Memorial Day

Memorial Day turned out to be such a wonderful day! Cliff and I were invited by Jeff, Darci and Mark to go hiking out at the Canyon. This is now my favorite past time in the Amarillo area. They took us on a hike through some beautiful trails. We saw lots of lizards and beautiful country. We all sat at a picnic table to eat lunch together and left around 1:30. Such a fun morning! The weather was so awesome that we ended up going to the pool after we got home from our hike. We watched people there for about two hours and got a little bit of a tan. Cliff hung out in the shade playing on his Blackberry while I listened to the ipod and laid out. I am soo soo soo excited about getting a great tan this summer! It'll be the first time in quite a while. I am going to enjoy the perks of living in an apartment for this summer at least.

Cliff and I are on the hunt for a home. We are going Thursday at lunch to look at some houses with the realtor. Please pray for us to have wisdom and to find the right place. The first time we looked for a house we were not even married yet and I was happy to be living anywhere with my soon to be husband. Of course you all know how wonderfully that place turned out to be! I'm hoping for another miracle like that one. It's crazy because every house we look at I just keep thinking about how we'll be starting our family in this home...no time soon, mind you, but some day! Crazy how my perspective has changed.

I still promise to post pictures. I am on the computer all day at work, that at night I don't get on as much! Just keep checking. :)

The first half of the weekend was great too! Cliff and I went to Abilene for Meredith and Seth's wedding. Meredith was one of my college room mates. Her wedding was so special, such a testament to God's love played out in our lives. She even had her run through sign that she has always dreamed of. We got to see lots of friends. Even Friday night when we got in so late, Katie and Daniel let us come over and we hung out with them and the Weavers. So much fun!!

That's all for now, I guess I'll get back to work. More to come.

Is this week over yet?

Well today is Wednesday and I am typing this at 3:55pm. Now I'm just wasting time, answering a few phone calls here and there until the day ends at 5! Can't wait for that clock to say 5pm. So this week has already been stretching out for me and it is only Wednesday. I guess that is a good thing...at least it's not Monday again. I have a couple more weeks left of class, but most of the work will be done by Friday. I have two more days to finish a 10-12 page paper. I've got two written and I've read all of the journal articles that I need to write it. Just got to get it all typed up. Ugh! I'm looking forward to this weekend. Cliff and I get to go with the Bible Drillers to Lubbock for their State drill. We'll go tomorrow evening and come back Saturday afternoon. The kids are drilling on Friday night so we'll have all of Saturday just to hang out and get to know the kids. I look forward to relaxed time with them to really get to know who they are. I pray that God uses it for his purposes. I pray that Cliff and I can really show the kids God's love and the amazing things that he can do with a life fully devoted to him.

I am hoping to go shopping Saturday too. I need some new clothes! Maybe we'll get back Saturday in enough time to go to the mall. I had wanted to go one night this week, but that's out of the question at this point.

Cliff has been busy this week. He had VBS training Monday night. I think it went ok, not many people showed up but all of the planned stuff went well. I didn't get to go because I had class. Cliff has been running pretty crazy these days. He is pretty tired, maybe he'll be able to get some rest after we get back from Lubbock. Summer is coming VERY quickly with all of it's activities. I often wonder what the Lord thinks about all of our stuff. The stuff crowds in all too often. But then again...I get bored so quickly! Something is wrong with this picture.

Cliff and I discovered last Saturday that Amarillo is hurting for a good skating rink. We went skating with the 4th graders for their sunday school party. First of all, the kids didn't really know how to skate!! We were pretty shocked by that, but then we got our skates on and stepped out onto the floor. The floor was particle board...painted white!!! It was rediculous you couldn't even go very fast for all of the bumps and crevices. Apparantly, that's about it for skating rinks here. Bummer...we need a Big Wheel or Skatium to come to our town.

And...I'm trying to forgive this week. Never before has anyone made me cry in a public situation by being ugly to me, but Monday it happened. This lady came in quite silently I must add while I reading my text book. I was in the zone you see...the phone hadn't rung in quite a while and no one had been coming through the office. The next thing I know I hear, "WELL THAT'S RUDE!" And the lady stormed out of the office. None of my attempts to get her to come back in worked and I just busted into tears. Crying made me even madder! Ugh...I really don't want to come into contact with that lady every again.

Well, I've wasted a little time at work. I think ya'll are updated. Cliff and I are starting to house hunt. Please pray that God would lead us to the right place. Also, please pray for Cliff to get rest. And I am really aching for a friend right now. I'm fighting the lonliness. God will provide.

The Cary's came to visit!

I know, I know...we haven't posted in forever. I (Jess) have started working full time for our church as the receptionist. It has worked out great so far...though summer is coming and I'm trying not to be bitter about missing out on hanging with the kids every week. God is allowing me to go to camp and Kenya of all places! Cliff and I get to go on a mission trip together, we are so excited. That'll be in August.

