Today's Coffee: Butter Rum Creme (with some decaf thrown in)

Well, after yesterday's post about the craziness of everything I think I should put up a post that isn't so down. Also, I think I should post more. More things are happening in our lives and the people that love us deserve to know about them (and not find out 6 months later). 

So, New Year's came and went and I'm already back at school thinking about the next concert or program; and Thomas is practicing away for his recital and competitions but we did talk about resolutions. Some years I think these are really silly. I think them up, write them down and then forget about them in mid-February and don't think about them again until the next New Year's. But, I know this about myself so I usually pick things that I know I can do so that I don't feel bad one year later. Well, this method is certainly not fulfilling because I don't actually change that much. But not this year. I am going to strive to actually change and be a better person, friend, wife, follower of Christ and soon - a momma!

One thing that is always on my list is to do better with devotionals and Bible reading. And it is there again this year. With Thomas' help and some amazing friends - I know this is possible. I don't want to be a lukewarm Christian. I want to be a wise and godly woman for Thomas and my family and for God's glory. 

I have also decided to do better about meal planning. How many times is this a topic of conversation between married (and single) folks. I found a great website - recommended by Dave Ramsey - Emealz.com. For $1.25 a week - they make a menu for you, give you a grocery list and how much each item costs. Oh yea - they specify it by grocery store and even break your grocery list down by aisle types. Amazing! With our crazy schedule of Thomas' school, me teaching, private lessons and rehearsals - Thomas and I often end up eating out or eating junk much too often. We think that this is so because when we come home from a busy day we don't have the energy to come up with a dinner plan and then make it. But this website does all the dirty work for you. (There's a promo code on Dave Ramsey's website so we only pay about $0.90 a week!)

Thomas and I also feel that we are TERRIBLE at communicating with family and friends. We will be keeping up better this year with everyone. We will write letters, emails, facebooks and skypes more often because we really do love everyone - but being 900 (or just 2) miles away can be really tough. We want to stay better in contact with everyone and now we hope we will. 

We feel that really good things can come from these 3 resolutions. We know that the Lord can work in us great things and we hope that we can start truly doing them and seeing the fruit.

We went to another doctor's appointment today - baby's heartbeat is fine, my blood pressure is fine but I think I gained too much weight over the airport and SC adventure. So, here's to walking up and down the stairs again at work. :)

I hope that everyone is doing well!

In Christ,

The Russells

Today's Coffee: Not sure, Thomas made it...

Happy New Year! Here we are in 2011 already! It's insane! Lots has been going on in the past several weeks. I know I don't update this blog enough - but I'm sure that is about to change once we have our little buddy Wilson to be the star of this blog! :)

A brief review of the past weeks you might find interesting since we went back to SC to visit family and friends. I won't delve into the whole long story - just enough to hit the highlights.

December 25th - Christmas Day
Thomas and I open our gifts from each other while drinking amazing Butter Rum Creme Coffee. We have the Nutcracker on in the background and the lights all lit up on the tree. We read the Christmas story and then hurry to get dressed to go to the Christmas morning church service. After the service we have a wonderful British Christmas dinner with the Holst's. We keep checking the weather because a terrible blizzard has been forecasted and we are worried about our plane tickets.

December 26th - Sunday
We know that at 3 pm the blizzard will be starting - but we hustle and get all our luggage and stuff ready so that we can leave straight from the church service. As soon as we get in our car (thankfully we bought a Honda CRV and were not driving our little white Escort) it starts snowing. We hit the road at 11:30 am for JFK airport. We arrive safely even though we drove the whole way in the accumulating snow. We park our car in long-term parking and shuttle over to the airport. After security and checking in we have about 4 hours to kill before our 6:39 pm flight to Charlotte. (We are skeptical because 70% of all flights have been canceled by this point).
We hang around at our gate just waiting and waiting. Around 7 pm we find out that our plane is finally there and they are doing the crew change. At 7:15 pm they cancel our flight - only giving us a 1-800 number to call to re-book. No vouchers or anything. Thomas immediately gets on the phone while I try not to cry. We make our way down to baggage claim and wait until about 8:15 pm for our bags to show up. Since we are no longer in the actually airport we have to hang out in the check-in area. The earliest flights they could put us on were starting on Wednesday. Thomas snags one out of LaGuardia the next morning at 6 am (which is canceled 2o minutes later). We get in line for Subway (about 10:30 pm at this point) and eat whatever kind of flatbread sandwich they have enough toppings for and settle in up in British Airways check-in. Thomas is able to get us on a flight that leaves Tuesday night at 7:30 pm from Newark Airport. With no where to go or stay or any ability to get anywhere we were one of the thousands stranded that Sunday night. We find some carpet to lay on (around midnight) and try our best to fall asleep. We woke up often and around 5 am just decided to get up. People were sleeping everywhere. It was crazy.

