Let me just tell you - I think he is pretty amazing - it is not every
man that can raise 10 children WELL - and be proud of the people that
they have become/are becoming - but my dad has.

He is the hardest worker I know - Growing up, there wasn't always a lot
of money around for the 'extras'[imagine that with 10 kids  ] - but I never once worried that we
wouldn't be taken care of - I knew that my dad would work 24/7 if he
had to, in order to make sure that we were taken care of.

My dad doesn't express himself alot, but he has always been good at
telling us kids [and letting us hear him tell our mom] that he loved
us.  Never a doubt in my mind...

One of my favorite things about my dad is that there are two stories
that he likes to tell about me that make him cry every single time. 
The first is the day that I was born - to this day he cannot talk about
it without getting all choked up.  I love that about him. 

[preface here]

Ever since I can remember - every single night we have gathered in the
living room of our house to pray together before going to bed.  We have
never missed a night.  And at the end of that prayer time, we always
sing 'Oh how he loves you and me' - inserting the names of our family
members in the last chorus.  As we have added inlaws and grandbabies to
the mix, the song has gotten much longer, but we still sing it every
night. 

This all came about when I was two - my first baby brother Ben was a
newborn and I had gotten very, very sick - woke up in the night with a
very high temperature.  Mom and Dad were freaked out and put me in the
tub to try to get me cooled down a bit initially.  So there I am,
barely two - eyes glazed over and delirious from the fever - and looked
at my dad and said in my baby voice 'daddy sing oh ow He loves oo and
me'.  My dad wept as he sang that song to me [apparently one of my
favorites at that age] that night in the tub, and still weeps when he
tells that story. Since then, it has been sung every night at our house...  It is an amazing thing to have your dad love you
that much.

Happy Birthday Dad.  I love you...

*My day in a nutshell - LONG.  Funny how it can be the same length as every other ten hour day, and yet DRAG by so slowly [like today], while other days just seem to fly.  Wierd.  To cap it all off - it was all snowy and blustery and grey out during the drive in today, so I had my headlights on while driving to work.  Apparently my head was up my rear when I exited the car [or perhaps I was just rushing since I was two minutes late - that will teach me to hit the snooze button four times, now won't it... ].  Regardless.  I left my headlights on ALL FREAKING DAY.  My car battery - uber dead when I went out to start the car.  Did I mention that today may very well have been the coldest day of winter so far?  Yep.  And I killed my car battery.  Cuz I am cool like that.  The bright side of it?  One of the other assistants and a helpful passerby were able to push me right into a bay in automotive, where they had that sucker changed asap.  Sometimes it is nice to be a well liked member of management...

*So a couple of days ago I made some awesome picture frames for a friend of mine [totally stole the idea from sajo and A btw] - her living room is done in aqua blues and deep browns - so  I made two to go together...here is how they turned out...

Pretty cool, yes?  Despite the crappiness of the pictures, I think they turned out cool - the quote on the small one says 'Love is like a piece of artwork...even the smallest bit can be so beautiful...'
Awwwww....

* You may remember that I ran my first 5K back in NOVEMBER.  Yeah - well.....since then I haven't run AT ALL - it being our busy season and all at work, and not really feeling like it [to be 100% honest] - I took a couple of months off.  In my defense I HATE the cold, and running outside = just not cool for me.  So I finally broke down and bought a treadmill and have gotten back on the running wagon.  SO far it has lasted two days...The next two goals?  The 5 mile St Patty's day run on St. Patricks day...and then [I can't believe I am saying this out loud] the St Louis half marathon in April.  Not so sure about that second part - am fairly certain that I can do the five miles - the 13 sounds much more daunting.  We shall see.

* Last piece of fun for the night - I got this really, really great shirt as a christmas gift - yesterday was my first day off work since I opened it, and I COULD NOT wait for my day off to get to wear it while out and about.  Some of you may have seen it before - but don't spoil it for those who haven't - let's see who 'gets it' and who doesn't...
[here is a clue - look at what part of the shirt that I am pointing to specifically in the first picture - then the closeup]

[don't ask me what the crap kind of face this is - maybe my 'oh - poor thing', face?

