Every dog has his "dunk?"

Today we had a relaxing night just us, our bikes, a basketball and of course.... AIR ROCKY stole the show!!!!

tootles- Missa.

pigs and puberty :)

Thursday evening Scott & drove to Granbury and back later that night so we could attend Joseph's AG show. It was the last show before Polly would be sold and the last of Josephs AG experience with her so we wanted to be there and cheer him on.

I was amazed to find that Polly had reached her goal weight of 200 lbs!! Wow, that is a big girl. Joseph has been caring for her by feeding, bathing, cleaning her pen and training her. He has been caring for Polly since Sept when she was ALOT smaller .... she has grown quickly.

Not only has Polly the pig grown but so has Joseph! I was swelling with pride as I watched him dressed so nicely showing his pig... I fought back tears behind my camera lens as I looked at this young boy and thought about how he is changing into a young man. It seems to be happening so quickly! Just this summer he was teasing me that he was about to be taller than me and sure enough within just these last few months he has passed me up he is now 5'9 wow... I bet he will pass 6' soon.

He is not a perfect kid but man he has a big heart for people and he handled the responsibility of having Polly like a champ. He fulfilled his responsibility with her on a daily basis, rain or shine, 30 degree weather or 100 degree weather..... yesterday he called me so excited because he had a buyer for her so, I would like to say: Thank you to everyone who helped us PRAY and PAY for polly to be with us and for everyone for giving Joseph this opportunity. I'm super proud!

Here is a short video I made from the show:

luv you all

-missa

definitely a wrong #, I wish!

Scott and I work in the medical field and man do we hear and see and meet some interesting people and things... some comical, some ridiculous and some unbelievable.

I received a resume and called the person to ask a few questions and set up an interview. Please listen and tell me if you think this is a voicemail you should leave if you have your resume out and potential employers would be calling you:

Friends, family and anonymous readers, if you are leaving your resume somewhere please change your voicemail to something professional.

And no I didn't leave a message, instead I hung up.

Have a great day!

Missa

I'm addicted to online..............

Yes, you heard me right I have a problem, an addiction if you will!

I never meant for it to happen. One day I innocently googled the words "world travel" and there you have it, I was hooked and I have not been able to stop.... truth be told, "I dont want to!"

I am ashamed at the amount of time it has consumed from my life but I am also strangely proud of how much time my online activities get. Ashamed of the fact that viewing these things online makes me feel so unsatisfied with my life but on the other hand: I love my online activities because they help me DREAM... and HOPE and remember that there is a whole exciting world out there... a world that hopefully I will be able to see someday.

YES, I am addicted to travel blogs and websites!

I love to read about travel... not just a book, not just a recommendations but I love to read the blogs of people who have actually been places, done exciting things and lived it up on the roads of the world!

Thats right, my name is Melissa and I travel vicariously through others!

I have no shame in admitting this, my husband knows of my online activities and now so do you: my family and friends! Don't judge me people......!

Sometimes I think I missed my mark and life and that I was suppose to be a traveling photo journalist- it is something I would willingly drop everything for but for now... as I wait on the Lord to help me fulfill these dreams of world travel with my hubby-

I will have to fulfill them with online travel blogs!

Seriously though, I really do love to read about travel. I'm fascinated with different cultures, people and faiths. I really get into peoples stories and experiences, I even sometimes imagine myself in the places they go & Im not even gonna talk about how I love to look endlessly at travel photography.

It is a dream of mine to travel the world and see all of God's wonderful creation from many different points of view. When I read about it and see it in front of me it reminds me to not give up on that dream! It reminds me to keep working toward and trusting God with that dream.

We have come close to a 10 day trip to Europe for 2 years in a row but something always comes up and it looks like we wont make it this year either but........ I never know what God has planned, maybe it will work out in the end and if it doesnt then we will try again next year

and trust him still.

Sincerely,

Waiting on God to say Go!

-missa

She loves him... she loves him not!

Scott's relationship with Rocky looks like this:

My relationship with Rocky looks like this:

Dont get mad people, I secretly love Rocky I just have a reputation

to uphold so please dont tell Scott :)

The Prodigal has returned

So many years ago Scott and I decided we wanted an addition to our Taylor family so we prayed about adopting a dog... we took 3 months to look at the decision from every angle and see if it was the right thing to do for us and after 3 weeks of non-stop 5 hour visits to SPCA, Scott found the perfect one- the one he wanted and the one that he thought was right so we made the leap and brought home:

Rocky Taylor

A year later life really sped up for us and Rocky was spending soooooo many long hours at home alone in his crate that it really started to make us feel like abusers but lucky for us we had some friends who loved him and would faithfully keep him and love on him while we would take vacations and such so naturally when we begin to look for him a home they wanted to keep him and it was going to be a join-custody kind of thing since we still wanted to be able to see him and spend time with him.

