So anywho...Happy New Year!
Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a blast as always. My whole family got together and took a big family portrait for a gift for my grandmother. The pictures turned out great, and God has truly blessed our family, with family itself. I love each and every member so much and am so thankful for the variety of life and influences that makes up our familial community. Christmas was, of course, smashing. The kids got way too much stuff and they are loving playing with all of it.
During these last few months Isaac has been hammered with night terrors. To sum it up, it is not a really bad nightmare, but rather the experience of fear without having anything to base it on while you are sleeping and unable to wake up. He is fast asleep, screaming his little lungs out, terrified, sometimes with his eyes wide open, limp as a rag doll, and nothing we do can wake him up or seem to help. We've pinpointed that he normally has them when he is overtired, previously overstimulated, and really congested. The doozy that sent me racing him to the emergency room at 11pm on a Friday night was the one he had when he developed croup. So, he can't breathe while he is sleeping, gets scared, can't wake up and appears to be having a panic attack while his body is unconscious. Not real fun to experience. Needless, to say, his naps have become a high priority, and even the busiest days have a very calming bedtime routine that we stick to, no matter what. I'll use this as a request for prayer that he be healed of these, his congestion from allergies/asthma would disappear and that his nights would be calm and restful.
He is a little chatterbox, is putting 3 words together to make short sentences and loves to clean messes with his vacuum, work with his tools he got for Christmas, and play race. "Fast!" he'll say and take off running, making sure you are following him. He honestly NEVER STOPS MOVING from the moment his feet hit the floor waaaaaayyyyy toooooo early in the morning, (think 6ish) to his last "I wuv uuu" at night. This boy is going to change the world.
Camille is so tenderhearted. She is a little lover. She is as smart as could be and boy, I tell you, she is a little dancer. She has now started to ask for music so she can dance instead of watch tv. I don't complain. She loves her ballet class and we start her second semester in January. The pictures I added in here show unparalleled pure joy. We went to Incredible Pizza a few Sunday evenings ago on one of our Family Dates (I highly suggest these!) and there was one of those games where you stand up on a little stage, follow the arrows and dance to ridiculously loud music. She barely had enough body weight to make the little arrows light up, but it didn't matter. Pure joy harnessed in a little 2 year old's body. 
Recently, she has started asking for the radio in the car to be up just a little louder, complete with the thumb and forefinger emphasis. "Just a little louder, Mommy. No, no louder!" She is totally succumbed to her Color Wonder books; will color with them for a full rest time of Isaac's and becomes engrossed in books. I've found her will lately; the will of an almost 3 year old. Sometimes it is not that fun to battle, but it is interesting to see what works and doesn't in communicating boundaries. I'm enjoying seeing her transition from toddler to little girl. She is growing up so fast. Love her!Jason has rocked our little world this year! He has been so busy! He graduated from TU in May with his master's degree. Phenomenal! Jason and his business partner close on their second house in just a few days. He and David successfully flipped their first house this year, and I couldn't be more proud of them. They put in a lot of hours, sweat, hard labor, and great energy into starting their own company. It is just going to keep growing in 2008!
He had an amazing year with AT&T. He actually capped his compensation plan because he excelled so much in sales. Now, tell me, how dumb does "big business" have to be to actually cap someone's potentials in earnings? I would think you would want the motivation to keep working towards the end of the year to make more money for the company, and in turn yourself, instead of saying, "What's the point? No money in it." Not the best idea. He has done a great job this year of stepping forward and fulfilling his dreams, taking risks and living on prayers of wisdom and faith. He is an amazing shepherd for this family and I love him to pieces! Tomorrow is actually our 9th anniversary of when we first started dating. My how time flies. Thanks again, Courtney for introducing us.It's been awhile since I've been here. The main reason is I've had stuff to do to keep me busy while the kids are sleeping. Business is booming and I'm expanding my line to adult casual jewelry and jewelry for little girls and also hair bows for girls. Quite fun! Another reason is I moved the computer to rest on our bar instead of on our table, so I am standing here typing instead of comfortably resting my tooshers in a seat. I was motivated to keep myself off the computer and do something else worthwhile. It worked! I'm at a happy point with my business. For a while, it was starting to feel like a job. And, I have the job I want, I'm mom to two kiddos, so I was getting irritated. But, I changed where I was focusing my time and on what type of shows I was doing and it became fun again. It's all about balance...that is what I kept needing to remind myself.
I've also kept busy with losing 23 pounds since August. I guess I could say since January, but August was when I had the gym-altering (I won't say life-altering, because that would be too dramatic....remember balance) experience of going to a Body Pump class and the pounds finally started to go away. I am horribly ineffective at working out solo in the gym, and group fitness has always been "my thing", but I've never had group fitness that actually worked. I even got up for a 5:45 AM class on Thanksgiving morning because there were going to be no classes for a while. So, I became a gym rat this year, and have really slacked off on my eating lately with the yummy Turkey Day food and Christmas cookies and kept the weight off. That's how I like it. I'm looking forward to going back strong (whenever the gym opens again!) and taking off another 10-15 next year. Sweet glory!
Ummm, let's see...oh yeah, I also cut off 8 inches of hair and I am never going back. Camille took this picture from her perch in the back seat...I had to use it! I turn 30 on Sunday and I really am looking forward to it. I used to think it was so old, but I couldn't feel better about it. I'm enjoying it, actually. I've made some amazing friendships this year, cultivated old ones, and have relaxed into the arms of those ladies more than once. I am so glad each of you are in my life, and you are honestly an answer to prayer.Bring on 2008! I'm excited to see what God has in store for our little family. Without Him nothing that I typed about previously would exist. He is the reason we breathe, blink, think, move, function. Without Him we are nothing. Any praise that I can give Him or any terms of thankfulness that I can try to fashion are mute, because He orchestrated it all. He is the God of the universe, and He loves us, He loves me. That's enough. That's all I need. God, you have this year, let's see where You take us.
