My precious nephew Noah

This is my sister Libby's 3rd child. Sorry Tammi, I don't have any pics with Libby in them. I'll try and have her send me some :-) This was the first time I got to see him since he was born...10 days old!!! This was also the first time I wasn't at the hospital when she gave birth. The night he was born I was in a wedding and didn't even find out until late that night :-(

Oh how I love those little toes!!!

Whew!

Wow! What a weekend. We started painting our house Friday morning at 9 am and went everyday until about 7pm and FINALLY finished on Sunday. I can't even express how glad I am that all of that part is complete. I say "part" because there is still much to do. Most importantly we will be packing our apartment all week preparing to move this weekend. Needless to say, I will be so relieved when that part is done too. It has just been crazy.

We also couldn't have done this so quickly without our friends that helped. We hired an awesome painter named Saul and he works for himself and was so amazing!!! He was such a hard worker, and he worked FAST, AND he was GOOD! Not only was he all those things, he was such a nice, polite, respectful gentleman. He was literally a "god-send". I will forever recommend him so if you need a painter, please ask me and I will give you his number.

My sister Emily, my brother Ben and his girlfriend Neely, and good friends Brooke and Jason came to help paint also. We would not be finished this weekend without their help and we are soooo thankful!! Thank you so much guys :-) Seriously! You were also a "god-send" and an answer to prayer.

I decided not to post any more pics of the house because we will have a house warming party in a few months and I want all of you to come!! So...now you have to come ;-) Ahhhh...anyway...I am pooped and am going to bed. Much love :-)

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Genealogy software - Old family photos

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb

Need Prayer...Life Has Been A Whirlwind!!

Okay...I am pooped...seriously. Everything has been so crazy and hectic. I'm trying not to get overwhelmed and anxious. I feel like I'm completely lost. Now I'm speaking of my relationship with the Lord. A few months ago I dealt with something that was very painful. I didn't really know "how" to deal with it. I mean the most obvious solution is bring it to God and deal with it through Him. But I can honestly say now, that I didn't do that.

I didn't realize it at the time but I just kept my hurt, pain, anger and bitterness to myself. Overtime, it faded and then resurfaced...and still resurfaces. I'm having such a hard time doing the obvious thing...bringing it to the Lord. In the midst of keeping all this hurt, pain and anger to myself, my heart has grown numb and cold to the Lord.

I'm in that place where my mind knows truth, but my heart doesn't. In the meantime life has gotten hectic...adding distraction upon distraction to my already numb and distant heart. Every time I realize the state of my heart, I'm left with fear, emptiness, helplessness, numbness still, and I feel just lost and frozen. I hate this place...knowing what to do and knowing the "right answers" but still feeling and doing absolutely nothing!

I have faith and hope that this is a season and that I will not stay here. I feel uncomfortable even talking with Him. The enemy automatically tells me..."well you should considering you've ignored Him for so long." So I battle with the enemy and his taunting and most of the time it seems like he wins.

However, all of the distraction are wonderful and amazing gifts from God. There have been 3 babies brought into this world within in one week! My sister in law had her baby last week. My sister had her baby on Saturday night, and my best friend had her baby on Monday. All wonderful blessings and miracles. :-)

My sister in law's baby girl and my niece Evelyn ("Eve")

My nephew Noah

My best friend Lindsey's baby boy Luke

A good friend of mine got married this past weekend and I was a bridesmaid and it was so beautiful!

In May we purchased our first home and have been doing renovations ever since. We have to move out of our apartment by July 14th. We haven't started painting yet because we have been so busy. I need to start packing but so much of what needs to be packed we use every day. And since I'm not sure when we'll be ready to move in yet it's been a little crazy in my type "A" planning, organizing, controlling mind.

Since my sister has been in the hospital with her baby, we've been watching her dog and it has been a hoot! He is a golden retriever poodle mix and is still a puppy. Sadie just turned 1 yr in June so she's still barely a puppy. Anyway, they are officially "kissing cousins". They are both fixed but have still tried the "humpty dance" a few times. Every moment that they are out of their crates they are chasing each other, rolling around, playing, stealing toys from each other, etc. It is hilarious! A little crazy in this little apartment but still gives me joy to see them have so much fun. They are both in doggie heaven!

Sadie and Tucker

My job description at work has also changed a little. It's good stuff and I love it, but I still have a hard time with change. With my new "duties" I'm feeling some pressure so this definitely adds to my stress.

