Winding Down…Finally!

Life is finally winding down!  I've had a VERY exhausting month.  Lots have happened in this past month and the last part of October.  Let's back track…

October
I celebrated my 24th birthday.  It was quiet and spent with close friends and neighbors at my favorite restaurant Carrabbas.  My husband surprised me with two beautiful Pandora bracelets with a few charms and a delicious Tres Leche cake (my fav!!!) to share with all our friends.  =)

November

So you might be wondering who these wonderful ladies are above…well they are my Line Sisters!  Yep!  I pledged a sorority! Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc to be exact!  I might have brought it up a few times before last semester but this semester is when I actually underwent the pledge process.  I won't say it was easy but it was definitely worth it.  I stressed a lot because of how busy I already was before the process but those ladies pictured above helped me sooo much and I love them even more for that.  =)

Here's some pics from our probate which was performed early November:

In cognito!!!  ;-)

Locked up!

Removing my mask!

Finally wearing my letters!

Hubby is so proud ;-)

Whoooooshhhh….let's fast forward now to last week.  Ok so I got into a pretty crazy car accident the weekend before Thanksgiving and what I'm about to explain all took place in just 10 minutes time.  I was on my way to an FTX for ROTC at 4ish in the morning and go figure a deer runs straight into the side of my car.  I can't steer right since the deer hit my right fender so I move to the median in the middle.  I put my panic lights on and call my 1SG and let him know what happened and then get on the phone with USAA.  Another cadet who happens to be my neighbor happened to see me pulled over so he stopped to help me out.  No more than two minutes after my neighbor pulled over to help me another car comes down the road and my neighbor was able to warn me and tried pulling me out of the way.  The car (who was in the lane I was in) rammed straight into my car.  My car hits my neighbors car and then turns into the median, knocks me over and flies straight into the opposite direction of traffic.  Time is now 4:59 AM.  What a way to start my morning.  Two hours later, my car, in pieces, is towed away and my husband is driving me to the ER.  Thank God I had no broken bones or internal bleeding but I am still very stiff from the impact of my car.  If it wasn't for my neighbor I wouldn't be alive today.  I'm very thankful that he stopped.

This my car after the accident:

I am walking and on muscle relaxers.  I'm hoping to be healed by the time Spring semester starts.  Unfortunately I can't participate in our Record APFT because of this so my last scores will have to go in my evaluation.  =(  I was shooting for a 290+ for this APFT but I guess a 285 will have to do.  Wasn't my fault you know.

Ok so Thanksgiving!!!!  The best part =)

Due to the accident we didn't go to Orlando as planned but we had a great day with our neighbors.  There was sooooo muuuuuch foooooood lol.  We ate…and ate….and ate….
Everything was amazing.  The apple cake I made was a hit!  I will have to share the recipe with you all soon.

I made the rice and roast pork

My neighbor's husband deep fried a 24 lb turkey!

My first time making pumpkin pie

Uncle Bob's Fresh Apple Cake

After dinner we relaxed and prepared for…..Black Friday.  Now I'm not big on this American event but we did end up going to Wal-Mart Thursday night.  My neighbors were going because they had a 60" Vizio smart TV on sale for $688.  ?!?!?!?!  YES!  We wanted in too! lol So we got there at 6:30 and "camped" out for this TV.  It's a good thing we got there early before the chaos broke out.  Wal-Mart did two releases…one at 8 PM and one at 10 PM.   The TVs were at 10.  So we waiting…only about the 10th people in line for the TVs…got our TVs and were out by 10:35.  Sweet!

Black Friday Camping!

Didn't waste time setting it up haha

And last but not least…always a tradition in my family.  We put up our Christmas tree.  It's something my family has always done back home putting up the tree right after Thanksgiving.  This is Chris and my first actually Christmas tree.  Last year our tree was tiny and that is what we used for the last three years of our marriage.  This year we decided it was time to get a real tree…and we meant it!  My neighbor took me to a local place and we picked out our trees.  It was so much fun.  When I got back Chris and our neighbors taught us how to put the tree in the stand.  My hands were covered in sap lol.  Then we decorated our tree and now our home is ready for Christmas.  =)

I hope everyone is doing great.  I know this was a long blog but I had a lot to catch you guys up on!  Talk to you all soon! 

My Christmas Message

To all my family,

I say this with all sincerity that I miss you all very much and I wish we could be there to celebrate this special night together.  I want to continue our traditions with my new family so I've written my own Christmas message this year.  I pray that you will enjoy it as much as you have enjoyed the messages my Dad brings to us every year.  It's probably one of the things I am going to miss the most about Christmas Eve with you all tonight.  I love you all very much.  Merry Christmas! 

Christmas is a special time of year.  It's the only holiday recognized almost all around the world and is not just celebrated on the 25th but the whole month of December.  Think about it, that's one twelfth of the year.  This season is a whirlwind of the holiday routine: lighted houses, ornaments, presents, Santa, TV specials, church services, tinsel, wreaths, stockings, and eggnog.  One thing is for sure...when Christmas comes, you can't miss it.  It's everywhere!  But tonight, I want to bring us back to the reason why we all gather together during this time every year.  

Have you ever realized that when you look up an event on your calendar, you are using Jesus Christ as a reference point?  Jesus' birth divided history into BC (before Christ) and AD (anno Domini, in the year of our Lord).  Every event in history and today is dated by how many years and days it has been since Jesus appeared on Earth.  Even your birthday is dated by his!  Tonight is not just a night to celebrate being together as a family but also to celebrate the birth of God's Son who was brought down from Heaven in the form of a man to give us the ultimate gift...salvation.  It's a night to celebrate that Jesus loves us, that he wants to be with us, and not just with us...but FOR us.  

