delay

I'm sorry. I've been very slow about blogging lately and I know that you are all just dying to hear about life in Waco...so let me help you catch up.

Thanksgiving was awesome! After getting off to a slow start (Aaron had to finish some stuff up at the church on Wednesday night) we drove from Waco to Rockwall, but we got stuck in TONS of 1-35 traffic the whole way there. Chris slept through most of the drive...Vader threw up twice...and Aaron doesn't have heat in his car. So, yeah the drive was not my favorite but thankfully it only takes an hour and a half to get there. We had dinner with my family on Wednesday night and then my brother Grant took Chris around Rockwall to meet some of his old high school buddies. Aaron and I just spent the evening talking with my little sis and parents. On Thursday my mom and I power walked (Sara Whittle can POWERwalk!), then I made a pecan pie, then some cousins came over Thanksgiving Dinner. It was pretty chill this year because only one family of cousins came over (there were only 17 people) usually when we all get together the number gets up to near 80 or so. That afternoon we went to see "Dan In Real Life" which is now my new favorite movie. Its HILARIOUS good clean humor - Go See It! I honestly can't really remember what we did on Friday...hmmm..nope don't know. But, on Friday night we made a big bonfire out on our land and about 25 people came, hung out, and made smores. One of my very best friends and her husband came which made it a great night. Then on Saturday we went and ate lunch down at the Harbour and then headed back to Waco. So yeah, it was a great Thanksgiving Break!

This week has already been crazy and I have a feeling that with the holidays approaching I'm only going to get busier and busier! I had to go to Temple on Monday to take a HUGE test. It was similar to the PSAT and the math section made me want to cry. But, I did my best so hopefully I'll pass. Then yesterday I found out that my boss is leaving the WRBN and taking a job at Truett to be the Director of Development (pretty much he'll be in charge of raising scholarship money for people like my husband). I'm so excited for him, but I'm really nervous for the Waco Regional Baptist Network and for myself. My boss was SO laid back and just really great to work for. I'm really going to have to start praying that my new boss is sort of the same! Oh and with him leaving...guess who that leaves to run the office....ummm me. Yep, I've only worked here for 6 months and already I'm going to be in charge. CRAZY!

Well, Aaron is waiting to take me to lunch - I LOVE him!

RJ

A couple more

hehehehehe

true love

White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha (mmmmm yum)

I 'm not a big Starbucks fan. In fact, I don't even really like coffee that much except during Christmas. See, that's when Starbucks brings out all of their very best holiday drinks: Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latter, Peppermint Mocha, and now...White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha!

If you haven't had one yet - you're going to love the indulgence

almost the BIG day

Here comes Turkey Day, Here comes Turkey Day...with lots of gravy on the side. Family and friends, and all the relatives wanting to stop by... (this is the song I made up about Thanksgiving. Its sort of to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus")

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays. In fact I probably like it even more than Christmas. I think its because Christmas around the Whittle house is always jam packed with activity after activity. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is a great time to chill, eat, and watch some football. Oh, and I love the Macy's Day Parade...when I get up for it. This year Thanksgiving has taken on a whole new meaning. I mean I'm in to the piligrims and indians and so forth, but I'm really starting to see a whole new meaning behind Thanksgiving. How cool is it that we can set aside an entire day to be with family and friends and just be thankful for everything God has blessed us with. Aaron and I love the moments where we are overcome with thankfulness for the Lord. I really hope that true thanksgiving will be our focus on Thursday. It's going to be pretty hard to keep that focus because the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes are going to put up a hard fight...but I think we can do it.

Hooray for turkey, Hooray for stuffing, Hooray for family, and Hooray for true Thanksgiving!

Team Mom

Last night was Chris' first basketball practice. The coach called yesterday morning and asked if we would let Chris stay after school and practice with the team. Of course our answer was yes - Aaron and I always talk about how exciting it is going to be to watch our kids play sports and now we finally get to do that! I can't wait to buy some spirit apparel and maybe even one of those little buttons with Chris' picture in it!

After work I drove over to the Junior High to pick Chris up and there was a little confusion about where the 8th grade boys were practicing. As I was making my 3rd trip around the school looking for some sign of basketball practice, I noticed another mom trying to get into the building. I let her in and asked her if she knew where the 8th grade boys practiced bball. She said that she had two sons on the team (she has twins!) and that they usually practiced in the Junior High gym, but that maybe they had walked over to the Primary School. We decided to walk through the blistering wind to go see if the boys were over there. As we walked, we started talking and let me tell ya'll ....this mom is so cool and nice. If I had to guess, I would say that she is in her late 20's / early 30's, but who knows. Her name is Courtney and she lives right up the street from us. We decided to switch phone numbers and maybe do some carpooling since we live SO close.

Now this might not sound so exciting to any of you...but it has been really difficult to become friends with people that live near us. Everyone that I'm friends with lives on the other side of Waco and it takes me nearly 30 minutes just to get to their house (yes, Kim and EJ I'm talking about ya'll) I do have a good friend that lives near the Baylor campus, but she's almost never in town and she's leaving for a 4 month internship in DC soon. I really want to become friends with some women that have awesome husbands that Aaron can become friends with. We honestly have 0 couple friends that live in Waco. Actually I take that back - We sort of have two different sets couple friends that live in Waco / Hillsbourgh, but in both sets the wives are nurses and work nights so we never get to see them.

Anyways...this little post has shown me that I need to make more of an effort to maintain the friendships that I do have in Waco and I need to get out there and start meeting people on our side of town.

