Six days until Christmas!

That being said, we will be shopping today as we still need to get something for about half of our list. The last week has been filled with Christmas cards, Christmas movies, and Christmas parties. There have been parties with our church, including a seated dinner in one of the most amazing houses we've been invited into, and a White Elephant gift exchange with our small group. There have been parties with our friends, including a time to bring gifts for an Angel Tree child. Finally, there have been parties with our family, including a Harrell family reunion of sorts. In the midst of all these events, we "finished" decorating our Christmas tree. It is sparse currently, but we know over the years we will add meaningful ornaments to fill it (and bigger trees) up. You can also see how difficult it is to get a real Christmas picture of our little family...haha! We love this time of year!

We also were able to spend Monday with Katie's Dad for his birthday. It was a great time and we are glad to be in Dallas for these moments.

All is well with Chris' work, but just slow around the holidays. Katie has been busy preparing for nursing school - buying books, uniforms, supplies...studying already...getting immunizations, and more. We were blessed for her to have been offered a student rep position at the bookstore, so the books and supplies were all half price (a HUGE savings). It is a bit strange to see stethoscopes and scrubs (not to sleep in this time) around the house. Here's to starting our next adventure!

One more thing: CONGRATS to Scott on his graduation!!!

Holiday Season

Sorry it has been so long since our last post! We have been wrapped up in the holiday season and transitions the past month or so...

The Thursday before Thanksgiving was Katie's last day of work, then we headed down to Houston. That weekend we had a wedding shower and wedding to attend (picture below), so needless to say we were busy. While in Houston we were able to catch up with old friends, spend good time with family, and get some much needed rest and relaxation. We celebrated Thanksgiving with all of our family, Thursday was spent in Houston and the next day in Waco. Since Katie had some time off, she spent a week in College Station cooking, cleaning, and decorating with the family, while it was back to work for Chris.

Last weekend, when we were both back in Dallas, Chris' Dad was in town for a soccer tournament. We were able to catch one (cold) game. Since then we've been finishing Christmas decorations and getting everything in order before Katie begins classes in January. This year we got our first Christmas tree (not finished decorating it though) so it feels a lot more festive this time around! We hope everyone is enjoying the season and staying warm.

Decisions

This is one of those weeks that (for the most part) we are glad is over. As we said in our last post, we had decided to choose TWU for nursing school. When the mail came on Monday, an acceptance letter from UTMB along with a $5k scholarship caused us to rethink our choice. It was an incredibly difficult decision, but we decided to stick with our initial choice and stay here in Dallas. The paperwork is in and the decision is FINAL! Save the date for Katie's graduation: December 2011.

In other news, Chris' shoulder has been officially diagnosed as a nuisance. Basically it's a sprain/strain that will take time (and Alieve) to heal. It did keep him from hunting last weekend, which was a disappointment. Since he was in town for Halloween, we were able to to spend some time with friends watching scary movies that give both of us nightmares. Sorry, no pumpkin carving picture to show this year...maybe next year!

The only picture we've got for this week is from one of Katie's girls' nights. Last week, the girls from our church class got together to pack shoe boxes to donate for Christmas in honor of the daughter of a former minister that passed in a tragic bus accident. It was a great time to get together and give back. She also went to a fall tea over the weekend at a Dallas park with another group of girlfriends. We really enjoy the friends that we have made here and are glad we get to spend more time with them.

Lions, Tigers, & Bears

Ok, well not lions and tigers, but yes bears. This past weekend we went to Waco to not only visit Katie's Nanny, but also to attend Baylor Homecoming festivities with her mom. It was Chris' first real taste of Baylor, so that was fun. You will see a picture below - Note the color shirt Chris wore and how descriptive the picture is of our personalities and relationship. We saw the parade, walked around campus, visited the bears, and ate some BBQ outside the game. It was a beautiful, fun day despite some strange setbacks - First, Chris showed off his skills by changing a tire after one on the car went from full to flat in less than a minute. Next, Chris being the scientist that he is, slipped and injured his shoulder while exploring a nearby creek. We're just glad the flat tire came before the creek...He's headed to the doctor this week, so we'll see what the diagnosis is soon (Katie's opinion doesn't count since she's not a nurse yet...haha).

On Sunday we entered a chili cookoff with our apartment community and had a great time cooking together. We started with Chris' mom's favorite chili and added our own twist: fresh jalapenos and diced jalapeno cheese pork sausage. Our "Bottom Burner Chili" did not win the actual contest, but it now has many fans. We're sure it will be a regular at our house from now on.

Life changes update: We have finally decided what our plans are for the year(s) to come. Pending Katie's acceptance letter to TWU (which is on its way), we will be staying where we are in Dallas for the next two years. After discovering that the UTMB program, despite its online courses, would require her to be in the Houston area basically 6 days a week, we decided we liked actually seeing each other :) We know this is what many of you have been praying for, and we're glad that we are finally at peace with such a big decision. Hopefully Chris' job will work out accordingly, so keep that in your prayers.

The Rollercoaster

Well just because we haven't posted in awhile doesn't mean that it has been a slow few weeks. It has been packed full of fun times, sad times, and information we have been waiting for.

