Today

Today I choose to let go of trying to be better,

of trying to do more,

of trying to earn God's love rather than depending completely

on the blood of Jesus to cleanse me.

Today I choose to let go of the things of this world

which I believe can comfort me and make me whole

my car, my money, my friends,my achievements, my success.

Today I choose to let go of my desires,my plans,my demands,my will.

I am willing to die to all of these and to my very self, so Christ can live more fully in me.

--elaine creaseman

Galatians 2:20

Blogging just to blog

I am not kidding when I say this post is random, these pics are at best random because I have the most boring life ever! Well, boring to some...but for me, I am pretty tired all the time so it can't be too boring!

Barry goes back to work tonight after being home for the past twelve days. It has been so nice having him home. I will have to say that I am spoiled! Now, I have to get used to being alone again...but this semester is winding down rather quickly and summer school will be here before I know it. As of today I have 106 days of class left!! About 5 months until graduation. I cannot even express how excited I am. Now...what to do afterwards is a different story!

While Barry was off we went to Pampa to visist his mom. She is so sweet and treated us like royalty while we were there. We were able to visit, shop, make some drinks (lava flows courtesy of rachel ray) and eat-She is such a good cook and has every gadget known to man! I could spend hours in her kitchen reading recipe books and playing with all of her kitchen toys! If you have seen it on HSN-this woman has it! We had such a good time...but it was good to be home too.

Barry is too good to me-he helps out around the house so much when he is here. One day he got a wild hair and painted the office! It looks so pretty! He is also good to take the doggies to the hair dresser and vet while he is off-it is hard for me to do it on my lunch break. Trust me, he gets his down time as well-it wasn't all honey do's!

This weekend is blank-I have no plans, Barry will be at work and I have NO idea what I will do with my time. Unfortunately, studying will be in there somewhere-and a pedi if I can help it!

Hope this finds you all well-here are a few random pics!

This is a pic of a massive shrimp. See-told ya they were random! Barry's step brother, Corey, went to the gulf and brought them back-and they were huge...and very ta ta tasty! I know you can't see really how big, with nothing next to it to compare it to,but trust me-we're talking like 5 inches at least!

This is sweet Emmi after Barry picked her up from the hair dresser. She loves going to see Miss Amy and getting a new bandana and a treat baggie! I am trying to keep her shorter because this dog LOVES to be outside and always gets grass burrs in her beard. Plus, she is the messiest drinker and when she gets a drink of water, she isn't playing around!

This is Miss Macy dancing when I got home. I know the pic is kinda blurry, but I love it when they have matching bandanas-see, it really is time for us to have kids!

Another new member of the Newton Fam

This is a BEFORE PIC-the only reason I loved this ice box is because it was covered in pics of my sweet nieces and nephews. Other than that, it was loud, old, didn't seal well...we got it a LONG time ago from a used appliance store...it served us well while we had it. Last night, when I had finally sat down and thought I could rest and watch Desperate Housewives...I hear this clicking noise. The compressor is trying its hardest to click on, but no luck. SO-I get to get up and pack up all our grocieries. Luckily, a friend of mine had some fridge space, so we carted bags upon bags of groceries over to her house. Tonight, we bit the bullet and went to Wichita. We shopped around and finally found our new fridge-it is SO pretty. I have never had a side by side-or one that has water and ice in the door-I am so beyond excited! Here are some pics. Thanks to Danny and Melissa for letting us store our food at your house and for helping us get it inside!

Excuse the mess I swept up from under the old one!

This is just a look with both doors open-isn't it pretty? I get excited over the weirdest things!

We have filtered ice and water! How wonderful is that? For someone who has to go through the drive through at Sonic to get ice...or who buys it at the store and then leaves without it-it is WONDERFUL! Plus, I haven't been drinking sodas so this is going to be great. I am so blessed-and spoiled. Barry is too good for me-

A country boy can survive

In the pic above, Paw Paw was trying to get Liam to sit still and watch the bobber-so sweet.

Liam wasn't so sure about touching the fish! He looked at me like, "You want me to do what??"

Liam had so much fun at the tank. I know that he will have so much more fun when Zane gets bigger and they are able to go fishing together!

