OH....and

Merry Christmas from my sweet Mother and my brothers and sisters:

Alexandria, Tracy, Arthur, Anna, Elizabeth, Aaron (Standing)

Renee' and Amanda (Sitting)

An Update~

Wow. I don't think I even know where to begin.

This past week has been quite trying, emotionally. On Wed, about 3:00am, my dad got in a car accident. He was taken to Memorial Hermann because of the seriousness of his trauma. I got a call at about 8:00am that day to tell me he was in a wreck.

I took the day off work and went down to the hospital. It turns out, he burst his "L3" in his back and the rest of his vertabre were crushing down on it. He also fractured a couple ribs and his right ankle. He finally was able to get back surgery (fusion) on Saturday. I was able to stay with him for a couple nights, and pray that by serving him he might come to know the REAL Servant and Savior!

I'm not sure how much longer he will be in the hospital, but hopefully he will get out soon.

ALSO.....

In the midst of all the stuff going on with my dad, we have come to find my youngest brother (18) is beginning to experiment with pills and hard liquor. After much deliberation, Scotty and I decided we would like to take him in and get him away from his "friends".

PLEASE PRAY FOR MY FAMILY.
Please pray everything that has been kept in darkness will come to light.
Please pray Scotty and my marriage only grows stronger and we grow closer to Christ through all this.
Please pray for my dad's salvation.
Please pray Scotty and I can show Christ to my brother through the way we treat eachother, speak and love him.

Thanks!

You're kidding.......RIGHT?!?

I love FALL! I especially love when we have a Fall where the cool weather does not wait until Thanksgiving to get here! This year, thankfully, we began getting cool weather by the 1st few weeks of October! YAHOO!

I was totally psyched! The moment it was cool enough, I turned off the air conditioner in our home, opened the windows and let the air do all the work! I naturally turn off all lights when we are not using them, so I am pretty savvy about keeping the electricity bill as low as possible. However, to be able to keep my AC off as well???? I was thrilled!!!

Then, Monday, the new energy bill arrived. I was almost as excited to hear what our bill was as I would be hearing that someone just randomly sent us a check in the mail for $500! I called Scotty, and he assured me it had arrived. I waited in anticipation over the phone as he opened the envelope............................

Was it as low as $60?!?

Was it $80?!?

TELL ME NOW!!!!!!

Then, I heard the words.........

"Honey, our electricy bill is $300."

"WHAT?!?" "You're kidding with me, right?"

"No." "$300."

I was sure somehow he had forgotten how to read the bill. So, I rushed home and sure enough the bill was for $298.75! HOW? On top of the bill read: "Estimated Bill", so I called Stream Energy Customer Service. After sitting on hold for 30 min, a sweet lady got on the phone. I kindly explained to her how I loved Fall, I had been turning off my AC, opening windows and did not understand how my bill (which is never over $120) can now be almost $300.

Then, she kindly replied: "Well, since not everyone in the Texas/New Mexico power grid has recieved their power back yet, we are not getting current, accurate reads from everyone's meters. All residential customers are getting what we call "Estimated Bills". Which means, whatever your residence paid last year at this time in energy, we are billing you. So, you do owe the $300. It is due by the due date or you will be subject to having your power cut off."

uh..........yeah

So now, apparently, I have to manipulate the budjet to find an extra $100 or so to pay this bill of energy we didn't use. The good thing about the deal is that when they finally do get an accurate read, if they realize they over-charged us, our next bill will be a credit and could be as low as $0. Geez.......I sure hope so.

For your enjoyment...

This Halloween proved to be fun and disappointing. My 2 year olds had a BLAST this week! Here was our schedule at school:

Monday: Decorate Trick-or-Treat bags
Tuesday: Make Spider Apples
Wednesday: Decorate Halloween Cookies
Thursday: Discover Pumpkins
Friday: Wear your costume and Halloween Party!

Needless to say, I had to get quite creative to keep everyone from bouncing off the walls from their constant sugar high during class. Myself and the other teacher decided to go to school Friday as characters from the Wizard of Oz. She was the Tin Man. She looked FANTASTIC! I sure am glad I didn't choose her character. I could not have pulled it off as good as she did!

However, I was extremely sad when, after work, I raced home, touched-up my make-up and waited in anticipation for...........NOT ONE TRICK-OR-TREATER!!!!!!!!! NONE. I was so bummed!!!!

This is my very first Halloween being married. My very first Halloween to be in full costume waiting to answer the doorbell and see those sweet faces, and NOT ONE!

*sigh*

WHO IS GOING TO TAKE ALL THIS CANDY?

I am seriously considering having a Halloween Party next year. People must come to my home, ring my doorbell and say "Trick-or-Treat!". Even if it takes me sending invitations and making food............