Merry Christmas/Happy New Year's E-Card

     So in our mail, we have received several adorablely cute Christmas cards!  First of all, thank you for sending them!  I LOVE getting sweet things like this in the mail, definitely way better than the bills that always seem to make their way to us.  They made the outside of our refrigerator where I placed them look so festive!!  I didn't have any wedding photos back from my photographer yet and I hadn't been proactive enough to get a nice picture taken of us, so I am taking the more cheaper creative route and doing an e-card from us!  We are such a technology age, so why not capitalize on that even more?  Seriously, between being swamped at work, Christmas shopping, and Christmas parties I ran out of time!  Story of everything right?!  Next year, I'm going to prepare better to do this, so be ready to get something in the mail that will make you go "Awww..."

Merry Christmas from the Hixon's

Perhaps my train of thought is if I did a New Year's Eve card too, it might not seem so tacky, but probably it just makes it double the tackiness!  Here's our New Year's Eve e-card nonetheless:

YAY! We made it to midnight!  Happy New Year's!!

Hope you enjoyed our cards this year!!  Maybe next year there will be an actual card rather than looking at it on a computer screen:)  We had a lovely first holiday together as married folks, and more about that in my next post...

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Christmas Tree Snobs

Alrighty my blog readers, I have something to confess: Casey and I are Christmas tree snobs!  With this year marking Casey and I's first Christmas as married folks, this brings the added pressure of starting our own Christmas traditions.  While there are ones we each bring from our own families, we also wanted to start our own for our family.  I realize not all traditions begin the first year you're married, but I want to have at least a few for us, so that way we can say years down the road that we started doing them our first Christmas together.
     When having the real vs. artificial tree discussion (I had always grown up with real, while Casey had a combination of real and artificial), we cam to the conclusion we wanted a real tree.  The perfectly arranged lights and over time the inexpensiveness of an artificial tree was very alluring, but Casey wanted real Christmas tree smell in our house (which I love too!), so real is the route we took.  To make this tradition our own, Casey and I wanted to go to a Christmas tree farm and actually cut down our tree, which neither one of us had done.  Growing up, we always went to a nursery or somewhere like Home Depot.  Saturday morning Casey and I ventured to Old Time Christmas Tree Farm in the Spring area.  Going into this, I expected the longest part of this endeavor would be the commute to and from the tree farm.  I was wrong.  It seemed like there was a couple thousand trees, which at first sight can seem overwhelming, but I was also comforted in the fact that there was so much selection that this would be easy and take no time at all!  WRONG!
     We agreed beforehand that a 7-8 ft. tree is what we wanted, which was definitely doable.  The challenge came in the fact that since this was a taller tree than either of us had ever had that I wanted it to be a little more slender and Casey wanted one that was going to last,  not already loosing it's needles, and didn't have any holes in it.  All sounds pretty reasonable, but tree after tree we looked at would be missing something one of us didn't like, so on we went to the next one.  The funny part was that we both were pretty picky, but neither one of us got frustrated with the other over their pickiness.  We walked through many rows of trees, amazed at how snobby we realized we were, but also that we didn't want to settle for just any tree.
   Even though hunger was starting to set in (and we all know that me without food in my stomach results in a much crankier version of myself) and feet were getting tired, we pushed forward in our search.
After about 2 HOURS (yes I am ashamed to admit it was at least that long), we finally found a tree we both loved and could see it taking it's residence in the Hixon House!  It's a beautiful tree and we both enjoyed spending time with each other walking among nature.  It was wonderful to see so many people out there with their families and made me look forward to the years ahead when we can share this tradition with our kiddos.
     With each tree, comes my tradition of naming the tree.  Sounds weird to some (not to many if you know me well!), but to me it personalizes each tree and the memories associated with it.  At my parent's house, I would always name it after an Aggie football player that had a spectacular game against those Texas Longhorns since we usually purchased our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving while I was home from school.  With the Aggies being in the SEC now, this complicated things somewhat.  What I ended up doing was naming the tree at my parent's house Johnny Everett (after #2 Johnny "Football" Manziel and #29 Deshazor Everett who both had great performances against Alabama and were crucial to the Aggie victory).  At the Hixon House, we decided on the name Kevin Sumlin, which was a perfect compromise being that he is the current Aggie coach that used to be the coach at the University of Houston.  Kevin Sumlin was decorated Saturday evening and looks beautiful!!!  Now I just need to get on my Christmas shopping and get some presents under him!!  Have a blessed week from the Hixon's Christmas Tree Snobs!!

On the hay ride at Old Time Christmas Tree Farm about to find our tree!!!