All in all...I'm crazy busy with many wonderful things, still need to deal with some heart issues, and feel very far from the Lord. If you think about me, please keep me in your prayers.

Painting Party!!!!

I have had several people ask me about when we are painting because they would like to help. First of all, I want to thank everyone for all the help that has been offered!! That really means so much to Zach and I and we are so grateful for your desire to help us. I know schedules may not always mesh to actually help when we do ask for it, but your support is simply amazing!!

We are hoping to move into the house no later than July 11th. That means everything needs to be painted by July 9th (because we will finish with the floors once everything is painted). I figured the weekend would be the best time to have a painting party. That leaves 2 weekends to paint!!

Zach and I will start this weekend on Sunday June 29th. If anybody would like to come help us paint then let me know :-) We will most likely be painting in the evenings throughout the week and would like to finish the weekend of July 4th. I realize most people have plans for that holiday weekend, but if we are not done painting and you would like to help that weekend let me know as well :-)

I just want to say Thank You Thank You Thank You to everyone who keeps up with the Faris Fam!

House Demo

Here is some of the demo that we've done so far...well, what Zach has done so far. I helped on what I could, but he has worked so hard! You've aleady seen some of these pics but I reposted them just to show a before and after to save you the scrolling up an down process a million times.

We took out this wall and are relocating it to the left of the microwave and stove cooktop.

Zach hard at work :-)

Here's the kitchen BEFORE the wall is removed...

And here it is AFTER the wall is removed. This opened it up so much and now our kitchen is soooo much bigger.

That blue tape on the floor is the general area that the island will go. We had some unexpected expenses that came up with moving the wall, so the island may have to wait a little longer.

No more arch opening :-( I wanted to keep it, but with the convincing of our contractor and Zach, I guess it's better this way.

Lovely previous termite trails as they ate the sheetrock. Don't worry, it's been taken care of.

BEFORE the wall is gone...

No more wall :-)

Here we took off the paneling. More to come!!!!

Kimmi's Bachelorette Party

So I've been a little behind on blogging. I've been busy with the house, so I just wanted to post some pics from my latest adventure. My friend Kimmi is getting married in 2 weeks and we had her bachelorette party on Saturday and we had a blast. We spent the day at a winery in Grapevine, got educated (a little), and got to taste some amazing wine...and some not so amazing wine. Later that evening we had dinner at the Gaylord and went dancing at the Glass Cactus. Well...not all of us were so brave in the dancing department. Here are some pics of our good time :-)

The beautiful bride to be coolin off Could we have some cheese with that wine?

Cute little Falon...always strikin a pose
The Matron of Honor, and the organizer of our big event :-)

Kimmi having a guy serenade her...one of her bachelorette scavenger hunt duties. This was not a hard one :-)

This guy was crazy! He had a different outfit and makeup for each song...some were a little scary.

Crazy dancin girls!

I finally decided to join in for a little bit!

What seemed like fun and a great pic...

Turned out to be a GREAT PIC! I actually got on it to get a silly pic, stepped off and they came tumbling down. Hahaaa! I'm still waiting on that pic...

We're buying a house!!!!!

Okay...let me just say we are soooo excited!! We are so picky and have looked for quite a while. We've been looking for an older home that was outdated and we've finally found it! This house was built in 1974. We LOVE the older charm that it naturally has and we can't wait to fix it up! Since we refuse to go into debt to update it, we will be doing it slowly over time.

This is in Highland Village in a beautiful area. These homes were originally built by people in Highland Park as 2nd homes by the lake (Lake Lewisville). Eventually they were added onto or updated into homes people now live in. This area is so beautiful and has so many huge trees and is right by the lake. Many are on the lake but ours is not. But it's so close we could walk to it :) I love this neighborhood!!!

It is so hard to not do it all at once. All of this has happened so fast! We found this house 2 weeks ago and are closing on the 28th of May. Wow!!! God graciously provided in such a huge way and I feel like I don't deserve it.

I know Sadie will love her new backyard and we will love not being in an apartment!!! Brace yourself...I've posted some pics..hahaaa! We love it!

Our 1st cute little home!!

The back of the house.

I love this little storage shed!!! My favorite part is that it matches the house:)

The entry way.

Leaving the entry way and going straight into the living room.

The "addition", or family room, or game room that will eventually will lead out to the deck.

A nice little vanity room that needs a paint job :)

The Master Bedroom.

One of the bedrooms that was apparently one of the baby's rooms...so cute:) But we'll be painting it!

The "Jack & Jill" bathroom that connects the 2 bedrooms.