December 27th - Monday
We wait until about 6:30 am to venture down to see if Subway is open. We have basically the same sandwich as last night but with egg and they had coffee. We talked and waited and waited because we needed a shuttle to get to Newark Airport. They would pick us up around 1:30 and we only had time to kill. We eventually were able to snag a chair for me. When I came back from my walk Thomas had it. It was the most amazing moment (it felt at the time) in my life. I could now sit in a chair as opposed to the floor. We went down to ground transportation at 1:15 pm to wait for the shuttle. They showed up around 2:15 pm. (Mind you - it was freezing down there, the doors kept opening and it was still crazy outside). We started on our way (we had reserved a hotel for us for Monday night) and about 10 minutes into the drive to NJ our driver drives straight into a snow bank. This is after 10 minutes of telling us that he knows how to drive in the snow - and no one else can. Hmphf. We waited about an hour and fifteen minutes with him driving us more and more into the snow. Thomas and the other woman on the shuttle had to get out and push. Finally we have it and get to Newark Airport about 5:15 pm. We then wait on an AirTrain to take us to the correct terminal so we can wait for the Ramada shuttle. After about an hour we finally get on a shuttle only to get stuck again. Except this driver was no nonsense. We met a family from Scotland on this shuttle. We finally get to the hotel and go upstairs. We were so tired I think we were asleep by 9:15 pm.

December 28th - Tuesday
We wake up around 7:00 am because we want to get breakfast and get on stand-by for as many flights as possible before our 7:30 pm flight. We eat pancakes in the hotel restaurant - amazing. We then wait for the Ramada shuttle to take us back to the airport. With many many many other people. We miss the first shuttle (people were packed like sardines) and wait for the next one. Out Scottish friends are there. They have already missed 2 shuttles and since they have a small child, a 10 yr old and lots of luggage people kept pushing past them and they couldn't ever get on one. We decided that we would help them. When the next shuttle came (45 minutes later) Thomas grabbed some of their luggage and blocked the door so that the dad could carry the rest on. His wife kept shouting "We have a pregnant woman here - let her on" - and eventually we were all on - packed like sardines. Once we got to the airport we found out that our flight might be canceled already. We waited in the long line and found this to be true. There were no other flights they could put us on except for one at 9:15 pm into Raleigh (which got canceled anyways). We spoke to a manager and made sure we could get refunded for our tickets, called the shuttle service and got ourselves back to JFK, then took another shuttle to our car and started driving at about 4:30 pm. We drove until midnight - stopped at the first hotel we could find and stayed there. Traffic was awful and the roads were awful.

December 29th - Wednesday

We woke up at 6:30 am and got on the road by 7:15 am. Drove and drove and finally made it home to South Carolina!!!! :)
We see the immediate families and it was wonderful!

December 30th - Thursday
We have some family pictures taken - of me with my big 'ole belly and the love of my life and then have a baby shower later that evening at the Brick Street Cafe.

December 31st - Friday
Lunch with a friend from school and then a big Wilson Christmas at my uncle's house

January 1st - Saturday
Lunch with Grandparents and more visiting of friends then popcorn night.

We left the next morning after church and drove to visit my Granny in VA then finally made it back to CT. So, long story short (too late, I know) - I am exhausted! More to come later about our new menu planning and New Year's Resolutions.

In Christ,
The Russells