Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas! Lance and I are very blessed - God has shown us once again how gracious He is - we hope that everyone can recognize the same feelings of peace and love that He shows us all every day.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
-Jessica and Lance

New Pics Coming Soon

I HATE that I cannot post pics on my blog from work. For some reason I can't view the same post options as I can from home, on our PC. That's why I've been such a slacker and haven't posted any pics for a while - because once I'm at home I barely get on the computer, since I'm on one all day at work. Sorry excuse, I know, but it's true.

Ugh.

But I do promise to try to remember to do a post from home this weekend. I have lots of new pictures to share. I don't even remember the last time I put some up here...

Anyway, I hope everybody's having a mahhhhhvelous week - ciao for now!

-JessWill

Five Things, continued

Okay, so I received another fun survey and thought this would be a good way to answer it. Besides, I know my friends are sick of receiving these kinds of things from me over email. Yup.

So here it goes:

FIVE THINGS YOU FORGOT TO DO TODAY

1) Shave my legs - my poor husband! I usually don't do that until the weekends because I could use that extra four minutes in the morning to sleep. And believe me, that extra four minutes makes all the difference. Cuz I am NOT a morning person. And again, I say - my poor husband!
2) Bring my lunch - I slept in late this morning (ugh!) so I didn't have time to stop in the kitchen on my way out the door. Luckily I have about 27 Lean Pockets in the freezer at work, from all those other days that Burger King or Arby's sounded better. Sometimes being a (former) fast-food-a-holic IS a good thing!
3) Bring a movie to a coworker to borrow that I've been promising for a week - I swear, I need to start setting everything out at night before bed because in the morning, the only two words that I can focus on are "shower" and "keys".
4) Mail a card to a friend - I was going to stick it in the mailbox before I left for work this morning, but... well, please refer to numbers 2 and 3.
5) It's only noon, so luckily anything else that may have slipped my mind before now will come to me before I go to sleep tonight. Unless, of course, it involves me making any sort of effort in the morning.

FIVE THINGS YOU WOULD BUY TODAY IF COST DIDN'T MATTER

1) An airplane - so I would never have to pay American Airlines or Continental to fly me to Texas again.
2) A pilot - well, please refer to number 1. I don't think having a big jumbo jet parked at the airport will do me much good.
3) A new house - closer to the city, with enough rooms for all the kids that we can now afford to have since money doesn't matter. Also a pool, a guest house, and a bad-ass kitchen. Oh, and a whirlpool tub and a... Well, you get the point.
4) Brad Pitt - only so I can watch him clean our new, aforementioned pool. With no shirt on. Actually, now that I think about it, let's go with a naked Brat Pitt cleaning my pool. Why? Because I can.
5) A new computer - I'm sick of having to restart our current computer every time we want to get on the internet. It kind of defeats the purpose of having high-speed internet if it takes you 19 minutes to restart every time, huh?

FIVE PLACES YOU WOULD VISIT IF YOU COULD LEAVE RIGHT NOW

1) Pangkor Island, Malaysia - cuz it rocks. And last time I went I forgot to buy the all-important shotglass to commemorate my trip. And a trip isn't a trip without a shotglass.
2) New York City - it's definitely on my list of places to see. And since I'm assuming cost doesn't matter on this one either (just because I like it that way) we'd stay near Central Park and see every Broadway show we could squeeze in. Oh, and bump into Matthew McConaughey a few times on Fifth Avenue.
3) The beach, any beach - because it's so darn cold here right now, the thought of being some place warm makes me happy. Not the thought of being in a bathing suit in public, of course, but I think sun trumps cellulite.
4) The church where my parents were married - it's always been on my list of places to visit, but every time we're in Houston we're busy with something else. They met there and sang in the choir there and did who-knows-what-else there - it'd be nice to see where the whole thing started.
5) Dallas - to tuck my nephew Quentin in to bed tonight. Cuz I miss him so much and I just want to see him again. Oh, and to see Erica and Joe too. Sorry guys, but now that he's here you're at the bottom of the list. I hate it for ya, but that's just how it's gonna be.

That was fun. If you have a blog, copy this quiz and answer it for yourself. And if you don't - well, email me your answers. I can't wait to see what everyone else will say. Pretty please!?! Come on, how can you deny a girl something as simple as this?? (I mean, I already know I'm not gonna get Brad Pitt - the least you could do is make it up to me by answering a stupid quiz).

Um, yeah.

-JessWill :)

Thank You

So I was thinking today of all of the people who make my life as wonderful as it is: family, friends, coworkers... And thought it would be a good time to say a few Thank Yous:

Thank you to my husband - for some reason, God has deemed me worthy of this man. He is literally the most patient, honest, thoughtful, doting, carefree, relaxed, and faithful soul I have ever met. I never thought that I would find my soulmate at this point in my life (I truly thought I'd be single for a few more years) - but Lance came into my life and I haven't looked back. I cannot imagine life without him, and I look forward to waking up next to him every day for the rest of my life. Thank you, Lance, for being you.

