Christmas 2008 - Present Time

We spent Christmas with my family this year and it was wonderful to get to be with Emma on Christmas morning. I just kept saying, "to be 6 again..." all morning long. She was so sweet and caring and thankful for everything.

This first picture is actually Christmas Eve after she had opened up her AG pajamas that came with a matching pair for her AG doll.

Here is a picture of Matt and I in our Christmas Eve pajamas. They usually are matching, but this year Mom just got similar ones! It is a GREAT tradition!

Here is Emma and I in our pajamas!

Here is Matt going to get Emma out of the bedroom, so she can see what Santa brought her!

And here they are as Emma sees that Santa brought her Nelly the AG doll!!

Every year that we are with my parents on Christmas morning, we play some sort of money game. This year, we all three (Matt, Emma, and I) got to each pick 4 bags. Each bag contained some amount of money in it. I think Matt and, together, got nearly $70!

And now... Every year, Mom makes us neatly pile all of our presents together and take our pictures with our presents..

It was a great Christmas!!

Christmas 2008 - Gingerbread Houses

Here are a few pictures of our Gingerbread Houses. Every year, Jenn comes over and we make Gingerbread Houses. Since we are all getting older, we are going to do a Gingerbread House Challenge - like a Food Network Challenge - next year. There are even going to be prizes!

Hannah's Gingerbread House

My Gingerbread House

Maddie's Gingerbread House

Sarah's Gingerbread House

Jennifer's Gingerbread House




Emma's Gingerbread House

Give me a 'Woo-Woo!'

NO SCHOOL FOR CORI TOMORROW!!!

We got out of school at 2:00 and I came home (well, went to the grocery store first) and put my pj's on! I don't plan on getting out of them for a couple of days! So far so good... Springdale cancelled school for Tuesday... Possibly Wednesday?!?!

GIVE ME A 'WOO-WOO!'

Pressure

From Matt
Mom and Mischelle, at least, will know the Billy Joel song to which this posting's title refers... I, as anyone who knows me well will attest, do not handle stress very well. It takes a bit to get me stressed - I multitask relatively well and can usually completely unwind with a Diet Mountain Dew and thirty minutes of MASH. However, as Cori posted last night, I am now facing one of the most stressful times in my life. I am graduating from law school in May - that, in and of itself, is only moderately stressful. I have to take the Bar Exam in July - again, only moderately stressful. The thing that is eating away at me, however, is the fact that I don't have a job yet.

I know it is easy to say, "It's only January - why are you so worried?" But -- again, as anyone who knows me well can testify -- I am a planner. I like to plan - my day, my week, my month, my semester, my year, my life... I'm a planner. And not being able to make a plan is killing me! I can't plan for Cori's next school year because we don't know where we'll be living. I can't plan for our post-Bar vacation because I don't know if whatever employer I have at that point will let me have another week off. I can't plan for children or a dog because I don't know if I'll have a job that will allow me to support either of them. I can't plan... And it is literally eating me up inside (seriously, I think an ulcer is in my immediate future). I live, as I said in my Facebook status the other day, in a state of perpetual anxiety. I think about this ALL THE TIME! The only relief I get is during Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, ER, and Fringe - a blissful hour at a time without worrying about my family's future...

I received other good advice from my sister - she told me that God has a unique way of taking a person's plans and turning them upside-down to provide something even better. Okay - that sounds great. However, I don't have any plans. I want to know something about my future with Cypert Crouch (the law firm I'm clerking for during law school) so that I can start to make plans for God to turn upside-down! Anyways...

This has also been an amazing example of God trying to get my to trust Him. And I do. I really do trust Him to set my life on the path that He has chosen for me. However, my inner trust seems to constantly conflict with my equally strong inner worry and inner impatience. While I KNOW that whatever happens will be the right thing, I NEED to know what is going to happen "sooner rather than later" (which, by the way, is when my boss told me we would discuss a job).

My dad always said that "worry is interest paid on something that probably won't happen." I, however, still worry. I think it's the C part of my OCD tendancies... I get something -- like my fear and stress over not having a job -- stuck in my mind, and I can't find a way to let it go. So - I'll continue to worry for the time being. And I hope that my friends and family, as Cori asked, will continue to pray for us. A direction, a plan, a sign... Something to set my mind at ease - that's all I really need.

Enough ranting - I have work to do and a potential snow day to look forward to! Maybe the next time I post something, it will be to tell you all that your prayers paid off - we'll see! More later...

Future of the Fryar Family...

