Fridays with Johnna.....

This past Friday marked the FIRST Friday of Johnna and I's "2009 Fridays Plan." We have decided that every Friday we are going to a new place to eat, chat, and hang with the kiddos! It's OUR time together and I'm confident God will bless it! This past Friday we went to the Domain b/c the weather was GORGEOUS! We went to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and then hung out. Before we knew it the clock read 3:45! OH my....we may get in trouble together! Well.....at least we're TOGETHER! It is a true blessing to watch William and Anna be raised by two amazing parents! Many people don't know that I knew Will BEFORE he ever met Johnna. Met Johnna when her and Will were dating and what an AMAZING blessing it is to say that NOW she's one of my dearest and best friends! WOW.....I just LOVE how God works things for HIS good! I'm even more anxious to continue to see how God intertwines our hearts for HIS purpose~ praying for each other, encouraging each other, and simply just being there for each other. Here's to this next Friday.....I believe we decided on Central Market! 

Fun Times on New Year's Day....

Kent surprised Brooke at Christmas with a trip to Las Vegas SOOOO down came the girls to Lolli and Pops house in Austin! YEAH....Aunt Holly was happy about that! Not only did I get to spend time with my girls but when K & B got home I was able to spend some time with them! 

Kent had never been to Pluckers and it was his choice for dinner. Okay, so....if you've NEVER been you MUST go! It's a great place especially if there's a good game on the TV's while you're there. BEWARE: it's LOUD and you need to clean your ears before you go so you can hear the yelling conversation across the table. Kent got the All You Can Eat and so we tried Honey Bque, Lemon Pepper, Orange, Terriyaki, Jamaican Jerk along with some others that I can't remember. We were advised NOT to try the Dr. Pepper. Our waiter actually told us they were gross! We appreciated his honesty! Needless to say we were ALL stuffed and deaf before we left. 

 After dinner we spent some time at Mom and Dad's before B and I left for the movies. I wasn't sure I was going to get B out of the massage chair but we left JUST IN TIME. Kent took the girls home for us to have some "girl" time ourselves. Marley & Me was EXCELLENT! My biggest like about it was how they portrayed a loyal married couple despite the struggles. It's been a long time that Hollywood has done that. They were very faithful to each other, their family, AND their sweet puppy. B nor I had tissues so I was glad when I got our popcorn I picked up some napkins because by the end of the movie we were both crying like babies! I will SOOOO see this again. It was a GREAT movie! 

Ringing in the New Year....

Well, this year was a little different of a New Year's....a few weeks before Christmas Maranatha fell and tore her ACL having some fun with the girls from her Small Group at church. To make a long story short she had to have surgery. The same time she scheduled surgery (due to insurance purposes) was the same time Alfred had scheduled the College Ministry Ski Trip so.....at 1:30 on Wednesday, December 31st I found myself sitting in the Surgery Center Waiting room beginning a new book and sipping on my large sweet tea from Chick Fil A waiting on my sweet friend to get through surgery. Dr. Danney came walking through the door at 4:45 to tell me "all was well." Phone calls started....first to Alfred while he was enjoying the slopes at Breckenridge, second to NeeNay and Poppa in Memphis, and third to Momma T. Sent a mass text message out to about 8-10 people who had been praying for her surgery. At about 6:00 we were ready to load up and head out after recovery. She was SOOOO alert that when I got her in the car she wanted a Sonic drink! Crack me up~ so off we went! Got her home and settled into her two machines.....they were amazing and she quickly fell asleep. BUT she didn't drift off before she looked up at me and said wake me up at 11:30 so we can watch the ball drop. 

Needless to say we brought in the last minutes of 2008 into the first minutes of 2009 laying in bed. I'm quite sure this is a New Year's NEITHER of us will EVER forget! 

31 Days.....31 years....31 blessings

Okay.....so, here I sit December 31st, 2008, and was wanting to blog about something. Here's what I thought up.....31 days in December and I turned 31 years old this year so why not share 31 blessings and favorites in my life! I didn't put a lot of thought into this....just kind of listed 1-31 on a piece of paper and wrote. Here goes it:

