I know Thanksgiving was one week ago, but I still haven't updated so here it goes...
We had a great Thanksgiving in Austin with all of my immediate family--we are up to 15 and soon we will be 17!! The kids will soon outnumber the adults, which is a scary thing. Anyway, Anthony and I drove down to Austin last Wednesday and were there until Saturday. We ate lots of great food (my sister Kim did a great job) and enjoyed spending time together. Its always fun to hear what everyone is thankful for and I love that the kids are getting old enough to be able to participate. We all have so much to be thankful for, and God has blessed us in so many wonderful ways. A few things I am thankful for this year:

• My husband--We got engaged right around Thanksgiving (its actually 4 years ago TODAY) so I always like to reflect on our relationship and see how we've changed/grown. I love him more today than ever before and I love our marriage. I never knew being married would be this fun or fulfilling. I am thankful for him for so many reasons, but in particular this year I'm thankful that he finished law school, passed the BAR, and has a job that is going really well so far. He worked very hard the last 3 years to earn such an accomplishment.
• MY FAMILY--I am blessed with two wonderful families and am so thankful to be close to both. I miss Chicago everyday, but I am thankful to live closer to our families because we get to see them more often.
• MY JOB--I have learned a lot during the 2 months I've been working with the kids in the after-school program. I love going there everyday and being around these kids. Being around them everyday warms my heart and has opened my eyes to what really is important in life. As Christians, we are called to love the poor, and I pray that I am able to show them love every time I'm around them.

Alright, back to my update...The girls went shopping early Friday morning (this has been a tradition in my family since I can remember) and some of the guys played golf, despite the cold and feeling under the weather (this is a new tradition and so far its been freezing cold every time). On Friday night, we celebrated mine and Suzy's (my sister-in-law) birthdays and Barrett & Shaelyn performed for us. I think my nephew, Barrett, might be a rock star one day...he does a pretty good air guitar. Saturday was by 26th birthday but it wasn't much of a birthday. I woke up around 3:00 am sick to my stomach and was up every hour "hugging the toilet". Anthony was also sick and up some of the night. We just layed around my sister's house that morning until Anthony felt well enough to drive us back to Dallas. We left around 1:00pm and got home around 5:30. It took a lot longer than usual due to all the post-holiday travel. We got home and I went straight to bed and slept pretty much until the next morning. I did get up for a few hours around 10:00 and watched a few tv shows I needed to catch up on then went right back to sleep. Anthony was asleep most of the evening/night as well.

Since I was feeling so bad on my birthday, Anthony wanted to wait to give me my present until I was feeling better. We went out for a late breakfast on Sunday and he gave me my gift...a trip to CHICAGO!!! He's planned the whole thing and we go in 2 weeks. I was so surprised and am very excited. We have both really been missing "home" lately and I love this time of year there, so its coming at a perfect time. He got tickets to Wicked (this will be our 3rd time but its our favorite), Second City, and Handel's Messiah (we've done this every Christmas we've been married). We'll have time to see friends, eat at our favorite places, shop, go to a museum or two, spend time in our old neighborhood, Hyde Park, and perhaps even visit campus. What a wonderful birthday gift and what a thoughtful hubby I have!!

I will post pictures from the holiday soon and will also post some of my recent "projects". I finally got them uploaded to the computer.