Squirrel Play-doh!

I thought it was time for a little humor during this early part of the week, so allow me to introduce to you 3 things you would think are not related, but combined gave birth to the idea of "Squirrel Play-doh"

On a roadtrip a couple months ago, Casey was chewing some gum and it had gotten to the point where the flavor was gone and he longer wanted to reside inside his mouth.  Since gum is not great for your digestive system, one would think he would have placed the chewed gum back inside the wrapper it came in or a trashbag of some sorts to dispose of it.  Casey does neither.  What he does do is roll down the window and spit it outside the window along the highway.  I was in a state of shock, because to me I believed that I had just witnessed my husband commit the crime of littering.  We've all seen the road signs Litter is UnlAWFUL!  I told Casey and my Dad who was also in the car, that I couldn't believe he had just littered!  Casey proceeds to tell me that disposing of one's gum while driving is not littering and that he wasn't littering, but giving the squirrels play-doh.  "Squirrel Play-doh?" WHAT?!  I tried to suggest that if squirrels or any other creature tried to eat gum, it would probably be much more difficult to digest and could be fatal.  I was merely told in response that squirrels know not to eat their play-doh.  So next time you see someone throw or spit their gum outside the car window while driving, maybe they are just giving the squirrels some play-doh:)

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

VBS and a Wedding Weekend

     So last week, the Hixon's were BUSY! We had something going on every single night.  We worked during the day as normal, but at night we had VBS at church Sunday through Wednesday.  VBS was fun, but I was definitely glad it was over after 4 nights because I was tired!  Casey helped do the recording in the auditorium, while I helped with the 2 year olds.  Let me clarify the 2 year old boys!  That's right, we didn't have a single girl any night of VBS.  Overall, they did pretty well and the times where there were tears were short lived.  I think we even had a few that remembered we learned about Daniel, which is exciting, because at 2 they are still learning so much and they have never been to VBS before. It went very well and everyone at church (especially our children's coordinator Amanda Archer) did a wonderful job putting it all together!
     Thursday night was busy too because it was spent doing laundry and packing to go out of town for a friend's wedding while Casey mowed the front yard.  Sad to say that night we had a frozen pizza for dinner because there was no time to go to the grocery store or point since we were gone pretty much the whole week.  Friday around lunch we headed out with our traditional stop at Chick-fil-a  (Casey learned very early on in our relationship that I must be fed before starting any long period of time in the car.  I warned him, but he learned the hard way one time that this lady gets very cranky if she's hungry.  He has never repeated that mistake!) and then on to West Memphis, Arkansas!!
     Where is West Memphis you ask?  It's just as the name implies west of Memphis, Tennessee by about 10 minutes.  For us in Houston, it's about a 10 hour drive with a couple food/bathroom stops!  Flying was way too expensive, and I love car rides with Casey because it gives us a chance to talk about all sorts of things.  We went to the wedding of a sister of one of my dear, close friends Melissa (who was a bridesmaid in my wedding) who I became friends with when she would come down to see her sister. You know how you love people's family even though you've never met them or spent much time with them, but just based on the one or two people in that family you do know, you just know that the others are that wonderful too and treat you as a family member too?  That's the Rankin's.  I have met all of Melissa's siblings and parents at various times when they would come to Houston, but this is the first opportunity we have gotten to spend more than just a few minutes with them and what an incredible blessing it was!!  Her parents are probably some of the sweetest people ever and made us feel like we were Rankin's.  Casey and I LOVE the Rankin family!!  The wedding was beautiful (Congrats Scott and Melanie Bryan) and since this was our first wedding since our own in April, Casey and I thoroughly enjoyed serving the role of wedding guest!!!  Have to give props to my husband who helped clean up after the wedding without complaining, which was very nice and meant the world to his wife!!
     When you head 10 hours to go somewhere, that means it is 10 hours back to home.  Boo!  At least we had each other to switch turns driving.  We pulled into our driveway  after driving over 1,000 miles in 2 days at about 7:30 safe and sound, but very tired.  The weekend was great and it was nice to get away, but we were definitely glad to be back at home.

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Bryan!!!

Melanie walking down the aisle with her Dad (aka Daddy Rankin)

Melissa, who made a BEAUTIFUL maid of honor!!!

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Matthew 6:19-21

THANKFUL to be done with Thank You Notes

     Casey and I are beyond blessed to have so many friends, family, and church members from both congregations where we grew up (myself at Memorial and Casey at Champions) to help us furnish our home with the necessities (and then some)!  Literally, our entire master bedroom was full with wedding presents!  A great problem to have!!  Below is a picture after we had 3 showers, but before the wedding.  It was so very generous of everyone to give all that they did, sure makes you feel very loved!

