A 2 Saturn Family

Jeff got a NEW vehicle today!! We said goodbye to the car that he drove for 9 1/2 years (221,000 miles) and he got a 2006 Saturn Vue with 13,000 miles on it. What a deal! A car that's basically new for half the price!! The guy who appraised the old car for a trade in said it deserved a purple heart for surviving all those miles! Ha, funny Mr. Saturn man! We went in to look at the Vue we saw on the Internet but it had been sold. The one we bought had not been put on the lot yet so we got it for $1000 less than if it had been on the lot, plus the car we thought we wanted had three times the miles and was only $1500 less. SO, God is so sweet to give us exactly what we need, not what we thought we wanted! Now we have two safe, reliable vehicles and I don't have to worry about my hubby getting stranded on the freeway! Of course, we had to get Sonic drinks to celebrate! Now, that's one satisfied customer!

An Albus Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve through Friday at Jeff's parents. We had a great time and enjoyed MANY sweets! I think their house is the dessert capitol of the world during the holidays...no complaints here from me or my sweet tooth! YUM! Jeff's brother, Matt got married in May and he and his new wife, Courtney are expecting a child at the beginning of May 2009. They brought Austin over and Lisa and Jamie were in town from Colorado. Jeff and I were lucky though because we were the only ones that went to the movies with Nick and Sharon on Christmas Day. Let's hear it for double dates! We all went to see "Yes Man" after "Marley and Me" was sold out. We laughed the whole time! I love going to the movies in a small town! It only cost $5 per person!! Please enjoy the following pics of all of us opening presents.


Jeff and I after exchanging gifts...check out his "cheese" smile. Jeff got me tickets to the Christmas Spectacular show and I got him my traditional annual ornament.

Sharon proving diamonds really ARE a girls best friend!

Austin got the legendary Red Rider BB gun!

Jeff and I opening presents.

Matt and my newest sister-in-law, Courtney

Jamie and Lisa, all the way from Colorado

Austin loved the Sorry game we got him!

The traditional tree photo
We hope your Christmas celebrations were just as Merry! Watch for the following posts to come: our annual New Years trip to San Antonio and before and after photos of our guest bedroom which we are in the midst of painting!

Christmas at the Hendricksons'

We celebrated Christmas a little early when we went to my parents' this past weekend. The Carpenter Crew came in town and we had a wonderful traditional Hendrickson Christmas complete with Christmas PJs. It is Drew's first Christmas so we had to spoil him a bit, and we had to spoil Clayton because he's just so special and fun! I LOVE those two lil' guys.

Drew and I shared many sweet snuggles!

He is a very good baby and I love seeing him smile and giggle.

Jeff got to met him for the first time, and he stole his heart as well.

Yummy traditional turkey dinner with my favorites: cornbread dressing and sweet potatoes!

Jeff and I with our stockings filled with Christmas candy!
We are headed to Jeff's parents' house today for round two with his side. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

I thought I'd share a little commentary on the Albus home and general happenings as we prepare for Christmas. I have to admit that our tree stood with no decorations on it for about a week. I begged Jeff to get it out of the attic and set it up and then I didn't have/take the time to decorate it. Oh well, here it is after the final preparations:

I need a tree topper. I'm going to look for one at the craft fair I'm going to with Wendy this weekend and if that doesn't work, I'm going to try making a big bow out of the ribbon I bought. I'm intimidated by bows because I really don't know how to make them, but I guess now is as good of time as any to learn!

I celebrated my 27th birthday the other day. I decided it is going to the best year yet because 7 is a perfect number! Jeff bought me beautiful roses and a sweet card. I love the way they look with the Christmas tree in the background!


Jeff wasn't feeling well so I told him all I wanted was a puppy cake from Wal-Mart, but he took me out to dinner at Hasta La Pasta too. Yum! Have you seen these puppy cakes? They are almost too pretty to eat...almost! My favorite part of cake is the icing, especially buttercream, and this cake has a LOT of it. Under all that icing is two cupcakes...perfect for the two of us.


I got another wonderful birthday surprise when it SNOWED!


This is the first time it has ever snowed on my b-day and Kristen said God gave it to me because He loves me and thinks I'm special!


It is difficult to capture this smile on film, but the snow brought it out:


After the short time in the snow (it didn't last long or accumulate at all at our house, but some parts of Houston, had a lot more) we built a fire and snuggled on the couch with Christmas music playing....very romantic! Thanks hubby for making my birthday the best ever!!


Snowflake enjoyed the fire too. I was afraid she was going to jump in!

Catch Up

Well, sorry for the lack of posts, but I am going to try to give you an update on the last several weeks. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying preparing for Christmas!! A couple of days before Thanksgiving, I was honored to help one of my dearest friends, Jenny register for her first born, expected to arrive in April. I had so much fun picking out lots of pink princess gear for baby girl Matute!

Jeff and I split time between our parents this Thanksgiving. Lisa, Jeff's sister and her husband recently moved to Colorado, but came in to celebrate. Jeff and I enjoyed a lot of yummy food at both houses and took a nature walk to enjoy the fall colors and try out our new camera! I love that my parents, as well as Jeff's live close enough to share the holidays with both sides.