1. My Faith~ My relationship with Christ is the ultimate reason for living! 

2. My Family~ I am who I am because of them!

3. My Friends~ Laughs, Talks, and FUN! 

4. My "Kids"~ HUNDRED's of them!

5. My Church~ AMAZING place!

6. My Calling~ Kids & Parents

7. My Home~ Mortgage debt is a blessing! 

8. My Bible~ AHHH....my love letter from my "husband." 

9. My feet hitting the ground every morning for 31 years!

10. My Trips overseas~ they continue to change my life forever!

11. Returning to school full time~ Liberty University.

12. Pure Joy International Retreat Ministry~ my love for Missionaries!

13. Chosen Children Ministry~ my love for Nicaragua and children!

14. My Aunt Rosie's "80th" Bday~ Life is precious; live it to the fullest!

15. The birth of Lathon Atley Day~ Another "adopted" nephew! Precious little miracle!

16. My continued love, prayer, and dedication to the country of Africa~ 1/2 my heart is there!

17. My Scrap Room~ Therapy for my crazy life!

18. My "couch" and "chair"~ love for my Smith Family!

19. Facebook~ reconnecting with old friends!

20. My "Little" Sister graduating from High School~ just yesterday I was graduating and she was starting Kindergarten!

21. Moving my "Little" Sister into her dorm at Texas Tech~ that Football team was AMAZING this year! 

22. Starbuck's~ Let's see.....Caramel Frappachino, Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, Caramel Macchiato!

23. LONGHORN FOOTBALL~ Gotta love me some Horns! FOREVER FAN!

24. Hobby Lobby~ if you can't find me; I'm HERE! 

25. Jon & Kate Plus Eight~ By far my FAVE on T.V. They encourage me! 

26. Outback Steakhouse~ I'm ALWAYS up for a Filet Mignon and a Baked Potato! 

27. Bath & Body Works~ Japanese Cherry Blossom and Sweet Pea!

28. Nail Studio~ Spa Pedicure! My feet love it! 

29. O'Chester Learning Center~ being able to have fun with kids, teachers, and parents!

30. United States of America~ Election year....God's IN CONTROL! 

31. Good Health, Strong Faith, and Looking forward to 2009! 

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS....name them one by one! Even the craziest things can bless our hearts! God gives us those things to put smiles on our faces, have fellowship with friends, grow closer and more dependent upon Him, and ENJOY life! God is good....ALL THE TIME! 

Guitar Hero fun at our Cousins.....

Last night we went over to our Cousins, the Riegers, for our Christmas with them. Mom has become OBSESSED with Guitar Hero and after last night I believe is headed to the store TODAY to get  herself a Wii as well as her OWN Guitar Hero and Wii Fit. She was SO INTO IT but I have to admit after awhile she became VERY good at it! I believe she would be willing to take anyone on! Watch out.....before you know it we will be having Guitar Hero Tournaments at the Hilderbrand house! 

 

a VERY merry CHRISTmas.....

I'm praying that ALL of my friends and family had as blessed a Christmas as we did! We had an amazing day together as a family! The biggest surprise of the day was the "BIG" gift Hillary and I gave my mom and dad. I decided several weeks ago to do something we've never done before after seeing the Christmas cards my mom was sending out to people. She was "thinking ahead" back in March when we took a family picture during our new Pictorial pictures at church and ordered Christmas cards then. Well, as many of you probably read in my blog in August I got 13 inches cut off my hair SO needless to say the Pictorial picture was WAY outdated from only 7 months ago! Hillary and I went and had our pictures taken together and surprised mom and dad with a new plethora of pictures of their "two girls." It was so much fun!

Bags...Sewing....fun times in Ft. Worth~ ALWAYS!

Many of you that know me know that I'm pretty crafty, however, sewing is definitely NOT my thing! I've never been interested in it and frankly am still not. My mom did teach me how to do one thing and that was how to sew a button on and I can do that pretty well! This weekend it was time to head up to Ft. Worth to pick up the bags from Brooke's party we had in Austin back in November as well as love me some Wells family! 

Brooke still had a few bags to make and none of the buttons had been sewed on so a few late nights (about 1 a.m.) we had completed our Bag Journey! Hillary and Amy helped tag the bags one night. 

I was also blessed to be able to see Karly and Abby in the Christmas Performance at First Euless on Sunday afternoon. They were ADORABLE~ and NO that's not just the Aunt Holly talking.....EVERYONE agreed! 

I'm more than blessed to have some adopted "Big Brothers" in my life and Kent is AMAZING! He has been an encourager, a prayer warrior, and has talked some sense into me from time to time! It is such an AWESOME thing to watch God use him in the life of students. He is by far one of the BEST Student Pastors EVER as well as "Big Brother."

Not to mention my trip was actually made complete this time by being able to spend some time with Uncle Joshy! Josh had the ultimate part in the Christmas Performance.....to play Santa Claus! He did great and excited everyone when he rode into the Sanctuary on his little moped! Hillary and I went to eat dinner with Josh and Rhi on Saturday night and was able to spend some quality time picking "Dad's" brain on what to prepare Little Hudson with when he enters the world next year~ gifts, gifts, and more gifts! Oh yeah....and if no one is planning a shower, Josh is rolling the dice to make sure one's planned! Not a problem, Josh. We'll make sure that Little Man is SPOILED ROTTEN! I'm quite sure he will not be on the "deprived" list of babies! I already love me some Hudson Merriott and I CANNOT wait to hold him and love on that precious miracle! 

"Belf" the Elf....