This weekend was so great. We got to hang out with family! Cliff and Debbie came Friday and we really enjoyed spending time together. We did everything Amarillo...Panhandle Plains Museum in Cayon, we went to Palo Duro Canyon, we also went to see Cadillac Ranch and finished the day off at the Big Texan. We ate some good steak and watched this guy fail at eating the 72 oz steak.

I will post pictures of the cruise shortly. I was waiting to get mine and Kimberly's together in one file since Kimberly took most of the pictures on the trip. It was a blast though. So nice to spend an entire week with family. We'll have to make that a tradition, K??

I'm finishing up this semester of school and Cliff is starting a new one up. We will both be done in about 1.5-2 years. Man we can't wait to be done with reading, papers and tests!! We are blessed with the opportunity of an education though.

What else has happened lately...Cliff is feverishly working on VBS. Next Monday is VBS training for local churches here at FBC. He is also still meeting once a month for the 456 camp that is coming up in June. Last night he worked late trying to nail down dates for special events during the summer.

The next big thing is coming up in May. It is the Mother/Son fun day. We're having a big scavengar hunt around town and then meeting back at the FLC for lunch. It'll be a good day and one of Cliff's ideas for the kids! The Father/Daughter dinner was a success so hopefully this one will be as much fun as well.

We are both anticipating the coming of our new neice Dakota. She'll be here at the end of June. Pray that we have the ability to get to Arlington ASAP when Dakota starts her decent into this wolrd. :) Have fun with that Trish!!

I got to go to Stephanie's wedding a couple of weeks ago. Steph was my college roomate and good friend. She married Nick Sapien and the wedding was beautiful. It was fun making the trip to Arlington, seeing the neices and then making the drive to Brownwood with Bran and my parents.

We miss everyone so much...plan on coming to visit soon!

Steamboat Ski Trip

My side of the family went on a ski trip to Steamboat Springs, CO celebrating my Dad's 50th birthday! We had a blast. Mom, Dad, Aaron, Trish and Dakota came through Saturday to pick me up in Amarillo. Cliff flew up Tuesday night and skiied the last three days with us. Cliff learned to ski for the first time this week. Cliff was pretty brave to allow Dad to teach him, but he did great! It was nice to get away and play in the Beauty of God's creation for a week. Here are some pics from the trip.

Ski Trip in Steamboat!

This is a video of Cliff skiing on the mountain. This is his first day skiing EVER. He did AWESOME!

More pics to come...

Another Day in Amarillo

The title of this post can mean so many things, but here is what it means right now. So yesterday was an amazing day as far as the weather goes. I think the high was 68 degrees and it was clear skies all day. In fact yesterday afternoon it was down right hot. Today, well that is a different story. I just heard that the high for today will be 32 degrees with snow and sleet all day long with 20-25 mph winds. Does this make sense to you? I do not know if we will ever get use to some of the crazy weather here.

On another note we have our Disciple Now here this weekend with the youth group. Jessica was a leader and I, well I sort of roamed around got free meals and ran sound and lights. It was a great time had by all. The time I was not at the church I spent writing a paper. Thank goodness I got it done by the deadline. (If my mom is reading this, I actually got it done at least two or three days ahead of time.)

Well we think of you all often. Have a great day!

Photos of Thanksgiving and Christmas-FINALLY!

Hey everyone! I saw Cliff's post and had to add some photos. These are from Thanksgiving to the present. Enjoy!

We had a blast with the family in Jacksonville this year. It was so nice to see everyone and get to be together. We finally got two family photos. Ya'll get ready for next year for another family photo session. :)

Us in front of Nana's Christmas tree. Aren't we cute! Cliff is cocking his head for some reason...he has issues taking serious pictures.

We miss Kimberly!!!

Mom and Aunt Lynne with their matchy glasses. They are two fot he most beautiful women that I know!

This is one of many pictures that Cliff took of Calvin. Cliff was standing up with the camera and couldn't see him, but was flashing the camera every couple of seconds. Calvin kept moving all over and I got some great pictures!
Clinton and Cybil were playing house in the middle of Mom's house. I really enjoyed playing with the little ones. And seeing all of the Rampys in one place was awesome!
The Rampy's are experts at posing for pictures! This group got together in like five seconds. I miss you guys!
A little out of order, but this is our other family photo. Pretty special. :)


This is our pic from Thanksgiving. Some heads are hidden and Mom's eyes are closed, but it's a great one in my opinion. And there will be a new addition to the family this Summer. Trish and Aaron will be having their first baby. I can't wait until Feb. 6th when they find out what it is!





This is Lerin in front of Mom and Dad's Christmas tree. She's gotten so tall hasn't she. Man I miss that girl!!!
Leigh and her girls. Prescious girls. Lerin looks sleepy in this one! She is a creature of habit and enjoys her naps. :)

Mom took this one of us over Christmas. Cliff was hunting and I was enjoying the family.

How stinking cute is this pic! Isn't Robbyn adorable!

I am to thankful that both sides of our families have family vacations planned here in the next two months. I am missing ya'll terribly! Can't wait for the ski trip and the cruise. We're spoiled aren't we!