Over the past 2 months for me (and the past year for Scott) for some odd reason I found myself missing Rocky and wanting to see if the new family would let us re-adopt him so Scott and I talked about it since we are in a much better place in our lives (time-wise) and we have very much improved the amount of family time in our lives... we actually have most saturdays home and most evenings free-> here in the very near future. Anyways we talked about it and begin to pray about it and sure enough we received a call last week asking if we would be interested in taking Rocky back! I think Scotts heart leapt out of his chest... haha.

My first thought was, "sure we would love to" but when we signed our lease at this townhome, the owner had a really bad experience with the pet and owner that was here before us so when we signed our lease they had us sign that we would NEVER have a pet here and since we didnt think we would have another one, we signed it..... so, with Rocky needing somewhere to go and us needing the owner to bend we prayed and prayed and then we made the call and no questions asked they agreed, Rocky was going to be able to come home!!!!

And so with much excitement I would like to announce:

THE PRODIGAL DOG HAS RETURNED!

Welcome home Rocky Taylor..... he is a few years older (the hair around his snout has turned white and he's a bit fatter) but he fit right back into our life and oh my gosh he is sssssoooooooooo well behaved! I must say the fit is perfect and I even petted him for the first time this time around :) I think this is going to work nicely (not to mention my hubby is glowing) and Bubba will be so happy we brought his best-friend home :)

I love how God moves in the small things that matter to us.....

Have a great day all,

Missa

Pops out the wa-zooo!

I love to cook and bake and not to toot my own horn but I think I am pretty good at both of them.

The thing about loving to cook and bake is that during the holidays you end up doing so much of it. In my case I always end up doing some for us, some for family, some for friends and some for church, usually my big project is the church events but this year, my big project was: Texas PRN!!!

I made hundreds of cake pops over the last 2 days and I am happy to say they are all packed up and delivered!!!!!!!!

YUM! Now for some down time before the next couples days just fly by and Christmas Day is here!

So much fun to make and even more fun to eat!!!

Have a wonderful night- Im off to have dinner with the owners of our company and the bosses! Pray for me because they picked a sea food place. I checked the menu to be sure there was something I could eat and they have chicken but all of the food is prepped in the same place so sea food and "safe for me" food is all cooked together so please pray I do not have a reaction and get sick in front of everyone. Thanks!

Missa

I heart Austin!

I love Austin!

Living in Austin always makes for spontaneous fun and there is always something enjoyable to do even if you don't party.

Over the weekend we took a few minutes to go walk around down town at the farmers market and a little street vendor/food trailer/ just about everything festival and it was so fun!

We ate some food from food trailers, walked around the shops, did some people watching (which is always interesting here in Austin).

We also stopped by a little shop and watched a guy blow glass and make some really cool art.

Late Sunday night we put on our pj's on...grabbed a hot chocolate and went to look at a few christmas lights.

Enjoy your day!

Melissa

Random Sweetness and reminiscing.

You know that old phrase:

"Talk a walk down memory lane"..... well, last night while me and my hubby where home eating dinner I saw a commercial where some boys open their Christmas presents (guitars), they saw it and all 3 of them fainted. So naturally I over think it :)

I asked scott if he had ever had a christmas present that he felt that way about... not the fainting but just something that he was sooooo excited to open and that question led us to a conversation to about the Christmas's we experienced growing up and some of our favorite Christmas memories.... We both had several memories to share, we also begin to share random experiences as a kid that where we had something super cool happen. I shared one time when I came home from school and my mom had 2 rabbits..... big... stuffed rabbits sitting on my bed.. they had velcro hands so you could wrap their arms around your neck etc. The big velcro rabbit was hugging the little one... the big was for me and the little one was for my little sis. I just remember it was sooooo exciting to me.

I felt so loved by this random gift given on a random day.... no holiday..... no special occasion..... JUST BECAUSE...... just because I'm loved- it meant the world to me!

So I thought I would challenge you with something that I have been challenged with:

1) Take a stroll down memory lane, remember how sweet and precious life is, think about your favorite holiday memories and share it with someone over a cup of coffee- I will be asking everyone one I can from now till Christmas, Im super curious.

2) Do something spontaneously thoughtful for someone you love just because you love them - no one ever overdoses on random sweetness.... I dont think we take enough time to just show someone we love them just because we love them.

