Husband Training

Does anyone else have this problem with their significant other?  I mean- I really love my husband, don't get me wrong, but how hard is it?  I decided to use my frustration in a creative way rather than nagging for the 1000th time. I think we both got a little chuckle out of it.

Time

So obviously this is an appropriate post for someone who hasn't posted in 2 months!  I have been really struggling with time management, especially as it relates to my spiritual life the past couple months.  It really made me think about how we, as Americans, spend our time.  We are obsessed with schedules, calendars, etc.  Many of us have our days planned out to the second, packed full of things we "have to do".  I've been thinking about how we Western culture people are the only people who live this way.  I learned in a multicultural class in grad school that there are time driven cultures and event driven cultures.  I love (traditional, not Americanized) hispanic culture... people get up when the sun comes up, they eat when they get hungry, they take a siesta when they get tired and a little too hot, work again till they hit a stopping point, and go home and enjoy their family gatherings.  Think about tribal nations in Africa... do they wake up to the alarm clock, punch in at the time clock, eat at 12:00 sharp?  While all people groups have struggles, I dream what it might be like to feel that kind of freedom.  I don't think God ever intended us to be a slave to the clock, to the schedule.  I think we as a culture should work less, spend less, and enjoy experiences in life!  We only get to do this once and I think we as a culture have missed the boat.

Philly

I can't believe that I haven't posted since almost Thanksgiving!  Don't give up on me.  This past weekend Justin and I got to go to Philadelphia (I had to attend a conference for work and I asked him to tag along).  While we were there, we decided to stay an extra day and play around in the city.  I've been up the east coast into New York and the surrounding area and Justin has never been anywhere northeast.  I was worried that we wouldn't really like it b/c I hated New York when I visited.  We really had a great time though... Philly is less hustle and bustle than NY and there were so many historic sights- the Liberty Bell, the original Bill of Rights, the building where they held the first Continental Congress.  It left us a little awestruck to know that we were standing in the room the Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, etc. stood when pour nation was first beginning.  The architecture was beautiful as well!  We also had to go to South Philly and have a cheesesteak... actually we had 3 while we were there.  If you ever go to Philly- go to Jim's- it was definitely our favorite!  I'll add pictures later...

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Dogs, dogs, and more dogs...

This is Minnie (the black one) and Freddie (the tan below) 

These are of the Maltese mix- Justin was calling her Fluffy, but the name doesn't really fit her- she's pretty fiesty!


So I guess I've kinda fallen off of the blogger scene for a little while, but like my title suggests, our life has been consumed by dogs, dogs, and more dogs lately.  A few weeks ago we took in a momma lab with 8 puppies as well as 4 additional dogs (not including Rita ad Tigo).  Two (Freddie and Minnie) we got adopted to 2 families in Wisconson and we took them to Dallas over Thanksgiving to start their travel.  They are now with their new families and doing great.  Another was a little maltese mix- we think someone tried to kill her by spilling some type of chemical on her.  As you can see, she's making it ok and hopefully she'll be adopted soon.  We also have a new pit bull named Olivia.  She had an eye removed today because she was either attacked or it rotted out.  She is very scared, but has such a sweet temperment.   We are so missing our acre of land in Monticello as 14 dogs are a little much in a duplex (good thing my dad is an animal lover!)    

1/2 Marathon

So this happened a few weeks ago, but I just never got around to posting it.  I convinced my mom that she should walk a 1/2 marathon with me (I thought about asking her to run... but there was no chance of that).  We trained by walking 6 miles at first and adding a mile a week until we were up to 13.  I was so proud of her especially b/c we finished in 3 hrs 20 minutes, a whole hour faster than she thought she would be able to do!  I really think it was good for her b/c she has somewhat low self-esteem and it was nice for her to do something she never thought she would do.

Funny stuff

This is Tiger, one of our fosters- I was trying to photograph some of our new dogs for our website, but he was quite curious about what I was doing.
This is my baby- Tigo, trying to fit in the little dog's dog bed.  
In case anyone was curious- here's a picture of our prize winning pumpkin.  We called it the Nerd O' Lantern and we won the prize for funniest pumpkin.

2 years and counting!

So yesterday was our 2 year anniversary. I know some of you have been married probably as long as I've been alive, but anyways... I don't know about anyone else, but the 2nd year was way better than the first.  I think you finally start to get used to each other's quirks and start to laugh at yourself and each other.  So for our anniversary we carved a pumpkin (for my work Halloween contest... and it won 1st prize!), cooked dinner together, and read about 50 of the emails we sent before we even met.  In case anyone doesn't know- Justin and I "met" through a social networking site.  We started emailing each other while he was deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2005.  I think we emailed almost every day until he came home in December of 2005.  Kinda odd since I am terrible at emailing and he really is too.  It was fun looking back and seeing what we were thinking before we even met.  Anyone else have fun or funny anniversary traditions?