Chinese New Year is only two weeks away and somehow, someway we have a CNY event to go to nearly every weekend until the end of February.  Our Families with Children From China group has an amazing group of families on the north side of Houston.  The group is so big that they have broken into smaller groups for smaller events.  Because we are friends with several families on that side of town, we have participated with them more this year.  Today the festivities were kicked off with a late …

Right now my life is revolving around our Texas Fallen Heroes Memorial Ride & Cook-Off.  I eat, sleep, and breath this fundraiser pretty much non-stop.  It’s getting pretty old around this house and with my friends and family.  I’m pretty sure John is ready to shove me into the hall closet and I get the evil eye from Catherine.  While I am loving the experience of planning the event, I am about ready to get this behind me.  I’m way too stressed about how it’s going to turn out and …

Tonight I spent some time with a family that I met a short seven years ago.  I sat at the same dining room table in their home in which we planned their son’s funeral.  Seven years ago, I watched a mother stare blankly at a baked potato that her family was trying to get her to eat, barely able to concentrate on the arrangements we were discussing.  Seven years ago, his sister was so angered by the tragic circumstances of his death that those emotions were carried out onto me.  …

And it looks like this:

It has been freezing or near freezing temperatures in Houston for over a week now.  My birdbath is frozen solid.  We have a bucket on the back porch that is frozen.  This is just not right!  We live on the Gulf of Mexico where it’s warm most of the time and dang near too hot all of the other time.  It’s too cold to go outside to play, so Cat and I both have cabin fever.  Luckily school started back up for her, so at least …

There is always something so hopeful about the first day of a new year.  We pin our wishes and dreams upon the shiny, squeaky, clean year ahead.  We make promises and plans.  We want to be better, happier, and healthier.  So many possibilities and so many hopes tumble around in our thoughts as we think about that midnight hour and the many moments that fall after.
2009 was a good year for us.  It was the first full year that we had Catherine in our lives.  We traveled quite a bit.  …