A Christmas Story

Luke 2
1.In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was the governor of Syria). 3. And everyone went to his own town to register. 4. So Joseph also went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,
7. and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger...

...because there was no room for them in the inn.
8. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night

9. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. 13. Suddenly a great company of the Heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying
14. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." 15. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another. "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16.. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about the child 18. and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them 19. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her hear.20. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."

Matthew 2
1. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2. and asked, "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.

9. After they had heard the king, they went n their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrh. 12. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

My mom started this Nativity for me when I was in high school and she and my grandma have gradually added to it over the years. I have always loved Precious Moments figurines, and I think this Nativity is precious. I love getting it out and setting it up every year. It's such a reminder of the true reason of the season, and I NEVER get tired of hearing and telling this Christmas story.

Side note- I'm pretty sure elephants weren't present at the birth of Christ, but Matt's favorite animal is the elephant so when my mom and I saw this at the store, we couldn't resist :). I'm also aware that the Magi weren't present at the birth of Christ either, but they still fit the Christmas theme.

And I have some funny (although not at the time) stories about the beatings the Nativity has taken over the years. My parents' cat Prissy got to the Magi when the Nativity was set up at my parents' house. They were set up on my mom's old piano. Apparently, Prissy jumped up but couldn't get her footing and slid off taking the fabric underneath the Nativity with her and knocking the Magi over and breaking them. We glued them back together, and they worked okay for a few years My grandma had bought them for me for my high school graduation, so I asked her for another set for my college graduation. This was the first year I used my new set. Also, there's a hole in the bottom of the inn. A few years ago, the lighting fixture in the inn got messed up, and I asked Matt to fix it. He said he needed a screwdriver to get it out. I lectured him about not breaking it and how worried I was that he was going to break it and how careful he needed to be. As I was lecturing him and holding the screwdriver, I lost my grip and dropped it right on the bottom of the inn. Luckily, there was no visible damage other than the bottom, but he always reminds me that I broke it while I was lecturing him about not breaking. And Yes, then he took the screwdriver and solved the lighting problem with no further damage.

Thanksgiving Recap 2009

We hosted Thanksgiving at our home again this year and had a successful weekend. I think the only reason my parents like having it at our house is that Tulsa has better Black Friday sales than Weatherford :). I will admit that hosting adds a fair amount of work and stress (although Matt would never admit that the stress got to me at all, right honey :)), but we survived and made some fun memories. I really do love hosting although I have a tendency to want everything to be perfect which contributes to the stress sometimes.

Tuesday night after work, I headed home and worked straight from 4:30 until 10:00. I baked two batches of cookies, an apple pie, and a cheesecake. I also cleaned the kitchen from all the baking mess, bathed Rhapsody (and cleaned the tub afterward), finished straightening the house, and folded laundry. Matt helped by dusting and vacuuming. I was beat on Tuesday, and no one had even arrived yet.

Family started arriving Wednesday night. Granny and Grandaddy were first to arrive. We were glad to see them. I love my grandparents so much and they have had a tremendous impact on my life. I am incredibly blessed by the relationship I have with them and it was great to have a few days to spend with them. Normally, when we head home to Weatherford for a weekend or holiday, we never have much time to spend with them, because of all the other family we need to see. So, having them stay with us for the long weekend meant plenty of games of SkipBo, dominoes, and visiting.

My parents arrived shortly after my grandparents, and we headed to grab dinner and then settled in for an evening of dominoes.

Thursday morning, I baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast. After breakfast we worked in the kitchen for awhile and then took a break for game playing. Matt's parents arrived Thursday morning. After another game of dominoes, the women busied ourselves in the kitchen with meal preparations. My mom and Barry took care of bringing and preparing all the meat which made the meal preparation so much easier for me. Granny brought her dressing, and I handled the rest of the meal.

Our menu included Turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, broccoli and rice casserole, cherry salad, cranberry sauce, and rolls (Corn was on the menu too, but we ALWAYS forget the corn and did again this year). We had apple pie and cheesecake for dessert.

After dinner, the men washed the dishes while the women had a chance to relax. That evening we took it easy and watched the Texas vs. Texas A&M football game.

The next morning Matt was in charge of breakfast and made waffles. After breakfast, we went for a walk before Matt's parents left while my parents were gone being those crazy people at the mall shopping the sales. I looked over the ads but I didn't see any deals that were worth losing sleep over.

