Very Scary

Read this. Amazing.

Facebook Hackers

So, I hear about identity theft all the time...but I really haven't known many people who have been affected by it.  But, I just found out about a friend of ours, Geoff, whose facebook account was hijacked.  The hacker posed as Geoff, started chatting with his friends, and claimed something happened to him in England and he needs money wired to him.  The hacker even had accomplices posting things on Geoff's wall.  Scary. 

Check out Ryan McReynold's blog post.  Geoff was sitting next to him as the hacker contacted him for money. 

Word Frames

I made a couple word frames as Christmas gifts this year, and they were SO FUN to make. I am putting a picture up for two reasons: 1) My good friend Heather asked me to, and 2) I want to say thanks to the people who gave me the pictures. I didn't take the pictures...just played with them in Photoshop and put them in Target frames. I got them off an amazing blog full of wonderful people who contributed them for people like me who didn't have time to go out and find all the letters I needed.

I just have a picture of one of them...the one I made for Mike and Melissa. The other is "Cross," Patrick and Hannah's last name. I might post that one too if I get a picture of it.

Thanks SO MUCH to all of you who shared your skills with us. :-)

HOME...at last!

After almost a month of traveling, Caleb and I are now finally home.  It was a wonderful few weeks, but it is always so amazing to be in our home.  I am actually excited to do laundry and clean our house!

For the past nine days, we were in Colorado for Denver Christmas Conference.  It is an incredible conference, and God uses it again and again to change the lives of the students (and staff) who attend.  

The morning we were leaving to make the two-day trek out to Denver from Indiana, Caleb woke up with a barking cough.  Unfortunately, the cough and the congestion that accompanied it never went away throughout the entire duration of the conference, and we were unable to put him in childcare.  Although I had hoped to participate more this year, I really enjoyed getting to spend fun time with people.  And I also didn't mind too much not having to cook or clean. 

This morning, Brandon went back to Kansas to go pheasant hunting with his dad and brother. Caleb and I came home to a fridge stocked with the basics, freshly made bread, a very excited cat, and an amazingly leaf-free yard.  Our friends, Daniel and the Wong Family, all took great care of our home and Millie while we were gone.   I cannot say THANK YOU enough!  We love you guys!

Our trees finally decided to dump all their leaves just as we were leaving...and I was not looking forward to dealing with that when we came home.  A group of friends from church took it upon themselves to rake all those leaves and bag them up.  Our yard looks amazing, and there must be twenty or more bags out there on our curb waiting to be picked up by the trash truck.  What an incredible BLESSING you guys are!  Thanks so much!

I am off to go do some laundry now.  :-)

 

Christmas in Indiana

Christmas at my parents' house was wonderful. All of my family was together, and we had such a great time spending time with everyone. Caleb especially loved "Mamaw's house." He was often the center of attention due to his being the only grandson/nephew. His vocabulary exploded with essential new phrases such as "Go Boyers!" and "Go Coats!" ** And, he received more presents than I can describe. My parents are amazing. Thanks, Mom and Dad.



He loved building towers with his new alphabet blocks with "Gam-pa..."



...and loved destroying them even more.



He received a set of golf clubs from Uncle Patrick and Aunt Hannah and did the only thing he knew to do with them...use them as microphones. :-)



But then he got a new guitar with real strings!



And of course he had to have a few jam sessions!





And the boys did what they do every Christmas...gamble away their Christmas money. :-) Well, not really. They do what they call "Cross betting." They never really call up the debts. They're so cute.





** Translation: "Go Boilers (Purdue)" and "Co Colts"

Roadside Americana

When I was a kid, I was so blessed to get to see so much of our amazing country on road trips with my family. And it's funny that what I remember most about those trips isn't the amazing destinations we were driving towards (such as the Grand Canyon and Glacier National Park) but instead it was all the random little stops along the way (such as Wall Drug, Custer's Last Stand, Dodge City, KS). As I have gotten older, I have realized that for me, the journey is as important as the destination. When we travel, Brandon often humors me by letting me stop and see things I find interesting. And living in the Southwest, I have become fascinated by Route 66.





On the first leg of our month-long travels, we stopped at Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo. It is a really interesting old landmark on Route 66. We had driven by it before, and I was eager to get out of the car this time and go see it. So, we planned it (because Brandon needs planning). But, after leaving the warm Las Cruces weather that morning, I couldn't handle the 15 degree (below 0 wind chill) weather outside of Amarillo...and barely got a picture of the place. My fingers hurt too much. :-)