My handsome Christmas tree picking out partner

The selection of trees was indeed vast!

We FINALLY found our tree!!!!

Not your typical tree hugger:)

Timber!!!!

Tree is down!

Shaking all the dead pine needles out!!

Binding it up makes it much easier to transport and get inside one's house!!

May I present to you the Hixon House 2012 Christmas Tree,
Kevin Sumlin!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

Thanksgiving Blessings

I LOVE Thanksgiving!!!  In many ways, I like it better than Christmas (though I still love Christmas too), but as I have gotten older my love for this holiday in November has increased.  I like to think that people are less materialistic and concerned about getting gifts, and are more focused on being thankful for the many ways God has blessed their life.  The point of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, which gets lost easily, but with Thanksgiving it seems that even those who aren't religious have their attention drawn to being thankful for what they have, not looking to things of this world they think will bring true fulfillment and enjoyment to their lives.  You still have the opportunity to eat incredibly delicious food and spend time with loved ones.  The only shopping you really have to worry about with Thanksgiving is that of grocery shopping, which seems much more manageable when compared to Christmas gifts plus Christmas dinner.
      In the Hixon house, both Casey and I agreed that we are not going to have any sign of Christmas decorations or lights inside/outside of our house until after Thanksgiving Day (contrary to our neighbors that have their lights and decorations out in their yard beginning the week before turkey day.  Thanksgiving deserves to have it's day to celebrate it's purpose of being thankful for our blessings and not be considered another day closer to Christmas.  I will admit though I started decorating our house with Christmas decor the next day after Thanksgiving.
    This year was Casey and I's first Thanksgiving as husband and wife.  He might drive me cray sometimes, but he also makes me laugh, I love him more each day, and he is definitely my most treasured blessing after our Lord and His Son.  Since we have yet to figure out how to be in 2 places at once, Casey and I decided the easiest and fairest way to do the holidays with our families is to flip flop.  Since last Thanksgiving we went to Kerrville and spent it with Casey's family, that meant this year we stayed in town and spent Thanksgving with my side of the family.  We went about 15 minutes down the road to my Uncle John and Aunt Regina's house and had a wonderful meal, great time with family, and of course watching football!
   After spending most of the day there, we went to over to my in-law's house to bring my father in-law some Thanksgiving food since he's unable to travel to Kerrville to be with the rest of Casey's family.  We had a nice visit and then headed home.  Combined with some vacation days he used along with the Thanksgiving holidays, Casey had the whole week off work and I only went to work on Monday.  We were able to get a lot done around the house. I cleaned/cooked while Casey made much progress on the hole in the floor upstairs.  Even though my job is great and I love the people I work with, I enjoyed not having to wake up early, dress up super nice, and the way my house looked after me having time to clean it. 
  I hope and pray your Thanksgiving was as blessed as ours!! To close a Thanksgiving 2012 picture!

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34

We Graduated!!!!

     So for the past couple months Casey and I have been going to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class at our church on Wednesday nights, but as of the end of October we graduated!  While I have missed going to Bible class and eating a relaxing dinner with mi familia, the Hixon House has already begun to see blessings from this class that if we stick with it and follow the lessons we learned in the course we truly will have financial peace.  One of the things I loved most about this class is how spiritually minded and focused Dave Ramsey is.  Each lesson includes numerous scriptures, and the end result of the class is to set you up to be financially secure so that you will be able to give to others like never. He really emphasizes the importance of helping those in need and remembering where our treasure is, how it's not the material things of this world, but about the wonderful God we serve/follow who is the owner/creator of all things.
     I also enjoyed the common sense-ness of it all!  Even though I have a finance degree and might know a few more facts about all that crazy financial stuff, I still felt like Dave Ramsey explained it in a very simplistic and basic way, so that those whose talents are in other areas still know what to do.  Planning for the future and evaluating how the money you receive is spent can be very overwhelming and stressful, but this class did a great job of breaking it down into manageable steps.  Casey and I thankfully both were more on the frugal side (though he will be the first to tell you I have a immense weakness for clothes/shoes/jewelry) and did a pretty good job of saving before we were married.  I'm so thankful we took this early on in our married life together because it really made us get on the same page together and get us financially off to a great start.  Taking this class made us tell our money where to go versus it telling us where it went.
     There have definitely been some adjustments the Hixon house has had to make, such as saying so long to my monthly massage membership at Massage Envy and less eating out, but you know we are still making it with food in our stomach, clothes on our back, and a roof over our head!!  It amazed me that once you are forced to really look at your spending with a fine tooth comb how much of what we buy is a want versus a need, which results in a lot of wasteful purchases.  It's nice to see so much $ going to savings and being able to pay off that nasty debt.  I highly recommend this class to anyone and a nice perk is that once you take the class, you have a lifetime membership so you can back at anytime and do the class for free!

