Getting Ready!

Tonight I got to have a long, leisurely conversation with my little brother who is getting married in four days! I LOVED it! We talked marriage and wedding and heart and logistics, plans for the next few days. It did this big sister heart good to catch up with him before his big day. I'm so proud of him! I get teary just thinking about it!

So, mark that off the list of things I want to accomplish this week before the wedding along with making peanut clusters for the rehearsal dinner to go on the dessert cookie bar, putting on my cool "trendy" gray Jamberry nail wraps, and finding a dress I really like. 

Can't wait!

My "Worst Present"

You are thinking why at this time of year would I write about this? Because one of my family members left me the worst present. This toilet has been clogged for 24 hours. Plunging didn't work, so I went to the internet. Now I know dish soap, hot water and A LOT of patience will do the trick.

I am glad I don't have to call a plumber because I didn't know who to send the bill to. Was this your present to me?

Guess what I'm working on?

It's December 28th. Guess what I'm working on? Cole's Christmas stocking!

I've only had 7 months to get it done. It's weird how I would think about it, like this past summer, and think, oh yeah, I need to do that, want to do that. And then I would just forget. And then, when it was crunch time here in December, I couldn't get my act together to get yarn. Walmart was picked over the two times I looked and getting to Hobby Lobby over in Dodge was tricky to make happen. So, I finally broke down and paid the shipping to order my yarn from Hobby Lobby. And, here I am...well ahead for next year!

(Oh, and I've done the same thing for a dress for Brad's wedding. What's my deal? I STILL don't know what I'm going to wear...and it's in less than a week...oh my!)

Thomason Tradition Compliments of Joel!

For the past 12 years (yep, Joel started doing this as our Christmas gift his Freshman year in college) we have had the fun privilege of going out to dinner compliments of Joel. We go sometime the week before Christmas and every year all six Thomasons have been in attendance. That shows just how special it is! We started going to the Cheesecake Factory the first 2-3 years and then Joel decided to mix it up and take us new places every year.  They have all been on the Plaza except the one year that we went to the Cheesecake Factory in Boulder, CO after Kyle graduated from Shelterwood. This year we went to the American Restaurant at Crown Center.

The service was first class! It started with pushing my chair in (that takes coordination to be in sync with lifting yourself up and them pushing in the chair at the same time) and then placing my napkin on my lap. We ordered our choices of courses and they brought them to us with an explanation once again what we were eating. It was very tasty but I couldn't tell you exactly what was in each dish. We should have taken pictures (we needed Dave to be there) because each dish was a work of art. We had the perfect table in the corner over looking KC, the ice skating rink,  the governor's Christmas tree and fountains, and Crown Center.

But what was better than the food and service was the sharing and laughs and tears. We reminisced about the highs and lows of the year. Joel graciously took the opportunity to affirm each one of us. Kyle shared his heart about our welcoming Nicole into our Christmas morning gathering. We talked about what was on the top of our "bucket lists." It filled my mother's heart to overflowing! Every year I cherish the time that we're all together.

This is one gift that we can all remember from year to year. I probably can't remember that I got a scarf or pajamas, etc last year for Christmas but I can always remember this gift of time and memories that Joel gives us each year. It is pricey (Joel is very generous and this year he said, "next year I'll actually be able to afford this. Ha!)...but really it's priceless!

Thinking of Home

I think I have called and FaceTimed my family about a million times the past few days. I just miss them so much. Today, I got to talk to Julie for a good chunk of time while they traveled to Olathe. It was so good to get to talk to her. Here's Cole playing while we talked. 

You'd better believe I'll be facetiming them tomorrow as they have their "Christmas morning" together! 

Repaying a Favor

This past weekend, we had a lot of snow, which was beautiful and cozy and fun for the boys who got to sled behind the four wheeler. 

 

But, of course, snow means shoveling, right? Well, not if you live in a small rural town and are friends with the right people. 

We left Sunday morning for church and returned home that evening to find, to our surprise, our driveway had been completely cleaned off, not by a shovel or snow blower but by a plow on the front of our neighbors' skidsteer or jeep (because people here have access to things like that).

What a service! I asked Marc what we could do in return and he suggested what we do best...pies! So, this afternoon we whipped up two chocolate cream pies (one for us, of course). 

Don't you wish you were our neighbor? Or better yet, had a neighbor like Gary to clean off your driveway? Oh the joys of a small town!

Merry Christmas!

We had a fancy breakfast at home and had a chance to FaceTime with mom, dad, and Brad while Cole opened some gifts. Then we headed over to Al and Shirley's for a steak lunch grilled by Marc and all the fixin's by Shirley and White Christmas on Netflix. Relaxing day. 

Twas the night before Christmas

Even at the age of 23, on Christmas eve Brad reminded Dave that it was time for the traditional reading of The Night Before Christmas.  It wasn't exactly a traditional reading, however. . .

