Holidays

Well, back to work for me after a nice, long, relaxing week off. It was nice to get up and not have to go anywhere, to sleep without worrying about waking up on time and to take a leisurely pace about our mornings. Bryan really needed the time off, especially as he moves into his new position at work. His boss requested that he take time while he had it. He had some pool problems during his time off but that's pretty normal and they were fixed quickly and easily so that's always good!

The Williford clan came in for Christmas. Alyssa and her boyfriend Jamie came with Andrew. They were here for a few days before Christmas and Andrew got some hours in working for Bryan which he was really thankful for. My dad and Kim came through on Christmas afternoon to pick Andrew up on their way to the deer lease so we got to see everybody but Aaron and his new girlfriend Lauren (I hope that's her name, wow, I'll feel bad if it isn't). We went to the movies on Christmas to watch "Marley and Me". It was SUCH a good movie. If you are sentimental and cry easily, I'd bring some tissues, my sweatshirt took a beating!! Bryan's pool had a few issues on Christmas so I went home to watch the Spurs play Phoenix with Andrew. Wow that was an intense game. I'm a sports lover, I have to be, grew up in a house full of boys so I learned to love it early! My knee will remember the game for a few days to come for sure! Phoenix was up in the last seconds and the Spurs had possession and Roger Mason drained a three to win the game and I jumped up and went crazy and had an altercation w/ the coffee table on the way off the floor...it won. :)

December 29 was Bryan's birthday. The day was pretty relaxing. I had a haircut that morning so we had lunch together and then we took our dogs for a walk/jog at Williamson County Park for a few hours then we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I had been planning and scheming for a month for a surprise party for Bryan. He's not really big on being the center of attention and tends to drag stuff out of me so I've been a basketcase for a week thinking he was going to find out but he was totally surprised and thankful. He did however say he was going to pay me back, haha. We had a lot of fun! I posted pictures to our shutterfly account. The address is: www.abreno.shutterfly.com if you want to see them. I got him a cake shaped like a basketball for his birthday, he loved it. I had to make a decoy cake and everything at home though so everything seemed normal and he didn't catch on to the party. :) It was really fun!

I hope everybody had an awesome holiday season, a merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

It's Been A While

I was reading a few friends' blogs today at lunch and realized it's been way too long since I have posted something of my own.

A lot has been going on lately meaning for me, life has been crazy busy. All I have to say is three more semesters. I can do this! I'll only have an associate's degree after it's all said and done but it's a degree AND I'll win the bet my brother and I have. See, he's 16 and said he'd graduate high school before I got a college degree, he never specified what kind of degree so, yep, I win! :) I've been learning a lot as far as researching designs and companies and what you need to know before creating something so that the logo can make sense without words; been learning how to use page layout software and make it do the hard work for me. It's been a really awesome journey and I'm excited to still be on it!

I'm teaching myself to play guitar. Yep, you read it right, teaching myself to play guitar. They say if you've played piano that guitar will be a breeze to pick up. There are some elements I am learning to where I could agree with that statement but there are others, such as strumming for example, that I could not disagree more. It will come with time I'm sure but for now I sound a little like a broken record, very scratchy and jumpy and then I can't finger the chords anymore because I'm concentrating on what my other hand is doing. Yeah...until that day comes, God bless my poor husband for having to listen to the Intro for "Kerosene" by Miranda Lambert over and over and over again.

My hubby got a promotion at work. He'll be head over all aquatics pretty soon. They had a little rearranging within his department since they are getting a new rec center this Summer. Pray for him when you get a chance that God will calm his nerves. I keep telling him Lamentations 3:25. He's a mix of emotions right now, very excited but at the same time a little scared of all the responsibilities that will come with stepping up to this new position. :) He is an amazing man and I know that he will do an exceptional job; he has a passion for what he does that is so contagious to the people around him. I just love it.

I don't think that even scratches the surface of what has been going on lately but it works! I hope everybody is doing fabulous during this holiday season!

Today and the next four years...