Chris has been getting into duck hunting lately, so in addition to having duck decoys stacked in our living room, he was able to go with a friend on a quick hunting trip to Galveston a few weeks ago. He returned with no ducks, but since he never leaves home without a fishing pole, we now have fish to cook. That same weekend we visited PawPaw in Louisiana. Driving all weekend is a trend for us now, as you will see...

The next weekend Katie's Dad took us to the State Fair of Texas. We always love spending the day there together, and aside from a few brief showers, the weather was perfect. No fried butter for us, but we did have some fair staples: corn dog, sausage on a stick, pinapple soft serve. We were sure that by this time we would have bought our new vehicle, but no luck - We are still looking and were able to sit in a couple of our favorites at the Fair's car show. No pictures this year, but here's a picture from last year's trip.

In the job area, we were faced with an incredibly difficult decision, but have made it through. We are staying in Dallas, so it's nice to have some sense of stability. Katie was asked to interview with UTMB, so we are getting closer in that arena as well. Both schools should send out letters in the next few weeks...At this point, we don't even know which we prefer and it looks like we might have to be the ones to pick. There will be much prayerful consideration over the next few weeks.

Finally, Chris' Grandad passed away about a week ago. Although he had been growing more sick the past couple months, it still feels like it happened so quickly. We were blessed to have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together with him over the past few years, and we will miss him incredibly. It is always nice when we get to take a trip and visit family, but this one we would rather have not had to take. We love you Grandad!

Is it fall yet?

Well today is the last official day of summer, and I must say we are ready for the fall. Summer is great, but it just doesn't have the same effect as it did when we were in school. Sitting behind a desk all day is easier to do when it's rainy and cold outside!

In the spirit of fall, our church group held a back-to-school party Sunday night. Seeing as close to none of us are still in school, it was more of a back-to-football season party. Each person had to sport their team's colors, so you will see in our pictures that we were in the minority vs. Baylor. We grilled some burgers, watched the Cowboys game, and spent quality time with friends. To donate to the cause, Katie baked over 3 dozen brownie/blondie/cake/cookie bars all day Saturday. The German chocolate cake "brownies" are tried and true, but although the marshmallow chocolate chip "blondies" were pretty good, I don't think they are a keeper. Sometimes our kitchen feels like a test lab - Chris sampling for quality control and Katie making the necessary adjustments.

Chris' brother Brian came to visit this weekend also, so he helped Chris taste test a bit. He was in town to watch a couple soccer games Friday, but spent Saturday with us watching football and doing a bit of shopping. We always love to have friends and family visit. Hopefully one day soon we will have a guest bedroom or at least a little more square footage to accomodate.

Other than that, we are still waiting...waiting on letters, emails, any sort of information that would help us figure out what is in store for our next year and beyond...

"In the land of sand & sun, we don't flush for number one."

I need to print a retraction and say that Katie doesn't really hate snorkeling for more than 10 minutes. Apparently when you hit enter after a title it sends the post. Sorry for the confusion.


Now to explain the title of this post - We saw this sign in one of the Cruz Bay shops. On the island, rainwater is collected for household use. Water for drinking is more important than flushing...Need I say more?

Katie and I enjoyed island life last week on the wonderful island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The trip involved ups and downs that are associated with traveling places including being welcomed to Ft. Lauderdale by our flight attendant when we should have landed in Miami. We did get to travel by land, sea, and air to reach our destination in Coral Bay on the east end of the island of St. John.

Our trip began in Houston where we dropped our dog, Dixie, off with the puppy grandparents. Chris' parents were kind enough to dog sit for us while we were gone. We had layovers in Miami and Puerto Rico before arriving in St. Thomas, taking free shots of rum, and then catching a ferry to St. John. The shot was a little rough on Chris and made his face tingle but he is a not a drinker. We were greeted at the dock by the innkeeper for the House of Open Arms. She took us to the grocery store in Cruz Bay before driving us to the other side of the island where we would be staying. St. John is quite mountainous and for us flat landers, it was an eye opening experience to be riding down those roads at night.

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise and banaquits chirping. Perfect way to start our first day in paradise. We went into Cruz Bay and picked up our Jeep and checked out the little shops before heading back to the cottage and an evening snorkel in Haulover Bay.

On the following days, Chris would fly fish for bonefish while Katie read on the beach in the mornings and then we would snorkel in the afternoon. We snorkeled at Hawksnest Bay, Jumbee Bay, Cinnamon Bay, Brown Bay, Lameshur Bay and Princess Bay. At Lameshur, Katie and I went on a 4 mile hike to see ancient pre-Columbian Indian petroglyphs carved in the rocks around a spring-fed pool near the island interior. We climbed from sea-level up and across a ridge that was over 400ft then back down to sea level and up another 100ft to the spring. It was a hot hike that took 2 hours to complete but was totally worth it. It really is amazing how one side of a ridge can be so arid and then the other so tropical.

St. John really is a lovely little island with much to offer. There is a variety of different animals, fish, plants, etc and we loved crossing paths with them each day. Between snorkel trips there are many roadside stands selling food and drinks. We stopped at one of these stands to get smoothies made with local fruits. There are also many ruins all over the island dating back to the 1700s when the island was part of the Dutch colonies and there were many sugar plantations and even a few forts to protect the main town. In fact, the mountain our cottage was on was named Fortsburg. The ruins of the fort were above us, and the old coastal gun battery for the fort was below us. As all vacations must come to an end, we came back a week later to the hustle and bustle of the city.