Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours :)

We hope you are enjoying your Christmas Day and time with family and friends!

And may you remember the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus this year as we wait expectantly for His second coming.

Ben and I are enjoying spending time with both of our families. It is a blessing to be "home" for Christmas.

We got an unexpected and very unusual Christmas gift this year from the Commodore of Ben's training squadron. As many of you know he had his meeting with the Commodore last Tuesday to decide whether he would continue in the flight program or not. The Commodore looked over his file, and the recommendations from instructors, and decided that Ben had the skills and work ethic to remain in the flight program. This in itself was a big surprise, and an encouraging word to hear from his boss. However, Ben also shared with him that over the past two months of waiting for this review board to happen, he has been contemplating whether or not he even wanted to be in the flight program any more. He just didn't have any joy in training for this job, and was honestly getting excited about the possibility of choosing a new Air Force career. The Commodore really appreciated his honesty, and said that many students will not be that honest with him. So, the Commodore did something he has never done for a student before, and gave Ben the choice of whether he wanted to stay in the flight program or not. It is a really neat position for him to be in, and one that was completely unexpected. He is now praying about what decision he will make, and will give the Commodore an answer by January 4th, when he returns from Christmas break.

Either way, God is soooooo good! We could have never imagined His plan in all of this for us, and it is amazing to watch Him work such unexpected and honestly, quite impossible things in our lives. What a Christmas gift! With this opportunity to decide what he wants to do, either choice that he makes will be honorable and respectable, and will help us out in other endeavors down the line.

This is truly an example of how God's ways are SO much higher than ours!

Pray for us, as we search out what the Lord would have us do in the Air Force.

Its almost here! Ben is going to have his meeting with the Commodore tomorrow morning (tuesday) at 8:30 am.

It is a little bit intimidating to think about, but we know the Lord will guide his words & responses. Please pray for him when you remember him tomorrow! And we will let you know the outcome as soon as able!

It has been a crazy journey---and is definitely not over---but by this time tomorrow we will have at least a little bit of direction in the area of his career. Thanks for journeying through this with us. Its times like this when I am glad that I blog, and am able to update most everyone all at once on important life decisions!

In the midst of all this, we are packaging up Christmas presents, packing for Christmas in TX, and getting me packed and ready for a flight to Ft. Worth in the morning, where my grandmother's funeral will be held. After Ben's meeting, he will drive down to Houston on either Tuesday or Wednesday, and I will meet him there on Thursday to start the Christmas festivities.

Thats all for now! Merry Christmas :)

My Mimi

My sweet Mimi went to be with Jesus yesterday afternoon.

She was such a wonderful lady, and I am so sad to see her go, but am also so excited to know that she is with her Savior, Jesus & and is singing with the saints and the angels!

She loved to sing, and that is a love that she passed onto me. I like to think that I get a lot of my creativity from her too, because she (as well as my other grandmother, Mom'O) was one of the most creative people that I know. I remember learning to draw and to paint from her skilled hands; it was one of my favorite things to do with her.

She and I also loved to shop together, and would find all the good deals :)

And as a child I loved to sit with her and to paint her nails, or to dress up in all her fun clothes. I loved going to church with her and my other grandparents, and watched how much they loved the Lord and loved the body of believers

As Mimi got older, she developed dementia, and couldn't remember a lot of things. But one thing she never failed to remember was the words to an old hymn. "There's Going to be a Meeting in the Air". She would break out into song all the time, and would sing so beautifully the words,

"There is going to be a meeting in the air in the sweet, sweet by and by I am going to meet you, meet you over there in that home beyond the sky.

Such singin’ you will hear never heard by mortal ear
‘ Twill be glorious I do declare,
And God's own Son will be the leading one at that meeting in the air."

It was her heart to be with Jesus, and I have no doubt that her meeting with Him, in that home beyond the sky, has been glorious.

Love you Mim.

A little update

Just a little update on yesterday's post.

The review board happened yesterday, as many of you know---thank you so much for your prayers! We know that the Lord will accomplish his purposes through it. Unfortunately, you don't really gain any information on the direction of their decision from that board. So we can't tell you much on how it went, but we know the Lord is sovereign!

