Last weekend we went on a cruise with Melissa’s family, and it was a blast. Our ship set sail in Galveston and headed into the Gulf of Mexico toward Cozumel. We spent the day in Cozumel on Saturday. We had planned to snorkel, but unfortunately we couldn’t because of high winds. So we took a bus tour around the island instead. Cozumel is a beautiful island, and we got some great pics from our time there. It was our first cruise, so we didn’t know what to expect, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was fantastic, and the ship was really beautiful. So far, Noelle has been to St. Louis, Santa Fe, and Cozumel… we already have so many memories of her 26 weeks with us!

You can see more pics from the trip here.

This verse has helped us through much of this year. This has been a year of devastation, loss, and rebirth for our family. We lost both of Melissa’s grandmothers, an aunt, and two dear friends, Larry and Kyle. When we found out we were having a baby at the end of August, a breath of fresh air renewed us body and soul… amidst unthinkable losses yet to come. Thank God for little Noelle in 2005, already her young life has meant the world to us. And although we are exhausted from the humanity of 2005, we hope to never forget one of the many lessons this year has taught us: Life it sacred and should be embraced, cherished, and lived full out.

On a lighter note, we had a rockin’ time celebrating New Year’s Eve with our friends! Thanks Jon and Heather for hosting this year’s wonderfully amazing party – the decorations, dominos, games, “special punch”, snacks – it was all great! Our friends are so sweet – everyone toasted to Noelle via cups next to Mo’s belly! You guys are the best friends ever…

On December 27th, Mike and I traveled with his family to Wichita Falls to visit his Gran, Inez, and her husband, John. Inez and John were next door neighbors and over time, fell in love and got married. They are the cutest couple – so fun and relaxed. They eat at Picadilly Cafeteria EVERY day, so that is where we ate lunch; it was so cool – they love John and Inez so much there! This was the first time I have ever met Inez. Noelle’s middle name is Elizabeth, just like her great grandmother, Inez Elizabeth.

Inez has a genuine love and relationship with Jesus Christ. She spoke of him as a dear friend, so naturally, as someone sharing of a special loved one. She explained to us that she became a follower of Christ when she was walking to school one day when the hymn, “In the Garden” popped into her head. She quoted with hands swinging, “I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses; and the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses. And He walks with me and He talks wit h me, and He tells me I am his own, and the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.” She said it was in that moment she knew she belonged to God. I so enjoyed hearing her share the wonders of her past and her heart with us. Plus, she is remarkably funny and quite a character! I love her so much and feel so blessed to call her and John family.

Here’ s some pics from Christmas dinner at my parents’ house. My mom prepared a fantastic meal. Seriously, is there anything better than a turkey dinner with all the fixins? After dinner, we played an intense game of Chicken Foot dominoes. A fun way to end a great night!

If Melissa looks this cute with Jax, I can’t wait to see her with Noelle!!

I grew up in Jacksonville, TX, where my parents still reside. On the 22nd, we headed to the heart of East Texas for Christmas with the Banks family. Our holiday always starts out with getting our teeth cleaned by my dad, which is always so nice. Okay, on to explaining the next picture… we went to Santa Fe as a family for Thanksgiving, so Mom decided to take a break this year and not put up a tree. On Christmas Eve, Mom and I went to visit my Gran’s graveside, and when we returned, our mood was immediately lightened. John and Mike had gone into the woods behind our house and chopped down this tree. The huge colored lights are also the work of the boys.
They even included a family photo to top the tree and said we all were the “Star” this year…

John wrote a book in the 3rd grade called, “The Happy Christmas!” The story is about all of us siblings building snowmen and sledding, until John always somehow gets in trouble. He gets spankings throughout the book, and the story ends by saying he learned his lesson at home… not very happy, which makes the title so funny now. Throughout the book are halarious mispelled words and sayings like, “Michele was wearing her snow boats… I couldn’t believe it!” Every other page ends with, “I couldn’t believe it!” Reading this is one of our Christmas traditions – here is a picture of Brother John and me.

John’s major is construction science at A&M. He will graduate in May and has several amazing job offers – we are so proud of him! Anyway, he had the priviledge of working on an episode of this next season’s Extreme Makeover – Home Edition. He specifically worked with Ed, the British guy who has a shaven head, doing woodwork on an elaborate door, a special desk in the little boy’s room, etc. He was able to get several really cool decorative kid’s items for Noelle’s room from the muralist who he became friends with. Some of the cute stickers and things were in this stocking he made for Noelle – isn’t he so sweet!

When the kids of the house become adults, Santa does some crazy stuff. On Christmas morning, it appeared the only person Santa had come to see this year was my dad!!! And he even brought back a blast from the past – 1984 tennis trophy, video camera that is 10 times bigger than those today… incredible how Santa knew those things were cherished. Dad had some prior knowledge about several of the new things Santa brought – we’ll let that be his little secret.

I am a volunteer counselor at the Arlington Pregnancy Center and have been there for a little over a year now. We had our annual Celebration of Life Banquet and several hundred were in attendance… although I NEVER win anything, guess who won the door prize this lucky night – Oh yeah, that would be Mike and me. The prize was a Christmas lights tour by plane over DFW! My mom and brother John went with us on December 16th. Mike just got his new really nice camera (for the baby), technically known as the Canon Digital Rebel XT. He took this picture from the plane–
and here is the two of us getting excited before take-off. .
We had head sets to talk to each other and the whole deal – it was incredible, and we will never forget this experience!!!

We wanted to take the next few posts to catch everyone up on what’s been going on in our lives over the holidays… so we’ll start out showing the festivities with some pictures of a wonderful night we shared with our dear friends Ty and Elizabeth Kelly earlier in December. We had a holiday meal at our house, and busted out the Christmas music. The CD player didn’t stay on for long though, because one by one we all picked up Mike’s instruments and went to town. Those of you who know me well know I absolutely love music but can’t play an instrument for the life of me, so I always hold the friendly egg shaker… that’s my destiny, and I always embrace my cherished role in the mix. Plus, as only an egg shaker would be able to pull off, I managed to take a break and catch the action… so here are the cute pics… I love them so much because we were having such a blast together!

Here is the requested photo of my tummy taken the first week in December…