Giving Thanks

I'm thankful...

that even with all the change, the Lord's love will never change. I can turn away, and He will welcome me with open arms. His grace is sufficient.

The past 6 months I've been in the trauma/neurosurgery ICU and it's a daily reality check. Do I play more "movies" now regarding the worst of the worst happening? Of course I do, I think it's just the reality of working in the ICU and seeing even worse than you can imagine everyday.

But then I have to remember, the Lord is in control. He works out everything for the good for those that love Him. Sometimes, that means breaking you of everything you hold so dear so you will have to trust Him. And sometimes, just sometimes, I have the courage to pray that prayer--Lord, break me.

"Ruin Me" by Jeff Johnson:

Ruin me, I am unclean
A sinner found in your presence
I see you, seated on Your throne
Exalted, Your glory surrounds You

Now the plans that I have made
Fail to compare
When I see Your glory

Ruin my life, the plans that I've made
Ruin desires for my own selfish gain
Destroy the idols that have taken Your place
'Till it's You ALONE I live for, You alone I live for

Such a hard prayer, but it's the only way. Those of you that know me well know I'm such a planner. I have a plan for my life. However, I know that the Lord's plans are better. A verse in Proverbs says that in his heart a man plans his steps, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails. Praise the Lord.

I do heart TX/OU weekend

It's like a holiday weekeend for me. I took off the Friday before to preparefor the weekend. My stomach gets so nervous and excited, I just can't sleep! I know for months in advance the date...and when people say "oh, I'm doing x on 10/17" lands a response from me "don't you know that's tx/ou weekend"?

This year again was no disappointment. Getting tickets was a little more of a scare than it's been in the past, but my fabulous friend Stephanie has the biggest network of friends you could imagine, and she scored us some tickets for FACE VALUE. The tickets we got could have easily gone for $400/each. Granted, they were in the Sooner section....but, just getting in that game makes me happy :).

Friday night Jessica, Evan, Ryan, and Margaret came into town. We kicked off the weeekend by grilling out at home before heading to Who's Bad?--a Michael Jackson cover band at the House of Blues. Evan is still hoarse from screaming "I love you Michael!". Caleb busted some great dance moves as well. We get home about 1:30 in the morning and....

I'm so giddy I can't sleep! It's TX/OU weekend! I wake up off and on from about 4 till 6. I finally decide at 6:30 I can wake Caleb up. He wants to sleep longer. I wake him up every 5 minutes, singing Texas Fight!, The Eyes of Texas, prancing around with my horns up :). He tells me I'm like a kid at Christmas and finally gets up around 7. We're out the door by 7:30....off to enjoy the fair! Kick off is at 1100!!!

Catch a little of GameDay, catch a little quality time with Stephen and Ali, and get a burger and curly fries before heading into Sooner land. Tickets were great seats, 40 yard line. The fans were actually very respectful of us standing up singing The Eyes and the fight song. We didn't partake in the "OU sucks" chants, but other than that, we cheered on our boys, even though it was a mess of a game. I kept my tradition of drinking sprite, as I was so nervous! Game was over, we scooched to the UT section (the sooners were leaving=losers) to sing The Eyes. Since we won, we enjoyed the fair for a few more hours. Had some friend butter, not my thing but Caleb liked it. Dart was a disaster getting home, but got home, showered, ordered pizza and sat and watched more football with our friends. Fabulous day.

You would think it was over....but oh, no. We sure did watch the entire game AGAIN on Sunday on the DVR. Analyzed the plays. Then, we watched GameDay. It surely was a messy game, but a win is a win....and are those roses I smell?!

This may be my 2nd favorite holiday (after Christmas of course!).

Hook 'Em.

Fall, oh how I love thee

The fire is a blazing in the fireplace, Texas football is about to kick off, and Mr. Gatti's delivery man should be here any minute. Not to mention a 17 mile run this morning with perfect running weather (50s), market in the meadow (the neighborhood shopping expo), Caleb mowed the grass and is now shampooing the carpet, and the anticipation of OU weekend in just 5 short days. LOVE it.

Now off to watch my boys.....hook 'em :).