Thank you to my girlfriends - I am blessed with the absolute best and dearest friends I could ask for. They are my prayer partners, my shoulders to cry on, my EP-obsessed happy hour buddies, my "inside joke"-sters, my email pals and my make-me-forget-all-about-my-bad-day gals. I truly don't know what my life would be like without each and every one of them. I hope that they all know what a blessing they are to me, and that I consider them all my sisters. Thank you, friends, for being you.

Thank you to my parents - I feel blessed every day to have been raised by these two people. Every day in our house growing up was full of heartfelt laughter, passionate conversation, true interest in each other's lives, and a true sense of belonging and acceptance. I hope that someday I can pass on these qualities to my own children. I know that the close relationship that I have my parents is rare, and I fully realize what a blessing it is. They also provided me with the best gift possible: the example of a loving marriage. I am thrilled to not only be their daughter, but their friend. I can only hope that I have been as good of a daughter to them as they have been parents to me. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for being you.

Thank you to my sisters - oh, where do I even begin?? I'm getting a lump in my throat even thinking about these two women. I literally cannot think of a single day that one of my sisters has not lifted me up, encouraged me, laughed along with me, cried with me, or inspired me. Erica has truly been my soulmate since the day we were born. We learned each other's language before we could speak; we held each other's hands as we ventured into this big bad world together. I do not have one single childhood memory that does not involve her (when I tell childhood stories, I even say "we" instead of "I" because she was along side me every step of the way). She is interweaved into my life in a way that can never be undone. And Cynthia - she has blossomed into a confident, funny, outspoken, caring, nurturing, and loving young woman. Watching her grow up has been such a blessing; she has found her place in this world in a way that is inspiring. She makes me laugh every time we speak. She is the girl that I never was; the young woman that I always wanted to be. I hope she knows how special she is and what a mark she will leave on this world. Thank you, Erica and Cynthia, for being you.

Thank you to my coworkers - I spend more time with these people each day than anyone else, and I could not have picked a better group of people to spend my day with. From the laughter and the music-playing to the honest conversations and the encouragement, I appreciate each and every one of them. I have had so many heart-felt and enlightening talks with these people, and have learned so much about myself and about this world. This is the first time I have ever felt "at home" among my coworkers, and I thank God every day for the opportunity to come to work here with them. Thank you, Disciple Design, for being you.

Okay... well, I think that's a good place to end for today. Obviously there are many more people out there that I could write for hours about - but these are the people that make my world turn; the people who literally allow me to wake up every morning and smile.

Thank you, all, for being you.

-JessWill

A New Year, A Time for Change

Hello 2007! I really can't believe that the year is already over. It really does go by faster every year (wow, I really am starting to sound like my Mom) :)

So, we (Lance and I) have decided that 2007 is a year for change. We have a wonderful life - but know that there are a few things that we could be doing for ourselves to improve our outlook a bit.

We have already started a big change: we joined Weight Watchers in November with several friends, and so far have done very well. We managed to stick it out through the holidays, the hardest part of the year. My weight loss has varied according to many different scales, so I don't know an exact number - I just know that my pants are already fitting differently and in a couple of weeks I should be down a pant size! Whoo hoo! I'm really proud of both of us, and for our friends and family for making it easy on us through the holidays. I also took the step of joining Curves, a women's-only gym, last night. I really think it's going to be a motivating place for me to get healthy and start to work on having a body that I can be proud of.

We are also going to be taking more control of our financial future. We came into this marriage with some debt, and Lance has been diligent about doing what we could this past year to get us to where we need to be. We sat down last week and made a financial plan for the next two years. It will take some sacrifice on our part (no more vacations for awhile!) but we both feel like this is the time to make some changes. We got ourselves in this position, it's our job to get us out of it. In two years we plan on being absolutely debt-free (except for the mortgage and my car note) - and that will be the time to start looking for a new house. Two years sounds like a long way off, but it really isn't: two years ago from now we were newly-engaged and planning our wedding. Amazing, again, how time flies!

Beyond these two major changes this year, these are my New Year's Resolutions (they're not promises, they're goals - because a broken promise sucks):

1 - I will try to not yell at other drivers, even if I am cut off by someone not using a signal and turning from the wrong lane and blocking my way (I think I just described every Memphis driver).

2 - I will do a better job of telling my husband how much I appreciate all the special things he goes out of his way to do for me. I am so blessed to have such a sweet and doting husband - and I want to make sure that he knows how much all of those everyday things mean to me.

3 - I will do a better job of eating leftovers. I'm notorious for letting old food sit in the back of the fridge until it grows its own twin - and I will try to do better and not waste as much food.

4 - I will do small random acts of kindness. This is something that I used to do quite often, and I need to get back into the habit of passing on "happies" to strangers: give the person at the drive-thru window 5 extra bucks to help pay for the person behind me, let the person in line behind me at the grocery store with two items go ahead of me, etc. I think those little things add up - and I never know how that small act can change someone's entire day.

I'm sure there are plenty more, but I'll start there. I'll come back and add more as my list grows.

2007 is going to be a wonderful year, I can feel it. And I can't wait to see where it will lead!

-JessWill