     With many gifts comes many thank you notes!  Actually, more thank you notes than gifts because even though it's a group gift, let's be honest, a group thank you note would be kinda tacky.  My take on it is that even though it may be more time consuming for me to write each individual, that's what has to be done because said person was thoughtful enough to give of their own money to buy us a gift and they also spent time thinking of what to get and going to the store to get it.  Not only do I want to write them a card, but I want it to be more than just "Thank you for the blender.  We really appreciate it!"  I also had like almost 350 of these bad boys to write, so I couldn't realistically write a novel either and get them written in an acceptable time frame.  I know if you ask around most people will tell you that you have a year to write them, but I don't want it to take me to long to write these suckers and the people who gave me the gift have already forgotten what they bought us to begin with.  Plus, I just wanted to get it done and not have it looming over my head anymore, so I could focus solely on getting our house unpacked/decorated.  It's a fine balance to make your thank you card sound like you put thought and effort into it, but not write too much so that you can get the cards in the mail sooner.
     I tried to get as many thank you notes written as possible before the I do's, but me planning my own wedding (I did have help, just didn't have a wedding coordinator is all) I did not have a ton of free time while I was juggling working full-time.  I actually did receive a thank note 2 weeks ago from a shower at church that was done about 6 weeks earlier and I still had not sent mine out when my shower was over 4 months ago.  Oh well!! I did my best and at least I can say now they are all written, just need to add addresses to a few more of them and then those last few stragglers will be out of the house! YAY!!!

"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.  Do everything in love."  1 Corinthians 16:13-14

HELLO World!

     So I've been thinking about starting a blog for awhile now, and figured once we were married and through with wedding planning, that my life would allow me some time to do this.  Me being me want this blog to be FANTASTIC!  I so don't want a boring blog!  That being said, there is some pressure then (that I am totally putting on myself) to make this thing entertaining, uplifting, and at the same time educational.  That is right people, I plan to broaden your horizons with my sometimes somewhat twisted thoughts in hopes that more people might jump on my bandwagon and make me seem less like a crazy person, but even if that doesn't happen at least we will both get a few laughs out of this deal!
     As I introduce myself and my blog to the world, let me also apologize for the day when I stop updating it too.  I'm a realist in this instance and know that since I was never good at keeping diaries/journals growing up, that there will come a day where I just stop posting, so in advance I apologize.  Maybe it'll never happen or perhaps I'll be that cool old lady in the nursing home who is still up to date with technology and blog about what they are putting in the prune juice.  Time will tell, but until then I will try to brighten your days with the events of our lives, provide lots of laughter, and give you an idea of what goes on in my head on a periodic basis. 
     My wonderful husband Casey and I have been married for 68 days so far!  Time seemed to go by slow when we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii, but ever since we came back after those incredible 6 days in paradise, time has just flown by!!!  We are so immensely blessed that God brought us together and gave each other the perfect "complement" to our lives.  I never really realized how true and important that was until I met Casey.  I'm high maintenance (unfortunately for Casey) whereas he is super laid back.  I'm proactive and usually get things done as quickly as possible whereas Casey will get it done on time, but definitely waits a little bit longer to start it.  He is SUPER patient, while I would like things to happen as soon as possible. (Sad random fact is that I actually thought I was pretty decent in the patience department, but then I met Casey and he put me to shame!)  The list goes on, but you get the point.  While there are many ways that we are different, the most important things in life we agree on, such as: God is our #1 priority, we need to be like Jesus in all that we do, and cooked carrots are nasty.
     Married life is great, but I'm not going to lie and say that it's a total breeze and no work at all.  It definitely takes a lot of work on both parts to make it work and to help it grow into something even better.  Casey came from all brothers and I just had a sister, so we for sure have had to adjust some living with someone of the opposite sex, which let's be honest is a BIG adjustment for both of us.  We both lived by ourselves for awhile before we got married too, so again another adjustment, but it's going well.  I think we are finally used to the other and their quirks (at least those that we have learned about thus far), thought I know we are far from knowing everything about the other.  
     Me being the very social bee that I am keep us pretty busy, though I try to keep in mind too that my husband likes his down time at home and doesn't enjoy this always-on-the-go philosophy.  With us buying a house in January and me moving in after the wedding at the end of April, our house is still a WORK IN PROGRESS.  I knew it would take awhile, but the more as time goes by and things are getting done, I'm realizing that it's going to awhile till everything has found its place, pictures are hung on the walls, and the major repairs are done.  We'll get there I know, but here is where the impatience comes into play again.
     I realize if I share everything now, that this post will be WAY TOO LONG and then I will have nothing to write next time, so until then I'll leave you with this scripture:

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:9-11