True Love

Happy Easter.

Entitled...

I read this blog post yesterday and it really stuck with me.  There are so many times that I think I have made something happen or that I deserve something.  Most of the time I can creep into that mindset without even realizing it.  I start thinking things like the ones he mentioned in the blog post:

Life should revolve around ME.
Relationships are about meeting MY needs.
Fruitful ministry is the result of MY effort.
The things I have are because of MY hard work.

In reality, everything I have and everything I am has nothing to do with me and everything to do with the God who lives in me and who I allow to use me when He sees fit.  I love the list at the end of the post of questions that I feel like I should ask myself more often:

Who did it?
Who grew it?
Who led it?
Who inspired the idea?
Who got you through the crisis?
Who took it to the next level?
He did. As in, not you.

You should take a second and read the whole post - it's really good and filled with reminders that every good and perfect gift is from him, including my trials. (See also James 1).

Christmas on the River

My grandparents live on the river.  It's awesome.  We spent our Christmas with them over New Year's weekend.  The weather was awesome - we spent plenty of time out on the back porch.  And lots of great time with family...and lots of pictures!

 Father & Son - my dad is a clone of his dad.

 FIRE!!!!!

 Deborah and Stephen were "there"

Christmas Day

Ahhh Christmas day - breakfast, snow, fun with family.  It was a great day!  I loved that the snow kept us in all day and that we got to just sit by the fire and watch it all come down.  Snow on Christmas is certainly one of my favorite things.

 Baked french toast with blackberries and bacon - perfect for Christmas morning!

 Mom- taking more pictures. 

 The snow starts to come down!!!  Sarah starts to get giddy!

Present time!

 Lots and lots of snow!!!

On the Eve of Christmas

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun this year.  We were at my parent's house in Amarillo.  My aunt and uncle came in that afternoon.  We had presents from Santa Clause, went to church, played spades, and had the first annual white elephant gift exchange.  Overall, it was great fun and I just loved being with my family.

 Mom takes lots of pictures! (like I have room to talk)

 Family pic!

 Spades, spades, spades!

 It was determined playing spades with OR against each other wasn't good for Deborah and Stephen's marriage.

 Jeff & I dominated

 Welch girls!

First annual family White Elephant gift exchange.

Super flattering Uncle Jeff!

 Blender - so many family inside jokes.

 Our die hard Aggie loved her Sooner pillow pet!  Could not have been a more perfect person to open that!

This one some might think morbid, but Deborah had just opened Mama's glass eye.  It was completely priceless.  I only wish the picture wasn't blurry!