My friend Nate made an excellent post this morning and I just wanted to share it with everybody:

Nate’s Noise

Election Thoughts-A lot of fear and anxiety has gripped our nation these past few months. Concerns of the economy, concerns of the election, health care, education, war (and rumors of war), security, mortgages, retirement, etc. I know about half of our country is in turmoil, and the other half is rejoicing; over the next President of the United States. Regardless of how you feel about it, I still think this is the biggest reason why we live in the greatest nation.

As Christ-Followers, our freedom is not in the person of President. Our contentment is not in our government, but our freedom and contentment is in the Lord. And it is the Lord who has given the authority of our government. As John 19:11 says, "Jesus answered, 'You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has {the} greater sin.'"

We, as Christ-Followers, are reminded of how we are to interact with governing authorities in Romans 13:1-2, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves."

So even though there may (or may not) be an agreement with Obama's philosophies on life, religion, politics, etc; God has placed him in this position of leadership and authority. I find comfort in that. I find comfort in the fact that regardless of who is in the Office of President, the Lord’s ways will prevail. Yes, we as Christ-Followers can be concerned about some issues we face, and some solutions presented for these issues; but that is why we can always voice our opinion through congressman and senators; and continue to work with our government to ensure these solutions address our concerns.

But above all, we (as Christ-Followers) honor the Lord with how we honor and pray for the governing authorities. So I ask that as a church, and a body of believers, we would come together to pray for Obama, our judges, and our representatives like we've done in the past. That we would continue to show the unconditional Love of Christ to everyone around us; as II Timothy 1:13-14 says, “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to {you.}” May the Lord God Almighty (El-Shaddai) continue to shower the United States of America with His blessings; as His body continues to work faithfully unto Him.

Romans 13

"The authorities that exist are authored by God..."

Not the easiest thing to swallow when you look at the election we are facing but I saw that verse on a friend's blog today and am now praying that scripture before I vote tomorrow.

Continuing the Journey

Oh the joys of home ownership. Besides living in an HOA and having outdoor restrictions, we can do anything to our house we want and we don't have to "undo" it in a year to move. SO FUN! We are undertaking the task of painting now. It's pretty funny actually. I got my red wall back and I am SOOO excited about it. We started to paint the living room a darker shade of the tan we already have and it looks so pretty in the bucket and on the little swatch but once you get it on the wall, it looks like baby food peas and we all know what a lovely color that is! So, tonight it's back to Home Depot to get a different tan color. I know what you're thinking. Andrea, if your walls are already tan, why are you painting them tan? Well, I have a good answer. :) Our walls and couches are suprisingly enough the same color. Haha. Fun times. So, we needed to add a little more depth to the wall color well, just because.

Funny story: One of our male dogs is getting super territorial and he's just gotten into the whole peeing with his leg up thing. Well, he's been peeing on EVERYTHING and I do mean everything. I was watching the dogs the other morning do their business because it was raining and I didn't want wet, filthy dogs in my house and then I saw it. Manu hikes his leg up to pee ON OUR OTHER DOGS!!!!! I have never seen nor heard of this before until I told my neighbor about it and she said her male dog does it too. Is that strange or what? I was in shock! He now goes out alone, no more peeing on anybody else, so gross!!!

We went to Lowe's last weekend, not our favorite home improvement store because it's a little girly if I can say that but it is the closest. Much to our suprise, all of their bushes and trees were 25% off. So, we bought an oak tree and an apple tree to plant. We also bought some more hedges to cover up the awful power boxes the builders decided looked best in the front yard but I will refrain from my rant on that! I'll have to take pictures to show y'all of how the house is coming along.

Last weekend I also had pretty much the coolest thing ever happen to me. Bryan and I got asked to lead worship at our church for a missions event and it was so awesome. I got to sing with a friend of ours and afterwards (this is the cool part) I had a lady come up to me and ask where she could BUY MY CD!!!! I was shocked, I could barely even speak. (I don't have a CD for those of you wondering) I was so nervous before we went on and I had to pray that God would just calm my nerves and that I would be reminded that He is my only audience so hearing that God spoke so powerfully through the songs we sang was incredible!!

