Holy Cow!

Yup, we got cows again!
For some reason we always think that we can just go up to them and pet them but they are always so skittish. It started Friday afternoon. We saw two cows so we went out there and they ran away. A little bit later, we saw three cows....then later four....then five! We never know exactly what to do with them. We don't know who they belong to. I mentioned to Neil that we should call the police. He kinda giggled at me. Then guess who shows up at our door? The police. I directed him to our neighbor who knows where they come from. The cows stayed for awhile and wondered the street.



We kept hearing horn honking. Because they were hanging out RIGHT in front of our gate, we got another visit from a firefighter asking if they were ours. Ya, we let our cows roam the streets :) I don't know whatever happened to them but hopefully they got home safely. Until next time, we have some cow patties to tend to.

One weekend at a time

This weekend is not over yet but already I feel super productive. We decided to do some work in the backyard. Over the summer, Neil worked hard on starting the landscaping around the house so that we can start planting in October.

He put this 3 foot border around the ENTIRE house! It looks so good and I know he worked hard on it. I can't wait to fill it with pretty things :)



We got some free landscaping slate from my uncle so we immediately put it to use. We started on a path out to nowhere. I later found out that it would lead to a nice picinic area to be surrounded by crape myrtles... cute. Neil designed the layout of our backyard and I had to trust his vision...This is phase one.

Rexx likes it.

We worked on it together on Saturday and finished moving the picnic table in a couple of hours. Soon we will have a Y in the path leading to a built in fire pit for smores etc. We'll keep you posted.

Sometimes Hallelujah works too!

Learning how to reach out in distress makes the Hallelujah moments much more exciting. I have one more semester left of school and I am finishing up my internship. I have so many doors open right now that the options are beginning to flood my mind.

Well, I got word on Friday....I got my first REAL job.

HALLELUJAH!

I got hired on at the Health District that I am doing my internship with. My official position is Health Education Coordinator. Most of my time will be spent planning and implementing wellness programs all over the city. That is exciting to me!! I love the freedom to create in this way and the freedom to target whatever audiences, diseases, or themes that I want.

Neil was so great in being supportive and super excited when we heard the news. That, I am grateful for too. I will still have to take three more classes but even that worked out. I was able to schedule one at night and two during lunch. Its a new chapter so I am sure that you will hear about the programs I help put together.

Fort Worth Wedding

We were guests at our first wedding since our own! It was so nice and relaxing in comparison. Randy is a friend of my dads. They have been friends since they were in middle school and they still spend time together regularly. So, when I got married, we knew Randy would be there for dad. And now the tables have turned. Randy's daughter, Tiffany, got married this weekend. It was beautiful. And I love seeing a father adoring his daughter.

They used sparklers for their send off and the timing was a little bit off but we had fun anyways.

Better than a Hallelujah

At church this weekend,I went to church bringing all my joys and thanksgivings. It is my tendency to give thanks in times of joy and praises in times of excitement. The youth pastor, Julie, sang a new song by Amy Grant called 'Better than a Hallelujah'. Since then, I cannot get this song out of my head or my heart. It make me think about how hard it is for me to come first to God sometimes in rough times. I tend to want to fix it myself and it is not until all my resources are exhausted that I remember to go to God. Yes, this is one of my weaknesses but this song is a great reminder. It also reminds us that we don't have to be perfect in order to be a good witness to Christ. We aren't perfect...oh no, we all have our habits, hang-ups, and hurts. So I love these lyrics because to me they say, "Hey, God doesn't want you to pretend to be perfect. He just wants you to be honest and cry out to Him in your time of need." What better way to wittness to other people than to be authentic, admit we have our problems, lean on one another and on God, and make it known that He still loves us!

I know its been a long time since I have posted and life has been super busy but there is more to come.

BETTER THAN A HALLELUJAH

God loves a lullaby

In a mothers tears in the dead of night

Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.
God loves the drunkards cry,
The soldiers plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah.

The woman holding on for life,
The dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes
The tears of shame for what's been done,
The silence when the words won't come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

Better than a church bell ringing,
Better than a choir singing out, singing out.

Cancun

VIVA MEXICO!

We had a great time in Mexico. We were there for one week and we were able to see so many new things. We went to the market a few times, visited Mayan ruins, took a boat to Isla de le mujeres (a small island), visited downtown, and of course spent a few hours on the beach!

These are a few pictures from downtown.

We ate a nice dinner on the beach one evening. The weather was nice and there was a cultural show too.

Neil's favorite days were the days we visited the Mayan Ruins. First we went to Tulum. It is right on the beach.

The Mayan Pole flyers at Tulum.

The next day we visited Chechen Itza, another mayan ruin site. This time Neil was our tour guide. He studied up a little :)

If this picture look amazing, thats because we accidentally asked a professional to take our picture :)

My husband with the heart of gold absolutely fell for the children. This is his new friend Sandra.

There were over 1000 of these columns. At one point each one was carved with a picture of a specific warrior. Before a battle, all the warriors would walk through them.

This is a preserved column. Pretty awesome!

These are a few of Neil touching pieces of history.... he was excited....can you tell?

These are a few more of the Big buildings.

Check out that detail!!!

This was the main attraction. Look how small the people are.

That is our trip in a few snapshots. Of course there are many many more but we just wanted to share a little bit of our experience with you.

Can't wait to go north soon!!

The First Year

We celebrated our first year of marriage! It came sooooo fast! I have had so much fun being married and I can't wait for the rest. We encountered a lot of change in one year but being married was the biggest and best change of the year. I could go on and on about the things I learned about Neil and about myself but for now I will keep it short and picturesque. I will dedicate a more in depth blog to marriage later this week.

