I've Been Tagged!

Thanks Erica! I never mind sharing some of my favs so here goes:


8 TV Shows I Watch: 8 is bacially all that I do watch. We haven't picked up any new shows in ages so nights can be a lot of flipping for us.


1. The Office - my most fav
2. ER - die hard fan since the beginning. I predict Ray and Neela will hook up by the end.
3. CSI - on Thursday night. I am sad to see Grissom leave but will hang around and see if I still like it.
4. American Idol
5. Nip/Tuck - OK, I know, this is something I should NOT admit to watching but I can't wait for new season to premiere early January
6. Friday Night Lights - can't wait for this to return early 2009 either
7. CSI: Miami - terrible show but I am caught up in the character's lives. I will not let Shane watch this with me as he has nothing but negative comments to say.
8. House Hunters on HGTV


8 Favorite Restaurants: This should be easy as I love good eats.


1. America's - the churrasco steak and au gratin potatoes are so good. And, I can never decide between the Tres Leches of Cheesecake for dessert.
2. Lupe Tortilla's - love the beef fajitas
3. Perry's - Yes, I have expensive taste. Try the chocolate truffle sauce with your steak, au gratin potatoes and fried asparagus - YUM!
4. Collina's - absolutely my favorite pizza in town
5. Goode Co. Barbeque - can't wait to try the new location off of 290
6. Bake Shoppe - of course. Shane and I eat there for lunch at least twice weekly. We keep them in business.
7. Olive Garden - absolutely my favorite salad and the chicken parmigiana with fettucini alfredo is awesome.
8. Peach Tree - unfortunately, the Peach Tree is in Boerne, TX but if you are ever there..GO!


8 Things that Happened to Me Today: Well, not a very exciting day but, here goes:


1. Watched Boo and Moose play then cuddle on chair....so cute!
2. Had breakfast at the Bake Shoppe - Surprise!
3. Baked 2 batches of pecan balls
4. Baked a cheesecake
5. Laughed at Boo scare herself and then run across the room for cover
6. Griped at Jacob for getting dirt on his clean jeans which I wanted him to wear to church tonight...another load of laundry going right now.
7. Watched Christmas Eve Sarajevo to Christmas lights on YouTube - too cool. If you have a chance, check out the house with music to lights in the newer section of Prestonwood.
8. What can I say, this has been a boring day...updated blog

8 Things I look forward to:


1. Watching Shane and Jacob open their Christmas presents
2. Eating an awesome meal Christmas Day
3. Getting a call from our adoption agency that our new baby is either here or on his/her way
4. New Year's Eve fireworks with my neighbors
5. Going to CO in March (my favorite place on earth) and watching Jacob ski down the mountain
6. visiting Riley soon at her new home (Oh, how I miss her)
7. Celebrating our 17th anniversary at America's and then Sonoma's - good food, good wine
8. Did I say new baby? I can't wait to smell him/her, see him/her, hold him/her. I just can't wait to do it all over again!


8 Things I wish for:


1. The economy to rebound and for my retirement to more than double very soon (keep dreaming, huh?)
2. For Jacob to seek God in everything he says and does
3. For Shane and I to grow old gracefully together
4. For Jacob to become a godly man, to get a good education and mostly, to do whatever he wants to do in life...even if it is BMX or the drums
5. A bigger home
6. A new car (not necessarily new just one that runs good and is bigger than what I have now)
7. To return to work someday
8. Pure joy and happiness!!!

Cauley Family Christmas

Every year, on the Sunday before Christmas, we get together with Shane's Dad's side of the family. Shane has quite a large family and I love these get togethers as my family is so small. This year, Shane's dad, Thomas, came with his girlfriend, Linda, and her daugter, Alicia, who is 6 months pregnant...Congratulations Alicia! Shane's brother Tommy and his fiancee, Farrah also came. For those of you who don't know, Farrah is the owner of Sonoma Retail and Wine Bar located on Richmond Avenue. If you haven't been there you have to go, especially if you are a wine lover. Tommy and Farrah are getting married early March. Shane has been asked to be a groomsman. It should be a fun adult night! Shane's sister, Christy, also came. Her boyfriend, Leo, was there for a short while until his allergies to cats became so bad that he had to go. Shane's brother Bill, his wife Rebecca and their kids Jessica, Chris, Cody, Brittney and Caden were also there. In special attendance was Shane's grandmother Nanny. Nanny recently moved to a nursing home in The Woodlands. She really seemed to enjoy being with us all.

