Our Christmas in Review!

We had a wonderful Christmas break and I thought I would share some of our highlights.

When we returned from Iowa, we traveled with our Hope Group to Caldwell to cut down our Christmas Tree. We have never cut our own, so we were really excited!


It took awhile, but we finally found the perfect one and proceeded to cut it down. Dakota and Kye drug it up the road and a nice man attached it to our roof.


We have decided to make this a new yearly tradition in the Stephens' household! The tree lasted a lot longer and the experience was so neat! Thank you Fernando and Cathe for inviting us along!!!

Let the Decorating Begin!!!

Kru hanging his yearly ornament..

And Kye his...

And Dakota toppin' the tree!

Start the Baking!!!

Darrin even helped this year!

Kru was WAY into Christmas this year and that included making cookies! He also loves sprinkles and his cookies were over the top with sprinkles. Yum??!!

Do you see all of the "stuff" on the table!?!

Kye's portrayal of Joseph

To see and hear his performance look at the post below.

Christmas Eve!!!

Christmas Morning - VERY Early!!!

A few of our favorite gifts!

Kari - pearl necklace!

Kye - jungle playset

Dakota - PSP Madden '08

Kru - his Tonka truck from PaPaDarrin - Bone book - it's a comic book thing - no picture!

Christmas in Hot Springs with Pappy & Granma

We enjoyed the chillier temperatures up in Arkansas. The boys had fun playing in the backyard with Stephen.


We also had a blast playing Guitar Hero III while we were there. In fact, our forearms were sore and so were my fingers.

It is probably a good thing that we don't have this at our house!!! It is very addictive! And fun! I don't think that I closed my mouth the whole time! Go Kari!!!! My favorite, ZZ Top's, LaGrange, Darrin's, Poison's, Nothing But A Good Time.

We ROCK!!!! (well, Darrin more than me, but I rock too!!!)

Praisin' in the New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

I just have to tell you at 1:00 in the am on January 1, 2008,
I LOVE MY CHURCH!!!!!
Tonight was so great!

This year things were so different in so many ways, that I had to share.

No T.V., no watching the "ball" drop in New York City, no listening to bands that I don't even know of, no watching people who I don't even know kiss in Times Square, no fire crackers, no counting....

Instead. . . . .

Worshipping in the New Year!

I can't think of a better way to begin a year!

We played games, laughed, had fun, but around 11:50, we gathered in a big circle and praised and prayed in 2008.

I love the Body of Christ and the Church Body that He has graciously led me to here in College Station. I am thankful and blessed to have them this year and the year to come.

I thank Jesus the He has allowed me to become a part of Living Hope and meet so many wonderful believers.

May your 2008 be full of praising and thanking God and receiving His many blessings this new year!

Grackles are Evil Birds!!!

Do you know what a Grackle is?

I didn't until I moved to College Station, Texas.

We have these psycho birds here from,
oh I don't really know...
September through February. I guess.
I think they are here year round!!!

Here is a close up of one, but I HAVE to share these pictures with
you that I took tonight. They freak me out!!!

Seriously, I feel like I am in the movie Birds.

The wires are that black because they are FULL of nasty birds!

They are EVERYWHERE!!!!

They seriously give me the heebie jeebies!!!!!

These are a part of the Rock Prairie Clan, there are others in town!

They aren't afraid of much and don't hardly move!!

AAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

There are THOUSANDS of them!!!!
Somebody help me, I can hardly go to
Kroger cuz I'm afraid of them!!!!!

I should be adding pictures of Kye from his program, but we rented a movie tonight from Blockbuster and I just happened to have my camera in my purse. I have wanted to post about these evil, psycho birds for over a year now, just never got around to it, but here you have it!!!

The pictures really do NOT give it justice and then you add all the noise they make and it makes my skin crawl! Really, it does!

They will be all over the van when I come out of Kroger and they just look at you and they won't move! It is so eery!!!!! Sorry for so many pictures, but I was trying to make a point!

Did I???? :)

Kye's Christmas Performance!!!

Today, Kye performed in his Christmas play. He portrayed Joseph! He is the one in the blue headdress. It's kinda long, but well worth the jiggling motion to get to "Silent Night" & "Oh Come All Ye Faithful!" I promise!!! Check it out!!! He was fabulous!!!!

