LOTS of Time in Ft. Worth with My Fam!

In January & February I spent a lot of time in Ft. Worth with my Wells family and it was totally and completely a God-ordained time for me! When I'm with Kent, Brooke, and the girls I can be "me!" I can stay in my PJ's all day, hang out on the couch, talk to Brooke, sew with Brooke and just get back in bed at night the same way I crawled out of it that morning! In between, I cook and play with the girls, talk and laugh with Kent, and feel loved and at home from all of them. I ALWAYS leave Ft. Worth feeling refreshed, relaxed and typically NOT ready to leave!

Brooke and I typically always go on our fabric hunt to

Downtown Dallasand this last time we found a great new place with

TONS of Minky Fabric in ALL different patterns. Our sewing project

was pillowcases and we had a BLAST! Once made we monogrammed away! Kent even begged for one...it was great! The girls LOVED theirs and Brooke is a sewing machine now making pillowcases for everyone!

The Sunday after the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony the Children's Ministry at First Euless challenged the kids to give a Gold Medal to someone who has taught them, loved them and is there for them to "honor" them. Abby came out of Sunday School and said, "Aunt Holly, I want to put this Gold Medal around your neck." Brooke and I weren't sure what she was doing besides just giving me this cheap, plastic medal on a ribbon until she explained what they learned that morning. It was such a sweet moment!

My heart was BLESSED!

I sure do love my Abby Girl!

SNOW in Texas and A LOT of it!

My goodness....there was 12 inches of snow in February and

it stayed around for 3-4 days! I had SO much fun with the girls

playing in it and just had to get a picture of me in my flip flops!

It was UNREAL driving to Ft. Worth with snow on the ground on both sides of IH-35!

While in Ft. Worth, Kent had his Rev Weekend (Disciple Now) and there were 475 kids and adults involved!

It was amazing and as his "lil sis'"

I absolutely LOVE watching my big bro in his element!

He is, by far, one of the MOST amazing Student Pastors EVER and

knows how to reach students in today's generation.

I'm so proud to sit back and watch him minister!

He's FUN! He's REAL! And he LOVES students enough to

tell them the truth in LOVE and kids lives are changed because of it!

Joshy being his co-hort is a blessing!

To watch Joshy "behind the scenes" always teaches me!

His techie-ness adds so much to ETHING they do and it's simply AMAZING! Kent's on the stage but Joshy is making everything "cool" happen with media!

I'm back and Noble's here, too!

Well, blogging friends....I'm back! I took a blogging break

since early December for nothing more than the choice of it. I really have been taking a break in life with a lot of things but I've truly missed blogging and especially reading everyone else's! God is doing amazing things in my heart and life and though I wouldn't say this has been all about enjoyment in this part of my journey it is where God has me and HE has me right where HE wants me! My biggest news since taking a break is the newest addition to my family. My puppy was born on December 30th, 2009 and he is by far the cutest thing EVER! I've had so much fun with him and he is the sweetest, most easy going puppy!

His name is Noble. I've always LOVED that name. There is a very special man in my life and is very much a "big brother" to me. His family is my "family" so it only seemed right to keep the name in the family! His middle name is Noble. His Mom's maiden name was Noble.

It's a very strong name and one that I knew I had to pass on to someone in MY family. It seemed only right to name him this. My only hope was that Peyton wouldn't be offended that I was naming my DOG after him...he wasn't! HA! Now, the only question is...IF God blesses my life with a son one day would it be too redundant to still name him "Noble?!?!" We'll see!

Here are some pix of Noble...

Canton Find...What is it???

SOOOOO....can you guess what this is???? It's unique....It's different but when I get to places like Canton, Round Top, and Wimberly my creative juices start flowing and sometimes I see something and say "WOW, I can do this...I can do that...what about this...what about that?"

This was that to me! Of course, after I "thought" up my idea I then "see" it a few booths down and think, "Oh, okay....well, I wasn't the first with that idea!" My plan is to let everyone hang for a few days on what this is and then I'll post the picture of what it becomes!

Birthday Blessings

Obviously, I'm playing some catch up from the past month of my life but I've learned something that will SO save my Blog life from being sucked dry! My friend, Marcus, shared his sweet wife's trick on blogging everyday! SHHHHH!!! don't tell! I had always admired the fact that Anna even had an extra 15 minutes in her day EVERY day to blog about their precious Abby Lu! But, I have now learned the secret...there is AMAZING post option of choosing what day and time you want your post to actually publish! WOW! My life has been forever changed! Of course, now I've probably put more pressure on myself to not have a month go by without posting because simply stated~ I HAVE NO EXCUSE!

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 32nd Birthday..

.and was EXTREMELY blessed to be able to share it with some of the MOST special people in my life. Kent, Brooke, and the girls happened to be in Austin and was able to come celebrate with us at Z-Tejas. My sister was also already in town for Thanksgiving break so she was able to be with us as well as my precious parents!

Having "family" to celebrate with makes it so much more special!

Creative Juices

Okay, so I was wasting time as part of my 'therapy' looking at the blogs that I absolutely LOVE to spend time stalking and came across such a neat idea...Modge Podge Shoes!

I was sharing the idea with Johnna and Amy one day at work and Amy says if I bring you a pair of Avenly's shoes will you experiment with them? Of course, I said SURE!

SO....here goes it...the before and the after...

I learned A LOT after doing the first shoe so the second one went SO much easier. A few weeks back I learned how to make the posies off of someone's blog and decided to add them to the front of the shoe. I bought myself a pair to try next!

