It's Me Again, Margaret!

Yep,still waiting! I thought I would share a few things
I have learned while stranded in the waiting room. I'll be
gracious and share the top 3:

1. Baptists don't wear makeup- it's not allowed. At least that's
what the lady next to me said. I didn't have the heart to tell her
that I have been a Baptist all my life and I enjoy makeup. Wait til I tell
Mom-she is a baptist preachers wife! ;-)

2. You are never too old to need soap for your mouth

3. What other people think of you is none of your business. I
rather like that one.

I think I have aged 10 years in this waiting room

yay they just called my name. Woo hoo!!! Thanks for
keeping me company.

On the 3rd day of Christmas I'm still in the Waiting Room!!

Christmas is 3 days away!!!!! Three days! Are you ready?
Am I? Spiritually, I am ready to celebrate Jesus but physically...that's another story
I normally do all of my Christmas shopping in July and then
wrap my gifts the first week of December. This year I have turned a new leaf; I don't
have one present wrapped and I bought my last gift yesterday with all of the happy, peppy
people yesterday (I'm using the term happy very loosely).

The girls and I had one more gift to buy for my Dad and Mr. Incredible. We found exactly what
we were looking for but it was high above us on the very top shelf at Academy. We were in the
manly man's section....just us...three girls in a sea of ammo and men with no help to be found.
What's a girl to do? I told Rachel to take a cheerleader stand-we would put our legs together and
have Hannah do a pyramid stance on our legs (my iPhone just typed kegs-glad I caught that before
posting-yikes I need to turn off auto correct). Anyway, you should have seen the looks my girls gave me.

Clearly I had lost my mind, if you ask my girls. They are no fun! So I did what any normal, level headed
person would do and found then nearest clerk. He was more than happy to help us and seemed thrilled to
see 3 girls in the ammo section of the store.

It was mother-daughter bonding time at it's finest.

This morning I should be wrapping presents but instead I find myself waiting to see the dermatologist for my
annual appointment surrounded by more happy, peppy people. If I have to hear another dirty joke from the mouth
if thus 80 something year old woman who feels she needs to entertain the waiting room, I am going to plug in my
ear buds and turn up the praise music. Oh, gracious here I go! Y'all have a blessed day!!!! (it's amazing what praising
can do...)

Filled to Overflowing with Gratitude!

My heart is so full of gratitude and praise to the Lord. I just have to blog about it before I burst! Last Thursday night, Mr. Incredible, Rachel, and I made the drive back to Ft. Worth for Rachel's post-op check with her pediatric neurosurgeon. Hannah stayed home with her grandparents because of the much anticipated junior high dance that was finally rescheduled (finally is her word, not mine)and a fun sleep over with her friends after the dance. Even the promise of shopping after the doctor's appointment could not persuade her to go with us. Her feet were set to dancing and nothing would change her mind.

So, the three of us made the drive together. I plugged in my ipod and the three of us sang praises to the Lord at the top of our lungs during most of the drive. We checked into the hotel around 10:00 only to find that the Lord had blessed us with the same room that we had stayed in only 3 weeks ago. It was bitter sweet to stay in the same hotel room, the very room where Mr. Incredible and I had a very sleepless night while our precious daughter slept so soundly the night before her surgery (we would later learn of so many that God would awaken during the night to pray for Rachel on that night too-isn't that incredible-what a mighty God we serve).

Our minds were already flooded with memories of the surgery as we made our trip to Ft. Worth but how cool to be physically reminded too. The three of us looked at each other in amazement that we were given the exact same room but it made us miss our other family members that had made the journey of faith with us too. The conversation was so sweet as we all recalled memories of how we felt in that very room the day and the night before Rachel's surgery.

Mr. Incredible and I slept much more soundly last Thursday night. I woke up early Friday morning to get ready for Rachel's appointment. As I put on my makeup and fixed my hair and looked into the same mirror that I had looked in only hours before Rachel's surgery, I was overwhelmed with gratitude once again. I remember saying, "You are an awesome God! What a journey this has been. You did what only You could do. How can we ever thank You enough?!"

Mr. Incredible told me later that he was just as emotional that morning as he got ready for the day. I'm certainly not doing this moment justice with my words. I can only explain it this way: the Lord ordained every step of this journey of faith...even blessing us to stay in the same hotel room....and we marveled at His amazing attention to every single detail.

We were so happy to see Dr. Roberts. I think he was just as glad to see Rachel. He seemed so pleased to see how well she was moving her neck and overjoyed when she told him that she, "has not had one headache since her surgery!" Glory to God!