What is Wrong with This Picture???

Does this look normal to you?!?I AM AN IDIOT!!!!!

This is proof that Kari has lost her mind and ability to think logically! And that I'm too sidetracked with my mind going in a million different directions!!!!

YES, this morning I drove the van into the garage door!!!!

The van is fine with a little white streak here or there on the back. Seriously! What is wrong with me!!! I guess I know what I'm getting for Christmas! :(

I had to blog about it cause I'm so mad at myself!
The ironic thing about the whole situation is this:
Not even 4 days ago, Darrin had told me that he had almost
done the same thing! I laughed at him and told
him how stupid that would have been!

I'm obviously needing a lesson in humility!
O.K. Lord, I get it!!!!!
Why must I learn the hard way!?!
Beth Moore calls that learning on a field trip rather than in the classroom!

Can I claim that for over a year we didn't have a garage and that I'm not
used to one? Or that I was worried about the dog getting out and
running away, and that is why I was hurrying out of the garage???

Oh well, the lady will come out tomorrow and give me an estimate and
we'll see what the damage will be!!!

Can It Really Be December??!!

I must admit that this may sound a bit like complaining. I don't intend for it to be, but I would like to ponder a few things before updating the blog.

It is NOT normal for it to be 80+ degrees in December. It is so bizarre! It is not right!!! I sit in my air conditioned house longing to wear my sweaters and feel a chill in my bones! It can even seem a little overcast outside, so I open the door, because it must be a tad bit chilly!!! Oh but wait, it's overcast because of the humidity and it isn't chilly at all, but muggy, hot and gross!!!!

It IS December and I'm tired of wearing flipflops and t-shirts. We are still going to the park in shorts! So weird!!! I look forward to cleaning out the closet of summer clothes to fill it again with my cold clothes! Forgetting this from last year and still a new resident of Texas, I sigh deeply! Speaking to friends and family via telephone does not help, as it is snowing there!

Recently, I heard a song on the Houston Christian radio station called, There's no snow in Houston...or something like that. It goes on to say that we will be in flip flops on the beach this Christmas. So for those of you who are reading this somewhere cold, please soak some in for me! I miss the seasons so much, but I must admit that come February, I do like the nice days here!

Anyhoo!!!!!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving!!!! It was wonderful seeing family that we hadn't seen in 1-2 years!


Like always, we had an adventurous trip. We hit Kansas City right at rush hour on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We actually got through fairly quickly and were just north of the city on the Missouri side. Darrin was driving in the left lane of 4 lanes of traffic, going about 70mph, when the front driver side tire blew! Darrin reacted quickly and amazingly got us over on the side of the road. It was a bit nerve racking due to the heavy traffic that seemed to not slow down a bit. We were planning on driving straight through, but our plans changed need less to say!

You can't really tell, but that is the road where we had to pull off in rush hour! Yikes!

New tire bought, we hit the road the next morning early and ended up catching up with Dad.
I prayed for snow and God did answer my prayer. It began just on the other side of the Missouri/Iowa line and continued to outside of Des Moines. The ground temp was so warm that it really didn't stick, but that was good too. It would have been scarier driving had it stuck! Kru asked me, "What's that?" Oh my Texas baby!!! It was cold there, so we relished wearing our heavy winter coats and gloves and hats!

Playing cards, catching up, reminiscing, watching football, eating and playing some more cards filled our time in Iowa! We ended up staying an extra day to spend more time with our fam. We headed for home on Sunday, hoping to make it the entire 17 hours! Stopping for lunch in Missouri and changing drivers, we continued on our way. About 30 miles north of the tire episode 5 days earlier, I noticed a strange sound. We had a flat rear tire! Again, Darrin changed the tire and we attempted to find an exit with some store to help us!

Wal-Mart was the only option on a Sunday afternoon, and after 3 1/2 hours we were on the road again! Purchasing 3 tires in a matter of 5 days was definitely not part of our Thanksgiving plan, but we were very thankful that it was only tires which can be easily replaced and nothing more serious! The delay changed our plans again and we ended up staying in Norman Oklahoma. Kye and Kru ended up throwing up all night! Fun! So it probably was best we were in a hotel and not the car! Yuk!

You may be thinking what a nightmare, but I have to tell you I would do it again tomorrow!