Friday night I got to spend some time with my boys. Earlier that day Mara had bought the Elf on the Shelf for them and wanted me to read it to them to introduce the Elf before they went to bed because they were going to go see Santa Claus on Saturday morning. I absolutely love opportunities like this. It makes me realize just how much I miss teaching and encouraging young and impressionable hearts for loving a lifetime of learning. I read the book as animated as I could getting both Brock-man and Bear to "believe" in the Elf. They were on each side of me as we were sitting on the couch listening VERY intently. Of course, Aunt Holly indulged some of the book to keep their attention and talked them through many parts of it asking them questions to get them involved in discussion as well as understanding it. They were so intrigued. I also tried to correlate "naughty and nice" to "wise choices and unwise choices," when we choose to "obey and disobey." I personally believe that you can reach kids with balancing the Scriptures and make believe without harming them for life. Santa and the "magic" of the Elf flying to the North Pole is a fun family tradition around Christmas time; teaching them to make unwise and wise choices to please Jesus is a LIFETIME of learning. Anyway.....enough of my soap box. At the end of reading the book, Barrett and Brock began to look for the Elf. They were absolutely THE CUTEST as they looked all over the living room trying to find where "Belf" the Elf was "watching them." Barrett decided to name the Elf "Belf" because he has a bell hanging off his hat. They found him sitting high on a shelf and immediately had to get close to him so they could start talking to him. Brock had a hard time understanding why he couldn't "touch" him. Explaining that we could use our eyes to look at him and our words to talk to him but our hands are used to do kind things about did it for him understanding why he couldn't do it! They both began whispering to him what they wanted for Christmas. I couldn't hear Barrett- so hopefully Mara & Alf knows what he wants from Santa- and Brock kept saying, I want a "BIG WOODY." I'm anxious to watch what the next few weeks unfolds. Alf told me both the boys were up at 5:30 a.m. yesterday morning looking for him. Hopefully, Alf & Mara can come up with some hard places so they can sleep later! This morning at church Brock came running up to me and said, "Aunt Holly, Elf is in the kitchen today."  TOO cute! 

IT WILL WORK....trust me!

The other night Mara & I went shopping so we could be creative making some Christmas gifts and returned home to this "thing" in the kitchen covered up by a towel. Curious to see what it was Mara went to go uncover it. Soon after I hear this chuckle saying, "Sister, come here....look what he's done." Well, needless to say my chuckle followed closely after. We both tried to convince Alf that it wasn't going to work. It went downhill from there. Finally, at about 10:30 we had convinced him to "cut off the top" and get the lid to actually sit on top of the crock pot COVERING the top of the Pork. He worked for at least 30 minutes cutting the frozen piece of meat with an electric knife squeezing what he could down into the crock pot. I looked at the lid and told him I thought he had the top of a Pyrex dish and sure enough he did....so then went the hunt for the correct lid to place on top of the completely squeezed crock pot of pork. "Trust me," he kept saying.....well, the next day, Mara wakes up to go downstairs to the lovely barbeque smell in the kitchen of sauce and pork juice dripping all down the dishwasher and onto the floor. "Trust me" still rings in my ears....I do have to say it sure did taste good so maybe that's what Alf was trying to get us to trust him in. As Mara and I continued to chuckle at him the whole next day I began to encourage Alf as I do the teachers with the kids at OLC.....it's ALL ABOUT THE PRODUCT NOT THE PROCESS THAT COUNTS! 

Jon and Kate Marathon....

Okay...so many of my friends know I'm TOTALLY obsessed with Jon & Kate Plus Eight! Call me crazy but I just think they are the cutest kids and have the neatest family! Not to mention the fact that I love how balanced they are in relationally raising their children in today's world. I have previously posted how I have watched them and kept up with them when they did their so called "one night special" of the delivery of the sextuplets. Soon after began the series. Thank GOD for DVR when I'm not at home on Monday nights for the new episodes. On Thanksgiving day they had a Jon & Kate Plus Eight marathon and needless to say that was where the TV stayed for quite awhile until my Mom very kindly said, "Can we change the channel?" One of my birthday gifts from Maranatha was their new book that came out. I looked SOOOO forward to reading it over the holidays because I completed ALL of my school work BEFORE Thanksgiving so I could enjoy "ME" time. I got to read what I wanted without having to write a book review afterwards, taking an Exam, or posting a Discussion Board. I read their book in one night and the next morning.....it was such a easy and encouraging read. What a testimony they are to many around them on their dependance upon the Lord through  such a MIRACLE of the birth of 6 babies! I admire their determination in raising their children in the admonition of the Lord! The story she tells of the scripture cards her Mom gave her when she found out she was pregnant was the neatest thing! She continues to hold onto to those cards on the same ring her mom gave her then and refers to them often with the struggles and rewards of raising 2 sets of multiples.