Well, that's all I have for now, more updates soon.

The Audacity of Hype

So, I've decided that as Americans, we are pretty much the laziest people around. We're in the middle of a REALLY important election and we can't even research if what the candidates are telling us is even true!! It makes me sad that we will believe anything we hear on TV, anything that sounds pretty rolling off the tongue of an eloquent or passionate speaker but don't think for a second that we should maybe make sure that what they are telling us is true.

My new favorite media star is Joe the Plumber. I love that he's put a few people on their toes. What is this redistribution? What does it mean to share the wealth? Well, imagine this: You don't have to worry about your kids doing well in school or getting into college anymore. Nope, we are just going to take the good grades that all of your kids got and give them to the other kids who didn't do anything to earn them (I'm not talking disabilities here, I'm talking downright laziness and lack of effort/studying). Imagine if your son or daughter's teacher told you: I'm really sorry that you stayed up late reading and studying with your kids night after night. (Suckers!!!!) But it's not fair that some kids didn't do as well as yours. Yeah, yeah, so yours studied and worked hard, big deal. We want all kids to have good grades too, so your kids can just share theirs. Now I know that this may be hard for them to understand that they do the work and everybody else reaps the reward, so just tell them to look up "Redistribution" in the dictionary! (and then they can explain it to my kids) Thank you so much Senator Obama for this awesome idea, the generations that come after us will love it!!! Senator Obama, I am not racist or prejudice. I would love to see any man or woman of any ethnic background in our White House, just not you sir. I think that our leaders should have a very high regard for our nation and that they should morally uphold the rights and FREEDOMS our forefathers and our brothers, sisters, dads, moms, neighbors and school mates, etc. are fighting so hard for today. Sir, if we wanted to live in a socialistic society, we would move to one but I don't see that as being high on any Americans priority list. I don't think it's fair to work to pay somebody else's insurance and welfare unless they NEED it. I'd much rather be at home and do what I want to do everyday too. In America, nothing is free, not even our freedom, I wish you understood that sir. I've read about you, researched you, and you've come up lacking sir. It stuns me though because people seem all for your plan. They watch in horror at the torturous societies of North Korea, Germany and Russia but are so willing to give you that power. I'm not saying you will do with it what those leaders have sir, it's not fair to judge that but one entity having that much power is NEVER good for anybody.

Now onto Sarah Palin:
I was a little put aback by John McCain's choice when he could have chosen somebody with the economic strength of Mitt Romney which would have helped his campaign a lot more. She's maybe a little too "soccer mom-ish" but you can't blame her for being a stuffy politician. Get this though: Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It's on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units. As governor of Alaska , Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden's and certainly by far exceeds Obama's. She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counterterrorism plans. Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska 's proximity to Russia , she may have security clearances we don't even know about. She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is.

So, all in all, get your facts. Get out there and vote!! You can't complain if you didn't do anything to try and change the outcome. God bless us!!!

An update

Just wanted to take a break from all the hub-bub and write for a while so I figured I'd exert my energy here. Can I just say I love Fall? I realize that I live in Texas and we don't technically really have a Fall but it's my favorite time of year. I love the crisp morning walks from when I get off the bus and walk to work, I love the leaves that fall to the ground and make crunching noises when you walk on them, I love getting pumpkins just to cut them open and take the seeds out. I love everything about it!

Bryan had another art show this weekend. He faired ok I guess. He was able to sell a print and a painting so not too shabby. :) I need to make it prettier one day but if you want to check out his work, I tried to design a website - don't laugh, I'm a beginner and I need a better/faster/non-dinosaur computer so I can load my better software! It's www.artbyreno.com so you should go see his work. He is a sports artist and will paint anybody on just about anything! It's his escape from the everyday, how he unwinds. He is going to a lawyer's office downtown this week to set up his work for them to view. My mom works for a large firm and she was showing off her son-in-law and they were really interested in his stuff and asked if he would come by. Pray for us as we venture out into this area. He's just beginning to sell his art and his spirits aren't the best right now.