Have a wonderful day - hope you take the time to do this :)

-missa

Emery Grace....

I absolutely love the holiday season. I love all of the festivities..... all of the wrapping of gifts, shopping, coffee and the christmas tree is a plus too.

This year we had another special little treat, my niece Emery had a christmas program last night and we were able to go see her. It was so cute! She did a great job, such much so that I didnt even notice all the other kids :) The cutest thing: she kept look over at all the family and spontaneously waving to everyone during the performance. It was so sweet to see so many kids singing about our savior Jesus Christ.

I hope you are taking time to just marinate in this wonderful season!

Emery is in the middle, she waves at 3:11

Hope you enjoy!

Missa

Hello Again!!!!

I have had several moments where I miss writing in my blog- I have had times where I think I go through withdrawal and after much thought and much prayer, I feel like it is time to make a come back and get back at writing. I really enjoyed having this as an outlet and really miss that I no longer have a place to vent, celebrate, just jabber and most of all I miss showcasing the randomness that makes me..... me!

So to do a quick catch up- since I have been gone:

We have been fishing a few times and I caught my biggest fish so far at our special little lake.

We took the youth on the Fall Retreat - we took 17 youth and it was so awesome!

We held an awesome dinner called the celebrity dinner. It was so much fun- we had lots of people show up and dressed up for the evening as different celebrities and the pastors did a dance off... haha! SMH can really get down huh.

(the walk of fame- it had some of the church leaderships names on them)

(the red carpet leading into the event.. the huge cameras had strobe lights in them so it gave the effect of flashing cameras -tttoooooo coooooolllll)

We had an awesome progressive dinner with the Womens ministry we split the meal up and had one course per house, lots of fun!

We went to visit family in Dallas and then on the way home we went to visit my mom and my nieces and nephews too. This was a first for us to get to spend time with both sides of the family- so fun! My mom made some killer enchiladas.

My tomatoes and peppers on my patio are growing.

I almost have my christmas shopping complete (just 2 more to go)!!! Thank you Jesus for online shopping bc I have no time to go to an actual store right now.

hmmm what else can I share in a nut shell:

I saw the following 2 bugs just outside of my front door:

More catching up and updates coming soon......

Im so happy to be back!!!

-missa

Hello-Goodbye

2 years ago in September I said "HELLO to the blog world and here I am today to say "Bye-Bye"

I will no longer post on this blog.

I'm not moving to another blog, I'm not taking a break I am just no longer going to post.

Thanks everyone-it was fun.

Missa

22/365 Pity Party! Table for 1 please.....

22 :: 365

Because:

Never has there been a more appropriate picture on a more appropriate day: I saw this on the way to church and it reflected some of what I was feeling earlier in the day, a conflict of walking in the light or surrendering to darkness.

Today was not a great day and wouldnt you know it on a not so great day I ended up with all kinds of drama leading up to church (which on top of everything else we had a youth event planned and I was trying to prep for it) then I got there and my greeter didnt show up...it was just a crappy day... I know -I know some of the super religious would say: but sister, this is the day .... blah, blah, blah.....

Let me tell you that I am a person who finds a silver lining to everything but there are sometimes when you gotta wipe away a few tears before you see that lining because pain and hurt can sometimes make you lose focus. And yes, I know that God is at work and God has a plan but its also ok to admit and feel hurt when you hurt, we are all human and without getting into a theological debate with anyone - God allows us to have emotions.

You see, you can feel pain, hurt, frustration etc etc ...just dont stay in it, you werent created to stay in it...... I was tempted to throw a pity party at a table for one!

Just before I left for church I was clearing some memory on our camcorder (for the youth event) and I came across some video from the day of baby boys birth...it was the video footage we had from the moment we met him. The moment they brought him in the room to us..... I had never seen this footage before so it was like a dagger in my heart and as hard as I tried I could not keep my eyes from welling up with tears and nothing could keep that still somewhat raw- still walking through some healing- emotion from surfacing.

And there I was.... facing a decision to sit at the table of pain and pity or proceed onto church and continue in purpose and the plans we had already made.

I'm not gonna lie, it was rainy - I ran errands all day, I was tired and I could have justified skipping out but, I knew that I had to push through because I made a commitment.

A commitment to my hubby to help and a commitment to our youth to have a party and more importantly to the Lord that I would help tend the flock.....and that is not always on our timing. What can I say, our sheep awaited so I sat with the emotion of it for a bit. I Prayed! I Cried! But I DID NOT PARK!! Instead I proceeded ... I chose to keep going, to continue on in life, I chose to have the emotion and NOT have the emotion have me.