But first a preface [because who doesn't love a good preface]

Back to 1998 - I had just moved to NorthWest Arkansas to work with a group called Youth With A Mission [YWAM]....  Five hours [by car] away from my family and the multitudes of younger siblings, I was homesick and wanted/needed to have some children/family environment in my life.  Enter my beloved Ray family - John, Jane, and their three little girls Hope, Hannah and Naomi...who stepped right in and filled the gap/need for family...  They were my family away from my family -  I fell in love with those little girls in very short order, with the added benefit of falling in love with their parents as well.

Countless nights I spent in their living room after the girls had gone to bed - Jane would stretch out on one couch and I would stretch out on the other with our mugs of hot tea or coffee - John [her husband] would often end up there with us - sprawled on the floor as we chatted 'til it was time for bed.  I cannot tell you the comfort that I found in their home - in their presence...

Jane is one of those rare finds of a friend who can sit there and listen to you as you talk through things, and simply in the listening [and with a few well placed questions for clarification purposes] help you see/discover things in yourself and whatever situation you are in from a totally new perspective.  She has brought so much clarity to my life - helping me when I would spin in circles in my brain.

While I was in AR, she and John had their fourth [and last] little girl - Olivia.  I was with them in the delivery room - my first time to experience that with a friend.  There really are no words for how it feels to share that experience with such a dear friend.  Such a priviledge...It is still hard for me to believe that Olivia is now quite a grown little girl...

So many precious memories contained in this friendship - these are just a few that I could remember off the top of my head...

Anyway - while in AR this past weekend - in the midst of all of the running about and busyness - I was able to do the quick little 'pop-in' to hug their necks and say the briefest of hello's...[It is never enough time - when will there ever be?]  Here are a couple of those pictures...

Jane and I - seriously - is she not one of the most beautiful women that you have ever seen? 

John and Hope were not at home so no pictures of them, but here are a couple of the three youngest girls...
[Olivia is on the left, Hannah is in the back, and Naomi is on the right]  Geez - you think these girls are comfortable having their pictures taken??

This would be the shot AFTER Jane told them to close their mouths for the next shot - obviously Naomi thought it would be a better idea to stick her tongue out instead...

Some favorite pictures from Christmas...

**Just in case you are wondering why there seem to be different settings for some of these pictures - Christmas eve/morning was spent at my parents house with all of the kids who are not married - which would be seven of us... then for the rest of Christmas day we went to my church to hang out/meet up with my married siblings and their families at the church since we seem to have outgrown all of our houses.  It was super fun to have all the room to spread out and for the kids to have accesss to the nurseries/toys/space, etc...  Carry on then...**

Mom and Dad

Me and my Daddy...

Mom with her newest grandbaby, my neice Addison.  Good grief my mother is beautiful...if only I age half that well...

My brother in love John with my nephew Ian.  Grrrrrr - doesn't that baby have the prettiest eyes you have ever seen?

It was great to have everyone together and to have all of the kids running around.  Bethany and David have only a couple of months between them in age and were having a great time together - so sweet.

Michael and Tabitha sharing some cousin time too.

Pawpaw and Ian - funny that the only shot I have of them, and both of their mouths are hanging open.  I'm a cool photographer that way.  [don't say I didn't warn you if you end up in a bad shot of mine! ]

My brother Joe and I hogged our new favorite game all day long on Christmas day - GUITAR HERO II.  Laugh all you want, but you have gotta try this game - you strap on that guitar and feel like a rock star - it is soooooo cool - my brother got a great shot of me playing, but alas, I cannot find it right now - but you get the idea.  I rock hard my friends - very hard.

At one point during the day, no one had been watching Michael - in the meantime he had piled his plate FULL of cookies and was sitting down to eat them - his momma was swooping in to remove them, but being the obnoxious aunt that I am, I made her wait until I could get a picture of him...

My dad's brother and his wife [yes, that would make them my aunt and uncle] came over for part of the day too - as well as my dad's sister, my aunt Patty [she would be the redhead in the background].  Super fun to have them there - they played the LONGEST game ever of Monopoly...[more power to you all - I HATE that game].

This is my nephew Alex - he had barely gotten inside before the shoes and socks were gone - I LOVE his fat tiny feet...

This picture completely captures my nephew Davids personality - we call him the drama king of the family.  Hmmmmmm - what do you suppose he is thinking in this shot?

Tabitha and Bethany cheesing it up for the camera -

It's a pity that we don't like babies in our family - geez...   This would be baby Addison and me...

So much more, but that is a beginning at least....

More to come folks...