In about a month I'm going to run in my first 5K ever. I usually run for fun but was asked if I would consider running on a team to help benefit Susan G Komen so I took them up on their offer. I'm trying to get faster by doing sprints and cross training. I'll have to let y'all know how it goes!

That's all I have for now besides school stuff and I won't bore you with all of those fabulous details. 2010 can't get here fast enough! :)

Use your stern voice!!!

So, I'm still running although not as much since I've been a little under the weather lately. I'm up to 3 miles in 30-40 minutes depending on the day I guess. I'm pretty proud of myself and if I could get past the mental roadblocks I think I'd be just fine. I don't quit because I'm tired, I just quit because maybe 3 miles has become routine. Maybe I should run until I can't run anymore and not somewhere where I know the distance I have gone. My mom's law firm she works for has asked me to be on their team for the Susan G Komen "Race for a Cure" here in Austin!! I can't wait! :)

We live in a new neighborhood and it's farm land and quite undeveloped on the outside of the fence that defines the neighborhood. Well, we exit the neighborhood to go on our run, Parker and Manu and me (yes my dogs are named after the San Antonio Spurs) and we're doing so good, we're running and then rabbits. As you may have already read, I try but I have very little control over my dogs, they just don't respect me, I'm not very firm - they love me and cuddle with me but when it comes to minding, haha, you can forget it. Hopefully I learn this art before we have kids!! Bryan seems to have it down pat. Anyways, back to the rabbits. The boys see the rabbits and take off. Meanwhile, I'm already having to watch where I'm running because there is poison ivy (not allergic but Bryan is so I still can't touch it) and sticker bushes and small cactus. Then rabbits. The dogs pull so hard I start flailing around everywhere digging my heels in so they don't get loose since we're on a major road and that's when it happens. I fall into said sticker bush. You'd think I have learned my lesson by now!!! Nope, I haven't. I yelp and Manu and Parker turn around to see what is wrong. I hear somebody behind me on a bicycle so I'm getting out of the way not looking at whoever is on the bike because they more than likely saw my embarassing dance I just did into the sticker bush. Well, the bike stops and I recognize the shoes, it was my darling husband. He witnessed the whole thing. His first question isn't, honey are you ok? Or bad dogs!! Nope, it's well why are you running over here anyways? Fun! By then my foot was all swollen and red and I had to take my shoe off and walk the 1/2 a mile home barefoot on the one side because now I was so swollen I couldn't get the shoe back on. I now have what looks like a ton of small ant bites on my ankle which sting like the dickens if you scratch them! OUCH!!! Help is welcome on controlling my boy dogs. They are going to hurt me one day if I keep running w/ them!! Well, hurt me worse....

Catching up...

I really need to post about our vacation but I haven't found the time yet. Work has been insane, school has been even crazier and somewhere in all of that I'm struggling to find time to spend with my wonderful husband. I will be glad when I can get all of this organized and under control and feel like I have time for more things than work and school. I wish it was time to graduate already...


So, I have bronchitis and a sinus infection. Fun stuff. I found out Tuesday when I finally sucked it up and went to the doctor, a little late I might add. My asthma is apparently coming back so I'm back on inhalers...fun times! Just wanted to let everybody know I'm alive! My mom was cool...she gave me my birthday present early. Not many people know this about me but I make a lot of my own jewelry and she's trying to coax me into selling it so she majorly hooked me up with lots of new stuff and gave it to me early so I wouldn't be bored at home since I had to stay two days, doctor's orders...


The lowdown on Chicago soon to come complete with pictures!!

Six more days...