John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  The entire reason for Christmas is the love of God.  The love he has for us and everything in the universe.  He created us for his enjoyment and everything on Earth for our enjoyment.  God could have created a colorless, tasteless world but He didn't.  1 Timothy 6:17 tells us that God "richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."  Our sensitive ears for music and rhythm, eyes for all the colors of the world, and taste buds to experience all the incredible flavors as well.  The Bible doesn't tell us that God has love, but that God IS love.  Love is the essence of God's character...his very nature.  The reason everything exists is because God wanted to love it.  If God didn't love something, he wouldn't have created it.  He loves it all, even when we mess it up with our sin, he still has a purpose for it.  He is unconditional and loves us regardless of our thoughts or actions.  His love is unchanging.

Some people often feel alone at Christmas.  Maybe right now you feel like God is not with you.  But his presence has nothing to do with your feelings.  Emotions are unreliable and can change easily.  But there is good news for us.  We can't hide from God!  Psalms 139:7-8 says "Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there."  No matter where you are God is always with you but you must tune-in to His presence.  No matter what situation you are going through right now, God is there.  He promises this to us in Isaiah 43:2-3 "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."  In Hebrews 13:5 God ensures us "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  God will always be with us because He loves us.

But just because God is always with us, it doesn't mean it is to condemn us.  Many people feel like God is out to "get" them but it's quite the opposite.  When the angel came to the shepherds, the angel said to them "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."  As a matter of fact, 365 times in the Bible, God tells us to fear not the things of this universe.  That's one for everyday of the year!  I want you to know that God is not mad at you but mad ABOUT you.  He doesn't want to rub in your mistakes, he wants to rub them OUT.  That's what Jesus did for us when He came to this Earth and died on that cross for us.

None of us knows what we'll face this next year, but we can know that God LOVS us, God is WITH us, and God is FOR us.  One plus God is a majority in any situation.  This is what we are celebrating tonight...the fact that God sent Jesus on this night thousands of years ago FOR us so that we can be WITH him forever because he LOVES us. I pray that God touches your heart with this message I've brought tonight.  It is not a coincidence that you are listening to this message on this very specific night.  May God continue to touch and bless your lives in this year and the next.  God bless.

Gingerbread People!

Good morning everyone!  It's a brand new day and I'm loving every minute of it so far.  This morning my husband didn't have PT so we slept in until 7 together.  We got up and had our morning coffee and breakfast before he headed out for the day.  It was nice to be able to spend the morning with him since we really don't get to do that often anymore.  I'm realizing now even more than before that this time off from school was much needed...not just to rest from school but to reconnect with my husband in a way that we can't while I'm in school being a busybody and studying and going to sleep by 9 to prepare for the next day.  Everyday this week, I've been reminded about the things that make me love him so much.  The things he does to make me smile.  I think he's noticed how little the time we spend during the school semester because he has even stopped playing his video games to sit down and watch movies with me (those who know my husband realize how sacrificial that is of him lol).

Last night we watched some TV together and then we made homemade gingerbread men.  Our friend Brian helped us out too.  It was a lot of fun.  Our first batch of gingerbread men came out very fat lol.  We improvised well though and they ended up coming out pretty cute.  Brian made one of his into a snowman and another into a soccer player.  My husband made one into a karate kid lol.  I made a candy cane girl and Mr. and Mrs. Gingerbread.  Take a look at our batch of gingerbread people.  I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday.  Everyday so far has been an adventure in finding new and old things to appreciate.  T.G.I.F!  Have a great weekend everyone.  God bless. <3

Our gingerbread people =)

Karate Kid to the left

Mr. and Mrs. Gingerbread

Candy cane girl and Baby Gingerbread

Snowman to the left

Snowman

Candy cane girl

Soccer player

Soccer player

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

So I've had my Christmas tree up since the beginning of November but that's about all the effort I've put into making my home "Christmasy".  I'm a little sad I won't be with my family this Christmas.  It's the first one away from them.  We are going to visit my in-laws instead.  I can't be too mopey though.  My husband hasn't spent a Christmas with his family since he joined the Army.  But this weekend I started to get myself into the holiday spirit.  I bought a gingerbread house kit and we made that on Friday night.  For breakfast on Saturday, I went all out.  I made eggnog pancakes, french vanilla french toast, and a huge ham and cheese omelet.  Needless to say we needed a few hours to recover from that breakfast lol.  Our stocking are up now and a few other little decorations around the living room.  I'm still debating on doing anything more around the house since we won't be here for Christmas.  I might go and get some lights to put out in front but not much.  Maybe only some to put around the two pillars in front of our house.  I plan on getting a lot of things after Christmas day since things will be half off and I can just save them for next year.  I want to get a new tree and the new LED lights as well as some ornaments that fit on a tree bigger than 4' (which is what we currently have lol from two Christmases ago).  It didn't really make sense to buy a new one when we won't be here.  Maybe next year we can spend it at our house.  I also tried making Christmas cookies but my little cookie mold pan was a fail lol.  I will just have to go out and buy the real cookie cutters and make them the old fashion way...which I'm not all too upset about.  I think it's more fun that way.  Here are some pics of our small touches of Christmas.  Hopefully I will have some cute cookies to show on my next blog.