We had a huge feast of a meal and then opened presents and took pictures. We always say we should do this again in a few months and never seem to make it work. This year I am going to make sure this happens as we all enjoy being with each other so much.

Every year we all say how much we miss Shane's stepmom, Elaine. She passed away March 13, 1998 due to a car accident at the intersection of 249 and 1960. Elaine was very special to me even though I knew her the least amount of time. She couldn't wait for Shane and I to marry and as soon as we married she was already talking about grandbabies. My first pregnancy and loss occurred right after she passed away. Knowing that our children are in Heaven with her has always been a comfort to me. I also enjoyed the long conversations that she and I would have every time we visited.

The last time we had a picture of all of us was the Christmas before she passed. This year, we managed to take another one.

The Conklin Clan: in back, Caden, Bill and Cody, in front, Rebecca, Jessica Brittney and Chris

Us with Nanny

Shane, Tommy, Christy, Bill with Nanny and Thomas (Grandpa)

Tommy and Farrah

Missing is Shane's stepsister, Stacy, her husband Andy and son Jonathon. Stacy has had a hard time for many years. I won't go into the details but please pray for her healing. Our hope and prayer is that sometime soon she will be healed and able to join our family again. Also missing is Grandpa Thurman and Lillian. They were out of town this weekend and not able to make it.

You may be reading this post on Christmas Day. I hope your day is blessed! Merry Christmas to all!

Craft Project

So, I am not very good, at all, at crafts as most of you know. I don't have a creative bone in my body. Jacob decided that we needed to make snowflakes and hang them from the ceiling. We made 18 snowflakes (a number insisted upon by Jacob) and hung them in the entryway, around the stairs and in the dining room. Here is the result of our project. It looks really neat and I am very proud of myself :)

*********************************

Here are some updated pictures of Boo. She is now 16 weeks old and into everything. She really loves to watch the computer screen as she is doing now. Since her coloring is dark, she is not very photogenic.

*******************************************

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE TO EVERYONE!!! We will be going to the 5pm service. Shane will be playing drums, of course. Afterwards, Jacob and I will go to my parents to visit. Shane will have one more service to play. Jacob is so very excited about Christmas morning. He is begging to open one present Christmas Eve. I think we will let him.

White Elephants!

Last Friday night we had our small group friends over for a Christmas party. Every year we have a white elephant gift exchange. We usually bring 2 gifts per family...one white elephant and one nice gift. This year the kids decided to join in on the gift exchange...it was total chaos to say the least. Not helping matters was the fact that I messed up the numbers that people picked to see when it was their turn...we had 2 7's, 2 8's, etc. What can I say, my mind was on other things!

Anyways, I let Jacob take my turn. His first gift was Christmas theme coasters, teacup towels and a soap dispenses. He wasn't too excited about that so I stole his gift and let him have my turn again. The picture shows you what he got the next turn....a girly license plate. His face shows his disgust. He (and the other kids) must think we are all crazy exchanging gifts like this. We are thinking that next year we will let the kids have a real gift exchange, something they would like to receive and we will have our own.

Grandma Dolly's Funeral

On Friday night, I decided that I wanted to go to Dolly's funeral. I was having a hard time commiting to going (sounds weird, huh?) as I was so overwhelmed with a party that night and Shane's family get together here on Sunday. Once I stopped cooking and cleaning and took a moment to myself, I realized that there was no where I would rather be than at her funeral. So, I made plans to drive to LA with my parents Sunday. I let some of Shane's family know that I would not be here on Sunday and to please make themselves at home as Shane would most likely need the help. Well, I guess God had other plans. On Saturday, I started running and fever and could barely keep my eyes open. On Sunday, my endometriosis pain kicked in. I knew I could not spend 2 days in the car with fever, fatigue and pain; so, I stayed home.

