellow bloggers and the urging of another teacher (not mentioning any names...JULIE) Ha! I decided to add a post today because today was a special day at our school.
You see every year we have a big Thanksgiving feast. All the kids bring a dish to share and the families of these children come and eat at the school in the sanctuary.
Here is A#1 enjoying her ice cream after the feast and after eating 3 desserts already. That was ok though because it was her good friend's birthday. Like I said it was a really special day.
And here is A#2 with her good boy friend and school. We'll call him W (no there is no relation to George W., but that would be nice). Anyway, notice the glimmer in her eye as she poses for the camera standing next to W.
And finally A#1 singing her thanksgiving song with some of her classmates. She has a Indian band on. It was a very festive day to say the least. Lots of reasons to be thankful. Thankful that we have a building to celebrate in and thankful for friends to share special occasions like these.

Got this from one of my friend's blogs. I thought it was a good thing to keep in mind after last night...

PREDICTIONS FOR 2009
1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost.