Christmas Lists

Is it totally horrible for me to make a public Christmas list?

If I post one will you post one?

Debut Sister's Blog

My dear friends and familia!

My sisters and I have all pitched in and started a sister blog. It's super fun and almost informative... Ha ha!

Please check it out and Follow if you're interested! Any input is welcome!

www.5flewoutofthekookoosnest.blogspot.com

2009 Christmas Ornament Exchange

I signed up for this ornament exchange! This is the first time in my LIFE that I've ever done anything like this before! My swap partner is located in Portland, Oregon and I can't WAIT to see what kind of cute ornament I end up with!! Better get shopping/crocheting/knitting!! :0)

I will post pictures of what I end up with!!

Our house... In the middle of the street... Our house...

Name the band... :0)

HOME SWEET HOME

What one acre looks like with a privacy fence around it! The dogs LOVE this yard. Every morning they spend at least 2 hours out there sniffing and inspecting the perimeter of their kingdom. And just as often, they come in covered in mud...

The week we moved in to our home was a very rainy week. This October has been the third wettest October in Arkansas history with a whopping 16-point-something inches of rain! This is just one of the flooded roads we have had to cross after the rains. The first one was the FREEWAY! Pretty scary! Just for reference... The lake you see to the right of the road pictured above is actually a 5 foot ditch... Filled... Over flowing with water... Just to put it in a bit of perspective...

These are our new neighbors. So far they aren't very excited to be having their pictures taken but I couldn't resist! What beautifully adorable faces these girls have! What's that saying about a 'Brown Cow'? "Call now, Brown Cow..." Jessica? :0)

Dax has made it very clear that he runs the place... Well at least the love seat. Doesn't he look like he is sitting on throne?? Cute little guy! I love that the couch brings out his dog tags... :0)

Remember what I said about the 'covered in mud' thing? Well here is just one of many pictures I/we have snapped of the mud mess. Dax's beard is very prone it clumping apparently. Thankfully, Penny's coat is actually quite mud/dirt repellent. She only gets dirty on her belly where the hair isn't as thick. It's pretty nice! And Dax has proven to us lately that he has bath-time down to a science. He almost eagerly jumps in to the tub! It's very cute!

Penny looking adorable... As usual!

Nap time for poodle... I know, I know... It's pathetic.

Look who it is!! It's Kermit the frog! He just wanted to stop in and say Hello to us! This little guy was SO adorable in person! I've never seen such a vibrant little frog outside of the zoo before and the frogs we raised from tadpoles were never green... :0)

And this is my weak attempt at food photography... I'm not very good at this... However, these are the Biscuits and Gravy I made the other day. I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman blog. They were super good. I don't even like the dish but as usual, it's easier to love something when you've made it yourself! And Biscuits and Gravy are the Aviator's favorite breakfast, so of course I needed to be able to make it at least once in a while right?

So what's new, you ask. Here is the scoop. The Aviator started class right after we got in to town here. As usual for learning a new air plane, there is tons of reading and studying to do. It feels quite a bit similar to UPT except that he is being treated like an Officer instead of having to go through the 'hazing' of typical UPT. I think we're both really anxious to get to Japan. There is quite a bit of footwork to be done to bring the dogs with us so I'm going to get started on that as soon as possible. In the meantime, I've been painting our new house! Our landlord had mentioned wanting to change the color on the walls that's gray, to something a little more warm feeling. She picked the color and I offered to put it on the walls of this 1300sq. ft. home... I'm not crazy... I'm not. I'm just bored I guess... Starbucks is hesitating to bring on another Barista for only a few months commitment. So I'm hoping and praying that they'll make a decision soon so that I can start looking for other opportunities to keep busy.

We're both really looking forward to the holidays. It's dawned on us that this Christmas and Thanksgiving will be our last in the USA for a few years. It's quite a strange feeling. We're spending Thanksgiving here and so far it's just going to be the two of us. We'll see if we can convince some of our friends here to do a potluck style dinner with us. :0)

Christmas is going to be super fun! I can't wait to see the Aviator's side of the family and I especially can't wait to see all of my amazing sisters again. I'm so thankful for them!

We're still church hunting. It's so frustrating to put roots down and then have to pull them back up every few months. We were so blessed to be a part of our Real Life Fellowship family back in Texas. We made some amazing friends and I know that they'll be a part of our lives forever.

Prayer Warriors:

-Remember a few posts back I asked for prayer for my friend Jenn whose Mom's been diagnosed with Breast Cancer? She had surgery today. According to Jenn, everything went well! Thank God!

- Like I said... We're still looking for a new church to call home!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend! Much love!

C&J