Jason and I are just getting settled into our home in Dallas, and we couldn’t be more excited.  As we started looking for a place in January, we weren’t sure whether to buy or rent.  However, once we saw this home on the market, everything just fell into place.  It is a cute two bedroom, two bath house located in the Valley Ranch subdivision of Irving, Texas.  This beautiful home has a beautiful neighborhood to match, with parks, a nearby recreation center, and a nice canal to walk along.  We praise God for our first home and pray that He will use it for His glory.  Perhaps we will even have the opportunity to open it up for some fellowship and home group meetings, as we were blessed to  do with our apartment in Flagstaff!
Here a few shots I took before we started moving things in.  If you would like to see all the photos click on the link below:
SLIDESHOW

That’s my “new” car parked in the driveway.  I love my little German auto!

This is the living/dining area.  I had a bit of fun with the timer on my camera.  This shot is a miracle really…I’m a terrible jumper and it was hard to time my jump with the shutter.

Here is a photo of the fireplace in the living area taken from the dining area.

This little room is just to the left after walking in the front door.  It has a bathroom around the corner to the right.

The kitchen faces the backyard and is right off the dining/living room.

Just up the stairs is this loft area with built-in shelves and a desk.  The loft is directly above the kitchen and looks over the living/dining room.

Next to the loft is the master bedroom and bathroom.

The backyard is fenced in with a patio, shed, and horseshoe pits.

And here is the lovely canal that runs through the neighborhood, perfect for evening walks!

Thanks for letting us share a few photos of our new house with you!  We are still in the process of moving and unpacking, so things are a mess right now.  However, I’ll be taking some new photos once we are all moved in and have decorated a bit.  Again, if you’d like to see more photos, just click HERE!

I like tea.  A lot.  I recently tried Tazo’s minty Refresh tea, and it’s now one of my caffeine free favorites.  Because I really prefer black teas over herbal or fruity ones, I sometimes have a hard time finding caffeine free teas that I like.  This one’s a winner.  I think it’s the only hot beverage that can live up to its name–Refresh.

My Pelikan fountain pen is awesome.  It was a present from Antje and Tyler for my birthday this year.  Antje writes with her fountain pen everyday, and knew that I would love one too.  I love taking notes with it in my Moleskine journal each morning while reading my Bible.

Mmmmmm, apples…..with peanut butter.  While plain apples are yummy, I prefer slicing a tart green apple and dipping it in some creamy peanut butter.  You know you want to!!!

Last, but not least, I love a nice game of Kniffel (that’s the German name for Yahtzee).  Ryan and Cassey collaborated with Tyler and Antje to get us this awesome leather cup.  It’s not noisy like the plastic cups, makes the game at least ten times more enjoyable, and may even lead to higher scores…

FINALLY!!!  After almost 1 1/2 years in Germany, I got to turn the lens on my brother-in-law, Tyler, and his fiancé, Antje.  Even though it was freezing outside, we braved the snow and ice, and I’m so glad we did.  These two are a lot of fun!  Here are a few of my favorites from our session.

Did I mention that Antje is gorgeous?

And that Tyler adores her?

Awwww…

I love this shot.

These two are family, and during our time in Germany, we also became very close friends.  We’ve been gone just a month, but Jason and I miss them so much already.  We love you guys!
PS: Thank you Tyler for this last shot

Here’s a little preview of what’s to come!

My little brother, Eli, is GOOD at dodging the camera.  My camera is quite conspicuous and every time I picked it up he suddenly couldn’t be found, or at least had his hands in front of his face.  So, suffice it to say, we compromised, and here’s what we came up with.  I’m determined to get his whole face next time (Eli, you have been warned!!) but honestly, I like how this turned out.

Zoe the dog, she’s adorable.  I had to rub her belly while she was sitting there to get her to hold still long enough.

One day during my visit, we got to watch little Morgan.  Morgan is the daughter of one of my mom’s friends, and she is as cute as can be.  When it started snowing, she insisted that it was actually just rain, so we ventured out to see how she liked it.  She wasn’t sure at first, but then was okay with it, and even let me snap a few photos.

And finally, on Saturday we baked, baked, and baked some more.  First, we started with the sugar cookies.  Then, with the help of my mom’s best bud JoAnne (Morgan’s grandma) we made some delicious pumpkin rolls.  After that, we whipped out a couple batches of fudge, and moved on to sugar cookie decorating.  No one else was interested in this part, so MiKela and I were left with several dozen bare sugar cookie cutouts.  While we were very creative at first with our snowmen, stars, and gingerbread guys and gals, I have to admit we got a bit hasty after, oh, THREE HOURS of cookie decorating.  Can you blame us??  All in all, it was tons of fun, and we gave away much of our goods to friends and family.
I snapped a lot of photos during this week with my family, so instead of posting only a few here, I created a slideshow of them.  Click HERE to view it!  Rather than editing each one individually, I gave in and batch processed.  The slideshow was so simple to create and I love being able to show more photos, so you may see more slideshows included with my posts in the future.  Let me know how you like it!

