Top 10 from 2010

Here's 10 of my favorite pictures from 2010!

 Playing in the snow!

 A random stop in Australia.  

 Loving my friends in New York City!

 A fun summer afternoon on Beaver Lake!

 My toes in the sand!

(and what beautiful toes they are!:)

  

My friend Mike and I batting at Miracle League!

Ma, myself, Mom and Hadleigh June on the front porch!

Two of the LOVES of my life!

Bryan and I at the Bellagio for our anniversary weekend!

Sweet time with my bestie.  It's hard being so far apart.  

 2010 has been a year of learning, seeing, and doing!  I'm learning how to be a wife, how to be a better friend, a better listener....and how to hold my tongue.  I fail miserably frequently.  I've also seen and experienced things this year that have changed my life.  I have held, hugged and loved on children....from my niece and nephew here in Arkansas, to children in orphanages half way around the world.  I have seen "need" and I have seen "excess" this year.  

I have bought a house, circled the globe, vacationed, visited friends, laughed...and cried along the way!  

I really, really love New Year's! It's such an exciting time to make plans for a fresh year.  And I love any holiday that involves champagne.  I also love a NEW planner (yes, the paper kind you use a pencil with....) and a new calendar hung on my wall!  So clean and new.  It's right up there with new school supplies, which also make me very happy.   

I can't wait to see what 2011 brings.  

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

Princess Shoes....

It was a great Christmas weekend.  Lots of family, eating, and relaxing.  And did I mention, eating? 

On another note...Santa knows me too well.  I was very excited about my new sparkly shoes.  Someone else also really liked them, and she got her own pair of princess shoes for Christmas from her Aunt Katie.  

And here she is showing Papa and Grandad the princess shoes.  I love Grandad and Papa's expressions.  Pretty priceless.

I told Had today, to make sure her foot grew to a size 9, because she was in line to inherit my shoe collection when I'm too old to wear them.... :)    

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Christmas fun in pictures!  More to come...

 Hadleigh and I in front of my crazy pile of glitter tree! :)  I've given up on her looking at the camera most of the time...she's too busy.  

 I LOVE having a house full of friends!  I'm blessed with lots of good ones!

 Bryan and I, and I am sporting my "carrot top" earrings, a special gift made for me by my friend Greg!

 Jami, Monica, Lindsey and Shawn!  

 My Carmen, myself and Kate-o!

My sweet friend Jarah!

 Myself, Kati and Whitney at the Bullington's...

TEAM party! 

I LOVE these ladies!

 Having fun and being silly at the TEAM party!  

Amanda, myself, Kelly, Whitney and Kati!

Cuddling on the couch at Mamaw's with the pups and my girls! :)

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and takes time to slow down and remember Jesus, and the miracle of his birth.  This Christmas season I have read and heard several things about the shepherds.  I have never really given them TOO much thought, they were just out in their fields, watching their flocks...and then an angel came and gave them the good news of the Savior's birth!  But I've really been thinking about what it must have been like for them, going to see Jesus, and then spreading the word about Jesus' birth.  They weren't religious leaders, or mighty influential people....they worked in the fields.  And God picked them to tell first.  I love that he picked the common, lowly people in society's eyes, to tell about the birth of Jesus.  A great reminder of no matter what your position or place in this world, you can do mighty things through Him.  

Approaching Christmas!

A good reminder from my devotional this morning as we go into this holiday season....


Dear Lord, give me Your eyes to see and Your ears to hear the needs of those around me; not just at Christmas, but always. I long to share Your passion for the poor and the needy. Help me remember true wealth is not measured by the size of my bank account, but by the size of my heart. 
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Reading Books!

Hadleigh and I read lots of books last night before bed.  She picked to read "A Christmas Story" and "Goodnight New York City" over and over again.  The Christmas story book was Joe and I's when we were little and I bought Hadleigh the Goodnight NYC book before she was even born!  I wanted her to learn to love NYC at an early age!  Both of these are good picks to read repeatedly in my opinion! :)

While we were reading A Christmas Story, every time we would get to the part about Joseph and Mary, she would say "Joseph, like my daddy!"  Since her daddy has the same name!  It was too cute.  Then we would get to the page with the wise men, and she would say "Wise men give baby Jesus presents!"  I loved every minute of reading with her!

