girls weekend...

This is a little late, but we had the best time on our girls trip to Oklahoma City to attend the Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Kay Arthur - DEEPER STILL - Conference. We had such a great time together and more importantly the Lord spoke an incredible word to each of us! It was exactly what I needed to hear. I wish I could relay all of what those three incredible ladies had to say, but God just speaks through them in a remarkable way and I don't think I could do it justice. One of the things that really stood out to me was what Priscilla Shirer spoke on and that was Eph. 3:20-21 "Now to him who is able to do EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY, ABOVE AND BEYOND all that we ask or imagine..." it just really hit home with me as I blindly trust God that His plan is perfect in all of the un-known we have in the next few years. She spoke about how sometimes we tend to limit God to what we have experienced Him do from previous times in our lives. I know I have been extremely blessed in so many ways and God ALWAYS does exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond when I look back on it... but somehow when i'm in the moment my "box" limits my ability to see what He is doing around me.... not sure if that makes any sense... needless to say, the conference was great.

We also had such a blast spending time together! We got to celebrate Anne Marie's and my birthday together and had so much fun. I think we should make it a yearly trip :) I feel so blessed that I can go on a trip with my mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-law and have such a wonderful time! (and even all stay in the same hotel room!) I know there aren't a lot of people who could (or would want to) do that! Here are a few pics from the weekend:

I'm a Christian...

We saw this video at Watermark when we were in Dallas over Thanksgiving. Something to think about. Is Jesus real in your life?

Christmastime!

we absolutely love christmastime. wish it could stay longer.

thankful

This year we spent thanksgiving with the Mason family - it was my first time to be with them and it was great. All 28 people (including baby bean!) spent the holiday together. I don't think the whole family had been together since our wedding, so it was fun to see everyone and catch up.

Mark and some of the other boys went fishing one day and had a blast! They caught a ton of fish and came back and cooked it for us. yummy!! (i still haven't seen pictures from their trip, but once I get them I'll post them)

Since we were in Dallas, I spent most of my time shopping (not really buying) but just looking at fun baby things! I had a blast. We did end up finding a great crib and furniture for the nursery, which I'm so excited about.

Another highlight was THE BLIND SIDE!!! If you haven't seen it, you NEED to. Definitely the best movie I've seen all year!

We also got to meet some of our bestest friends from Lubbock for brunch at Breadwinners! It was sooooooo good to see them! We miss them sooo much. (and couldn't be more excited that Chris & Amanda are in Amarillo now!)

Somehow I don't have very many pictures from the week, but here are a few....

I'm off to OKC tomorrow for a weekend with the girls at the Beth Moore conference! I can't wait to see my mom and spend the weekend studying God's word together!

It's a . . .

GIRL!!!!! We couldn't be more excited!!! Thank you Jesus for such a wonderful blessing and that she is growing and forming just as she should be. The sono today was wonderful! Mark is on sono this week during his ob/gyn rotation so our sono tech let him tell me if it was a boy or a girl. It was so sweet. I'll never forget that moment! This little baby girl is quite the busy body :) She was moving all over the place throughout the whole sono. Her hands and feet just simply melted my heart and when we saw/heard her strong heart beat I realized truly what a miracle this is. We have a bunch of sono pictures (mark put them on facebook if you want to see) but here she is...

We already love her more than we thought possible!

TOMORROW!!!!!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow! I love ya, Tomorrow! You're only a day away!!!!!!!

We've literally been counting down the days and cannot believe that tomorrow is finally here! It's the day we find out if Bean is

a boy or a girl!!

We're so excited. I made a little chart of who thinks it's a boy or a girl and I must say the girl side has now doubled the boy side :) We are absolutely blessed either way and pray that the Lord is ultimately glorified through this little baby's life. Thank you Jesus for your goodness! We pray that you continue to form Bean, for he/she is fearfully and wonderfully made.

I doubt I'll be sleeping much tonight :) I feel like it's christmas eve.

deeper still

Beth Moore. Priscilla Shirer. Kay Arthur. OKC Dec. 4th-5th!! I. cant. wait. thanks mom for putting this all together! it's going to be such a fun girls weekend :)

(once again, can't figure out how to get the video on here... but here's the link)

http://www.emedialink.com/video/8571/Deeper-Still-2010-Extended-Promo

leaves!!

While the Amarillo trees weren't quite as amazing as I was hoping for this fall, they were still fun to watch the colors change and we definitely had millions of leaves in our yard. Last weekend Mark raked them up and we made Gunner jump in.... and he LOVED it. It was hilarious!! I wish I would have had my video camera but here are some pictures.