The master bathroom view from the hallway.

In the living room, looking at where you just came from...the hallway :)

Coming out of the game room into the living room...

The fireplace in the living room.

View into the kitchen.

Lovely cabinets huh??

The tiny kitchen that WILL be redesigned and updated
at some point :-)

Oh the lovely 1970s appliances :)

In the kitchen looking at the door leading out to the carport...AND at my neighbor Lindsay who lives next door to me at our apartments AND that I will miss being next door to!

Last but not least...this is the view from the kitchen.

Tinker Bell...

Let me introduce you to Tinky. May be you've met her or maybe you haven't. If you have, you most likely grew to love her. I have had Tinky since I was 16 years old. She has always been such a sweetheart. She literally is the perfect cat...soooo loveable, so sweet and all she wanted was to cuddle and eat. Yes...she was a fat cat. The most she ever weighed was 21 lbs. But I finally got her on a diet many years ago and she lost weight. She never weighed less than 17 lbs.

A little over a week ago, I took her to the vet because she wasn't herself. She stopped eating, lost alot of weight and just became really lethargic. They told me she had a heart murmur and was in chronic kidney failure. It was either try treatment or put her to sleep.

I started treatment with her last Friday, which included fluid injections with her at home on top of medication. After home treatments and several days at the vet being treated, Tinky did not improve enough, and had gotten worse in other areas because her kidneys shut down. After all of this treatment and talking with my vet it was time to let her go. It was hard. I even had 2nd thoughts when I brought her to the vet on Thursday to say goodbye. But in the end, I held her as she went to sleep, and held onto her for about another 10 more minutes, rocking her, kissing her head and crying and talking to her.

This experience has been trying, exhausting, sad and hard. I have had Tinky since I was 16 years old and she is my baby. I love her very much and I will miss her dearly. She is the sweetest thing and is the biggest cuddle bug! I just wanted to share this with you.

Tinky's favorite position :-)

Core Chiropractic is so good to us :)

So I work for Core Chiropractic and Physical Therapy and have for about 2 1/2 years now. We have 4 offices in Coppell, Flower Mound, Las Colinas and Keller. I just have to say...I love my job. We have 6 chiropractors,  and 2 of which started the practice about 12 years ago. It all started with Dr. Ward and Dr. Schnappauf. As long as I have worked here they been nothing but good to us. All of the chiropractors who work here are amazingly smart men and are so good at their passion. About twice a year they take us out for an amazing meal to say "Thank You". We go to either Pappas Steakhouse or Nick and Sams in Dallas. This last Wednesday we went to Nick and Sams and it was so wonderful!! Here's just a few pics :)Molly and Peter Abrigg. Molly is the Office Manager at our Keller office. How cute are they?My hubby and I :-)Dr. Nimphius takin on that massive steak! Look at that!This is me and Randee (Dr. Ward's wife). She is a chiropractor as well and does acupuncture too in Denton. She is super sweet!Dr. Griffeth takin on some chocolate cake...It was soooo good!

For all you Dog Lovers :)

Indecisive is my middle name ;-)

So my friend Lindsey and I made the trek out to the fabric store in Ft. Worth (Cabbage Rose Quilting) this weekend. I found my fabric, and after seeing it spread out, AND seeing all the other AMAZING patterns, I'm not so sure I will use this fabric for my duvet. It's amazing how fabric looks laid out. The one's you think you'll love, you don't love as much. And the one's you don't think you'll like...you love! Anyway, I did find a duvet cover at Crate and Barrell that i like. So I may not make one...but I WILL be make something...whether it be a shower curtain or pillows. I don't know yet. I just love that store! Driving by, it just looks like an old ghetto building fom 20 years ago, that may actually be closed down. But then you walk inside it's a whole different story.

They had so many cute things...Agghh! I found myself thinking off all the stuff I could make and just went crazy in my head. First...I need to learn all there is to sewing. I'm hoping my Mom will help with that. Anybody else sew??? I actually have an old sewing machine that my grandmother gave me :-)

I can't decide!!

So I saw all these AMAZING fabrics on Molly's page and just in time! I have been looking for a new duvet cover for months and I'm just not thrilled with anything in the stores :-( But these fabrics are awesome so I'll just make my own! I found this at Cabbage Rose Quilting and Gifts. It is called Sun Drop Medallion Mint.

