Home Sweet Home!

Warning...this post may be long...but we were just at HOME! This was such a perfect trip! We didn't get to see quite everyone, but we got some true quality time with our families and together with a break from work.

Friday we got into town around noon, and Nana and Papa picked us up. Poor Brad, as soon as they announced that we were beginning our descent to Indianapolis I had tears in my eyes. That pretty much continued for the day whenever I saw someone new! We got home and decided to go pay a visit to St. E and my old coworkers. It was so great to see them, it was a reminder to me that I will make friends at the Heart Hospital, just like at St. E. We then surprised mom at her office, and got her to tears too! We really missed our family! Next stop was to Becca and Jared's apartment. We tried to surprise them, but they weren't home when we arrived. They came just about 5 minutes later, and we had some quality time catching up with them! We've missed them! They are such a Godly couple, who are so open and loving you can't help but smile when you're with them! They're coming to visit us and the Mullin's in March, yay! After that Dad called to say that Sarah, Phil, and Emily had gotten into town so we headed back to Nana and Papa's for some family time. We had some supper for mom's birthday, and just hung out! It was WONDERFUL! Ellen came by to say hi too.

Saturday we got up and Brad, Mom, and I went shopping. I think Brad secretly loved it! Mom and I helped him pick out gifts for his parents, and I think he enjoyed being able to do something special for them. We also got to look at some puppies...not to buy...but that's my favorite part of the mall! Then the boys all went to BW3s (which I'm a little jealous of) and Mom and I met up with Sarah, Nana, and Emily. Saturday night was Chris Tourney's wedding, which was beautiful! Not only that, but we got to see so many friends; we had a great time!

Sunday we got to go to Kossuth for the first time since the wedding! How we love our church family in Lafayette; it was wonderful to see everyone! Then we went down to Indy and spent some time with Brad's family. It was so good to see them all! We took Ally and went to paint pottery with Jared and Becca. Mine turned out pretty awful...art has never been my strong point, but we loved it! Ally made a Frosty candle holder, and Brad painted a mug, and I painted a pretty hideous plate, but you better believe we'll be using that plate! We got to see Ally, Kelsey, and Kenny! They all grow up so much each time we see them! This trip was the first visit where Kenny and Kelsey seemed to remember us. They even called us by name! We were working on a puzzle with Ally, and Kenny kept handing me pieces saying "Try mine Rachael? Try mine?" So adorable! Kelsey, kept sitting on my lap when I had my vest on and saying "Take off? Rachael? Take off?" We also got to do our second gingerbread house with Ally, I think it turned out better this year!

Christmas Eve was more shopping and then we went to the Christmas Eve service at Crestview with Nana and Papa and Mom, Dad, and Luke. It's been so long since we all went together! We were CRAMMED into a row, but it was totally worth it! After church, we all went back to N&P's and Rox and Brandon came over and we played some cards. Brandon, Rox, and I lost to Brad, Dad, and Papa, but I blame it on being a little rusty from little practice. Next time, it's on!

Then Christmas! Oh, I LOVE being with the family on Christmas! We had such a fantastic day! There is nothing like getting to spend Christmas day with the family after being gone for 3 months! We had a blast watching Emily get excited to play with her gifts! She was all dressed up in a Christmas outfit, and it just made us laugh! The only missing piece was Uncle Mark, we missed him! Hopefully we'll see him next year! For the afternoon we headed out to Aunt Vic and Uncle Mike's, and I think it was the best Christmas we've ever had! We didn't play our games as much as we usually do, but it was good just to be together! Brad's parents came to join us in the afternoon, it was nice having more family there, and I know my family enjoyed having them there! Maybe we've started a new tradition? Here are some final pictures of the trip!

Luke and I playing with Emily on Christmas!


In between the wedding and reception, getting some loving in for Emily!


Oh, the girls!
I love my family! We missed Kyle, so we got him in the picture!
Dad, Uncle Ed, Aunt Jo, and Aunt Vic!
These three are nearly impossible to get smiling all at once!
She's such a ham..but I love it!
Dishes..blah!
Brad and his parents!
So, we LOVED our first Christmas! It was wonderful! Thanks to all who sent us Christmas cards and letters...WE LOVED THEM! Also, we just want to thank the Lord for being the reason we even celebrate Christmas! Can't mention Christmas without remembering the perfect gift God gave us when Jesus was born! While we loved every minute with our family and friends, that is the true reason we are celebrating!

Now, we're back in Austin! Last night saying goodbye to everyone was tough, and this morning saying goodbye to Mom and Dad at the airport I was a mess! I miss them all so much. Brad let me have some tears this afternoon, and then I got to feeling better. It was a strange feeling when we got off the plane. I thought, "it's nice to be home." Funny how two places can be so different and so far away and yet feel like home. We have a busy busy week ahead! I have to work 6 of the next 7 days...WHOA; Brad already returned to work tonight...BOO! Then it's off to Florida for a trip to Disney, and we're pretty excited about that! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Take care!

We get to see FAMILY!!

Seven days from now....we'll be in Indiana with our families!!! Who wouldn't be excited about that? We're so so excited!

Also...it's snowing in Indiana, and not here. I have a special request for Mike Prangley this week...bring it on weather man, bring ON that snow (as long as you all are safe of course), I just am so so excited for some Christmas snow!

That's all for tonight...no pictures. Can't wait to see you all!

Party Time!!!

Who doesn't love Christmas parties?! We have been so excited all week for Aaron and Shauna's party, so in my anticipation I went a little Christmas and candy making CRAZY!! It was a fantastic day on Friday as I prepared! I even convinced Brad to get into the spirit..as you will soon see!These here are some candies for Brad with pecans and dark chocolate and pretzels. I do know these may not look so appetizing but he seemed to like them. These are my pride and joy! I LOVE these every Christmas when Nana makes them..and now I know how to make them..and they are delicious!Chocolate covered pretzels.