We also practiced identifying the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in the NYC book.  She'll be all ready for her first big apple trip with her Aunt Ahmi.  :)

A Ukraine post....

And a call to prayer.  Several of the children our group met while working in Ukraine in April are in the process of being adopted...and SO CLOSE to having a family.  It's SO exciting!  Everyone of them deserves a home.

The challenges that go along with this whole adoption process is how LONG it takes to complete the paperwork, raise the money, complete a home study, a dossier...etc.  I am sure I don't even know the half of what it takes, but I know plenty of people working hard, jumping through hoops to get their paperwork done, so THEIR child will be home with their family...and out of an orphanage crib.

Apparently Ukraine is voting this month sometime on whether or not to continue to allow adoptions to take place.  This would mean that the parents in the process of bringing their child home would no longer be allowed to complete their adoption (from my understanding).   And this....completely.... Breaks. My. Heart.

You can read more about it here and  here. 

Adoption seems like an emotional roller coaster as it is, so I can't imagine what they are all going through knowing this vote could stop this journey, and leave their child in a crib halfway around with world.

I don't understand the reasoning behind all of this...or the "ins and outs" of it for that matter.  I just know that I follow several blogs of adoptive parents, and lots of Ukrainian kids.  I've held many of these kids with my own two arms...and I can NOT imagine them losing their chance to have a mom and dad...a family....a home...and all that LOVE.


Pray that the God will soften the hearts of the people voting on this decision in Ukraine, and that Ukrainian adoptions stay open...so all of these kids will find their way home.  

ESFJ

I saw a link on a blog I read to a short version of the Myers-Briggs personality test.  I took the test it in college as part of a class, and I was the exact same as I was tonight.....ESFJ (Extraverted-Sensing-Feeling-Judging).  B took the test several years ago, I can't remember his exact results, but I am sure they would be opposite of mine.  And we laughed at his results, because a few of his personality descriptions were exact things I had said to him before.

It's interesting to look at the types of personalities people have, and how they perceive things/react to things.  Here's the link to the short version of the Myers-Briggs

Here's the short description of an ESFJ...it's a long description, and of course I only copied and pasted the first several paragraphs.  They were they said most of the good things, with all personality types, there are definite downfalls...I left those out!  I want to hear what my friends are....let me know! :)

The Caregiver

As an ESFJ, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit in with your personal value system. Your secondary mode is internal, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion.
ESFJs are people persons - they love people. They are warmly interested in others. They use their Sensing and Judging characteristics to gather specific, detailed information about others, and turn this information into supportive judgments. They want to like people, and have a special skill at bringing out the best in others. They are extremely good at reading others, and understanding their point of view. The ESFJ's strong desire to be liked and for everything to be pleasant makes them highly supportive of others. People like to be around ESFJs, because the ESFJ has a special gift of invariably making people feel good about themselves.
The ESFJ takes their responsibilities very seriously, and is very dependable. They value security and stability, and have a strong focus on the details of life. They see before others do what needs to be done, and do whatever it takes to make sure that it gets done. They enjoy these types of tasks, and are extremely good at them.

ESFJs are warm and energetic. They need approval from others to feel good about themselves. They are hurt by indifference and don't understand unkindness. They are very giving people, who get a lot of their personal satisfaction from the happiness of others.
They want to be appreciated for who they are, and what they give. They're very sensitive to others, and freely give practical care. ESFJs are such caring individuals, that they sometimes have a hard time seeing or accepting a difficult truth about someone they care about.
With Extraverted Feeling dominating their personality, ESFJs are focused on reading other people. They have a strong need to be liked, and to be in control. They are extremely good at reading others, and often change their own manner to be more pleasing to whoever they're with at the moment.
ESFJs respect and believe in the laws and rules of authority, and believe that others should do so as well. They're traditional, and prefer to do things in the established way, rather than venturing into unchartered territory. Their need for security drives their ready acceptance and adherence to the policies of the established system. This tendency may cause them to sometimes blindly accept rules without questioning or understanding them.