I am so glad I did because once we got to church we were able to spend time with our youth in worship and in prayer... I had a great time and I was refreshed by their ferver and their desire to go their flagpoles and pray that morning at See You at the Pole.

It was encouraging to me.

It also reminded me that no matter what...... HE who began this good work WILL bring it to completion...... the only party I'm gonna be having is a party of praise in honor of the only one who deserves it!

-Missa

21/365 Looks so pretty in the soft light..

21/365

Because:

My hubby bought me these flowers and they are sitting on my table. Today I was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee... thinking & enjoying the rain. My flowers looked so pretty in the soft light of the rainy day :)

I got to enjoy three things I love: rainy days, flowers and coffee!

tootles

-missa

20/365 Ahhh... fixed that problem by hitting the OFF button

20 :: 365

This picture is from my archive, last year in October I think.....

Because:

It is that time of the year again! Weather is cooling and I am itching to hit the trails with my backpack -some camping gear and hide out from the world :) Scott and I went primitive camping for our first time last year and though we have no mountains near by, we were secluded with NO ONE around and the common trail was miles away - we were somewhere way off the trail. Funny thing happened though.... my phone rang in the middle of the night, WE HAD PHONE SERVICE- haha but I quickly fixed that problem by hitting the OFF button!

Anyways, everything we needed was on our backs: food, a compact stove, easy packed foods (which I almost have down to a science), camelbak water bags, cards, books, lights, our self inflating compact mattresses and sheets.... I HAD SUCH AN AWESOME TIME! AND I CAN NOT wait to be able to go again ASAP!!!!!

We went to REI on Saturday and it just fueled the fire :) come on cooler weather. Come on can't it cool off any faster!

19/365 I have always wanted to......

19 :: 365

I have always said that I would love to live somewhere close enough to a grocery store that I could ride my bike there when I need to pick up vegetables and fruits or other light items.

It hit me last night about 8pm that we live close enough to do that now so, naturally I felt a need to go to the store for something.... but what? We had fruit- we had vegetables so what......... ICE CREAM! yum.

The weather was beautiful so I strapped on my backpack and we rode our bikes to the store!!!

SOOOOO FUNNNN!!!! I can not say it enough I really have always wanted to do this - now, thanks to our new location and HEB ; I CAN!!!!

Sorry this is not a better shot but, it was dark and I forgot my camera so all I had was my crap-camera phone.

Have a great day!

18/365 Ant hills, panera and stuff

18 :: 365

(We couldnt help but kick our shoes off and put our feet in the water)

(I have always said that someday I will have a boat and enjoy these waters from the water instead of from the shore)

(When I was about 7 yrs old I was bit by an ant and ever since then I have

loved to kick ant pills, I guess its my way of getting revenge for crying for 2 hours then.

I was in revenge heaven here - all of the brown spots are ant piles - a strange site)

(A very nice little road trip with scottie-my-hottie)

Because:

Today was a very relaxing day, my sweetheart slept in, we had breakfast at home, he had a lunch appointment then we made a minor repair on our car. The the rest of the day was ours: we went for a drive and to finally check out a local place: Emma Long Park. We also stopped and spent some time at one of my favorite places R.E.I.

I LOVE REI!!!! Seriously.

Then we went to Panera and enjoyed an ice tea and a small snack

before heading home to find this in our parking spot:

17/365 SOOO Refreshing..Nuff said.

17 :: 365

Because I love the rain- its so refreshing! Nuff said.
-missa

16/365 Random Shots of stuff I love

16/365

Because:

Just some random shots of stuff I love- some of my flowers bloomed, and the jalapeno plant is budding a TINY, round, green jalapenito and the little bicycle is something I love and really treasure.....hope you enjoy!

-missa

15/365 Double Score makes a good day.

15 :: 365

I love Dr. Pepper and I love Jimmy Johns sandwiches - besides their freaky fast delivery they are so yummy! This has been a particularly busy week so this morning as I left for work I did not have time to get our lunch together or my cup of coffee so later in the day I was jones-ing for a Dr.P so I rummaged through my purse and found .75 cents for a Dr Pepper from the vending machine -> SCORE!!!

Then just a few minutes later, as a promotion, a guy from Jimmy Johns came buy the office passing out free sandwiches -> DOUBLE SCORE!

Then.. I was able to go home early from work so I was able to do 2 loads of laundry AND clean the refrigerator AND sweep the floor AND straighten my hair so I don't have to wear it up tonight for service... YEAH, this has been a super day!

Hope you have a great day too!

-missa