Chocolate covered strawberries...I told you I went a little crazy. This was all one day.
These were for my coworkers. I had to work on Saturday and I figured maybe I could score some brownie points with my coworkers for bringing in treats. Donna, my preceptor, used my treats to introduce me to doctors I hadn't met yet. I think it worked. So...as for our Christmas spirit. Brad and I thought it would be fun to wear crazy Christmas sweaters to our party on Saturday night. We picked them out for each other. Brad's is from Goodwill in the ladies section. It has some lace looking decorations...along with some glitter. It was perfect for the occasion! Mine, was from the little girls section at Kohl's. It has a jingle bell on the zipper, and on Rudolph's nose that jingle every time I take a step. I wish you could see them in the picture better...the reindeer are all on the bottom of my sweater! We had fun!!

During the white elephant gift exchange Adam got the light up nose. It was awesome. It blinks red. Tamara and James! We've missed them! They are the third couple in our small group!!Another picture with the sweaters..there's my reindeer!Katie and Evan! They're just awesome!

Overall, we had such a great time at the party! We had to be late since I worked, but it was so nice to just spend quality time with some friends! Not only that...we played Guesstures and Catch Phrase and those are ALWAYS a good time! The girls rocked out the Guesstures, (not with my help, as on my first time I got stuck on wounded) but during Catch Phrase I'm not actually sure who won. I'll go ahead and say the girls won though; who's counting? Around midnight my vision got blurry from being so tired, and we decided it was time to call it a night!

Today, we went to church, and then out for lunch with Katie and Evan, and Adam and Blair. We had some tasty McAllister's. I realized that since we got married we haven't been there ONCE! That's just crazy!! We made up for it though...don't you worry! After lunch we went shopping with Katie and Evan, and then watched some football. I was hoping to see the Patriots lose, but no such luck. All is good though, as the Colts are winning as I type this.

One little praise I would like to give is just for God's perfect timing. Today at church we celebrated the 5th birthday of the church. This is pretty awesome considering where they started from 5 years ago. It was so neat hearing the stories of those who have been there since it started. It was also so amazing just to think what the Lord has done to take us to the Stone. 5 years ago, Brad was a sophomore in college, and I was still in high school. I wasn't even starting to think about live after Olivet, I wasn't even sure where I was going to college. During the time since then, the church has grown, it has reached others for the Lord, and now it is where it is today. About 1 1/2 years ago, Aaron and Shauna began going to the Stone when they moved to Austin, and almost 1 year ago we met Aaron for the first time at a lunch at McAllister's in Lafayette. We had never really met Aaron, other than just in passing before that day, but we had heard all about he and Shauna from the Salt and Light group once they heard we were moving to Austin.

During lunch that day I remember talking to Aaron about the church they went to here in Austin. It sounded pretty cool, but he warned us that it was different from Kossuth. Then, in March we came to Austin to find an apartment and we got to go to the church for the first time. It was great, but SO huge! I was a little nervous, and not so sure about it, but the people were amazing, and the message was definitely Biblical. Then, the summer came and Brad started going to the church by himself with all these friends he had made down here. They took him in and helped him get involved, and I was just so excited to get here!

Now, we've been married three months, (whoa!) and we are so unbelievably content with the work the Lord is doing in our lives. The Lord, through the Stone and Kossuth together, has provided us with amazing friends, strong, challenging, and Biblical teaching, and a church that we are ready to REALLY get involved in. It's just all so cool to us. I don't know even how to describe how we feel, but we're happy and we know that we are EXACTLY where we are supposed to be. We're looking towards ways to get involved in ministry, and I'm working currently getting ready to pursue one possible way. We're just thankful. We couldn't imagine where we would be if we weren't here. We miss home, and family and friends. But we have been taken care of. We are growing together so much down here; we both think this is very much due to getting involved at the Stone. That's my story. It may be long, but it was on our minds today.
Finally, this is for dad. I know that the upper pictures make my hair look super short..and yes, dad, I cut it. However, it is growing and it's not all chopped like usual. You might like it at Christmas.

That's all for now. 12 days and counting!! See you soon!!

So close!

We promised pictures of the Christmas decorations and here they are!! Hopefully, next year we will be in a house and have outdoor decorations also! It's feeling cozy in here though, and that makes us oh so happy!
Here we have some of our Christmas dishes that I described. Looking at them here they may not seem to go together, but they really do...I promise!
Our mugs! When we picked these dishes out it was late in the season, and they didn't have all the sets of one of these mugs, instead we got half of one and half of the other! Also, thanks to Carl and Rosemary, we have enough mugs!
More of the dishes.
Our Christmas tree!! It's enormous...7 1/2 feet tall! We need a couple more ornaments, but we still like it and it is our own! That's what we like! It is our very first Christmas tree! Wooo!All lit up!Our candles! We got these candles at one of our showers...I was so excited that they were blue and at least with color matched our dishes! Yay!Close up!We're trying to make the apartment more decorated...these are our very first hanging decorations. We have some others to put up..we just haven't figured out how to go about that yet!

Getting rid of those white walls!

So...that's all for now. We should have more pictures after this weekend! I'm attempting another holiday sweet treat this weekend...some of Nana and Papa's recipes..hopefully this will be easier to complete than the pumpkin roll! I wanted to try some buckeye's but Nana said I might want to wait on that one! Hahaha...sad. I love you, Nana! For those of you in Indiana...we'll see you sooooo soon! We get home on the 21st. Yay! Hope all is well! Take care everyone!!