I love my Iowa family and the time we spent with them is priceless!!! I love that nothing changes even after 2 years! That I can be myself and not try to be someone or something else! I love that we joke and tease each other endlessly! I love how much we laugh when we are together! And that snorting and crying are a part of that! I love that my granpa calls me "his girl!" I love him so much!!!!! I love that granma's house is ALWAYS open! That there are cookies in the cookie jar and Pepsi in the garage! I love that my Iowa family and my granma and granpa's house are the ONLY constants in my 35 years of life! I love that my aunts and uncles play with my boys like they see them everyday! I love that the circle of life can be seen generation after generation in my granma's living room and basement! I love that there is ALWAYS coffee! I love that my past is captured in pictures, puzzles, decorations, and talk there! I love that there are no expectations but genuine love there! I love that this family who has been through so much is still together! I love you all!!!

Almost the whole gang!!!

Kru catching up with Papa!

Kye plays with Papa's dog, Rex!

Until next time....

Kye's Musings!

I want to update with pictures and of our adventure to Iowa, but I'm still attempting to get back into a groove after being gone for almost a week and it's too late tonight. However, I did want to post a few more of Kye's books he has written at school.

So take a moment to see the world through Kye's eyes! :)

Apple
The birds are upside down and one bird didn't have feathers so he fell.
The fish was in invisible water. Then he couldn't find his way back to the sea.
My dog got his neck off. Then he was upside down.
The airplane was flying over the boats. Then one lost the sails.
The car was flying then the boat crashed into the land and he "drived" on land.

About the Author:
Kye Stephens went to his grandma's house and slept over at Thanksgiving. He thinks she lives in Mexico and that she is twenty years old.

Dinosaur Land - "This is a sad one, Mom." -Kye
The longhorn got cut and then he bleeded.
The blue longhorn was mad then he turned bad. Then he killed that dinosaur
on top of him. Then he was so bleeding.
The T-Rex saw two nice dinosaurs then he go to the stegosaurus and whacked
him with his tail and then he died.
The Apatosaurus came and helped the boat then it sunk.
There was a little drop on the flower and then it grow bigger and I turned invisible.

About the Author
Kye Stephens likes hot dogs and peanut butter sandwiches. He also likes ba-sghetti
and chocolate milk and french fires and chicken. He likes getting new toys and red
bikes and going on the playground and swinging on the yellow swing.

Again, I wish that you could see his illustrations. They use stencils so he writes about the stencil he is tracing. His latest book, Kye wrote the words I, and and the!

I hope to find time this weekend to update with pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a marvelous time with family!

Have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Our Christmas Card!

Happy Thanksgiving and not Merry Christmas! I decided to send a card out early so that everyone would have our new address for Christmas cards! (I hope most of you received our card in the mail!) So here is our Christmas update at Thanksgiving time!

Oh, What a Difference a Year can Make!!!!

On any given day, I am amazed at how different our life is and what God has done in our life! We have been in College Station now almost 18 months. That first year was a tough one and at times, we wondered if we would make it.

By February of '07, we didn't think we could, so we began making arrangements to move back home to Lincoln and have Darrin work from home again. That was the plan all the way until May and then.....all I can say is that God stepped in and changed EVERYTHING!!!

He impressed Darrin and I that we were not to move and that we were supposed to stay here in Texas. Not only that, but HE opened up doors and we were able to purchase a brand new home in June. We didn't move in until September, but we are FINALLY homeowners!


God is so good and has continued to bless us in our obedience and we are so thankful for all that we have! God has also blessed us with a great church family. I am so happy to have friends! God is faithful and I learned so much last year as He wanted to grow me in ways I didn't even realize I needed to be.

We still miss Lincoln and probably always will, but we KNOW, confidently, that we are where God wants us to be! So we have a new address and hope this one will stay for awhile in your address books, which would be rare for us!:)

4209 Whispering Creek Dr
College Station, TX 77845

Here are some highlights from the past year! Most of these can be found on past posts, but here goes!