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was wonderful. Friday night Monica, Troy and Aivry came in from Allen. We had dinner at Leal's and then Monica and I went to Wichita. Of course our evening started with a trip to Starbucks. I am not sure what I was thinking because I opted for an extra shot of espresso in my Java Chip no whip non fat frap! Not smart. The rest of the evening was full of giggles and late night shopping at Walmart. It doesn't get that much better when my Monica is around. Jamie, Liam and my mom and dad stayed the night Friday night out at Doris and Finley's...so I invited everyone over to my house Saturday morning for a huge breakfast. Dad and Finley didn't make it because they were golfing, but everyone else came out and we had a good time. We had eggs, biscuits, homemade gravy (thanks to Monica), sausage, bacon and hashrbown casserole! I am awful about estimating food for a bunch of people-I always have leftovers. Barry was really excited about those when he got home last night! After breakfast Monica, Troy and Aivry left and went out to Deercreek to visit her mom. Doris and Mom took Liam out to the country (that boy is a country boy at heart) and Jamie and I went to Wichita to do some running around. We shopped, had lunch and a good visit. I miss hanging out with my sisters, it is hard to do with me living away and they are always busy with kiddos. She is preggo and due at the end of July-and I am so excited to see my new neice! Saturday night we went back out to the country and I got the pleasure of going fishing with Liam, PawPaw and Uncle Finley. I am posting this from the lap top, so I can't post any pictures yet, but I promise I will once I move to the office. Liam had such a good time fishing with PawPaw and Uncle Finley. He "caught" a few little fish,but couldn't really comprehend that the minnow was the bait, and not a really little fish he had caught! We were so proud of him when he went over to Uncle Finley and got a worm-and brought it to PawPaw! He was so cute! Pics soon to follow...

Barry got home last night and is home for the next TWELVE days! He took some vacation time and I am so excited to have him home. I am trying to get all my homework done so that I don't have so much to do while he is here. Wednesday night we are leaving to go to Pampa to visit his mom. It is her birthday and she was sweet enough to put us up in a hotel for our four day stay. She knows that we are looking forward to getting way and wanting to rest. I teased her that this was just her idea of trying to get grandbabies! Setting the stage!

I love Sundays. Sitting on the couch, blogging with Paula Deen on TV! Barry was sweet and got up and went and got donuts for breakfast. Unfortunately I have some homework, so I will blog pics again when I can get in there!

I hope that everyone had a good weekend!

Something positive...

Barry gets home Saturday night-and will be home for TWELVE DAYS! He took six days off that fall between his actual six days off... we will be leaving for Pampa Wednesday the 16th to visit his mom for a few days. I always love seeing her-she is so much fun...plus she spoils me because she never had girls! I am very much looking forward to going away-even if it is to West Texas during storm season! I am just really looking forward to having Barry home for a while. I miss seeing him at the end of the day...I really took things for granted before he started working at Halliburton. I know that God has an amazing plan for our future...and this is just a mountain we have to climb, but it makes the time he will be home that much sweeter! Ok, I am off to clean house, for real!

Ronald McDonald is a spawn of Satan

Why do we stress eat? Today, I managed to do pretty well as far as eating healthy-then I went to Wichita to take one of the hardest midterms EVER-I mean, it was a killer. Not to mention the surprise quiz she opted to throw in there right before-as if my brain wasn't overflowing as it was. When I got in the car, I got a call...and it was like my car was in auto pilot-straight for McDonald's. I NEVER eat McDonalds. We don't have one in Henrietta, when I am in town I never think of eating there, it just isn't a place I frequent-but tonight-it was calling my name. I was just so frayed and stressed out over the bleeping test. I ordered the #2 with a water (that was one positive-I did not have a coke!) and managed to eat the whole thing on the way home while talking on the phone-and really dont' remember eating one bite! It was one of those-"ok, I'm home, but I don't remember the drive" Ever have those? In my state of despair, I managed to eat 25 points! All in a matter of mintues. Gone. Straight to my hiney. I didn't taste one bite-which is prolly a good thing! Now, I am upset at myself for eating it. Vicious cycle.

I guess the positive note is that it was a mid-term=this class is half way over. Now I need to go clean house. I have company coming this weekend and I am oh so excited!