Traditions

Marc and I are slowly coming into our own traditions for Christmas but for now we are borrowing from the Ellis family. I made some peanut clusters to share and the sugar cookie dough is chilling in the fridge. Currently, we are watching Christmas Vacation and have plans to watch White Christmas tomorrow before going to the Christmas Eve service down in Liberal. Also, we have our Christmas cards adorning our doorway. I love seeing all the pictures and find myself staring at them throughout the day. 

I'm sad to be missing Christmas with my family. Really sad. But I feel really good about our decision not to travel so much with Cole, especially now that he's getting over being sick. We have a few days here to recoop before heading to Brad's wedding and seeing everyone!!

Voth family Christmas!

This weekend we are celebrating Christmas with the Voth family in Sublette! Shandra and her family drove in from Olathe on Thursday night and Michael and Chelsea joined us from Garden City. I have to admit, I was really looking forward to spending time with them, playing games, doing a puzzle, eating but also because I knew I'd get a lot of help with Cole! And it's been just as I thought. Today was Cole's first gift opening experience. It's also been nice to have some company to talk to while I give Cole his breathing treatments (which he's doing lots better!)

Times they are a'changin'

Today Brad had a friend help him move a few large items to his and Kathryn's house - his dresser and a cedar chest. He got the chest from Gma Ellis when she moved to Kansas.

Then, after getting a text from Kathryn, I decided to edit her name to "Ellis".  I kind of like it. :-)

Croup

Cole has croup! We went to the doctor on Monday after a bad cough through the night and then he woke up and was having trouble breathing. Now that's scary! The doctor gave him a shot with steroids and antibiotic and then prescribed at-home breathing treatments. Four times a day, we sit him in his car seat and blow this vaporized medicine in his face. It's kind of a pain but does seem to help. He doesn't usually have the mouthpiece in his mouth like he does in the picture but he does like to chew on it and put his tongue in the tube. We've been reading lots of books and singing songs and making funny faces at each other during our breathing treatment times. That's one good thing! We return to the doctor Thursday morning to check back in. He's breathing better but coughing a bit more. This has been hard for me a times. It's so hard to know what to do!

Water Works

As many of you know, I have worked for the last 2 months for a company called Ascensus in downtown KC. It's a temporary job working the call center side of customer service for 529 college savings plans for people all over the country. My last day is tomorrow, and it will be a real bittersweet departure for me. On one hand, I'm sad to leave the people that have so quickly grown to feel like a family to me. On the other hand, I'm embarking on what I anticipate being the most exciting chapter of my life starting in the next few weeks: getting married, moving into a new house, and starting a full-time career at Cerner.

This, however, isn't the reason I'm posting. I'm posting for a much deeper, more important phenomenon. An art that may not be appreciated in its present day, but will be looked back on for years as revolutionary to the way we look, see, feel, and (potentially even smell) art.

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On one of the first days on the job, I got up to go to the bathroom. While there, I realized that not only did I have to "pay the water bill" as my coworker LaTosha refers to it, but that I actually needed to  pay the gas bill as well.

So, I went in to the handicap stall (what I like to refer to as "the bigger man's bathroom"), and sat down to do my business. As I was sitting there doing what I normally do while going to the bathroom - check the respective social media networks, get caught up on news and text message responses, etc. - I noticed something peculiar on the wall of the stall....

The dispenser for the toilet seat covers gave off quite a unique mirror. It was as if I had my own real life version of Mac's "Photo Booth". Eager to share my hilarious findings, I sent a picture to my best friend, Kathryn Grace Hanson, to show her what I had just discovered. To my amusement, she thought it was hilarious and thus affirmed my ridiculous behavior.

Thanks to my regularity, I continued to have gas bills to pay at work, and I continued to pay homage to my newly found form of photographic flattery in the bigger man's bathroom stall. I sent a picture to my friend, Logan, and he thoroughly enjoyed it as well. I then made it my commitment, right then and there, to send him a picture every single time I used the restroom. Posted below are the results of my hard earned work for the past 2 months at my job - because "when life gives you lemons, you should take a picture of yourself pooping as often as possible" - Abraham Lincoln. 

As I was looking back on my photos, I noticed a few different trends. Sometimes I'd be feeling like a diva...

While other days desiring to have manly features, like the hands of Paul Bunyan.

At times I felt like doing my best C.S. Lewis character impression...

While other times I thought I'd try to resemble a character more festive and appropriate for Christmas.

I then figured out that it was possible to zoom in on your face and make it even better...

And every once in a while I'd just get flat out paranoid that someone was going to find out my secret workplace hobby...

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At the end of the day, I look back on my time at Ascencus and feel very fortunate. I couldn't have been more blessed to work at such a great and wonderful place with such warm and caring people, a great location, and accommodating circumstances to my future endeavors. Although I couldn't be more excited about the future ahead of me, it's safe to say that I'm truly going to miss working there...