He chuckled and said, "This may be the shortest visit ever!" We talked some more, he watched her carefully, and then joyfully announced that she was free to be Rachel again and that he would see us in June! June???? I think we asked in astonishment, "June?" and he smiled and said, yes! She is doing so well that we don't need to do a follow up MRI scan until then. And then the tears that I had been holding back began to flow.

I saw a few tears in his eyes too. I think he was just as overjoyed as we are! And he was so humble about it all. Oh, yes, the glory for it all belongs to God! But, I am so grateful that he chose to use Dr. Roberts.

We hardly said a word until we got into the elevator to leave his office and then Rachel began to sob! Our precious, courageous, daughter, had hoped and dreamed that this day would come and here it was. She was free to be Rachel again...free to dream big dreams for her life again....free to be all the God created her to be~it was a moment like no other....a moment where the King of kings and Lord of lords seemed to fill every corner of that elevator and showed His great glory and favor towards her...and we marveled in the moment!

A few minutes later we arrived on our floor and the texting and phone calls began. We couldn't wait to share the good news. The three of us decided to walk over to the hospital and see all of the glorious Christmas decorations and have a celebratory cup of Starbucks coffee (Mr. Incredible doesn't drink coffee-so he just asked for an Eggnog Latte, minus the coffee-you should have seen the looks). The Lord timed our visit just perfectly because David, Dr. Robert's surgical assistant, the one who actually closed the surgery, was in Starbucks and we were able to thank him and tell him the great news.

We had lunch with our good friend Scott and then he and Mr. Incredible headed to Cabellas while Rachel and I did some shopping. It's funny, we were in one of my favorite places to shop, we even went to Sam Moon, but we hardly bought anything. Our Christmas had already come and there were no gifts to be bought that could even compare.

Are you still with me? I have to giggle at the length of my posts. Maybe I should stick to writing them on my i-phone. Ha! On the way home, we stopped and ate at a fabulous place in Abilene. I have some funny pictures to share-maybe tomorrow.

It's the week of Christmas! The week of Christmas! I better get moving.

P.S. I made a new blog button. Thank you for your prayers for Rachel and for so graciously joining us on this journey of faith. Yes, God still performs miracles today. Rachel is living proof. Please help yourself to the new button.

Glory to God!

Great things He has done! We just had a follow up appointment with the Rachel's neurosurgeon.
He could not have been more pleased with how well she is doing. She is released to be Rachel again!!!
We don't have to go back to Cooks for 6 months and we are overjoyed.

I have much more to post but I simply could not wait to
share the awesome news with you! I'll try to post more
when we are back home and I can type on my laptop.

For now, we are off to have lunch with some friends
while we are in Ft Worth and then a little shopping!

Oh this is the day the Lord has made and we will rejoice
and be glad in it !!!!!!!

A Star Filled Glorious Night

Happy Monday to you! This was suppose to be my Christmas tour of homes post, but surprise...change of plans. I took pictures of all of my Christmas decorations, but after checking the Nester's link and seeing over 500 entries just after midnight, I just decided to pass this year (If you really want to see my decorations today, you can see my last year's Christmas decorating post here).

I do want to share with you some of my favorite decorations, because I so love getting ready for this blessed time of year but to be honest, all of my decorations pale in comparison to the decorating that God did last night. Did you see the Meteor Shower? Oh, it was glorious!!!!

Here is just a small glimpse of what we saw:


No, sadly, I did not take this picture but I wish that I had. I tried, really I did. I had my big lens on my camera and everything, but I just couldn't get a good picture. Rachel and I and Mr. Incredible were huddled together on the front porch gazing at the sky...and we saw one falling star after the other. It was AWESOME!!! But, it was cold too.

Rachel couldn't look up at the sky too long, so we improvised. We grabbed blankets and pillows and made a little star watching palette right there in our front yard. She and I cuddled together under the blankets as God absolutely blessed us with pure delight.

So many thoughts came to mind:

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:3-4

"He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name." Psalm 147:4

I wondered what the stars looked like for the Wise men who were so eager to see Jesus and bring Him gifts~it must have been incredible.

I was so awe-struck and overcome by the glorious display that I couldn't even sing...and I love to sing. But, in my mind I kept singing Phillip Craig and Dean's song, "You are God alone."