DAKOTA

*turned 11 in October!
* in 5th grade at Cypress Grove Intermediate School.
*getting straight As!
* went to DC again, (alone) to visit Uncle and Shelley. while there, went to a professional hockey and basketball game
*played soccer, and getting ready for basketball soon
*made a couple of trips to the dentist this past year and had 4 teeth pulled.
*informs me often he is a "tween!"
*still taking guitar

KYE

*turned 5 in April

*going to 1/2 day Kindergarten and having a blast!
*still obsessed with animals
*loves sharing a room with Dakota
*is quite the author and has written many books!
*enjoyed seeing Uncle and Shelley in August at Sea World! Yeah! His favorite place, ever!
*made a couple of trips to the dentist as well and had some fillings and caps put on!
*continues to humor us and wow us with some of his craziness and Kye-ness!!
*check out his artwork and stories under October posts!

KRU

*turned 2 in June!
*he is "feeling" his 2ness to the fullest!

*loves Play-doh and coloring
*keeps me on my toes
*loves when people visit
*is getting very silly shy
*LOVES church
*enjoys going along on Kye's field trips
*growing taller everyday
*likes to watch Telletubbies and Doodlebops!

As for Darrin

*loving being a homeowner! He has put up the flat screen tv, screen door, bathroom towel thingys and has killed a snake!
*Still at A&M and promoted to Senior Multi Media Specialist!
*involved in a cool project
www.gotrybe.com
*traveled to Chicago for convention
*maintains alienant.com

and then there's me, Kari

*teaching a writing, science and geography classes
*tutoring
*learning a ton from my Beth Moore Bible Studies
*helping out at church with youth & children
*trying to find time to scrapbook!
*started my own little business - BeautyControl!

Anyone want to have a spa?

There you have it! I hope to hear from many of you in the next several weeks! We are headed to Iowa on Tuesday! Yeah! It will be wonderful to see family that we haven't seen for 2 years. Not sure what our plans are for Christmas, but I will update the blog several times before then.

I pray that you can slow down this holiday season and before we even begin to contemplate Christmas, we can stop and take time to be thankful for so much! Stop and remember all that is dear to us and the One that gives us those! And then as we head into December that we can truly focus on the Real Reason for this wonderful season!

Take care and we love you all!
Kari and the boys! ;)

Catch up Before Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to post some pictures before Thanksgiving rolls around! I can't believe that it's already the middle of November! Seriously, where is the time going!?!

We are so excited! This time next week, we will be on our way to Iowa! I can hardly wait! Not seeing my family for 2 years is 2 years too long!!! So we will be gone for a few days and I'm so hoping that it snows while we are there!!!

Last Thursday I had a scary episode that ended up with me in the ER. I am fine! But last Thursday, I thought I was either having a stroke or an aneurysm. But it was only a migraine!! I have NEVER had a migraine like that before! I had numbing of my right arm and the right side of my face. My speech was impaired and my head hurt BAD!!!!! Darrin rushed home and ran me up to the ER and after checking my heart and having a CATSCAN, they diagnosed it as a migraine. I have some intense medicine to take if the numbing happens again so I can sleep through it next time!

I'm very thankful that it wasn't anything more serious than that, but it sure did scare Darrin and me!!! God kept a special eye on Kru while I lay passed out in the garage until Darrin got home! I pray that I don't have those too often!!!

We are done with sports for a while! Yeah!!! Dakota wrapped up his soccer season making it to the championship game, but we lost. They received 2nd place medals and fought hard! We only lost 2 games the whole season and then won 1 and lost 1 in the playoffs. They did great!






At the end of the year party, coach Sarah had a game kids versus parents! It was a blast! I don't think the adults stopped smiling and laughing the entire time. I have to brag that the parents won!!! It was a fun fun time! Darrin even scored one! I played in flip-flops, but still kicked the ball well!! :)



We had fun!!!

Sarah wondered if Dakota would live up to his yellow cleats, when she first met him, and thankfully she said he did!!!

Kye went on another field trip. Last week we went to the Washington on the Brazos. Kye's classroom had the Native American tour as they are studying them right now. It was a nice tour and we learned a lot about the Indians who lived here in Texas.



Kye's Indian name is "Running Bobcat." His favorite thing he enjoyed at the museum was scraping the deer fur off of the skin using a rock tool, just like the Indians did. Afterwards, we went to the playground there and had tons of fun sliding on the old fashioned kind of twirly slide.




Kru is keeping busy as always! Talking more and more and attempting to get his way on EVERYTHING!!!! Oh the 2's! You have to love the 2's!!!

Will update again soon, so check back! Have a great week!