Summer of '09 in pics

I can't change the formatting and the pics posted in backwards order...so, here we go :)Caleb loved having fans come support him for 'Texas 2 finger' ultimate tournament in the heat of August....I haven't uploaded the 'action" shots yet, but Caleb played great!
Anniversary dinner at the Driskill! Chocolate treats and champagne, complimentary (as well as our room, room service, and club level lounge) of the Stephen F. Austin. Caleb surprised me and took us to our wedding night hotel for our 5 year anniversary. Long story short, he booked room #911 (our honeymoon room) and they gave it away, so they threw in all the above free! Fabulous weekend!
The Cavalier attempted to die ON our anniversary, but no sir-ee, it just needed a new battery. It's alive and kickin'!
Caleb completed his first triathalon with some friends from work. He had no training, had never swim a lap in his life, and did great. I sure hope our kids get HIS athleticism :).

(I JUST ACCIDENTALLY DELETED OUR PORT A PICS! WILL ADD LATER....but, just to keep the chronicle going, the whole Ratliff clan went to Port A to celebrate Mamie and Grandaddy's 60th anniversary. We had a great time!).
4th of July party at the Wood casa. I'd always wanted to "make one of 'dem cakes with the flag". After washing and cutting all the fruit, Caleb beat me to assembling to flag.
Finished patio!! Ready for our party!
Caleb is good--always gets me an ice cream cake for my birthday, just like when I was little.
Harrison turned 3 in June! He's getting so big, so fast! Love this little one :).
Patio is finished! Amigos and sno cones to celebrate! Thanks, Edil for all your hard work on our ENTIRE house!!
My first trip to the city dump to drop off concrete/bricks from the old patio. It was sooo stinky!

Caleb at work at the dump!

*We leave Friday for our 10 day road trip on the west coast! Seattle to San Francisco.....can't wait!

5 YEARS!

July 31, 2004--in so many ways I can't believe it's been 5 years, but in others, I really can't remember life before marriage.

From life at 1226 Baylor Ave in Waco to Uptown livin' in Dallas, to the last year establishing our home both working "real" jobs, I've had a blast. I remember at one of my wedding showers my bridesmaids made a video asking Caleb questions. One of the questions was "what are you most looking forward to about marriage?" and Caleb responded something to the effect of "we don't have to say goodbye at the end of the night and we just get to have fun together". Reflecting back, that is so true. I would definitely use the term "fun" to describe the past 5 years. Sure, we've had our struggles. We've learned a LOT about each other. We've learned compromise and sacrifice (during the first year I could not go to sleep if something was "out of place"; Caleb now wonders when Rosa is coming next because it gets to the point where he can't stand the mess!). But most of all, we've had so much fun. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man. 5 years is just the beginning...

Summer of '09

What we're up to....

Julie:
-training for marathon #2=running workouts 5-6 days/week--lately been braving the treadmill as this Texas heat has become unbearable!
-looking forward to vacation Aug 14-23! we're finally doing our roadtrip from seattle to san fran!
-now on the "critical care" rotation at work= lots of intubated/sedated patients that don't need speech tx :). it's kinda slow, but it's nice for the summer!
-loves morning coffee on the new patio under the fan!
-is reading the "One Year Bible" starting from my bday this year (6/23) to next year


Caleb:
-had try outs and made Grit--the "A" ultimate club team=Tuesday night practice, Saturday practice, weekend tournaments every 2-3 weekends
-just completed a triathalon with NO training; is now into swimming at the gym
-doing more employment litigation at work--he doesn't love it, but the hours are pretty decent
-is still driving the Cavalier, although Julie is second guessing this car after all the car crash kiddos she's seen at work lately :(. On a side note, the Honda got hail damage last week and the Cavvy baby...of course, was under the garage at C's work!


We:
-just got back from a fabulous weekend getaway with the entire Ratliff gang at Port A to celebrate Mamie and Grandaddy's 60th wedding anniversary!
-are embarking on the big 5 year mark, July 31st--I'll try to devote an entire post to that one :)
-are loving life this summer. The Lord gives and takes away, and we're cherishing this time of "giving"....friends, family, house, low stress, great marriage, ahh.....

Picture post next!

Memorial Day....

So, I made a post earlier today regarding today as a day to sit by the pool, relax, and enjoy a backyard bbq. I just spent some time reading online about Memorial Day and now feel somewhat ashamed...Memorial Day is a day to reflect on those that lost their lives fighting for our country. I always think of "veterans" and "war heroes" as old men, but it's not that way anymore. These men have left behind wives. babies. siblings. parents. Check out this link:

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0604/temple.html

So although it's fun to be all "American" and go to the lake, hang out by the pool, and have a bbq, I encourage you all to reflect and be grateful for our troops, and those that have lost their lives.

On a quick note, I think Edil and Carlos enjoyed our "American" evening of a backyard bbq--and now they're hooked on washers :).