2013--and 15 National Championships!

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm going to try and do better at my blogging this year (yeah, right!)--but I will give it a try!!! New Year's Resolutions???? Hmmmm, some things I'm NOT doing again are Project 365! I LOVE it, but it's just too darn hard. I made it up to our trip to Italy, but I kept running out of ink to print, (I like to print the  daily pix and put in a "365" album) ,so I just gave up. And I HATE giving up!!!!! So, I'm not going to add the stress of making pictures every day again! HAHA! Don't worry (as if you ARE!), I WILL be making lots of pictures, again, in 2013!!!!!!! Especially with a new baby coming in March! One thing I AM doing  this year, and it is different,   is monthly blogging using prompts. I belong to so many craft/scrapbooking blogs and this one had an idea that sounded terrific!  It's called "52 Questions" --a journaling prompt for a year's worth of documenting. They even offered the downloads--! All you need is the download/a jar and a journal. You print out the 52 questions and cut them in strips (at least this is the way I did it). Then, each, week, pull out one and answer the question and journal about it. It's not as hard as journaling every single day and that makes it do-able. I'm ALL about journaling, always have been. Even in my prior Bible Study groups that I have led in the past, I begged everyone to journal. (Once , I even made journals for everyone!)!! Anyway, if you want to know more, ask me and I'll tell you all about it.It's a really cool way to journal and get your thoughts down. While I LOVED doing the "Project 365", this is more my speed b/c I find it so fulfilling to write out my thoughts without the stress of trying to remember to make a pix every day..... I am so thankful that I kept a diary when I was pregnant with Patrick and Katie. Actually, I read aloud some of Katie's pregnancy journal to her when I was in Madison (BTW, the pix below are when I was in Madison last week helping her finish the nursery!)!. we both cried a little when I read it aloud b/c she is right there now, where I was, and hearing how I felt , at the same point she's at now, made her smile and cry at the same time. I am so thankful that I "wrote it all down", at the time, it's such a great thing to do, but like everything else, you must stick with it. I'm glad I did back then. And hope to do the same again this year. 52 blogs to leave behind for the kidlets (IF they even want them! LOL!)! Anyway, that and trying to keep up my blog, are the only resolutions so far. Fingers/toes crossed! LOL! *BTW, I am posting a couple of pix of the "52 questions" I am doing if you want to see ....

 NOW, Let's see, first of all, BEST NEWS EVER: the UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA now has FIFTEEN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS! WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!! Alabama beat the leprechaun pants off of Notre Dame, folks!!!!!!!!!! It was AWESOME! (And how  I loved it for a few Notre Dame fans that kept running their mouths! HA!Notre Dame fans aka AU fans!)! N/D was humiliated! Kind of like AU was during the IRON BOWL !BAHAHAHA* (to the nice/sweet AU fans, like Jon/Kadie--I love yall)! To those other AU who annoy the heck out of me with your negativity--enjoy the fact that our team is not going anywhere for a long time and that we have BACK TO BACK Championships. Something that's never been done before! ROLL TIDE! (don't be haters! HAHA)!!!

2013 promises to be a great year and I'm looking forward to it!!!!!! Our family continues to grow and we are so very thankful. Terry is still involved with IsaiahSixEight and just returned 2 days ago from Jamaica. As most of you know, he goes about every 4 months (sometimes sooner). ONE OF THESE DAYS I might even go, too! HAHA! But, as I've told people, that isn't MY calling, it's his. My calling is still more of ministry with women. I tried the BLOG BIBLE STUDY but that didn't quite work either b/c I couldn't get feedback and I felt like I was doing ALLLL the talking! So, I'm trying to re-work some things in that venue--not sure how but thinking about it. Any ideas would be great!

I started off the New Year with the FLU--UGH! It was brutal but glad it's over and I am glad to say, I got it and survived! HAHA! Now if I would just stop eating after not having an appetite for a week.....! Got to get back to walking again, but this weather is driving me crazy (rain/rain/rain)--not an excuse but just enough to keep me inside!

I am "borrowing" Katie's Cricut "Imagine"--if you don't know that is, it is the most amazing craft machine that prints beautiful embellishments and then cuts them to perfection! Perfect for scrapbooking/card making/craft projects. So, I've started off the New Year in my craft room making lots of cards--for myself and to put in my shop on Etsy!

I hope YOUR New Year is fantastic and that you'll come back and visit with me from time to time! Leave me messages and don't be a stranger!! I pray good health and a great year this year for you and yours!
 Now , here's a few pix of us in the NEW YEAR!!!! Haven't gotten any up yet in the New Year of Powell,Blakely or Ryder, since I haven't seen them so far in 2013, but I will soon!!! AND, will have some of Gabriella Kate as well! Nat/Brad went to a b'day party for their friend in Atlanta and the Horn-ets came for a couple of days! So, here's my very first pix of 2013!
 HAPPY 2013 !

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME winner: UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA!

It's official. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!! In an incredible show of POWER and TENACITY and PURE STRENGTH and GUTS, Alabama proved to the country that they are, indeed, the  NUMBER ONE TEAM IN AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Alabama put a smacking on the LSU tigers and didn't even let them score a single point! A SHUT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!! WHO DAT, LSU???
 I, along with half the city, went today and bought my CHAMPIONSHIP SHIRT!!!!!!!! I am proud of our team/proud of our state and mostly proud to be a part of a football program that screams: CLASS!!!!!! ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was thrilled Charles and Michael represented our family in New Orleans and got to see the game together. As little boys, they would always watch Alabama football together and it's only fitting they would watch this amazing game, together. AMAZING STUFF!

RAMMER JAMMER!