Anyway, this will be the bottom 3/4 of the duvet and I think I want a lighter solid color on the top 1/4. Antique white? The yellow/gold in the pattern? A light green? A light golden orange? Mind you, I already have yellow/gold curtains. Do I make the opening with buttons on top where the two fabrics meet? Or on the bottom on the underneath side? Anybody have any suggestions? I know this is a crazy pattern but I love it! And surprisingly Zach liked it :-) I'll post the link on my page so you can check it out :-)

Oogey Alert!

Sadie wants so much to be part of our family she just has to be in on ALL the action! She's a little insecure...actually I think she's just jealous of me and is trying to cut in! Just like a jealous woman...hahaaaa!

Scarborough Faire 08

So we went to the Scarborough Faire last weekend and had a lot of fun. Zach loved this place as a kid and was so excited about it! It was a beautiful day and we got to see several comedy shows, people watch, and I got to have some yummy dark beer...Mmmm. We had a great time! Later that night, Zach said he was probably a closet Medieval Times/Renaissance character...hahaaa!!! I am not the least bit surprised :-)

Yah...this guy was a little nutty...but he was funny!

Isn't she cute??!!

What is this?

She was just sooooo curious :-)

Sadie's discovery of snow!! I know I have my dog on here alot :-) That's what happens when you don't have kids I guess. You goo and gaa over your dog...hahaaa. She makes me laugh! Plus, I think she's just darn cute :-)

Sweet Hubby

My sweet husband helped me with my blog page. He's so good :-)

Do I have to?

Aauuggghh...I don't want to wake up yet. Okay...maybe my bed is just a little too comfortable. I have a serious problem with being late to everything! I have such good intentions of waking up in plenty of time to get ready, but I just get up, snooze several times, crawl back under those comfortable covers, curl up and go right back to sleep. Only to get waken up again 10 minutes later to snooze again. I even have 2 alarms doing this! I know...I've read that snoozing only makes you feel more tired throughout the day...but I still do it.

Then! Even when I actually DO get up the 1st time my alarm goes off...I'm still late. I was thinking about it, and if I have more time, I just take my time. I can rush if I have to, but when I have all the time in the world, I find other things I can accomplish (after all...I'm up earlier...Now I can do these things) and I just take my time.

See...a friend of mine told me she only allows herself (Brittany!) 30 minutes to get ready in the morning. 30 minutes???!!! Ya...that's what I said. She said she tries and is just naturally efficient at everything she does. Well...that is an amazing quality and discipline. It really challenged me so I tried it. I didn't quite make 30 minutes, but I was able to do 45 min. Once! Then I realized that I just like moseying around taking my time getting ready and enjoying the morning. So here I am at the crossroads...stay with who I am and what I enjoy? Or adopt this discipline into my life to allow more time with the Lord in the mornings?

Anyway...another day in the mind of Niki :-)

Little Nugget

So...I have to confess. Many times when I read scripture and come to the verses that are quoted all the time, and as Matt would say...all over coffee mugs and t-shirts, I tend to skim over it like I've heard it a bazillion times. My mind actually says "blah blah blah" and I keep going. Did I just say that out loud? Oh well. Anyway, today I was reading Proverbs 3 and came across verses 5 and 6. Verses I know AND love, but still one of those I skim over and blah blah blah.

"Trust in the lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths" Proverbs 3:5,6

But as I read it over and over... God showed me more. And when he did, part of me didn't want to really listen and wanted to just keep going. Maybe everyone else has already discovered this, but this is what he showed me:

Niki...In what areas of your life are you leaning on your own understanding? And in effect, not trusting in the Lord? In what areas are you not acknowledging God? And then simply...God will make your paths straight.

Something so simple and something I've heard more than once, yet something so enlightening and a little scary when revealed to you by the Spirit of God. Maybe I skim over stuff b/c I don't want to really look at that part of my heart and really deal with it?

So now as I read that verse, I see it so differently. Praise the Lord for that little nugget!

Ratatouille!!

So our little Sadie ate a dead rat yesterday. Yep...a rat. Gross I know. It was bigger than a mouse and not full grown so the vet thinks it was a baby rat. Our apartments are right next to a large field so we get those little suckers sometimes (not IN the aptartments, just on the grounds).

Anyway, she got it in her mouth and took off because she knew she wasn't allowed to have it. Our little one can definitely be defiant sometimes. Because she knew she was in trouble, she swallowed that thing whole! Crazy dog. I learned that rodents carry a nasty bacteria that cause kidney and liver failure so I immediattely had to take her to the vet. There's also the danger of rat poison in the rat.