...for more reason that one.

"Baby Ruth?"

- Brad.

What's a Cow Say?

Alright, let's see if I can try my hand at this - my very first blog post! And of course this first post needs to have a picture of my beautiful daughter.
Just like Cole, Elsy was in her first Christmas musical this past Sunday. She, along with all the other kids from the nursery, were brought up on stage during the program. Elsy did very well with it - just kind of stared at the crowd, taking it all in. (Sorry for the blurry picture!)
But the best part was, after they were introduced, everyone clapped for the kids and Elsy clapped right along with them (see pic below)! She was only up there about two minutes but it made this mama proud!

Cindy's Snoopy sweater visits JCCC

Dave wore Cindy's Snoopy Christmas sweater to the Counseling Center's Ugly Christmas Sweater day at JCCC today.  He wore it proudly.  He got it from Brad who has donned it many times.  I know Anthony has worn in on one occasion.  I'm sure Cindy has worn it too. :-)  Anybody have more pictures of the Snoopy sweater to share?  Kind of like "Flat Stanley". . . where else has Snoopy been?

Friends from Sudan

Some of you remember Dave going to the airport the day before Thanksgiving.  He was going because his friend Alfred's wife was coming in from Sudan.  Alfred has been in the U.S. since 2005 and only went back to see his family once, in 2008.  For many years they've been working hard to obtain Visas for his wife and their three children. His wife, Adhol, finally received her Visa and was able to come to KC in November. They are still working toward getting the children over here.  They have an 11-year old son and twin 9-year old girls.  Pray that they will be united sooner, than later.

Dave invited Alfred and Adhol to dinner last night.  It was the first American home Adhol had been in. She was quite impressed.  She loved the carpet!  I served a simple meal of Paul Bunyon burgers and tossed salad, with fresh pineapple for dessert.

They also liked our Christmas tree, commenting on how BIG it was. And they weren't taken aback by the funky shape of the top!  No one visiting our house leaves without trying out our Christmas tree glasses.

We asked them what Christmas was like in Sudan. They told us about a week long celebration, with lots of dancing, cooking goat or cow, a present for everyone and happiness.

Since we have a wedding in the family soon, we asked them about weddings in Sudan.  They told us it's a long 4-5 day celebration too - again with lots of dancing, cooking, eating.  They start in one location then move to the in-laws in groups - some with just women, old and young, some with men, old and young. Very different from our customs and very interesting.

Adhol has been here less than a month and the adjustment has been difficult.  She misses her children dearly. When God brings her and Alfred to mind, pray for comfort and peace for her and that their children will get their Visas soon.

Cole's Singing Debut

We dropped Cole off in the nursery and walked into church.  We were early to get a good seat up front to be sure to capture Cole's singing debut at church.  Before church began, I was summoned back to the nursery to a wailing baby Cole.  They had tried everything...diaper change, bottle, comforting...but he wasn't having any of it.  And, they were about to go on stage!  They knew this was so unlike him, that they came and got me, which I was so grateful for.

I quieted him down, fed him a little of his bottle, and walked confidently on stage with the rest of the kids and ladies holding babies.  We were bombarded with photos and videos while the kids sang "Joy to the World" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  At the pause before the final refrain, "We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year..." Cole started screaming!  It was his "I'm scared or uncomfortable" scream that I knew wouldn't last.  I quickly reacted by pretending I didn't hear the baby in my arms wailing and belting out the song myself and we both got a hearty laugh from the congregation.  Cole didn't cry long and was fine by the end of the song.  We were glad we didn't start the whole line of babies crying (though the little boy next to us was close).

Later, Marc said we stole the show and told Cole that his mama saved the day.  Definitely a memorable singing debut!  You'll have to ask Marc to see the video footage next time you see him.  It's pretty cute.

(After the program, I stayed in the nursery to help Cole fall asleep.  He had only slept about 10 minutes on our way down to Liberal.  Probably what the problem was earlier.  Tonight, he came down with a barky cough and some congestion.  Ugh.  Up to now, we had managed to avoid the winter sickness.  I guess it's our turn.)

"Lookin' Sharp"

"Lookin' sharp, buddy!" That's what Marc said when he saw Cole all dressed up to sing in church this morning. We're trying out our outfit for Uncle Brad's wedding in less than 3 weeks! Pretty cute, eh?

Enjoying the spoils of our labor

I wasn't in the door two minutes until Dave had opened the container holding my bounty from the Sister's Baking Day.  He drew in his breath with an "aaaaaa" as he took in the sight of all the delectable goodies. He poured himself a glass of milk and ate two sugar cookies, a Thumbprint cookie and one Cathedral Window.  He was in heaven!  Thanks everyone!

Cindy did help