Michalik's = Zimbabwe

I have been blessed by having MANY precious, precious people in my life that I'm beyond BLESSED to call "friends" but the Michalik's are more than that! Charlie is one of my greatest heroes and Jennifer is one of my greatest prayer warriors in life. To have sat back and watched our Sweet Jesus work in their lives has been a true JOY in the JOURNEY to say the least!

I left my heart in Africa nearly 8 years ago and when God laid it on the Michalik's heart to give up every modern day convenience they had, pack up their children, and move to Africa to provide clean water through wells for the people of Africa my heart was definitely part of this with them! It has been the neatest (and sometimes scary) journey to watch and see God at work. He did some AMAZING things using them to further HIS Kingdom in Sudan. AND He still has some AWESOME things planned despite them having to leave that country. SO blessed they have been to come "home" and be refreshed and renewed to head out on a new part of their journey....BACK to Africa!

It has been a sweet Jesus journey to pray alongside them and "see" where God is sending them and what He is doing through them. I'm SO excited to sit back and watch what HIS plan is for them. As they board that plane on December 10th I pray for safety and for God to go AHEAD of them to lay out ALL their provisions. God knows what's BEST and NEEDED and HE is their ultimate "Father." My biggest prayer is that RIGHT at this very moment God has just the right friends for Abbu and Hunter. I'm MORE than confident God is going to bless ALL their socks off in just the RIGHT way!

I love the ENTIRE family and was even able to spend some quality time with

Abbu this past weekend.

We created frames for her closest friends as prayer reminders for her to be able to give them. Such a great way to begin teaching the youngest about how BIG God's world is and that they can be a part of this journey! Thank GOD for Facebook and Skype...it makes HIS world seem small even in the HUGE realm of them being across an ocean in another Continent!

Missing My Boys...

Barrett and Brock...

These boy simply just make me smile.

When I think of them a smile resonates on my face.

When I look at a picture it reminds me of a memory, I smile.

When I step on a Lego that has "mysteriously" showed up after all these months, I smile.

When I'm in a store and I see something they would like and can't pass it up, I smile.

When I hear their voice on my phone, I smile.

When I "see" their faces on the computer when we iChat, I smile.

When I get off a plane and see them running to me, I smile.

When I hear them call me "Aunt Holly," I smile

I absolutely LOVE that these boys have ALL these ways (and MANY more) of making me smile!

Happy Birthday Brock!

Today is one of "my kiddos" birthdays and I'm sad I wasn't there to celebrate with him! BUT...let me tell you even though I wasn't there did NOT mean that I did not SPOIL him! A Birthday Box complete with a birthday sign, balloons popping out, noise makers, birthday confetti, and LOTS of prizes were mailed to Stone Mountain, Georgia this past week and on Friday my precious Brockie was able to ENJOY his birthday box!

This sweet boy just simply makes me SMILE. His little personality is about the sweetest thing EVER! He still cuddles and loves with you (which I've told him he CANNOT outgrow). He is the GREATEST little helper. His sweet spirit is CONTAGIOUS. He loves to PLAY with his brother. He says the sweetest prayers at night when he goes to bed. LOVES friends and gets along with EVERYONE! His little voice when he talks gets me EVERY time. And my PROUDEST achievement is the fact that Aunt Holly got the Hook 'Em in his blood BEFORE his parents moved him away from the greatest state EVER! He absolutely LOVES those horns and even yesterday, Mara told me he was helping cheer them to victory over OU! I cannot believe he is 4 years old now and much less believe that I've been blessed with watching him GROW into what he's becoming. I'm confident even now at 4 years old he will make some girl an AMAZING husband one day!

God's got GREAT plans for this little man!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BROCKIE!

Aunt Holly sure does LOVE YOU!

Crafting and a GREAT Movie!

Natalie and I ENJOYED being creative together!

She was working on a CUTE Modge Podge clipboard while I made some more Fabric Flowers (a.k.a. Posie Pins). The GREATEST part was the movie...The Proposal! We had fun crafting, eating homemade peach ice cream and LAUGHING at one of the BEST movies EVER!

LOVE me some Sandra Bullock AND Ryan Reynolds!

ORANGE is in honor of the Horns victory today over OU! HOOK 'EM!

LATE...sleepless night!

I've been having A LOT of LATE, sleepless nights lately. One thing my Mom always taught me was to NEVER "lay around." Whether it's during commercials or in bed at night...because "there's ALWAYS something you can do." Her words ring true and tonight I've been productive in my scrap/craft room. I've been re-organizing some things and I'm nearly done.

One of my dearest friends, Johnna, keeps wearing this cutesy little flower brooch. EVERY time I see her with it on I have this urge to make one! The other day I found several blogs that had tutorials and so I watched several. I also am working on a Swag for my house and so last weekend I went shopping for fabric. I absolutely LOVE looking and shopping for fabric. One of my MOST favorite things to do when I'm with my other dear friend, Brooke, is to fabric shop! The colors, the schemes, the patterns...it makes me want to learn to sew but NOT really! Ha!

There are so many no-sew things out there now and that's what I'm all about! However, I can sew a mean button on to ANYTHING you need me to! ANYWAY...here's my first attempt on a flower brooch. I learned quite a bit and am anxious to make my second...third...fourth! I've seen them put on headbands for little girls, hats, bags, and dresses/jackets.

What a NEAT accessory!