So Sadie got her little tummy pumped. Well...they induced vomiting. How do you induce vomiting in a dog? I'm glas you asked...they put this medication in her eye and let it work! I've never heard of that either.

When the vet finally called me, he said..."Yep...it was definitely a rat, and it definitely came out...all intact in one piece!" He said it shot out and almost hit one of his technicians in the face! Ha ha! He said it was pretty gross but also funny.

But she's doing great now, and hopefully she's learned from this little experience! I hope I din't ruin anyone's breakfast, lunch or dinner ;-)

Amazing Love on Valentines Day

I've been reading this book called "Secrets of the Secret Place" by: Bob Sorge. It's a book about keys to ignighting your personal time with God. It has been so wonderful to read it! The chapters are very short and the book offers so much grace in many wonderful truths!

Today the chapter was "The Secret of Feeling Attractive to God". What a day to read it on Valentines Day! For those of us who struggle with knowing God's personal love for us, and have a hard time accepting his grace, all the while trying to please him still to earn His love, I thought I'd share this with you. I picked some truths from the book. Sorry for it's length but I had a hard time picking and choosing what to leave out. I would like to rename the chapter however...


The Secret of KNOWING You're Attractive to God:

The accuser wants you to see a Father who is harsh, demanding, never satisfied with your performance, mostly disappointed with you, and frustrated with the rate of your spiritual growth. (Most of this keeps us out of the secret place with God, running from Him instead of TO Him)

But God is smiling on you! He desires your company and He longs to be intimate with you!

When you know you are attractive to God, you come into His presence with boldness, with a lifted face, with expectant eyes, with a delighted smile, with an eager voice, and with a burning heart. Hear this...He doesn't enjoy you any less because you struggle! He knows your weakness, he sees your failures, but yet He owns you as His child and enjoys you even when you fall! He loves to pick you up (or wach you get up) and watch you keep stepping forward again and again into His arms. A picture God gave me while reading this...He is standing there with a smile on His face, in loving adoration and arms open wide waiting to embrace us! He enjoys us at every stage of the maturity process.

Moms...you probably know what this is like as you watch your little ones struggle to learn to walk. I love this picture! Even though they may attempt those 1st little steps and fall down, you are so excited and jump for joy and have such an explosion of excitement and joy. You don't get frustrated with them...you eagerly and lovingly wait and anticipate their next steps, knowing they will get stronger and stronger.

"Set me as a seal upon your heart!" Song of Solomon 8:6. In other words, "Cause your life to be bound up in mine. Cause the primary affections of Your heart to be fastened upon me."

God feels much more deeply and passionately about me than I do about Him. Even when our passions for Him are burning hot and bright for Him, they do not approach the intensity of His love for me/us. Although the busyness of life may take our thoughts and attention away from Him, He NEVER stops thinking about me/us! When we return to thoughts of Him, the immediate witness of the Spirit is, "I've been here all along, waiting for you. I love you so much!"

He wants you to come into the secret place. He has been waiting for you, and He will continue to wait for as long as necessary. May you have grace from above to truly own the reality of this powerful secret: God finds you attractive!

Pathetic

Can someone please help me with this thing? I have no idea how to do all this stuff! Layout? There's too many options :-(

Isn't he adorable XOXOXO

Since I’m a little behind on blogger, I thought I’d catch up and add some pics from our Cancun trip from Summer 2007. We stayed at a pretty cool all-inclusive hotel called “Oasis Viva Beach”. For those on a budget, it was great! They had 3 different restaurants and they switched up the variety and menu every night. And not to mention the food was actually good. Zach loves authentic local places so we still got to do that, but everything was worth it. We were within walking distance from the main area with all the restaurants, shops, etc. We’d definitely go back!

This is our night out at the beach just hangin out

The view from our room

Zach almost eating it...Ha! Just kidding. It was totally posed after he really did almost eat it and I wasn't quick enough with my camera. Pretty good eh?

Mmmmmm...Sushi and a cocktail anybody?

This was our little beach area where we spent the most of our time

Our night out at Coco Bongo!! Talk about crazy! Doors open at 11pm and party goes on until 6am. We definitely could not hang...but it was pretty cool. It was literally a constant Vegas show. Well...about as Vegas as Cancun could do. But it was pretty fun :-)




Ahhhh...the beach...I actually got in the water! For those of you who know me, that is a pretty big accomplishment...Jaws...du nuh du nuh..hahahaaa

This is a random pic from our honeymoon. Black hair? What was I thinking?