Happy New Year!!!

Its my hope to do a few things early in the new year of 2007 (which begins tomorrow). They include:
1) updating my blog with pics from my vacation
2) updating about the holiday season (which was great)
3) get my finances in order (almost finished with this one and its still 2006!)
4) get a workable schedule for myself which includes time for checkbook stuff and working out

In the meantime, I'll leave you with one pic (above) of me and my parents as we dressed up the night before my departure from Phoenix and went to a nearby swanky hotel to have drinks and then out for a nice dinner. What a fun time, and what a great way to end my visit with them.

I hope that your New Year's celebration is one of joy and peace and entertainment... and I hope you make good choices tonight and on into the new year. I hope I do, too. May your new year be one of anticipation and change - but good change and I hope that I am better able to stay connected with all of you faithful blog readers in the new year.

In the meantime - may God be with us all.

Love, Tiffani

Pics to go with vacation update post

Here is a pic of all the kids in the nativity play (omitted are the three older kids - two who helped with music, one who narrated). My friends kids were Mary, Joseph and an Angel of the Lord. It was pretty cute.

The entry/foyer as you come in the door. My parents had that beautiful "medallion" put in the center.
Looking from the foyer into the great room - the floor is gorgeous and the paint color is called "Creamy Custard" in that room. In the other rooms they used "Butterscotch Sundae."
Here are two of the sylights in the great room. They make is so much brighter that for most of the day we don't use any lights at all in the two rooms! Before you always had to have a light on, even at the brightest part of the day, because of the location of the windows.
Past the entry as you move into the office, there is a small console table to the left (shown here). Above it is a picture that I took a couple years ago and framed for my dad for Christmas. How fun to have it displayed!!

On Vacation!

Hi friends!

Sorry for the delay in my updates! Last week I had a final exam on Monday (and a final paper due the same day) - and so I should have been able to update on Wed... except that I was at my friends' house in San Antonio...... and they have... (wait for it).... dial-up. So now I'm at my parent's house in Phx and they have really fast cable-internet.

Over the last couple weeks, I attended a number of Christmas parties. I sang Karaoke, at a LOT of dessert and chips with dip, discovered Raspberry Ginger Ale (good!) and finished making Christmas presents for my family. I will post pictures of the presents soon... but my mom is sitting here with me and so she might see them if I wasn't careful.

Yesterday was a particular treat... but first, let me tell you something amazing!

I heard that D-Rob (from Greenville) was going to be in Phx visiting Lee Thompson and Erin O'Hara. I was also going to try and get to visit Lee and Erin while I was in town, but it turned out that the day I was arriving (the 19th) was the same day Derek was leaving. We joked about me changing my flight... but it was going to cost $86 to buy a new flight (and then I'd just have one leg of a flight used later to be credited to me). It was too expensive for me to do it. But when I joked about it with my parents they said, "we'll buy it." - so I decided to look into moving my flight up 3 days. When I went to the Southwest Airlines website, I decided to see what it would cost to change my current itinerary - just in case it ended up being less than $87....

What I found was really neat. I only wanted to change one leg of the trip, so I picked the new day, found the flight I was interested in (still listed at $86) and pressed "next" to see the new price..... and they said they owed ME $23.

Yep. Apparently with Southwest you can change your itinerary and they (first of all) don't charge you a fee and (second of all) if the new flight is cheaper than the flight you originally purchased... they give you the extra $$ (from your original flight) as a credit toward a future flight. Now, friends, I changed this flight less than 2 weeks prior to the date I wanted to fly... and STILL they didn't charge me a fee!!!

Fly Southwest Airlines. I called the company on the phone to make sure that I was really understanding it correctly. The woman was the nicest (and that is typical of my experience with her) and wished me a merry Christmas and hoped I enjoyed the extra time with my family. Seriously... fly Southwest! Lets reward them for how great they are!

OK, So... back to the story. Yesterday I got to have lunch with Lee, Derek and Erin! Lee took a long lunch and we met out by his office. It was great to hang out with those three who I enjoyed so much as undergrads (though Erin still is). We went to Applebee's and had a fun time getting caught up and laughing with each other.

Other news: WOW. My parents did some (secret) remodeling! It was a surprise for me (and will be also, for my grandparents this weekend) when I got in on Saturday night. They got the popcorn off the ceiling, added 5 skylights (three in the great room, two in the office), put hardwood floor in the three bedrooms, painted their bedroom and all the main rooms, and put beautiful tile throughout the rest of the house. Its amazing! I'm putting up pictures so you can see them. :) The only problem is that I didn't bring any slippers and the floors are kind of cold. But its beautiful - the colors are so warm and southwestern. Its really neat.

Since arriving home it hasn't been all photos and lunches... I helped my folks put up all the outside lights (and there are a lot) and tonight we hope to decorate the tree and put up stockings. I also attended a really fantastic concert with my parents; the Phoenix Bach Choir put on a holiday concert (conveniently located at my parent's church on night) and it was excellent! And Wed night my dad and I are attending a concert of Baroque music, which he performed last winter, but instead this year he performed the Messiah. My grandparents arrive on Saturday and leave next Tuesday morning - its nice because they haven't been able to stay that long in a number of years. I'm looking forward to a couple mornings of the whole family sitting around and doing crossword puzzles. The house remodel is doubly good because it means that there is a bed for me to sleep in once my grandparents come and I get evicted from the guest suite - usually I end up on the couch, so this is better. :)

While I was at the Fergason's I helped the homeschool co-op put on a nativity play. It was really cute and I may try to upload part of it to the blog so you can see how cute they are!

