~Cardboard Testimony~

So on Christmas Eve I participated in my Church's (Watermark) Christmas Eve Service doing the Cardboard Testimony. This was a huge deal for me to put myself out there like this. I will get to the reasoning of why in a minute. If you don't know what a Cardboard Testimony is they are pretty moving. During the service a song is played and one person is on stage at a time. The front of their cardboard says what their life was like before they had Christ in their life and then they flip it and the back says what their life is like now that they found Christ. I was really worried that after everyone saw my "dirty laundry" they would judge me and I was also extremely worried that I would trip and fall on my face in front of everyone! Luckily neither of those happened! So the pictures arent the best but here it goes....Here is what the front of my board said...


And then here is what the back said...


So there you have it. I spent over two years of my life addicted to drugs. I was at the lowest of lows during that time and was wasting away. Finally one day I woke up and decided enough was enough and I quit that day. My withdrawls were pretty bad and I had noone to help me through them. I couldnt have my friends around because at the time all my friends did drugs. And my parents couldnt help me because they had no idea what was going on. I spent a good week in my room just laying there because I had no energy to get up so I would pray. Its funny how no matter how lost you get and how sinful you are God never gives up on you. He truly helped me through one of the roughest times in my life.
So back to the reason why I did the Carboard Testimony. I have this passion for wanting to talk to teens and young adults who are going down the path that I went down. I want to share my testimony with them and let them know there really is more to life than that. The first step for me was to put myself out there and let people know they are not alone. So by doing this testimony I think I took that first step in putting myself out there! It was definitely nerve wrecking but I am so happy that I did it. I hope I touched at least one person out there by doing it!
Being that I am an ex-drug addict, divorced, single mom I definitely get judged on a daily basis. But yet my relationship with God is stronger than it ever has been before. Funny how things work out, huh. So one of the reasons that motivated me to go back to school, besides to give my son a better life, was because I want to show people that it really is possible to go from who I WAS to who I AM. I am really excited to be able to share that with others and help them on their journey. Its not easy but with the help of others and most importantly with the help of God anything is possible!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone (A little late)! I hope everyone had an amazingly awesome Christmas! I had Mason this year which I really can not begin to tell you how happy that made me! Last Christmas I spent the majority of the day crying because my baby was not with me. This year could not have been more different! First of all we had a WHTIE Christmas!!



Now if you know me at all you know that I absolutely LOVE snow! So this made my whole day!! Me and Mason went out and played a little in the snow! He would try to throw a snowball at me and then start crying bc his hand was so cold! haha



If he would have just looked at the camera and smiled this could have turned out really cute!

We had to wait until Shaun and Andrea and their kids came over before we could open presents so we passed the time by decorating a gingerbread house and being goofy.



Me and a friend made headbands for our Holiday office party but never did wear them!


It was so pretty outside with all the white and my little man looks like such a big boy here! I cant believe he is about to be 3 years old! Crazy!!

Finally everyone came over and it was game on!



I hope everyone has enjoyed the Holidays so far!

Who....Me?

WOW! Have I been slacking or what!? Its been a crazy couple weeks and I have been in a horrible funk! I decided to SNAP out of it and finally post something! Christmas is almost here and I could not be more excited!!! The other weekend I had two Christmas parties to go to. The first was a good friend of mine, Shauna's, party.

Katie went with me and we had a really good time! There was an intense game of Pictionary and my team lost at the last second! Boy do I hate to lose!
Well the next night my church, Watermark, had a Christmas party for the singles. It was Texas Country theme and a lot of fun!


My good friends Stacie and Shauna came with me! There was a lot of two stepping and country music!


Im not a big country girl so while I had a lot of fun its definitely not something I would want to participate in every weekend! All in all it was a fantastic weekend!
A couple days later me and some of my girl friends took a carriage ride through Highland Park to see all the Christmas lights! Have I mentioned that I LOVE this time of year!!


It was such a great night with great friends!!

Well Tomorrow is Christmas eve and I am doing something I have never done before! At the 2pm service at Watermark I am participating in the Cardboard Testimonies! I am so excited for this and its the first step to put myself out there! Stay tuned later this week and I will tell you what my cardboard said and WHY its so important for me to do this!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Too cute!

Andrea took this picture this morning at daycare and I could not be more in love with it!

This picture captures both Mason and Zacks personality prefectely!!! Zack is the one who is always like "look at me" and Mason is the one who is always goofing off in one way or another! They are going to be such TROUBLE when they get older!!! Im so happy Mason has somebody to be like a brother to him!