For now this is how we spent our Anniversary.

Mom kept the top layer of our cake and yes....we ate it. Well, more like I tasted it and Neil ate half. It was still tasty.

I dont know if I have mentioned how hard it is to take pictures of Neil, with Neil, or near Neil. As I was trying to get a picture of the cake, I realized that he made a moustache... and put it on the topper....weird!
...and then on himself.


He finally came around!
We ate it a little bit early because we spend our Anniversary in CANCUN!!

Going Green

In our house, we (forceably by neil) do our best to save energy. Less energy = less money, right? Well, I sometimes I feel like I would rather pay an extra dollar for convenience. But, when you get an electricity bill like this, I am very thankful for the forced savings.

Thats $33.76 for the month of May! Neil can calculate pretty accurately what we spend on electricity daily! Here or some of the cost saving things we have done this year:

1. No Christmas lights outside or inside :(

2. No AC except in the months of June, July, and Aug

3. Sleep with the windows open and fans on.

4. Installed Draft Gaurds on most doors and windows.

5. Changed out all lightbulbs for energy efficient bulbs.

6. Put timers on the modems and wireless network.

7. Put a timer on the closet light (that I always forget to turn off)

8. Installed a flow reduction shower head.

9. Built a porch!

and

10. Replaced our dryer with a clothesline.

This is Neil's latest contraption. It sits attatched to our back patio and naturally, it works well. We did about 10 loads of laundry on it. Neil put the clothes on the line, probably because he knows that if he doesn't I would just throw them in the dryer :/ He calculated the savings for 10 loads..... $0.40.

Just not worth the inconvience to me but since Neil is home for the summer, I think I can expect many more contraptions...including solar panels. I'll keep you updated.

Thanks for the savings, Neil :) One of us has got to do it.

Schools Out for Summer!

Friday ended the school year. Neil make it through his first year of teaching! We were talking about his first year and these are a few highlights/lowlights,

1. He did not think it was necessary to wear a coat or tie to his interview.

2. We had to have a Wal-Mart run to buy ties, shirts, pants and colored socks!

2. He taught in the LIBRARY for the beginning of the year.

3. He never had enough desks.

4. When we moved our boxes into the new house, he packed all is shoes and clothes. When he got up the next morning, he realized that he had nothing, so ..... HE CALLED IN SICK (the first and last time for the year).

5. 93% of his students passed the Social Studies section of the Standardized test

I am so proud of his hard work this year and I am so glad for him to have the summer off!

Hunting?

This is one of my favorite pictures, ever! guess what he is doing.

give up?

waiting for our SNAKE to show up again!

The other night, I went outside to garden with Rexx leading the way. He did not want to get off the back porch so I nudged him along. And then I saw it!!! A SNAKE! not like an "its, kinda cute" snake. It had its head up and it was about four feet long! I yelled for Neil and the snake headed straight for me! I jumped on the truck and watched as it QUICKLY scurried off. This is what it looks like....not so cute.

I (via Neil) was determined to get rid of it. I looked out the window awhile later and i saw it again, in front of our porch so i send Neil out there with a shovel. Of course the snake went back into its hole but I asked Neil to stay out and wait for it (as i watched from inside). It never showed since then.

We researched it and found out a few things. Neil tried to convince me that since it isn't poisonous, we should befriend him....not gonna happen. While it is nice to know that it is not poisonous, I still makes me check before every step. I knew snakes were bound to happen but I never expected huge snakes! Our neighbor had mentioned to us that they get copperhead snakes (very poisionous) so I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Southern Hospitality

As we were watering our garden the other day, our neighbor invited us over on Sunday to pick blackberries!! I was so excited. I have never picked anything before and I have never tasted blackberries but I was excited for the chance to get to know our neighbors and try something new.

Before we got to pickin, we were given a tour of their property. Our neighbors have about 50 acres and they are beautiful acres. They have a stocked pond, a running track, wild berries, a vegetable garden, a beautiful peacock, a chicken coop, a trampoline, a basketball hoop and a baseball field. It sounds like a great place to raise three boys!

We were given supplies, and a few instructions and headed our. It was hot. We were up to my neck in foliage. The plants have thorns. And I still had fun!

We picked close to a gallon of blackberries! Thats more than I know what to do with but they suggested to freeze some. So let me know if you have any good recipes for blackberry use!

We were pleasantly surprised when we were greeted with exotic iced tea, and two salad options. They have a very talented son whose hobby is cooking large meals on Sunday. We sipped our tea, chatted with our neighbors, and enjoyed the weather.

It was a great Sunday!

LIFE @ 3349

Spring has never been more visible for me than it is this year. It is so obvious and I'm sad that it passed me by every year without notice.

The wildflowers out here are outrageous! They are everywhere and every week, its a new type of wildflower. And I must say, I enjoy picking flowers in our yard for small fresh bouquets around the house. These are a few of the different ones we have had in our yard. ***pictures by Neil***





About a month ago Mom and Dad Shanks came down and helped us with a vegetable garden and I have waited a little while to show it because I was not sure that it would be successful. Well, now I'm all giddy about it because it is growing! and its growing fast. We have not gotten any vegetables yet but its still exciting for a city girl who has never kept anything alive!

We have tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, jalapeno, cilantro, and zucchini squash

BEFORE AFTER


These are the zucchini squash. They even boom yellow flowers.

It has been fun watching it grow but it has resulted in an ongoing water fight. This guy thinks he can spray without consequence.

We have some regulars that hang out in our front yard. Rexx does nothing.

I also planted geraniums about two months ago..... and they are still alive too! Something about the air out here I guess. I have not watered them once, though we have gotten a lot of rain.


Well, these are all new life at 3349. Hope you had a great spring also.