Christmas Slideshow

I spent the week before Christmas in Prescott, Arizona with my family.  After being away for almost 1 1/2 years, it was soooooo good to be back.  I’ll be sharing a slideshow of the many images from our time together, but first, here are a few shots of my gorgeous sister, MiKela.  I can’t believe that she is a freshman and is going to be 15 in March–time goes by so quickly!  She was always a perfect subject when I was learning photography in high school, and still lets me turn my camera on her, even when it is freezing outside.  And for that, I am truly grateful.  Thanks, favorite sister

On the night of Friday, December 18th, I woke to the sound of my parents saying my name softly, as they handed me a cell phone and explained that it was Jason. I wasn’t fully awake as I said hello and looked up confusedly at my mom and dad; MiKela, my sister, began to stir beside me in the bed. Jason said that he and his brother, Ryan, were robbed at gunpoint at 11:00 that night in the parking lot of Ryan’s apartment. Jason had been with Ryan at work that night, and helped him close the laundromat. They then drove their separate cars to Ryan and Cassey’s apartment, where Jason would spend the night with them. Jason parked in the visitor’s parking, across the lot, grabbed his belongings, and then headed over to where Ryan had parked, just a few yards from his home. Jason and Ryan were talking as two men approached Jason from behind and asked him for the time. One of the men cocked his gun and demanded Jason’s and Ryan’s wallets and cell phones. Jason’s cell phone was in his messenger bag, and as he was reaching to take it out, the robber said to give him the entire bag. The second man snatched the items as the first kept his gun pointed at them. As soon as they had departed, Jason and Ryan went inside and called 911. The police recovered their wallets that night, on the ground of the parking lot. The robbers must have thrown them aside after seeing they contained no cash. Besides Ryan and Jason’s cell phones, they stole Jason’s Patagonia messenger bag, which contained our white Macbook, our iPod, Jason’s debit card, and a few other personal items. Just two days later, on Sunday, Ryan and Cassey’s apartment was broken into while they were at work. Jason stopped by their apartment that day to pick up his laundry, and when he tried to open the front door, it was bolted shut from the inside and the robbery was in progress. The robbers got away through the back door, but because of Jason’s timely interruption, they were not able to steal all that they had planned. Unfortunately, they did get away with all of Ryan’s handheld gaming equipment, but thankfully did not have time to take the laptops, dvd’s, or any other items.
We are all upset that our belongings were stolen, but more than that, we are thankful that Ryan and Jason are safe. Ryan, Cassey, and their two little ones, Sam and Ben, are moving from their current home immediately. We are sad to learn in this way that location can make all the difference between living in fear or safety in Dallas. Please keep us all in your prayers as we look for a good neighborhood to call home here in Dallas. After living in small cities like Flagstaff and Prescott, we are not used to the dangers associated with living in this huge metroplex.
Because our nice laptop was stolen, it will be a few more weeks before I am able to edit any of the current photos I want to share with you all. Thank goodness, we have an external hard drive set up with Time Machine, which contains an exact copy of the laptop’s content (though we’ve never had to test it out, *fingers crossed*).
And now, in honor of the last day of 2009, I have compiled a little mosaic that sums up our past year of traveling and living in Europe. Click on the mosaic to head to my flickr page, where you can see a caption and a full version of each photo. Jason and I wish a happy and blessed New Year to all!!!

This row of trees is visible from our hotel room’s window, and I just love how the early morning sunlight shines through them on a clear day.  So, one day last week, I decided to bring my camera out with me to take a few shots.  It was soooo cold outside, and had been this cold since I’d arrived in Dallas a few days earlier.  There were even little icicles hanging from the shrubs, and ice droplets all over the grass.

This past weekend, the weather reached highs in the low 70’s!  It is crazy to feel a change of 30 degrees from one day to the next.  On Sunday we spent the afternoon at White Rock Lake.  Jason and I love the outdoors, so it was incredibly refreshing to find a lake with a designated bike and walking path.

And here is a shot of my handsome hubby.  If you look close, you can even see me in his glasses!
I’m flying to Arizona tonight to spend a week with my family.  Jason will be driving to meet me on the 23rd, and then we will head to Flagstaff for a couple days.  Merry Christmas all!!!