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12:34

The Living Bank

    This past Friday night Casey and I were invited to a "Celebrate Life" event for The Living Bank.  The Living Bank is a nonprofit organization that began in 1968 with the mission to raise awareness of the critical need for organ transplant donors through public education and advocating for donors and their families.  Now it's really hard to believe that this January will mark 2 years since I began my life as a mono-kidney gal and Meredith began her new life.  Seriously, where did the time go?  When we had our surgery, Casey and I had only been dating 3 weeks and this Sunday we will be married for 6 months!  Anyways, this post is ais supposed to be about The Living Bank.  I became associated with them during the screening process of my kidney donation because I was appointed a living donor advocate that is independent of the hospital who serves to advocate for the best interest of a potential living donor.  Here are some interesting facts:

• Organ donation can occur with a deceased donor, who can give kidneys, pancreas, liver, lungs, heart, intestinal organs, and with a live donor, who can give a kidney or a portion of the liver, lung, or intestine.
• Over 112,000 people in the United States are waiting for life-saving transplants, of that figure; over 90,000 are waiting for a kidney.
• Every 18 minutes another name is added to the transplant list.
• Every 24 hours, eight people die because suitable organs are not available.

     They honored Meredith's surgeon who is such a wonderful lady and has become quite renowned for her success in transplantation.  I saw our transplant coordinators (who I know worked tirelessly to answer our questions and make sure everything was set up), Dr. Lappin and my surgeon Dr. Katz (who happens to be her husband).  Hearing Dr. Lappin and various other speak that night reminded again of what a wonderful organization The Living Bank is and also what an indescribable blessing it is to be an organ donor.  I look back at my journey to be an organ donor, which is something I did not plan to do in my life, but one of the best things that God put in my life and chose me to be a part of.

     My story of donating a kidney is one of faith.  If you would’ve told me at the beginning of 2010, that I would be having major surgery and giving a kidney to someone I barely knew , I would probably have looked at you like you’re crazy.  I’m so thankful that God is in control, allowed me to be a part of this experience, and that my family instilled the importance of helping those in need, because it has done nothing but bless my life.  My recipient Meredith and I grew up at the same church, but because of the almost 5 year age gap our paths didn't cross and therefore, never had a conversation with one another. I knew Meredith was in need of both a kidney and a pancreas because having diabetes for over 20 years had taken its toll on her body.  Unfamiliar with the whole donation process, I figured it wouldn't be a difficult or long process for her to find a kidney donor (the pancreas was going to have to come from a deceased donor), but because both of her pregnancies resulted in more antibodies in her blood, finding a match proved to be something much more difficult. 

     I was at the point in my life where I was in a state of transition.  My life had not worked out quite like I planned, which left me lost and feeling like I needed to do something in my life. At the time, I was reading "The Generosity Factor" by Ken Blanchard and S. Truett Cathy  which talked about leading a life of significance rather than what the world would call “successful”.  So I prayed to God, please use me to do something significant that would make a lasting impact.  I didn’t specify a particular area, but left it completely up to Him to decide.  I then learned at church of the difficult time Meredith was having in finding a match and that her kidneys were failing and she was very close to having to go on dialysis.  I told myself that there was nothing more special about me than anyone else, and with the increased difficulty to find a match, that I for sure would not be, but rather than live with the regret of not knowing I could have done something and didn’t, I decided to go for that blood test and find out, so I could know for sure.  When I received that first call notifying me that I was a match, I was in such shock.  I knew then that this was the something significant I had asked God to use me to do, and when I found out that around 40 people had been tested and I was the only one to make it through the entire process, that further confirmed this is what God had planned for me. 

     I gained a new sister and another "wonderful" family from what to me was just the simple act of helping someone in need.  Not all of us I realize can be organ donors, but we can all help someone in some way.  To you it might not seem that important, but to the other person you could be changing their life.  I know that every time someone tries to help or do something nice it doesn't always work out.  If you at least tried to make their life better, isn't that the point to try to help and share God's love?  Obviously, I am very passionate about organ donation and The Living Bank, so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  For more information on The Living Bank, take a look at their website:  www.livingbank.org.  Be blessed blog readers and help someone out this week!

" 'When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  'The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ " Matthew 25:39-41

Hixon Is My Last Name?