After playing in the leaves for a while we gave him a little bone and he just sat there and ate it for a long time. It was great! Thanks for always entertaining us little Gunny!

names

We've been having lots of conversations about names we like/don't like for little Bean.... Our conversations aren't quite like this but I keep thinking of this scene from Friends and it makes me laugh every time!

KN root beer

Mark took me to KN drive-in for lunch yesterday. I asked the carhop girl how long they had been here and she had no idea and really didn't care to find out.... i'd say around 40ish years. Mark claims they frequented KN at least once a week in high school. Why? you might ask.... solely for the root beer. I think Mark said they brew their own root beer - and seriously, it's amazing. Overall, we gave KN a "B" yesterday. The service was ok, the burger was ok (way too much mustard), the fries were a little cold but all of that was forgotten when we took a sip of the delicious root beer in a fun mug with a little frothy ice at the top! Oh and they even put the trays on your widow with the food while you eat (I realize that sonic does this too, but it's something different when the trays are 50 years old, made out of tin and are so beat up and dirty that you feel like you might get sick after eating the food off of it). Not sure we'll be weekly visitors, but it was a fun experience!

in YOUR hands

absolutely loving this christy nockels song! so much truth in the lyrics. thought I would share... (ok can't figure out how to post a song - any ideas?)

Here's my life, I give it to You
I place it in Your hands
I place it in Your hands

Here's my heart, You're dwelling inside
I place it in Your hands
I place it in Your hands

For so long I have held on to all that I am
When all You want is for me to place it in Your hands, in your hands, Lord…in your hands…

Here's my thoughts, I want to think of You
and place them in Your hands
I place them in Your hands

Here's my time, take it as You will
I place it in Your hands
I place it in Your hands

For so long I have held on to all that I am
When all You want is for me to place it in Your hands

Here's my life, I give it You
I place it in Your hands
I place it in Your hands...

catch up...

I've been a horrible blogger lately... so here's a quick version of what's been going on in the past month.

We went to Branson and spent some wonderful time with my family! It was such a blast and I really seriously didn't want to leave them. counting down the days until I'll see them at Christmas. While in Branson we took a beautiful walk through Dogwood Canyon (a beautiful "tourist-y" place that our family has never gone- not sure why) it was amazing. Here are some pics from the trip:

Anne Marie came to visit and stayed in Amarillo for a week, which was super fun! and Grace turned the big 18!! I can't believe how grown up she is and that she's heading off to college next year! Can't wait to see where she ends up!

The weekend after our Branson trip we drove to Waco to celebrate the 100th Baylor University Homecoming. It was great to see friends and continue our homecoming traditions which consist of the big bonfire in the middle of campus, late night pigskin show, getting up early to make it to the parade as it arrives on campus, Common Grounds, football game (someday we'll win a homecoming game, i just know it!) and of course a trip to Spice unfortunately this year Mark got really sick while we were there so we left after the game to head home.

I left the next day with my Math Recovery team to go to Albq for our last three long days of training. The training was so good but unfortunately I got sick the last day we were there and spent the rest of the week and most of the weekend in bed. God is good and the mason household is now healthy and back to normal. But it was pretty rough there for a while.

Halloween was extremely uneventful, we didn't dress up or even carve pumpkins. It was pretty sad. We do have some pumpkins, we just never got around to carving them since we were out of town and then sick. We did, however, have a million trick-or-treat-ers come to our house! That was super fun. Since I live down the street from my school a lot of my students came by. It was pretty funny to see their faces as they recognized me outside of school haha. They were so cute!!

Tonight we finished painting one of our bathrooms. I love it. Lots of other house projects have been finished these past few weeks as well. I'll post some pictures soon.

I am now 17 weeks along in the pregnancy and I feel like I'm growing by the day! ha. I go to the doctor tomorrow and hope to schedule a sonogram to find out the sex in the next three weeks! yay! We can't wait to find out if Bean is a boy or a girl!!!! What do you think it is? I want to put together a poll :)

ok thats all for now.

branson trip

couldn't have had a better time in branson.... more to come but here's a little preview of the beauty we were a part of in the ozarks this past weekend....

late...

I know this is a few weeks late, but we're so excited that our dear friends, Adam and Jenni, tied the knot a few weeks ago in Austin. Mark was a groomsman and we had a blast at all the festivities of the weekend. Everything was beautiful!! Congrats Adam and Jenni!! We couldn't be more excited for yall!

now we're in Branson for the weekend!! yay! It is soooooo good to be home and be with the family! i dont want to leave tomorrow :(

burger barrel

had lunch here yesterday....

