Back to the Basics

So I've had an annoying amount of creative energy wanting to be released, but seemingly as usual, I don't have any place to put it right now! Christmas helped a lot as buying and wrapping gifts and all the festivities that go along with Christmas helped spend that energy in a positive way, but now that things have settled back down again, I feel like I'm living someone else's life as the things that are important to me just haven't really fallen into place yet. I've been in writer's block mode for a while now...really since Christmas...as there is so much complication that I really don't have anything I can simply write about.

A lot of change is happening, but none if it is clear enough yet that I can share.

In a brief summary of the rest of our lives, we are about 70% of the way through finishing up the show. Still a lot of work to be done, but we're definitely past halftime. We've got one more travel trip to Colorado on the horizon and Derrick is currently in north Texas filming a 24 hour coyote competition, but other than that, the traveling is wrapping up. The show has aired 4 weeks, and all the episodes have been great. Once 6 weeks is done, the whole 6 weeks will rerun and then a new 7 weeks will begin and then rerun through June. I'm not going to lie, we will be so happy to finish up this project. It has taken every ounce of our energy and way more of our money than we'd planned. I'm ready to have a life and husband back. I'm sure we will look back on it as a positive thing in our lives, but we're ready to go out to dinner and a movie without feeling guilty that we're not spending our evening editing film or filming interviews or something. The reality of making a TV show is 20 million times harder than you'd think. Derrick is grateful he had this opportunity though, and therefore, I'm excited for him. He always tells me "Just think about when I get to tell our kids that their mommy was on National TV before they were even born. They won't believe it!" haha

Other than that, we're just plugging along at work where our company is setting records every month and growing faster than manufacturing can keep up. In a world where there is so much instability and financial distress, we're grateful for that blessing. Most companies can't say that their supply can't keep up with the national demand!

Lastly, I am reading Basic Christianity by John Stott. Through a really odd but really awesome friendship I've been forming long distance with a girl from Chicago, I've been provided the challenge of digging into the basics of my beliefs and going back to the groundwork of what Christ has done for me. Through the confusion of my life and the confusion of some of the things the Lord is doing in my life right now, this has been a positive thing. He knew I needed to remember what I believe and WHY I believe it; therefore, I believe He has provided this friendship for me that has both encouraged me and challenged me. I've also been spending some time with The Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell which was written by a pronounced atheist whose goal it was to research in order to prove Christianity a farse. However, through his research, he came to the undeniable conclusion that Christianity could only be true. Basically, the book is kind of like a text book. An 800 page compilation of his years of research. Definitely one for the bookshelves to have as reference material. Excellent stuff.

"You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You." -Augustine

Christmas has come and gone. Always a bittersweet moment as Christmas is FUN but I'm sad when its over. I'm that person that leaves their Christmas tree up until January 15th or so...until we decide its kind of ridiculous that its still up :) Christmas was BUSY but FUN as usual. We had the Hiller family Christmas on Friday night and got see cousins we haven't gotten to see in a long time. Good times!

My cousin, Kheili, bought Jason a pair of his goofy glasses since he lost his others when they were hanging out together in Austin. He was a little bit too excited haha

Grandpa & Grandma with Will & Megan's kiddos...Eli, Layelah, & Lily

The remote control car Eli got was the hit of the party. Addi decided that she really did need one too :)

Ryan, Amy, & Addi

Mom did a beautiful job decorating the house preparing it for Christmas!

Saturday morning was Christmas with my family. Its always a nice, low key time with my parents and brother. Santa (my parents) were awesome to us this year. We got lots of beautiful things for home!

Lots of BIG gifts this year! 

Can't have Christmas without eggnog! :) (I know I just got a bunch of ewwwwws lol)

Jason's wrapping job. What's wrong with Wall Street Journal wrapping paper? 

My wonderful parents...they blessed us this year for Christmas!

The 3 of us...

Christmas Eve night was spent at Daddy Don's...my dad's dad's house. This is always one of my favorite Christmas get togethers as I love to catch up with the Kaspar cousins. We've always all got a long so well and its great to see everyone. And, now we have a baby to add to the mix and Baby Arthur is so incredibly cute!!

My beautiful mom with Baby Arthur and my Aunt Josh (now Mama Josh) :)

Settlers of Catan! A new time consuming hobby for many of us

Uncle David's crew....Claudio & Baby Arthur, Carli, Aunt Josh, Uncle David, Joey, and Russell

Christopher always treats us to beautiful Christmas carol piano music every Christmas!

Me & My Love

One of my favorite families in the whole wide world! What a special crew!
Christopher, Aunt Laura, Kyle, & Uncle Doug! 

OK...so what's next. Ah yes! We left Daddy Don's at about 10:30pm and started our 5 hour drive headed north. Derrick drove for a while then got sleepy so I took over for only about 45 minutes then he woke up and was wide awake so he took us on in...arriving in Boyd at about 3:30am. Fortunately, we got to sleep late. We had lunch at Nanny's and then came home to open Christmas gifts since Logan & Kelly had Christmas morning at her family's house. 

The original Ratliffs :) What a cute family!! 

Logan & Kelly! Adorable!

Me & My Man...isn't he handsome?! :)

And last but not least.....Austin

Looks like a golf club and golf ball, but it was actually a wrapping paper cardboard with CDs taped to it. Creative Austin...

Derrick got a weed eater! He was so excited!

The coolest gift of the weekend! Logan, Kelly, & Austin worked together to make us these handmadeAggie washerboards. Soo cool!

Remote control helicopters for all her boys was a huge hit 

What a fabulous Christmas. So many blessings...both tangible and intangible. Thank you to all who helped make it special. Merry Christmas & Happy 2012!