The viewing is right now and the funeral is in a few minutes. Please pray for my parents and the rest of my family as they endure this hard day.

Here is Dolly's obit:
http://www.chauvinfuneralhome.com/index.cfm

As usual, there is always an error on an obit. Dad's middle name is not Edward...it is Eugene. Funny how obits always seem to have some name mishap.

We Miss our Puppy!

Last Saturday we said goodbye to our dog Riley. It was a very sad day for us. I cried for days before we took her to her new home and for days afterwards. Now I am hapy for her but I (we) miss her and can't wait to visit her soon. We knew that Riley could have a better home than ours which is why I listed her on the border collie and aussie rescue websites. Border collie's do not do well in cookie cutter homes. No matter how much I walked her or played ball with her, it just wasn't enough. We had 2 requirements for her new home...lots and lots of land and another dog as active as her. We found it! Riley now lives on 5 acres in Alvin with another dog named Major. He is a 100 lb. german shepherd/wolf-hybrid mix. Her new owner is Barbara. She also has a 5 lb. yorkie named Maggie (who thinks she weighs 100 lbs.) and 2 horses.


We took her out for a visit a couple of weeks ago. I was so nervous that she and Major would start fighting or she would pee on their carpet. Instead, she and Major ran and played and ran and played (once Riley even jumped over him). All 3 dogs got along and she seemed to take to Barbara. One week later, we took her there for good. The closer we got to their home, the more excited she got. Once we were there, she ran right up to Barbara to say hello and then straight to the backyard to see Major.

According to Barbara, the dogs play, play, eat and sleep. Just the fact that she is eating is a good sign. She will also get to go on trail rides with the horses and camp out.

It is very quiet around here...something new to get used to. I miss her sweet face and her loud tongue and her way of "talking" to you. It is very hard to get rid of a dog that you have had for a year. I don't regret rescuing her and training her as she is now a happy girl. I do hope that I don't find any more animals for a long time. It is hard to fall in love and say goodbye.

Luckily, she lives fairly close to the BMX racetrack in Pearland and we will be able to visit her occassionally. I can only hope and pray that she is not missing us (I think Major is keeping her busy playing) and that she will be so excited to see us soon.

Here are some pics of our last day with her. I know we are smiling on the outside. It was a bittersweet day.

Grandma Dolly

All, please pray for my family as I have lost another Grandmother. Dolly was my dad's birth mother. She placed my dad for adoption when she was in her early 20's. She managed to keep dad a secret for 57 years. She told no one about him, not even her husband. Dad found her 11 years ago and a loving bond was formed. I will never forget mom and dad sitting Shane and I down to tell us that they found her. I was so suprised. They exchanged letters and phone calls for a few months and then mom, dad and I flew to Louisiana to see her. Her home and family are in Houma, which is about 45 miles southwest of New Orleans. When we drove up to her house she came out to meet us, hugged me with tears in her eyes and told me I looked just like her sister Amy. (Now, I have met Amy and she is quite a few inches shorter than me and has very dark hair. Maybe in her younger years she was tall and blonde???) We spent one day there visiting Dolly and met her daughter-in-law Nancy and Nancy's 2 children, Jeff and Katy, my cousins. We flew home the same day. Many trips came after that for my parents.

One very special relationship came between my parents and my dad's half-sister Georgie. Georgie lived in Germany for 30 years and taught American students at the army bases there. My parents flew to Germany and Georgie took them all over Europe. Dad and Georgie became very close. Georgie passed away June 2005 from cancer. We all converged on Houma to spend some time with her before her passing. Jacob remembers this trip well. She passed away just 3 weeks after we were there. Dad then became Dolly's only living child (her other son, Danny, passed away in the 70's from leukemia). Georgie also had a best friend, Marsha, who lives in Orlando and works at Disney World. We have visited her each time we have gone there.