This good 'ole Burger Barrel has been in business since 1920 and is still going strong! It's right down the street from our house and I chuckle every time we drive by!! Thanks to my dad, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for random, weird, local, hole-in-the wall restaurants. (I guess this is more an actual barrel than a hole-in-the-wall.... but its still totally random!) so yesterday we decided it was time to try it out. I was actually pretty impressed. I think I'd give it a B-. (would have gotten a B but the two women who cooked our food were quite frazzled when I changed a few of the drinks and they also forgot to give us straws and ketchup)

Thanks Burger Barrel! We'll be back!

baby on the way!

We're pregnant!!!

It's true and we can hardly believe it! I'm around 11 weeks along now and feeling sick, tired and very pregnant :) I have my first doctor's visit next week and will hopefully find out a real due date and maybe even see the sonogram! Mark has been the sweetest husband through this first trimester and is going to be the most wonderful daddy! After the shock wore off (this came as quite a surprise to us!!!!), we now feel so blessed that the Lord has chosen to give us such a remarkable gift. Please join us in praying for our little one as he/she grows throughout the next 7 months! Keep you posted....

hello fall

It's always hard for me to admit that summer is over.... but the beautiful fall day we had today sure made it a little easier. We had the best first "fall" weekend! We went to a high school football game, watched a lot of football on tv (well, let's be honest, I didn't actually watch much but I sure love to hear it in the background), we opened our new windows and turned off the a/c, mark worked in the backyard, we ate soup, we went on a cool evening walk and we wore jackets!! Thank you 60 degree weather for such a great weekend!

Dear Fall,

Please look like this in Amarillo this year like you do in Branson:

Thank you.

catch up...

Well, it's been a while. I am now back in Albq. for my second round of Math Recovery training. We've had two weeks of school and I'm getting excited to get back to Amarillo and start helping these lost kiddos one-on-one! It is the coolest program and I feel so lucky to get to be a part of it.

Mark is now in his second rotation. Praise the Lord he made it through Internal Medicine and now he's onto psychiatry, which is supposed to be much more laid back and no more call!! yay. I'm glad to have my hubby back.

My parents came to visit two weekends ago and we had a blast. I always love it when they come. We didn't spend the whole time on home projects... but my dad, mark and mark's dad spent most of the day Saturday installing new windows in our back living room! It looks a million times better! thanks for all your hard work.

i'm sure there's more to catch up on.... but that's all for now.

glory to God.

"But I am like a green olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust and confidently rely on the loving-kindness and the mercy of God forever and ever. I will thank you and confide in you forever, because you have done it (delivered me and kept me safe.) I will wait, hope and expect in your name, for it is good, in the presence of your saints." Psalm 52:8-9

Glory to God in the highest for he has done it.... provided a fantastic job for me!! I am going to be a Math Recovery Specialist for 1st - 5th graders at Margaret Wills Elementary. It's a full-time teaching position (with awesome teacher pay and benefits) but I won't have a whole class of kids.... I'll just be pulling kids out of their class throughout the day to come to my class for tutoring. It's a brand new program that AISD is starting this year, so it could be interesting as we figure out exactly what it will look like. As far as I know, It will be a lot of assessment and really meeting these kids right where they are to challenge and encourage them to step it up! Wills is a title 1 school, meaning many of them are from underprivileged homes and are also ESL kids... so it will definitely be a challenging position but I am so ready and excited to see how the Lord leads!

It takes me exactly 3 minutes and 20 seconds to walk to school (which I couldn't be more excited about), I have an actual classroom which I'm sharing with a special ed teacher (i was ready to be stuck in a closet or at the end of the hallway somewhere so this is a blessing!), my principal is awesome and I really feel like she is completely supporting me and whatever I think we need to do to get this program going!

I'm headed to Albuquerque tomorrow with the six other math recovery specialists from AISD for a week long training program. yikes! I'm prepared for long, draining days of conferences and lectures and lots of homework each night, but I know it will good to figure out what I'm going to be doing this year.

*Please pray for strength and patience as I begin this journey! God is good and I couldn't be more excited to follow as He leads.

branson!

here is my summer day schedule these days: sleeping until 8:30 or 9, drink coffee and watch regis & kelly, workout, take Gunner on a walk/run around the park, have a long, quiet time with my Jesus on the porch, clean, go to Target or the grocery store, make dinner and wait for my hubby to get home from the hospital, enjoy time with the hubs, go on another walk with marky and gun, watch hgtv, go to bed.

all to say, I haven't had much to do. so..... last week I drove to Branson to be with my family while Mark was on call and at the hospital.