I had a great time there, watching Christmas movies, playing with kids, enjoying the new baby and talking and praying with Karen.

More updates to come in the upcoming days. Keep your eyes poste to this site!

Love and Merry Christmas!
Tiffani

Christmas Decorating

Here is a couple pics of the nativity collage I put together for Christmas this year. You'll have to check my facebook site for pics of us decorating the house. We have our tree up and its beautiful! Also, we have up a variety of nativity scenes and Sarah made an advent wreath when she was at church on Sunday, so we are VERY pleased to have that s part of our holiday decor. Also, I have included some pics from the Christmas party mentioned below.

Ashley, Dana, Kristen and Mel
Carol Singing (see the video posted earlier today)
Katie and I - she is my "test buddy" - I like to sit by her when we have tests or quizzes... thankfully, she seems to like sitting by me, too - I think because I don't complain when the barrage of little pencil leads fly my way.

Merry Christmas, friends!

And Joy and Peace.

Wednesday Update: Summer travels, holiday travels and more!

I have so much to share with you, dear friends!

Tonight, I'm watching Miracle on 34th Street as I type this update(I just finished "You've Got Mail"), and work on my final paper for the semester. Its the original version, but with technicolor, so its really the best it could be.

First of all, its Advent and I'm so glad. Just under a year ago a dear friend of mine gave me a book that she had read during advent for a number of years. It's called, "Jesus, Be in My Christmas" (by Sarah Hornsby) and has morning and evening readings for each day of Advent. Last year, I wrote about the book a number of times (you can check it out at: http://tiffslifeingreenville.blogspot.com). I've been looking forward to reading it since before Thanksgiving... I kept reviewing the calendar to make sure I didn't miss the beginning of Advent, because I wanted to start right at the beginning. Its been blessing me ever since the first Sunday of Advent last week. One notable quote from Monday was, "If I listen, God speaks daily to me, making the most ordinary circumstances profoundly holy."

I'm getting more and more excited about traveling home for Christmas. When I initially planned to attend graduate school, my parents and I discussed that I would probably not be able to afford to travel home for the holidays. I was OK with that thought and planned to work here in Waco as late as possible and then head to the Fergason's for Christmas week. Well, a few different circumstances came up and so I decided to go home for the holiday, but I also get to spend about a week in San Antonio. I'm thrilled to spend some study-free time with the kids and Karen and John, as well as Karen's parents. I'm looking forward to playing with the kids and baby Drex, and I'm really looking forward to praying with Karen and spending some quality time with her.

One weird quirky thing is that the closer I get to visiting my parents, the more often I talk to my mom. We just really like each other, and so we often talk for a few minutes a couple times a day. As my visit gets closer, I end up calling her more and more often, until the last few days I'm speaking with her every day. It makes no sense, really, but I just get SO EXCITED! This year my grandparents will be in town for 3 days, it seems, which is the longest I've been able to spend with them in a number of years, and my dad and I are going to attend a Baroque concert together (last year I heard my dad sing in the same concert, which I attended with my mom). I'm excited not only for those things, but also to sleep in, go to movies or on long walks, and to read books of my choosing - HURRAY for winter break. OH.. and a little special treat for me... like a wrapped present... I get to see Erin O'Hara while we're both home over break - hurrah!

I'll be back in Waco before the New Year begins. Sorority recruitment begins on January 1st or 2nd (spirit days) and it was cheaper to get back before the 31st than try to fly back on the 1st and drive up from San Antonio.

Sarah leaves this Saturday (I'm driving her to Dallas in the AM) and she returns on the 30th as well. I think she is even more excited than I am to see her family!

I don't know if I've mentioned it yet or not, but not only do I get to travel home for Christmas, but I also get to travel to AFRICA this summer. I'll be leading a general interest ministry team May 13-28th. We are going to be working a few different churches in Nairobi, Kenya - working in Kibera slum, which is the largest slum in Africa, and spending a lot of time with children. I'm praying for the Lord's provision as I begin this week to interview team members and prepare mentally for this experience. I'm so thankful for the Lord providing this opportunity!!

More randomness.... Well, I'm almost finished with my first semester as a graduate student. I have loved it so far. I am enjoying the academics, the social aspect and am loving working with Alpha Delta Pi (as an advisor) and the chaplains of Greek organizations. I can't believe it's 20% down already. It's gone so fast.

In the meantime, I'm very thankful for the Lord's provision of favor to me in this community. I'm blessed that I've been well-recieved and have had great opportunity to influence students, even though I haven't been here long.

I'm hoping the Lord will help me to be more diligent in spiritual matters as I move into the spring semester, that I will be refreshed and encouraged, and in being so, will be able to encourage and refresh others.

Blessings to you,friend, this first week of Advent.

CHristmas Party at Dub's House

Hi friends,

Last night a group of the graduate students in my program, Student Services Administration, were invited to the Vice-President of Student Life's house for dinner and fellowship. We had a GREAT time. There was fantastic food, good friends and even caroling.

Dub, who is a great host, at one point encouraged my friend Candice's husband, Collin, and another friend of ours, Brittany, to showcase their piano skills... they went, somewhat willingly, I suppose.... but then Missy Davis saved the day by stepping in and playing for us. We were handed out Caroler's sheets with song lyrics on them that were for the "jolliment and merrification" of all involved.

You can't get much more fun than that. Check out the video in the other post and enjoy.

Blessings for fellowship and fun this season!

Cohort Christmas Party

December 6th Christmas Party at Dub's House