Let me first of all apologize to my readers (the many few that there are).  Time has gotten away from me once again!!!  I have been going nonstop it seems.  From work being busy, taking care of a sick husband who had a sinus infection and virus ( no worries he is better now and the huge mounds of tissues seem to have dissipated as well), Greek festival, choir concerts, I have had no time to blog!Back to the content of today's post is a thought I have been pondering for some time.  It is something that affects many females in the world (to any male readers I have do not worry it has nothing to do with the letters PMS)

How long does it take for a married lady to get used to her new last name (assuming she takes her husband's name)? It's like the well sought out answer of "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie roll pop"?  How much time does it take for you to say your new last name and let it roll off your tongue?  I do a pretty good most of the time saying my last name is Hixon, but I will admit that I still want to default to Adcock sometimes.  I know Casey and I have been married for less than 6 months, so it's still new.  I had been saying Adcock for a little over 28 years, so it takes time.  I wonder when I will go straight to the H's at the registration table of whatever event that is now somewhere near the middle rather than the first stop at the A's.  Where in the classroom will my kids sit if the teacher assigns seats based on alphabetical order?  I realize that when it comes to the church potlucks, I will still be with the A's most likely and not have to adjust there.  I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't excited to move further down the alphabet just to compare my experiences at the front of the ABC's.  I've learned that whatever your name is people will still mispronounce and misspell it,but such is life.  So far I'm enjoying my time in the H's. You're not at the end and you're not at the beginning still, but situated in the middle. It's beautiful!

"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 
I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you." Psalm 63:3-5

Wedding Weekends

So the past 2 weekends, we have gone to weddings.  (Casey was beyond thrilled and excited let me tell you.)  Acutally, while he loves his friends and wants to be there on their special days, I think he just didn't like the getting dressed up and wearing a tie part.  The first wedding was in town and it was a friend from his church growing up that Casey and his family knew.  The bride was from Romania, so the ceremony was spoken in Romanian and it was an Orthodox ceremony.  While I had never been to an Orthodox wedding or one that was in Romanian, it was a lovely ceremony and interesting to see the customs of another culture and religion.  We also got to spend the evening with Casey's mom, his brother David and his wife Taci, so that was nice to combine some family time with the wedding.  Casey wanted to leave before they cut the cake, but I really wanted some cake.  It's one of my many favorite parts of a wedding, but I compromised and told him if I could have a cupcake/cake coupon for another time, then we could leave right then.  We left right then, and I still have not redeemed my coupon:(
     I can say with 0% doubt that my favorite role in a wedding is the guest.  After being in several weddings and planning my own, I seriously love being a guest! I loved being in the weddings I have been in and was honored to do so, but after planning my own wedding, I have truly come to appreciate the role of the wedding guest.  Here are some reasons why:

• You don't have to get there until about 15ish minutes before the ceremony starts.
• Getting ready is way easier and faster.
• You can leave whenever you want and don't have to stay till the bride/groom leaves to help clean up. (which also means you don't have to deal with a cranky husband who wants to leave as soon as the I do's are said!)
• You don't have to write thank you notes.
• You don't have to worry about any wedding stresses like rsvp's, flowers, caterers, dress, etc.

     This past weekend the wedding was in Victoria for a couple of friends that we were blessed to meet at church and then moved back to the Corpus Christi area.  I should have read the invitation more closely and refreshed myself on the geography of Texas better because I thought Corpus Christi and Victoria were closer than 2 hours apart and also that Victoria is only 2.5 hours from Houston.  Casey's youngest brother is living the life of luxury in a condo right on the beach there and was nice enought to let us stay with him.  Originally I thought Victoria and Corpus were closer, so we would get there Friday and leave Sunday, but once I looked up everything on google maps, I realized we would be doing way too much driving back and forth if we did that.  We hated to tell his brother we weren't coming since he was nice enough to open his house and not make other plans and we also wanted to spend some time with his brother since we don't get to see him as often.  The happy compromise we came to was to go down to Corpus Christi Friday night, stay with Joel, drive from there to Victoria and go to wedding, and then head home to Houston late Saturday night.  And by late, I think we got home about 12:30 in the morning.  The wedding was lovely despite the downpour that came that day.  It paused long enough for Kevin and Elizabeth to say their I do's, so all was well.  Casey and I got to spend some time with Joel fishing and watching football, so all in all it was a wonderful trip!  I am thankful to be done going out of town for awhile though.
  This past Friday marked 5 months of marriage for Casey and I.  I know everyone says that time flies, but it really does!!  I would say the first month went by more slowly, but after that it picked up and seems like the next time I blink, another month has gone by.  I'll leave you with some pixs from the weddings we went to.

"Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" John 13:34