C Bluff represent - woot woot!
Rachael

24-13=11

Hi everyone,

I'm sure that you are all at least a little interested in how things are going now that Aaron and I are parents to a 13 year old boy. Well....To be completely honest, things are going GREAT! Chris seems to really fit in the Johnson household. He and Aaron have a lot in common - Everything from their love of football all the way down to they both like mayo on their sandwiches. He's really outgoing and talkative, was really involved in his old youth group, and likes animals (which is great since we are pretty much starting a small farm in our backyard)

Today was his first day of school at Connally Junior High and I think he was a bit nervous, but I would be too. Middle school can be tough! When we went to enroll him yesterday there was this poor little nerdy kid that came into the office and literally dropped the 5 books and spirals that he was trying to carry. And guess what he was coming to the office for: Yep, he'd lost his glasses and wanted to know if the janitors had turned them in. Anyways, hopefully Chris will have it a little more together than that kid : )

Aaron and I are slowly adjusting to parental communication - yeah, friends..get ready for it. Its kind of weird because I now understand how difficult it is for parents to communicate and why so many fights break out. I mean, we've only been doing this for 2 days and already we've had trouble adjusting our schedules to meet eachothers needs and to meet Chris' needs.

Ooops... I'm late for a work meeting - More tomorrow!

Countdown

This time tomorrow night Aaron and I will be parents to a thirteen year old boy... YIKES! The countdown has officially begun.

Homecoming and 1st Sunday

Waiting

Hello little bloggy friends....

Well, I've got some news that I just know you've all been waiting for. The time has come for Aaron and I to finally have a foster child placed in our home. We found out yesterday afternoon that there is a 13 year old boy named Chris that needs a family. We had really always said that we wanted an elementary age child, but Chris actually meets that request because he's in the 4th grade. So......after a lot of prayer and discussion, we are going to go ahead with everything and just keep looking to God for guidance.

This is HUGE. I mean really HUGE. The caseworkers think they are going to bring Chris up to Waco tomorrow afternoon and so starting tomorrow I will become a mother. wow. This is something that we've prayed about, talked about, taken classes on, but when it finally comes time for it to happen everything can be a little intimidating. Deep down we are really excited, but there is just so much that is unkown about him. We don't even really know what he looks like - The reports we received said two totally different things. In one report he was 5'2 and in the other one he was 5'9. (yeah a 5'9 4th grader...?). The reports try to give us a clue into his personality, but there really isn't a way to know him until we meet him. So, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE say a prayer for us this evening!

Oh wait... I seriously just now got a call from our case manager and they are going to bring Chris up on Monday. So, we have a few more days to prepare (whew!).

RJ

Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

I just thought everyone would like to know that I FINALLY brought something "home made" to potluck dinner....And it was fabulous. In fact, I might even venture to claim that it was the most popular dish there! For over a year now, I have been wussing out and buying pre-made items to bring to different functions but now everything is going to be different.

Hip Hip Hooray to broc and cheese! (and to my mother in law for the recipe)

Tradition

If you've ever seen the play "Fiddler on the Roof, " you'll probably remember a song titled "Tradition." Its the opening song and its sung by the main character Tevye. Its a great song and when I wrote the title to today's blog the song popped up in my head and I'm pretty sure that I'll be singing it for the rest of the night.

Anways.. I've been thinking a lot about traditions because Aaron and I are a little family of two, but someday we hope to have a posse of little rascals. Now growing up my family always made fun of me because I was SO into traditions. I remember crying when my mom told my sister Katie that she could where pants to church instead of a skirt. Those tears were not flowing because I felt God was dishonored by pantaloons... oh no, it was just that we had always worn skirts to church and what was the world going to come to if we stopped wearing them. And for your information., as embarrassing as this is.. I was in middle school.

Okay, back to the whole point of today's post - This weekend is Baylor's Homecoming. Aaron's family is coming in town to celebrate and I'm so excited to see them. We are going to have a great time going out to dinner, playing games, and showing them around our new church. The only problem is... nobody really cares much about the traditional Homecoming activities that are going on this weekend. Nobody but me that is. I love the Friday night bonfire and pep rally... I wait all year for SING and the happy little costumed dancers...And how could someone sleep through Waco's biggest parade? I'm a little worried that if we don't attend these events this year, then we might never attend them...because after all, traditions have to be started sometime, right?

Now, for those of you that go/went to Baylor you probably think I'm crazy for wanting to attend these activities...but you have to remember that I used to be a Baylor Cheerleader and I pretty much live for this kind of stuff.

HHHHeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy SIC'Em Bears!
REJ

Lometa Fall Festival

Skyler and I were in charge of the tattoo booth


















Me and Cheyenne both look scary in this picture.. At least her crazy look comes from the makeup. Mine is au natural.


















Who knew that the toughest kid in LO would dress up like a blue bunny???


















Cheyenne and her sweet nephew






















Me and my girl Willow. I taught her in Sunday School this last year... She is CRAAAZY, but in a good way!























I love you Christopher!!!


















Jess, me, and Skyler or as we are better known....Football Fan, Prarie Girl, Butterfly Princess























Little Skyler in his too small costume - I wanted to take this little nugget back to Waco with me. He's absolutely adorable and I'm going to miss him so much!


















Me and the Goth Princesses...otherwise known as Shawnee, Crystal, and Shelley

No Words

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ! The ladies at church decided to make Aaron's Fall Festival costume. Should I be worried that they made him something so fruity? I think this was their revenge for us leaving Lometa