That afternoon, my grandpa started working on a puzzle my parents bought him, while Matt and Barry hung Christmas lights and my mom and I went shopping. I think Granny napped during that time.

That evening we went to dinner at Applebee's and then went to look at Rhema Bible Churches' Christmas light display. They have so many lights and part of them are synced to Christmas music they have playing.

Afterward, Grandaddy, Matt and I continued working on his puzzle while Barry watched the Boise State vs. Nevada game. All these football games mattered because at the time OSU was still in contention for a BCS bowl game. So we needed Texas to beat Texas A&M and Nevada to beat Boise State to increase our chances. After Saturday, none of it mattered though since OSU's offense decided to take the Thanksgiving weekend off.

Saturday morning, Matt was in charge of cooking breakfast again and made breakfast burritoes that were yummy. Then we all settled in to watch what we thought was going to be a great bedlam game, but seeing as how OSU failed to convert a SINGLE 3rd down in the ENTIRE game, and seeing how it was clearly evident that Zach Robinson was hurt, but seeing how Gundy refused to put in our backup quarterback who proved he could play decent during our Colorado game, OSU had its first shutout game since 2005. My grandparents were excited to stay and watch it with us this year, and then they ended up leaving the third quarter when the game was clearly out of reach and all the OSU fans were clearly very frustrated. That was the only big disappointment of the weekend. After the game, my mom and I did some more shopping since most stores still had some really good deals. That night we just ordered pizza and watched a Christmas movie.

My parents left Sunday morning, and after church, Rhapsody and I crashed for a 2.5 hour nap! I needed it. After my nap, Matt and I started getting down the Christmas decorations and setting up our tree. That night we went to dinner with some friends from church and came home and worked some more on decorating before we officially called the busy weekend to an end.

Wow! looking back we had a crazy few days, and I've felt this week that I need another break after my break to recover. We love our families though and are thankful we get to spend time with them during holidays.

3.5 Years

Today is our 3.5 year anniversary! I reminded Matt about it yesterday, and he told me that we're too old and have been married too long to still celebrate 6 month anniversaries :(. I remember the first few months we were dating, he bought me a gift for each month anniversary. I still remember how surprised I was when he sent me pink roses for our one month anniversary. Ahh, those were the days. That's okay though, I'll take married life over dating any day even without pink roses :).

For our 3 year anniversary, I asked Matt to make a video of our first 3 years of marriage. He did a fabulous job, but it was a few weeks after our anniversary before he had totally completed it, so I never posted it to our blog. I thought today would be a fitting time to post it. The songs he used were songs that were sung at our wedding. He is really thoughtful. I hope he does this every year from now on. I love it. As I watch it, I'm amazed at how blessed we have been in our first three years. God has been so good to us!

This Time Last Year

This time last year, Matt and I were sleep deprived, stressed, and using up a lot of paper towels and clorox wipes. Any guesses, what was going on during this time last year? We were welcoming Rhapsody into our family. It's hard to remember what life was like before that little white puppy with floppy ears joined our home, but I know it was a lot more boring.

After Matt and I had agreed on getting a dog last year and which breed we wanted, my mom started the search for a new member of our family. Matt had said that he didn't want me to have a dog until graduation (mid-December last year). However, my mom found a great breeder with an adorable litter of puppies that were ready in mid-November. Apparently she and Matt talked without me knowing and agreed I could get her a little early, but my mom wanted to keep the exact date a surprise. I assumed they would bring her when they came to visit for Thanksgiving.

A couple of weekends before Thanksgiving, my mom and I had plans to meet in OKC on Friday to do some shopping together. I had expected a call from her saying she would rather shop in Tulsa and would just come all the way here (and bring a puppy with her). Since she never changed the plans I gave up hope I would get her early, and assumed it would be a couple of more weeks before I got her. I got to OKC a little before my mom and told her I wanted to go to Pet Smart to look around and get some supplies that would be needed. I saw her come into Pet Smart with a white puppy in her arms. It didn't make sense that she would have brought Rhapsody with her since I was sure Matt would want to see my reaction when I got her and my mom and I had a full day of shopping planned. So when I saw her I asked why she brought Missy with her (my parents also have a white small dog- a Maltese). It didn't really look like Missy but nothing else made sense, until my mom told me it wasn't Missy but my graduation present. I was really shocked and pretty much flipped out in the store. Rhapsody was adorable but freaked out from the car ride and all the sights and smells in Pet Smart. She was shaking but her curious nature was already coming out when we put her down to explore Pet Smart. We shopped at Pet Smart and Wal-Mart for pet supplies. After lunch and a little more shopping while Rhapsody napped in the car, we all headed back to Broken Arrow for the weekend, and life has been crazier since.