As many of you may know, Matt will be graduating from law school this May. It is that time in his life where he must transition from being a college student to being a "grown-up." I think it is a well-needed transition for Mr. Fryar, but the process is very difficult. See he cannot go through this transition UNLESS a job opens up for him! That is where all of my blog followers come in... He needs prayer... We need prayer... Matt needs prayer because he is so stressed beyond belief by not having a job when many of those around him already do. Please just pray that Matt will get a job at a firm where he is supposed to be. If that is with Cypert Crouch then FANSTASTIC... If that is with Walters and Gaston in Greenwood, AR, then FANTASTIC... If it is with a firm down in Little Rock, AR, then FANTASTIC... He just needs to be in the environment that God wants him to be in. Even if it means me leaving Lee, I will be okay with it (pray for that, too)!

25 Things You May Have Never Known About ME!!!

Ok, so I saw this on my sister-in-law's blog and thought it might be fun... So, here we go!

1.) I love the taste of room temperature water - I prefer it this way!

2.) I was once the president of my high school choir.

3.) I absolutely love McDonald's french fries and desperately wish they were only 2 points on WW.

4.) I know the Thriller dance thanks to my wonderful aerobics instructor.

5.) I went to an economics workshop recently and am now totally in love with economics!

6.) I can't just sit on the couch when we have a fire going. I must be laying in front of the fire place, so I can feel the heat all over me!

7.) I think ketchup was one of the greatest food inventions of all time.

8.) Speaking of ketchup (WOW, A LOT OF THESE ARE ABOUT FOOD!), my favorite snack is dipping bread in ketchup.

9.) I cannot watch A Baby Story on TLC because I get extreme baby fever...

10.) I am not a clean and organized person, but I like our laundry hamper to be organized.

11.) I believe that everything must be in the same handwriting -- take keeping score: if I am the one keeping score then noone else can touch the score pad!

12.) I think having a 6 (almost 7) year old sister is the best thing, ever!

13.) I cannot use our bathroom unless the door is open -- it is rather small and I feel claustrophobic.

14.) Whenever I put on a 2nd layer, I must have a secure hold of the bottom shirt because I hate the feeling of one shirt being stuck under another!

15.) I love to drive around neighborhoods and get the free information about a house even if I know I will not buy it. I love to read about houses.

16.) I hate when people take claim for stuff they do not do and get rewarded for it.

17.) I think I would like to be a wedding planner.

18.) I check my email about 25-30 times a day - habit from college.

19.) I love to babysit and I am 24 years old!

20.) I love living close to my family.

21.) I think David Cook was the best American Idol, ever - and I have watched the show since season 1.

22.) I loved Beverly Hills 90210 when I was a kid and I love the new 90210 now!

23.) There hasn't been one decision in my entire life that I have regretted because everything good or bad has molded me into the person I am today.

24.) I hope and pray that every group of students I have is just as good as this first group I have. They are truly the best and I am so sad to think that I only have 1/2 a year left with them.

25.) Last but not least, I have the most painful illness that will never go away - canker sores. Speaking of, I have 2 right now and they hurt very badly!

Weight Loss!!

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to lose weight. Well, I went to Weight Watchers last week and signed up. I weighed in, attended the meeting, and went through all the stuff that "first-time" people go through. Let me just say.... IT PAID OFF!!!!!

I LOST 7 POUNDS!!!

I was so excited when that absolutely, fantastic, WONDERFUL lady (who weighs you in) wrote down my new weight! Did I mention how wonderful that lady is?!?!

So, I am very proud of myself. I really want to lose some weight before I start having babies and it is definitely getting close to that time - so, weight loss... HERE I COME!

New Year's Resolutions

Well, since it is the beginning of the new year, I guess it is time for me to make my resolutions.... I have learned that writing them down makes it much easier for me to accomplish them. And I figured that writing them on my blog would make it more official. So, here we go:

1.) Lose 20 pounds - I am starting Weight Watchers (for the 3rd time -- I think) next Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. My goal is to lose this weight by July...

2.) Go to aerobics at least 3x a week - This has already been started, but I want it to be continued through this year!

3.) Make more time for my lesson plans - I did really great on this at the beginning of the school year, but have definitely slacked off since Thanksgiving. I want to be the best teacher for this wonderful group of students and the only way is to make lesson plans more of a priority.

4.) Do more laundry - I absolutely hate doing laundry and I always use the excuse of, "I worked all day and am just so tired." Matt goes to school all day and works a lot, so I am not going to use that excuse any more because I am going to do my fair share of the laundry!

5.) Pray daily - This is something that I have not been very faithful with... I want to strengthen my relationship with Christ and the best way to do that is to be in meaningful conversation with him daily.

6.) Make time for people around me - I am going to call Emma on a daily basis because she loves to hear my voice! I also have not been a good friend to Jenn since she moved to LR and I want to be a better friend by calling and writing more!

I think those are my New Year's Resolutions for 2009! I would love to know what everyone else out there is considering for their new year's resolutions!