The "C" word

Cancer is an ugly word. The word cancer came into my life when I was eight years old and for some reason hasn't stopped poisoning people that I know since. I am thankful that it hasn't touched me. Not really knowing my family background makes me wonder. My real grandmother passed from cancer when I was eight. PaPa Peden passed away from cancer. My sweet MawMaw passed from cancer. I lost a friend to cancer two years ago in February. Barry's grandmother had cancer, and we lost his step grandmother to cancer last February. My dad has had skin cancer. My sisters go for regular check ups. My friend down the street had a skin cancer removed from her face. It's everywhere. The color purple is the color of a survivor. The past two years that I have been working at Four Stars I have participated in Relay for Life-which is a community event that raises money for the American Cancer Society. The survivors get purple shirts so that they are recognized. All of this to say:

Yesterday we had our 4th Annual Crusin' for a Cure Car Show sponsored by Four Stars Auto Ranch. It was a beautiful day-we could not have asked for better weather. We had 138 enteries, the courthouse square was full of cars of all kinds...Barry was in heaven. I put together a silent auction and had 80 items for people to bid on. I also put together a bake sale to entice people's sweet tooth after they bought one of our burgers. All in all I have to say the day was a success.

As I was scrambling to get all the items picked up from Wichita Falls, I had people tell me how I must be crazy to put myself through this during midterms and while working full time. My evenings have been full of organizing and baking...When asked that...I just shrug it off...because all I can think of is...how can I NOT do it? If not for all the reasons I mentioned above? I want a cure-I want to fight for what has effected me, my family and friends. While I was watching people come bid on items...I thought, if my life has been touched by cancer, imagine all the stories that could have been told there? Each person that came through my line had been touched in some way. Some even personally-one lady had her survivor shirt on from last year, and told me she survived breast cancer. Another lady that came through had just survived not only cancer, but a double mastectomy. She has three kids. Their lives are now touched as well. I have no doubt the stories are endless. But yesterday wasn't about wallowing in cancer and it's stories...it was about fighting it. Four Stars made no money from the event-we donate the full proceeds to the American Cancer Society. And I can proudly say that thanks to everyone's hard work-we will write a check for $5000! We are just a small town community doing what we can to fight cancer. Our punch may be small-but every dollar is a step towards a cure-and when I think of my children-and my sibiling's children-I pray that a cure is found so that they are not effected by it. I didn't get many pics because I was manning my station-but I did get one of Charles Mayo. Charles is one of the nicest men you will ever meet and would do anything for anybody. He volunteered to cook 250 hamburgers for us and did a wonderful job. He is so easy going-that when I jokingly asked him to wear my pink "WHIP CANCER" apron-he just laugheg and put it on. Bless his heart, he wore it all day, out in the sun and cooked burgers for 5 hours. Sweet sweet man that Charles.

On a lighter note-I just have to say that I love Sundays. Barry is outside doing yard work, I am doing laundry and house stuff-but with all the window open and breeze blowing through. I found out this morning that my best friend from high school, Laura Richards (now Rose) had her baby Thursday! Her and her husband Marc wanted it to be a surprise-and they had a baby boy, Caleb.

Isn't he handsome? So crazy-Laura and I met on Aug. 13, of 1994-and she has been a dear friend to this day. Congratulations Laura and Marc-I can't wait to meet baby Caleb!

OK-off to finish my chores and study for my Accounting midterm Tuesday :( I hope this finds everyone rested from the weekend!

Just...disappointed..and needing to rant

Barry and I LOVE The Gimore Girls. Yes, he would die if he knew I was posting that on the internet for all to see...but, it is our thing. He even went and bought me the full 7 seasons so that we could just watch them. Well, we got caught up in what we call "GG" when the last season was actually on TV...so up until about 10 minutes ago, we didn't know how it ended. A big thanks to Lib for not spilling the beans. Anway, we just watch the discs one right after the other...we have stayed up way to late many a night because we just have to know what happens with Miss Rory and Lorelai! So, we were watching tonight-and all of the sudden-it was the last one. I mean, I had cried, cause it was sad and sweet that Luke through the party and sewed all the tents together but I just assumed there was another episode of the day after...after Rory left, after Lorelai and Luke kissed again, maybe Rory would run into Logan....I had no idea we were so near the end-that was it! And I just feel jipped-and mad at the WB for cancelling my show! It was my only down time, EVER. Ok...I feel better now.