In honor of our one year anniversary with Rhapsody, here are some unique things about her

1. Her name: A lot of people wonder how Rhapsody got her name. You can blame Matt for that one. Here's what happened. Several years ago (I think before we were even married), we were talking about baby names. Matt said he really liked the name Rhapsody for a girl. He said he had read a book with a character named Rhapsody and ever since he liked the name. I was a little horrified with naming a human child Rhapsody thinking about how other kids would make fun of her and other parents making fun of us for giving a child that name, but I did like the uniqueness and it started to grow on me, a little. When we started talking about dog names, it came up again and was really the only name we came up with that we both liked. I do have to say that part of how Rhapsody got her name had to do with ensuring that any future human children would not have the name Rhapsody. Thanks for making the sacrifice Rhapsody :)

2. Rhapsody is a very jealous dog. Every time Matt and I hug or kiss in front of her she either jumps up on our legs or starts licking our face. It's like she's saying, "Hey, don't forget about me."

3. One of Rhapsody's favorite games is chase. She likes us to chase her all around the living room. She'll run and change directions so we can't get her. If she feels really threatened by us catching her, she runs full speed around us and heads toward the bedroom and under the bed. She's a big cheater :)

4. If she wants to play fetch with her ball and can't get our attention, she'll start licking our feet, or will drop her ball and pick it up and drop it again right at our feet.

5. If we ask her if she wants to "go on a walk" she does her own special dance including running in circles.

Thanks for such a fun first year, Rhapsody!

The Perfect Weekend

Visit from my parents

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Little House on the Prairie Musical with Erica and my mom
(more on that in a later post)

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Seeing all these incredible girls together for the first time in 8 months
(Love them)

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Watching OSU football


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An OSU victory over Texas Tech

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The Perfect Weekend

Single for the Weekend

Matt went on a mens retreat with our church last weekend, so I was without him for Friday and Saturday. I got some quality girl time in, but I was glad to have him back. I really don't like it when we're apart, and thankfully it doesn't happen very often.

On Friday night I hosted a girls' night at my house for other wives in our Sunday school class whose husbands were gone for the weekend. We did what all girls do best, we ate and talked. It was fun just to relax for the night and catch up on each other's lives. There were four of us, and I think everyone had a good time.

Since I was alone on Saturday, I decided to practice making an apple pie. I love baking, but pies are something I haven't had much practice with. Since I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year, I want to make an apple pie for dessert (although I'm sure Matt would much prefer I just make 3 cheesecakes, I'm too traditional for that). I think it turned out pretty good. Matt took the leftovers to work today. We'll see if I can recreate it in a few weeks. I also watched OSU beat Iowa State that afternoon. Saturday night I went to Stillwater to celebrate with some graduate school friends since I got this in the mail on Saturday:
I passed my licensing exam! Actually, I found out I passed on Thursday when I called the licensing board because I knew they had the results, but I got the official letter on Saturday. There were four of us from my cohort who took the exam, and we all passed. Thank you OSU for preparing us well! I went to dinner Saturday with a friend who passed and another friend from grad. school.

I'm glad that huge hurdle is out of the way. I would say it's the biggest and most stressful part of the licensing process, and now it's over. Sometimes this whole licensing process can be really frustrating. I respect that the board's job is to protect the public, but it seems there is hurdle after hurdle I have to cross to be able to write LMFT instead of LMFT candidate or LMFT under supervision. It takes way too long to sign my name on treatment plans right now :). The next hurdle I have is an oral exam in front of the board that I have to take sometime in the next couple of months. Although I know it will be scary to be orally defending myself, the content areas covered on the oral exam are much more specific (it only covers psychopathology and state law), so I'm not too worried. After that I'll just have to keep trucking along accumulating client contact hours and supervision hours for awhile (probably for another year and a half). Even that's a major hurdle because of the complicated way the state records and awards hours for LMFT candidates. It seems my supervisor and I talk about how confusing and frustrating the process is every week. I guess I can't complain too much since I chose this field, so I'll just keep jumping over hurdles for awhile longer. At least now, there's one less to cross :).

We Have No Children

Can you tell that we have no children, and my parents have no grandchildren?

Poor Rhapsody didn't have any idea what was to come when she joined our family :)