It was a wonderful trip! My mom and I shopped and went to see Peter Pan (the broadway show with Cathy Rigby is in Branson this summer! it was amazing), we ate some yummy food, played at Kamp with the Coopers like the old days, had a cookout, went to the new Saturday night service at church and just spent some great time together!! I also got to stop in Fayetteville and meet my dear friend Katie's little boy Sawyer. What a cutie!

I couldn't love my family more and am so so thankful for such a wonderful, relaxing time with them.... especially since, I AM NOW EMPLOYED! more on that to come...

God's Masterpiece

Amazing how God knows exactly what we need to hear at the exact right time. This video brought me to tears. What an awesome picture they paint of God literally chiseling away our humanly sins and desires only to reveal Him in us! I pray that I will live that out and see myself as the masterpiece God has created! I loved the part where the man said, "God, I feel like I've let you down!" to which God replied, "How could you ever let me down? You're not holding me up! I'M HOLDING YOU UP!" awe.some. The past few weeks that is totally and completely how I have felt... like the only way I'm persevering is because of the Lord's strength and nothing of my own. Thank you Jesus. I could never make it without you.

You have to watch this. I pray God will speak to you in the way He did me!

As dear Spike White used to say, "God don't make no junk!"

nothing...

Not too much going on in the Mason household.

I'm still on the job search - lots of interviews - but nothing permanent yet...

Mark is busy busy running around the hospital playing doctor :) ...

Gunner is my best buddy these days and is enjoying getting to be inside so much...

So excited for our friends Brad and Heidi and their precious baby boy, Jack...

My newest hobby is sewing.... placemats, cushions for the bar stools, curtains, baby onesies

(these are the curtains in our dining room that Mark's mom and grandma helped me make - the rod needs to be raised but we just haven't gotten around to that yet)

(these are the onesies I made for Lindsay's baby, Avery)

Made this yummy yummy Lemonade Tea from Southern Living... you should try it!

I even put it in a big fun cookie jar too :)

So, that's about all for now. Happy Monday.

dance

confession: I am and always have been obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance!! I tivo the shows so I can go back and watch the dances numerous times. I definitely spend way too much time on you tube watching dances from the previous seasons! I want to dance in a Tyce Diorio number. Wade, Mia, Tabitha and Napoleon are all geniuses. I think Cat Deely is awkward and Mary's hot tamale train is way too loud.... but other than that it's my favorite show on tv by far! I think everyone on the show is extremely talented (even though many of them are pretty weird!) Just thought I should share ....

here are some of my fav dances from this season:

in love.

On 7.7.07 Mark and I got married! I cannot believe how fast the time gone and what all has happened since that wonderful day in July two years ago.

We have so many fantastic memories from our first two years of marriage and I can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for us. I truly grow more in love with my dear hubby every day and couldn't be more thankful for what an incredible man and husband he is. He is always there to support, laugh, encourage, challenge and love me. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Here we are at a fun, romantic dinner on 7.7.09:

Sweet Quote:

"Duty can pack an adequate sack lunch, but love may decide to enclose a little love note inside.... Obligation sends the children to bed on time, but love tucks the covers in around their necks and passes out kisses and hugs (even to teenagers!) .... Duty gets offended quickly if it isn't appreciated, but love learns to laugh a lot and to work for the sheer joy of doing it. Obligation can pour a glass of milk, but quite often, love adds a little chocolate."

(from 'Love Adds a Little Chocolate' quoted in 'Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World')

my happy place

We spent the week of July 4th in Perdido Key, Florida with my family hanging out at the beach - my favorite place in the whole world. It was the most wonderful week ever! The weather was perfect and the water was crystal clear most of the time. We had a blast laying out, laughing, working on puzzles, playing in the waves on the sand bar in the ocean, eating awesome food, shopping and just being together. I am so thankful for such an incredible family and for the time we get to spend together!

Kaitlyn (my brother's girlfriend) and my cousins Anna and Aimee:

all the cousins:

We all drove from Perdido Key to the Hallums (my cousins') house in Baton Rouge on the 4th and my aunt and uncle hosted a big shrimp boil! It was amazing!

They surprised Mark and I with a cake to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary! So sweet!

It was a great getaway.... especially since the day we got back Mark started his third year of med school in Amarillo and it has been a whirlwind ever since. I feel like I have hardly seen him all week :( He is enjoying it but he has to work 12 hour days at the hospital and is just exhausted. I've heard this week was the worst though... so we'll see. I hope it gets better! I miss my hubby but couldn't be more proud of him.