Little did she know...

I ran across these pictures the other day... good times. I can't wait for next year's Hills Alive. There's some more pictures here in case you wanted to feast your eyes. [Jars of Clay]

Little Miss Cutie Pie Princess Bi-lingual Drama Queen Diva Enthusiastic Talented Niece of mine :) Looooove

I am blessed... that, even though I am yet again away from family, I have a second family to adopt me here in Hot Springs. I have an amazing church family and network of friends. I have co workers who bring poor, starving EMT's a delish meal. I have Celeste to drink hot chocolate and watch netflix in mah livin room. I have Skype to connect me with my niece so we can sing "Drummer Boy" together. I have a gracious, merciful, loving God to give me the unfathomable gift of salvation. ...and so it was merry and bright. Glory to God in the highest! Glory to God in the highest! Our Hope has appeared. God has drawn near. Glory to God alone! -SGM

Excuse me? But is he not the most adorable thing you have ever seen? [We cuddled a lot and often.] Carter David, also known as Cheese Cloth. Or Piglet. Either one.

We may or may not have frequented many coffee shops.

Feliz Natal, everyone. [It suddenly feels like time here is zipping by]

People? I am going to be here in less than 48 hours. View Larger Map I can't really describe what I'm feeling right now. Sure, international travel is going to be amazing. [That and the fact that it's going to be summer down there.] But do you know what is going to be more amazing? Hugging my brother and sister in-law and their two adorable children. That and getting to spend two weeks with them. Can.not.wait.

Do you want to know something? I feel terribly guilty. And halfway sheepish. Because? Well because... I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving. Not even one. No still life. No action shots. No posses. No self portraits. Nothing. And all this after I admonished half of my far away relatives and friends to take lots of pictures. hmph. SO. Sorry, people. No documentation of the First Thanksgiving Away. Maybe I'm more bummed than anyone else... ahem. moving on. This last entry [of thankfulness] is nothing profound (not that any of these have been profound). It's just what made me smile yesterday at work as I drove to Rapid one more time. [Sometimes being the driver is the funniest place to be.] [note: the names have been changed to protect the innocent] Frank had been drifting in and out of coherency, and really, really wanted to go to sleep, so my partner kept up a loud and sporadic conversation with him the whole way up. He got asked multiple times where he was at, where

It's Thanksgiving (in case you were wondering) I'm thankful for a lot of things today. Like, my wonderful family all gathered in Kansas City, my wonderful other family here in Hot Springs. Love. Laughter. The fact that God is God and God is good. But, I'm mostly thankful for my Coleman mom and dad. They adopted me four years ago and welcomed me into their crazy family (crazy in a good way). I'm thankful for all the laughs and tears and talks and hugs. I want to know them for always. They're the best. [me and Coleman mom being rednecks]

Dunn Bro's On a loner night [unless you count eavesdropping. then I had company. lots of it :)] [Chicken noodle soup, Raspberry and white chocolate scone, White chocolate latte -for the soul] [comics. I'm a sucker] [So I read kids' books for fun] [journal and sharpies. good combination]

when I haven't gotten much sleep because of work all.night.long. and when it is National Fall Down and Can't Get Up night. and when I have to drink hospital coffee to survive the drive home. and when it is FREEZING outside. and when it's impossible to catch up on sleep because of the stupid yapping dog down the alley. and when I have the Best Couch to recover on. Bring on the Calming chamomile for quiet moments.

the first foot prints in fresh snow and squeaky snow and air so cold it takes your breath away and a night that is super bright because of the moon reflecting off of the snow

The Lim's living room on a snowy Sunday afternoon :) [sigh]

So we're sitting there awkwardly. Not making conversation. Staring over each other's heads. And I have the irresistible urge to burst out laughing. But somehow I am able to suppress it into a ridiculous grin that is slapped across my face. So I duck my head and stir my water (with lemon) and think up a conversation starter that will last longer than a one word answer. And hope that the waitress comes soon to take our orders. [sometimes awkward moments are the funniest]

These are things I am thankful for when it's cold and snowy outside. [As opposed to being cold and snowy inside?]

My favorite time of day :) [And also my favorite job.] ALL IN THE SAME PLACE!!! It's the little things...

After a night of battling and praying and being thrown together through unexpected crisis, victory came in the wee sma's. We were emotionally drained. But we were in awe of God's goodness and faithfulness and cried out to Him our praises. Then, when I was finally reunited with my bed, I opened my Bible to the bookmark. Psalm 92. And I read the first two verses. And I laughed. [Irony.] God is truly awesome. "It is good to give thanks to the LORD , to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning , and your faithfulness by night, " Words don't seem sufficient in describing how thankful I am for God's faithfulness, that His mercies are new every morning, that He is in control. Always.

[ the fam. Minus Jay, Jon, Denielle, Ellie and baby C: '09 ] Those of you who know me, know that I love to go places, see new things and old things and just BE with my family and friends. I've lost much sleep because of this passion/obsession/love, whateveryouwanttocallit, both because of late night driving and late night laughs. And because God made me like this, I am RARELY homesick. In fact, I can remember only one significant time that I could not wait to get home. It was right after my baby sister was born and the four of us left at home were sent off to my grandparent's house for a week. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED going to my grandparents' house. We could swim every day, and get new library books every day and go to the park every day and go drive Grandpa's golf cart and watch movies and play "Aggravation" and "UNO" and the list could go on and on... But by the end of that week, I could.not.wait. to get home. Apparently you can have

Scarf! (yeah, I'm wordy) [my narcissism being evident]

Living room . Coffee. Journal. Sovereign Grace Music . Bible. Time to sit and process and pray and ponder. Alone. (thankful, thankful, thankful) [ tiny panorama of my living room]

itunes. it saves my life. especially when i have to do ICS training. [screen shot. itunes and dreaded ics traning.]

I have a love/hate relationship with this place. [I am thankful for it most of the time, though.] If nothing else, it provides countless laughs. [poorly composed snapshot. But hey, I was stopped in the middle of the highway.]

huge THANK YOU to friends family co-workers acquaintances strangers Happy Veteran's day to those who served in the past and those who are presently active I'm thankful for you today [Tim and plastic Army men, summer 2010]

words cannot even describe how much I am thankful for power lift cots I mean, I know I'm ripped and all, but really, manual cots should be outlawed. [my beautiful Stryker friend]

I cheat a lot at this game, apparently. But since I invented it, I guess I can change the rules :) So sometimes its inconvenient to get pictures onto the computer, edit, save, upload, etc every day. Therefore... even though I've had posts composed in my head for a few days, here they are days late. Better late than never... I am always thankful for time with the bestie/brother -especially over dinner Note, he can be seen posting over here [relative] [brother and friend before din din] [din din: salad with tomatoes and olives, grilled egg plant, grilled peppers, amazing (and crunchy) asparagus, French bread, cheese] Give us bread and we are happy. Anything else is like a bonus. For reals.

["Pugnose" the bus at the Wild Horse Sanctuary, Nov. '10] off road-ing . in a bus. in the BH.

The Black Hills are basically an amazing place to live and a superb place for adventure :) [TOMS and Chataqua Park at Sunset, November 2010]

exuberantly thankful for uniforms at Not Awake AM. [when my decision making paradigm is not existent] If I can be exuberant when I'm not awake

New Things! [so I might have a slight obsession with the color green]