Her services are Monday morning. My parents are driving to LA Sunday to attend. I am still undecided as we are having Christmas here on Sunday. It is something I need to pray about as my heart wants to be there.

We were blessed this summer when Nancy had to evacuate Dolly due to Hurricane Gustav which hit Houma head on. They were here for over a week. We enjoyed the time we got to spend with them. It meant so much to me for Jacob to be around Dolly as we knew her health was failing. She had a great sense of humour and definately had her wits about her 'til the end. I wish that we had lived closer and I could have spent more time getting to know her. Her passing is very sad for all of us. Please pray for us and for my family in Houma.

Upside Down

We have been very busy. Shane with work and me with Christmas shopping, wrapping, baking and planning for three big meals coming up in the next week. And did I mention that we have company coming. Just breathe! That's what I keep telling myself. But all I want to do is curl up on the couch and watch a movie or movies. Anyways, before I run off to the store to get some silver polish, I wanted to share a link to a neat video on YouTube. It was made by Ed Young Jr.'s church in Dallas...Fellowship church. The video starts as words you might hear from an nonbeliever's mouth and then it is read backwards. Very neat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFxCxqBygxQ

I am waiting for someone in this family to upload some pics of our last day with Riley so I can share with you her new home. We are all still sad but she is doing great. In the meantime, Boo, the kitten has discovered the Christmas tree and my curtains. Cute! Annoying! My curtains are now tucked up high so she can't climb them. The tree has to fend for itself. I am sure the needles are not sitting well in her stomach. Moose, on the other hand, is still not sure whether or not Riley is coming back. She has ventured downstairs a few times for just a few minutes and then quickly runs back to safety. She will be fine in a week or so. Sidney is tolerating the new addition to her territory but has no intention of sharing her mommy's lap and I don't blame her.

Jacob's Drum Recital

We had a busy weekend, with one very sad event that I will talk about in my next post. On Friday night, Shane sat in as a professional drummer with the Memorial High School orchestra. A friend of ours is the conductor. Shane played drums on one instrumental song and another song with two guest musicians, our worship pastor Paul and one of the praise team singers, Courtney. I wish I had a recording of that. They sang The Prayer, partly in Italian, and it is a beautiful song. Shane sat in the back behind the orchestra. We couldn't see him, just hear him. Jacob was a trooper for the most part. One song was very long and he kept saying "Man, this is a long song. When is it gonna end?" jut a little to loud.

On Saturday morning, Jacob had his drum recital. Jacob has been taking lessons for three semesters now. The semesters follow the school year. We do struggle getting him to practice and sometimes think about not letting him take lessons the next semester. But he begs us to let him continue. So, we do. We don't want him to get burned out but he loves it. It usually takes a recital for us to realize just how well he is doing. We are so proud of him. Most people are amazed that he plays that well for a seven year old. Anyway, here is the link to YouTube. Randy, no comments on how long it is, please :) I did have some technical difficulties with my new camera but I managed to record most of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm8dDx7uY20

Enjoy!

Give Thanks!

Ok, so this post is just a little late and I do have much more to talk about; but, today I just wanted to share this. On Thanksgiving morning, Jacob woke up early and was very quiet in his room. Later on that morning as I was busy cooking, he told me that he got up early to read his bible as he wanted to remember important things to thank God for. He specifically looked up Genesis 1 as he wanted to thank God for the things that He created...mountains, sun, stars, etc. It brought tears to my eyes to think that he would even think of doing this. I told him that when you get older, you get so caught up with life that you forget the simple things and what could be more simpler than the beginning of everything. Well, not simple for us but simple for God as He just spoke everything He created into existence. So sweet and innocent (although this is changing thanks to school, riding the bus, etc.). I pray daily that Jacob would think before he says or does anything. And I pray this prayer with him...that whatever comes out of his mouth, he would think before he says it...Is this pleasing to God? Of course, this goes for me too :)

I hope everyone is having a blessed December and not getting too stressed out about presents, parties, etc. I know I am and I am trying to remind myself to be calm, breathe, smile and so on. Have a blessed weekend!