A week from today at this precise moment, I will be getting off of a plane at O'Hare to embark on what Bryan and I hope to be a very peaceful and relaxing week. Tuesday, September 6, we will be leaving mid morning to go to Chicago, Illinois. Bryan went last summer when his kids (employees) got a chance to go to E&A Nationals but I've never been, always wanted to go though. I love baseball and there are three parks that I have always wanted to visit. One is Yankee Stadium which I at least got to see before they rip it to shreds (big dummies), two is Wrigley Field and the other is Fenway. It's funny because I don't really like any of the teams but the fields man, GREAT players have played there and it's so surreal to me. So, we're going to the Cubs/Astros game while we're there so I can experience a Cubs game, I hear it's unlike any other. We're sitting in the outfield by the famous ivy, so exciting!!! :) I can't get too excited about catching a Pence or Berkman homer though because if I do happen to catch said homerun (if they get that lucky), I have to throw it back so I told Bryan I refuse to even try to catch it. Haha! The opposing team comes in through this back alley and they let fans down there and the team will sign autographs and stuff so I'm hoping to get some cool pictures.

We're also looking forward to doing a WHOLE lot of sightseeing since Bryan didn't get to do much on the trip he took last summer. I'm looking forward to so much of it. We found out that the city has these cards called 'go chicago cards' and we looked into them and they're pretty awesome I must say. They are $100/person which almost deterred us on the whole idea because that is a lot of money for us but we decided to get them. They are chock full of tickets to: the aquarium, the planetarium, boat tours down Lake Michigan, art museums, LegoLand (I realize I might be seen as a dork for how cool I think this place is), hop on/hop off tours of the city, admission to Navy Pier and so, so, so much more. We figured that with all of the places we wanted to go, we would actually end up spending way more than $100/person on just attractions alone so it turned out to be a really good deal! I'm really excited about Navy Pier. It honestly sounds a little like a carnival but that picture just makes it seem incredible.

If you've ever been to Chicago and have suggestions on neat (inexpensive ;)) things to do, let us know; we want to get as much as we can out of this experience! I can't wait to share our experiences with all of you!!

It's Gone to the Dogs

Sunday: It actually feels nice out so I grab one of our dogs, Hunners, and we go take a run together. It's a little warm but nothing like the 100+ degree heat we've been having lately. Well, we get home (she's fat and tired, I'm tired from having to practically drag her) and I'm helping Bryan decipher the garage door opener directions since we are trying to install it ourselves. I look out in the yard and there is this little yippie dog, one of those that Paris Hilton would own. It growls and barks and yips at everything and tries to climb your leg...REALLY annoying. I'm a big dog person: labs, golden retrievers not the little prissy dogs. Anyways. Bryan looks at me and is like, we aren't keeping that thing to which I'm like, well, yeah, 4 is enough!! :) So I grab a leash and start going door to door and nobody has ever even seen this dog but it's tiny, it's legs are as long as my finger, it lives around us somewhere. 2hrs later I'm walking down the last street in our neighborhood and this is what proceeds:

guy on the porch: hey, that's cool, your dog looks almost identical to my dog Cooper

me: Hey umm, where is cooper?

guy: he's in our backyard where he stays.

me: does he like to dig?

guy: no cooper is good.

me: are you sure he didn't get out

guy: (lightbulb goes off and he runs to his backyard) oh my gosh the gate got left open but he never runs off.