The final step now, is to talk to the Commodore aka "Big Boss Man". This conversation between he and Ben will probably happen on Friday, if not sooner. By the end of their meeting, Ben will know one way or another whether he will be retained in the program or not.

We will let you know when it happens!

For now, he is getting his uniform ironed and shoes shined, I am studying for the 2 finals that I have tomorrow, and in between, we are planning a Christmas party for our youth at church and watching Christmas specials on tv :) fun times!

We are thankful for such an amazing support group the Lord has blessed us with! Thank you!

Today is the Day

We found out this morning that Ben will have his review board this afternoon at 1:15. He is grouped w/ two other guys, both whom he knows, who also have to go to a review board. He was glad that he wouldn't be alone!

Please pray for wisdom and guidance over the instructors who will be reviewing his file, and for the Lord's will to be accomplished through this board.

There are three instructors who will be reviewing his file to determine whether he was treated fairly in the program or not. If they find some inconsistencies, and feel that he should get another chance, they will recommend him back into the program. If not, they will recommend him for attrition. Then, he will go talk to the big boss man and that interview will ultimately determine whether he stays in the flight program or not. The interview will most likely be tomorrow.

We are both really at peace & are just glad to get this thing moving so we can get some direction.

Thanks for praying!

Christmas Music

Favorite Christmas Music this year:

Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas.

We actually got this CD at Starbucks last Christmas in their clearance section. Its a wonderful classic and something we never get tired of listening to.

AND...

Our very favorite Christmas cd, is Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God. Our church back in College Station put on a Christmas Play using the music from this cd, to tell the story of Christ. I have been hooked ever since! Its an awesome worship cd, that you can honestly listen to year around, but in the Christmas season it is a great one to have, as it focuses on the birth of Christ!

Christmas Time!

Christmas time has always been a favorite time of year for me and Ben. It has become even more special in the past two years as we fuse the traditions from our own families and even make new traditions of our own! We have been sipping on hot cocoa and spiced tea, cutting down our own tree, decorating, making Christmas goodies, watching Christmas movies, wrapping Christmas gifts together, and celebrating the birth, death & resurrection of our Savior.

Here is a pic of our tree this year, we brought back the yarn ball theme from last year, and also cut down our own tree again this year! We love being able to do that---Especially Ben, because any man + a saw = happy camper

We are hoping to find cut your own tree farms in the places we live in the future so we can carry on this tradition.

Ben put the finishing touch on our tree---a fuzzy bronze, sparkly star!

We were so excited to get this new addition to our Christmas decor:

Granny & Paw-Paw (Ben's grandparents) gave us this nativity scene for Christmas last year. I love it!

And lastly, I had to put a picture of this Marbled Lemon Curd Cheesecake in the post. Ben is a huge fan of cheesecake, and has loved snacking on this little treat throughout the week! He says its one of the best cheesecakes he has ever had.

You can get the recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Curd-Marbled-Cheesecake-1222199

The only changes I made were that I used 1/3 fat cream cheese & Light sour cream, but trust me---You can't even tell.. Its super rich and creamy!

Merry Christmas!

A few pics from the trip

Here are a few pics from our trip to Disney---sadly, our camera got maxed out on the second day there so we didn't get all the fun moments on camera, but here are a few of the ones we did catch.

it was actually cold in Orlando a couple of days that we were there! This is us leaving the Spectromagic Light Show at Magic Kingdom

Nighttime at Disney

Mom & Dad at Animal Kingdom---a few seconds after taking this shot, a HUGE gorilla came into view right behind them!

Ben & Austin & a giraffe at the Animal Kingdom Lodge---they actually have wildlife at the resort hotels!

We at here for Thanksgiving Dinner. They had African and Indian cuisine. Not your typical Thanksgiving meal!

We took a lot of shots in front of Christmas trees :)

We had a great time in Orlando with my family and drove back late on Sunday night, while the family flew back to TX on Monday.

Our first Thanksgiving as a couple was spent with Ben's family, giving them the grand tour of our new home in Pensacola. We cut down a tree together, made ornaments, and once again, had a pretty untraditional Thanksgiving meal (maybe THAT will be our family tradition).

Our first two Thanksgiving holidays as a family have been some of the best I can remember! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family to share them with!