Rachel and I oohed and ahhed out loud over every star that we saw fall. It was such a blast...she and I and the Lord. I'll never forget it. After we lost count over all of the falling stars that we were so overjoyed to see, we reluctantly went inside. Mr. Incredible had gone inside hours ago (Hannah saw one falling star and went to bed) and we were afraid that we would fall asleep outside and wake up to the freezing water from the automatic sprinkler system. That, and the sound of the coyotes in the distance was starting to make us a little scared.

Interestingly, we couldn't see one single falling star from inside of our windows. I left my drapes open all night because I wanted to be able to see the beautiful display as I drifted off to sleep. After thanking the Lord for the magnificent evening, my thoughts wandered toward, "What if I had missed this!" The heavens were declaring His glory and we could have easily have missed this. I wanted to upload my 2009 Christmas decoration pictures...that is what I had planned to do. Oh, what a blessing I would have missed if I had just stayed inside.

It was a great reminder not to miss Him this Christmas. Oh, the Heavens are declaring His glory and I don't want to be too busy to miss it...to miss Him! We are celebrating His birthday after all: God's most awesome gift~Son of God and Son of Man. It is almost too incredible to comprehend! And once again, my heart cries out, "Come, Lord Jesus, come! We wait for you!"

40 Year Old Wife and Mother Found Her....

...new color, I think!

Ya'll are such a blast. Thanks for understanding my hair crisis and thanks for all of the sweet comments. Yes, Mr. Incredible is still incredible...I had mercy on his soul :-) and he came up with a much sweeter response to my new color. So, do you want to see my new color? The flavor of the day~ ha! Okay, here goes:

Just kidding. That was me embracing my inner Tina Turner for Rock star day. Okay, for reals, here is my new color:

It is more my natural color, I think~I'm not really sure! Please, excuse the huge shadow across my forehead. I took this picture early this morning with my i-phone. It is not, I repeat, NOT a massive wrinkle! Although I think I may have added a few wrinkles to my face in this whole hair-process (get it? hair process! Haaaaa). Mr. Incredible said, "Now that's what I'm talking about!" I think he is pleased. I'm pleased too, I think. I need to fix it myself before I will really know. Ugh! It is tough being a woman!

Note to self: December is stressful enough without changing your hair color in the process.

Okay, enough of the vanity and all manner of hair. Today is a half day at school---yippee!!! And then I am going home to check on my girl, take an Advil the size of Texas and maybe take a nap! My head hurts but I really should not be surprised~two different hair colors in two days can give you a ginormous headache and can make a girl sleepy!

Ya'll have a great weekend!!!! The Nester is having a Christmas tour of homes on Monday. I think I'll join the party. How about you?

40 Year Old Wife & Mother Searching for a New....

....hair color! OIY to the Vay!!!!

Could I be more vain? If you are looking for a more spiritual in nature post...I am sorry to disappoint you...try back another day. :-)

I'm having a hair crisis of a ginormous magnitude.

Yes, I know it is just my hair....BUT IT IS MY HAIR!!!

And we girls have a thing for our hair. Yes, yes we do!

Thank you for agreeing with me.

So, last night I went to see my friend that has done my hair for the last um 11 years. My blond highlights were getting a bit too light and leaving me washed out so I asked for a little help.

The time before last she put a semi-permanent color on it and it darkened my blond highlights just enough to look a little healthier. The dry look is so not in! And I liked it.

Last night....oh last night....we colored it again but instead of using the color at 50% she accidentally used 100% color! I thought it was a little dark when I saw it after she washed it....but I calmly told myself to just hang on a minute 'cause hair always looks darker wet.

Hope faded when it was blow dried. It's okay I said to myself, it's really not as dark as I think. I'll wait and see what Mr. Incredible has to say.

When I walked in the door, he said, "UGH! What happened to your hair!"(please, read that last sentence with major disgust and repulsion in your voice).

Great! Just the reaction I was NOT looking for! I was so upset, I nearly cried. Yes, I know it is just hair...but it is MY HAIR. If it was your hair I would be upset for you too.

So, would you like to see my dark hair...the hair I had to wear to school today...in front of all of my students....can I get another piece of humble pie...okay here goes, please be gentle:

I know, a major difference! The color is a great color, after seeing the picture I think it looks better in this light from the camera than in real life, but it is way too dark for me ...darker then my natural color...I think (it's been a while since I've seen it-somebody can relate!).

Anyway, it's not here to stay. She is fixing it tonight. Yes, a new recipe...I sure hope that I like it and that I get a very different reaction from Mr. Incredible (or I am changing his blog name!).