**he goes in the house just to make sure I guess that this is really Cooper I have**

me: so is this your dog because mine would eat him for a snack

guy: (laughs) hey coop, come home to daddy, daddy loves you

me: (sigh of relief) yep, you're welcome...no problem

Monday: I'm self-training for a 10K. This guy here is one of my running buddies. He looks cute enough, really innocent, sweet as can be. If he was a kid, your grandma would totally pinch his cheeks off. We should have named him Cheetah or Kangaroo or Jaguar, something really fast and bouncy (he's named Parker after Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs a.k.a. "Eva's husband" so that will suffice at this point). We have another dog, Hunners, she's a little on the overweight side, something about it being my fault and table food. Usually I run with her because she needs it the most to lose the weight she's carrying around. Well, after dragging her a mile and a half on Sunday I decided to give her the day off and run with Mr. Parker here so I could get more accomplished. Have I mentioned he only weighs 30 lbs less than me? Or that he is as tall as me? Or that he is as strong as a horse? We take off running at MY normal pace. I watch the Dog Whisperer guy and I'm all trying to be in charge and this is a lost cause. We round the corner in our neighborhood and bounding out of the garage comes "Venus", this incredibly hyper border collie. Here I go leash between my legs, trying to look in control but at the same time tripping all over the place just trying not to bust it so I don't go home and Bryan gives me the "I told you so" speech about showing the dogs who is dominant. Well, anyways the owner comes roaring out of his garage yelling Venus, no, get back here Venus and to say the least Parker is finding her very interesting and I'm trying to get control of my beast of a dog and somewhere in all of this I somehow end up on my butt in the middle of the street while my dog runs off to play with this girl dog. At this point I want to cry but instead I lay in the middle of the street and laugh instead. I yell at Parker, "You get over here right now, do not make me chase you" as if he knows exactly waht I just said, he cowers over like Golden Retrievers do when they are/think they are in trouble. At that point all I could think was hey, at least my dog knows how to listen...

A New House

I think there is a reason they give you a month off to not pay your mortgage when you first buy a home. 4 ceiling fans, 1 garage door opener, 1 refrigerator, and lots of deposits later I'd say it is a little overwhelming! I didn't realize HOW MUCH you NEED to buy for a home and this is straight up needs we're talking about (ok, maybe not the ceiling fans but come on, it's Texas for crying out loud). There is a plus to all of this "going green" though because you get lots of rebates and gift cards for buying energy star appliances. It paid for said garage door opener and weather proofing the fence; well it HELPED pay for that stuff. I never realized how much it costs to weather proof a fence. GEEZ!!!! I'll have to take pictures of the house soon with all of our stuff in it. Here is the outside for now. We are so ecstatic to be in our home, it really is a blessing! :) We just bought rocking chairs for the front porch, so adorable - gotta love Super HEB everyday low prices ;). Updates to come!!

Life is a Rollercoaster

God, let me be a vessel, let my cup be full and overflowing, let my life be a light for the people around me, give me strength to reach out, to comfort, to love with everything in me, prepare the hearts and lives of those around me so that when they see me, they will see your face and experience your unending grace and mercy. Thank you for trusting me in the trials and tribulations of life so that I may help bring your joy, comfort and peace to others...

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

opening my eyes

Ahhh. Public Transportation. It's a beautiful thing. (Can you hear the sarcasm?) For all intents and purposes, it is not bad at all, it's actually quite relaxing! So, it may not be beautiful per se but it sure does make for a calmer commute.


So with that being said, I have about 2 hours a day to do SOMETHING with, anything. Reading has not ever been a pastime/hobby of mine, I have actually spent a lot of time avoiding it. However, I figured it might do me some good, might learn something so I have taken this up to pass the time as I travel back and forth to work each day.


When I first moved to Austin, a friend of mine tried to give me a book called "Boundaries". I had just met this person, was very on guard, all defenses up, parents had just gone through a horrific divorce leaving me to provide stability to my younger brothers and sister, so my first thought as he is handing me this book is: What do you know about my life? This wasn't the best year of my life. I'll give you that. When my parent's marriage fell apart, I fell apart and turned my back on God when I needed him most. I'll spare you the gory details. I started going back to church a little later on, not because I wanted to but I felt I should because I had gone every Sunday of my life and I was starting to feel dirty and empty and I wanted that to go away. That friend I mentioned earlier, this is where he and his wife became my friends. They have mentored me and discipled me and this week (it's been 4 years mind you) I finally felt ready to read that book.


If you haven't read this book, I strongly suggest it. It has opened my eyes to a lot not just with me but also of my surroundings. It is an INCREDIBLE book.


Have you thanked God for your friends? Have you thanked Him for the people He has brought into your life, if even for a season? Have you thanked Him for trusting them to teach you something so new and exciting about Him?

just getting started

I have found that quite a few of my friends have taken up blogging. I've never done this before so I figured I would give it a shot to stay in touch with friends and family, so everybody can see how Bryan and I are doing here in Austin...