Hot Springs, AR

Sorry I havent posted in forever, finals are this weeks so its been pretty hectic! Last weekend me and 3 girl friends of mine went to Hot Springs, AR for a fun girls weekend! I had so much fun and it was so relaxing, just what I needed!! We left Friday morning around 6 am! At least one person stayed awake at all times to keep me company while I was driving so that was nice!

Alex was sleeping when we took this picture! She slept for most of the drive both ways haha

Before we went to the condo we decided to do some horse back riding!! IN 30 DEGREE WEATHER! Yes we were a little frozen, or a lot, but I loved it!


Our guide was a 40 year old man whose twang was so bad that we couldnt understand half of what he said. Which was difficult considering he talked the ENTIRE time! All about himself!! He has a 20 year old daughter and a 16 year old son. And a girlfriend who is 18 and has a 5 month old baby...but dont worry because her having a baby didnt scare him off at all! Haha. Then we found out about his ex wife stealing some of his horses and yada yada yada. So his whole head is shaved...except for a Horizontal line on the bottom by his neck! So strange! So it was definitely an interesting ride but still so fun!! My horse kept trying to bite Shaunas horses butt! And her horse kicked mine!!! Then mine started freaking out so I therefore starting freaking out! The last thing I wanted was to get bucked!! And the guide just says oh wow I have never seen Shaunas horse kick yours before and laughs! And then he proceeds on!!! Meanwhile my horse is giving me and every other horse the evil eye! Super scary!!

So we spent that night in downtown hotsprings! They have a winery we visited and then we just shopped around all the shops. Everything was decorated for Christmas and I loved it!

One store had some wigs and we just couldnt resist!

The next morning we went to the "Buckstaff Bathouse" for our day at the spa....

Here is the place at night all lit up!

You are not allowed to take pictures there but I had to sneak one in...

They wrap you in a toga and you are completely naked underneath! The first thing they do is take you to a bathtub, they are all lined up but with little walls/curtains, covering each one. They tell you to drop the toga and get in...then they start to scrub your legs and arms and back! So immediately your stark naked getting scrubbed in a tub!!! AWKWARD!!! So after you sit in there for a while they put the toga back on you and bring you to the sitz bath. Its a little bath were your legs hang over. Kinda different but whatever. Then you get into this steam thing that is like an oven but your head sticks out. On Casper the fat ghost sits in it and comes out super skinny which is all I could think about when I was in it! haha. Then you lay on a table and get hot towels wrapped around you. After about ten minutes of that you go into a needle shower...which mine was like 500 degree water shooting out at me! That lasted all of five seconds before I said No More! Then you go and get a 20 minute massage! My massage lady was super nice but was a little too into my butt! She kept going back to massaging it and would not leave it alone!! So all in all it was an experience I wont forget! And all for only $55!!!!!!!

After that we just shopped some more and then hung out at the condo playing games and watching Fa La La La Lifetime! My favorite!! We didnt get any more pics of that night unfortunately! The next morning we headed back home around 10.

Adios Condo!!

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for Breakfast which was the first time I have ever eaten there! Sooo yummy! Definitely going back!
I had such a good weekend with some amazing girls and I cant wait to do something like this again!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.....

Over the weekend I took Mason to see Santa Claus at the Willow Bend Mall! I looooove Christmas time! I am a Christmas Movie Fanatic and will make a point to watch E.V.E.R.Y single Christmas movie on Tv! The Santas they have at the malls on Tv all have those fake beards and thats fully what I expected to see! Instead I got this.....


I was so pleased with this Santa! He was super nice and great with Mason! Mason was so excited to see him until it was his turn to sit on the jolly fellows lap! Then he got really nervous and started rubbing his eyes pretending he was tired and sticking his hand in his mouth. He has NEVER done this before! I found it so cute that he was so nervous! The theme at this mall is Polar Express and at the end Mason got his very own ticket to the Polar Express! He loves this ticket and it "choo choo"s everywhere with him! Here are a few pics of us while we were waiting for Santa...


Cheeeeese!


Mason isnt looking at the camera in this picture because there was sooo much to see inside this little globe we were in!
It started "snowing" when we were in the globe and for the rest of the day im sure i looked like i had dandruff! And one last picture....


Isnt he cute?!?!?!?

Well right now as im typing this my good friend Melanie is in labor! She went in this morning at 7:30am to get induced! Her due date was Turkey day so she is definitely ready! Looking forward to see pictures of Jacoby!!