Thanksgiving with the Naumans - What a Crew!

Time for giving Thanks with the Nauman Family. The day after Thanksgiving, Grandma Tootsie hosted the family for lunch. The only ones missing were Uncle Brad and Kay. It was a rare moment when the majority of us were there!

Another try at a picture of Jason and I - unfortunately I cut off his head once again.
The Barry Nauman Family (Me, Dad, Rita, Alan, Jen, and Matthew)

Brad Nauman family - minus Brad! (Ashlee, Luke, Daniel, Ava, and Stephanie)

Grandma Tootsie and her Great Grandchildren (Luke, Emma, Matthew and Ava)

What a picture! Dad, Jason and Alan - interesting :)

The Suggs Boys and Uncle Garvin - wow, time sure flies by!

The Suggs Family plus Grandma Tootsie (Jody, Rachel, Emma, Uncle Garvin, Aunt Carol, Cordie, Dusty, and Grandma)

It was a wonderful and rare opportunity to see most of my family at Thanksgiving this year. I am thankful for each and every one of them! It looks as though Christmas might be a bit quiet, but I enjoyed the craziness of my family while I could.

Bonfire with Dad and Matthew's 4th Birthday

Thanksgiving vacation began with Jason flying in, Alan, Jen and Matthew driving down, and a night around the bonfire at Dad's house for some good ol' Smores!

PapaBear and Matthew

Time for a Birthday! Wednesday night we gathered together at my house to celebrate Matthew's 4th Birthday! Taylor and Matthew started the celebration by eating the first hot dogs of the night!

I didn't realize Transformers were the "in" thing for 4 year olds. It seems like I was the only one "out of the loop!"

What a combination! Come one come all! It's always a party at my house!

There were little boys everywhere!

Time for the pinata! All of the cousins had an oppotunity to bop the Transformer!

Even Ava gave it a swing!

Time for presents - Alan had to keep things in order.Aunt KK was so useful!

Autumn in Minnesota

Now that I've been visiting Minnesota once a month, I've had the opportunity to see Minnesota during a variety of seasons! In October I was able to see the leaves in all their glory, and this month I saw the ending of Fall. Jason treated me well with walks in the park and taught me how to play bocce. We had a night out seeing the Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild and a night at the theater enjoying "The Importance of being Earnest." Jason always had a surprise around the corner for me and this trip proved to be much of the same. I think I've officially fallen in love with Minnesota! Another walk in the park.

Ice Hockey - a sport I'm beginning to love watching!

Cheese Curds - never heard of them, but enjoyed my first taste!

Even though Dallas lost, I had a great night and proudly wore my Minnesota Wild sweatshirt Jason got me.

Tough Week, but God Always Offers Peace

This week has been extremely difficult for me. For various reasons I have had a wide range of emotions, and tonight they all just seemed to merge together and form a not so pleasant time for me. I never thought I was much of an 'emotional' person - usually I bottle everything up and show no emotion, but for some reason, in recent months, it just all seems to come out in journal writing, tears, and sighs. So tonight I needed to dive into my bible and find some encouraging words, and this is what I found:

Experiencing God's Peace
The peace Jesus promised...was not absence of conflict - the early believers faced conflict from all sides. Instead, it meant a deep inner peace made possible by the presence of the Holy Spirit in each believer's life. The Holy Spirit's peace allows us to find, deep within, a peace from God as we face the storms and stresses of life. This isn't peace as the world gives or as we might want it to be. It isn't a promise of life without problems. Instead, it is peace in spite of the problems, the stresses, the crises.

The apostle Paul wrote: "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. They you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Paul explained that as we face the storms and stresses, we can turn our worries into prayers and present our needs to God. And you know what will happen? You'll experience God's peace. Your heart and mind will be blanketed with it - guarded against unwanted intruders. Your stomach will stop churning. You'll be able to sleep. You'll be able to face the day without tears. You'll be able to focus on what needs to be done. You'll be able tot deal with your kids without yelling at them. You'll be able to get through the crisis intact.

How can that be? The conflict is still there; we still have a long way to go to get out of this crisis The peace comes not from feeling good about our situation. It comes from knowing the one truth that matters most: God is in control. That alone is the foundation of our peace. No matter what happens, we can trust our God to be at work for us.

We can make it. The journey may be long head of us, the light at the end of the tunnel not yet visible. But God is here with us. Place your hand in his and walk forward with him, unafraid, unhurried, and at peace.
-Linda K. Taylor


This is a video I found of a song that I have grown to love. The words are perfect, and although the girl in the video is singing at a funeral, her voice is beautiful and truly conveys what the song means. Please listen if you have a chance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDHrIXcW_rI

Finally...pictures

I guess it's time to finally post a little something about my man! :) Almost four months ago I met Jason, while finishing up my Masters in Switzerland. It's been a whirlwind ever since! He is an amazing man, has a heart for God, and has quite an intriguing occupation! www.thirstmissions.org He has been a blessing in my life, and I have realized that God does answer prayers at just the perfect time. We have been able to see each other quite often - another blessing - but have unfortunately only taken a few pictures together!

So yes, I do have a boyfriend ladies and gentleman, and these are the first two, of many pictures, yet to come! Year 30 has definitely been the best yet!

This is a picture from my friend Leah's wedding. We met in Tulsa for the big event, and unfortunately, I cut off his head. The guy is 6'4" - not used to being around such tall people when trying to take pictures!
This picture is from two weeks ago, when I went to visit him in Minnesota. I took a few days off and enjoyed all the beautiful colors of fall. I posted some more pictures earlier on my blog - scroll down to see those.
God is good - Jason is a blessing - and I look forward to seeing what this chapter in life holds!

Pumpkin Patch 09

The weekend was finally here! It was time for the Pumpkin Patch and a Reunion. On Friday I drove up to Erin's house and headed up to Tyler with her and Greyson early Saturday morning. We met up with Heather and Brooklyn (3 yrs old-soon to be 4), Jen and Audrey (3 yrs old) and Abby (9 mo.), and then Erin and Greyson (4 yrs. old). I get thrown in as "Aunt Addie" and I loved every moment of it!

The weather was cool and humid - a perfect Fall day in East Texas! Take a look at the pictures and the memories we made on Saturday! I wonder how many new additions will be added by next year?!