This past Friday night we went to our Sunday School class' Christmas party and had a great time hanging out! I brought my camera and took some pictures of couples in front of the beautiful tree! Thankfully, Bret returned the favor and captured a great pic of Jeff and I!

Pictures of my upcoming birthday and our Christmas decorations to come!

A New Beginning

So, it is almost that time again, you know what I mean...the time where we stuff ourselves like a turkey for two months and then "begin again" with empty promises of a year of healthy eating and exercise.



Well, I am going to try to minus the two months of gorging and start early with the resolve to be healthy. Don't get me wrong...I do plan to indulge this holiday season, but with moderation in mind. Please, for all you super disciplined folks out there that would love to scold me each time I reach for a goody, I ask you to be encouraging and not reprimand me. I have found in the past that this is very counter-productive for me.

As a means of achieving a healthier lifestyle, I have done some Internet research. I considered joining Weight Watchers, AGAIN, but just didn't want to find the time or energy for all that counting. I LOVE the program and have found it very successful in the past, but am going for simple and mindless and FREE at least to jump start things. I enjoy looking at Kraft Foods.com for easy recipe ideas and recently came across the "Healthy Living" tab. You can set up a personalized log in with your individualized stats (all those numbers we don't want anyone else to see). The site gives you individual weeks of full day menus that fit your caloric needs to be healthy. Oh, and you can even print out a shopping list that they have already put together for you and can make meal substitutions easily. The only thing is that the meal recipes are portioned for one, but I am just doubling the dinner recipes to include the hubby.

Here's the site: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/HealthyLiving/HealthyLivingLandingPage.aspx. Once there click on the "Meal and Fitness Planner." You can chart your progress and log exercise as well. I've never joined Weight Watchers online, but it seems like a free alternative to that. I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow, so I will let you know if it is astronomical and if so I am back at square one. Would you like to join me? I would love the company on this little journey to healthy living!

Food for thought

I know this blog typically is pretty light hearted, or at least I purpose it to be, but today is going to be different.

I have been up since 4 AM thinking and praying. I've spent the last two years of my professional life wrapped up in the foster care system. Unfortunately, it has not always seemed to be focused on it's true purpose, protecting and nurturing abused and neglected children and providing them with a permanent home. Lately, that has made me jaded, as I'm sure earlier posts have reflected. Over the last couple of months God has begun to give me a fresh perspective that has brought me to consider the Body of Christ's roll in caring for abused and neglected children.

About a year ago Jeff and I did a small group study on James with some dear friends. Since that time God has continued to work on us in the manner James describes, which often includes difficult circumstances. James chapter 1 is dedicated to the work of trials in refining and humbling us. I never realized it before, but right at the end of the chapter is this verse:
"27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

There it is!! God calls us to develop compassion and humility through our own personal trials and then to utilize this in ministering to the most vulnerable among us, "orphans." I'm not sure how God is going to use these revelations, but am grateful for the fresh perspective! I hope you too are encouraged by this call to Christian service. Truly, if the church took this to heart, we'd have no need for a bureaucratic system of foster care because Christian families would open their homes to children in need. Just something to think about!

Baby Drew

I came home Saturday night from 3 days in the Dallas area celebrating the arrival of my brand new nephew! Drew was born on 10/23/08, weighs 9 pounds, and is 21.5 inches long. My parents and I were able to get there the day before as Drew was born via a scheduled C section. Drew spent two days in the NICU for some minor respiration issues, but is a very healthy baby boy. It was only the second time that Jeff and I have been apart for more than a day since we got married. I missed him terribly, but am so glad I got to make the trip!

Dr. Clayton and I waiting for baby Drew to be born


Drew was not so sure about his first check up or the chilly temperature of the room


The proud parents with their precious baby boy


Aunt B with the snugly little guy


Precious baby Drew being held by his mom and big brother


Brotherly love!


Poppa D and Gran with the bundle of joy

Random Facts

So, my sister tagged me a few days ago and I have been contemplating my 6 random facts since then. I even considered cheating and doing 3 for me and 3 for Jeff, but then I decided I would just go for the gusto and try to come up with 6 just about me.

Now, if you're tagged, here's what you do:
1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people
4. Please pass it on for fun...

1. I had several sets of tubes when I was a kid and hence have a lot of scar tissue in my ears. I realized a couple of years ago that this might be why I have trouble hearing so I often tell Jeff when he complains about repeating himself that it's not my fault...it's my scar tissue!

2. I have this sort of inate ability to get along with a diverse set of friends. I love it and it has been a wonderful way for me to become more culturally competent at work. I jokingly say, "I'm chocolate on the inside."

3. This brings me to my third random fact. I am great at one liners and often surprise myself with them in addition to everyone else. One of the girls in our Sunday School class claims that I am the funniest person she knows because I always catch her by surprise with my humor. I guess mostly because I am relatively reserved most of the time.

4. I find pleasure in the simplest of things. I can be feeling like everything around me is falling apart and if I get a Sonic drink, I am a happy camper again. I am actually known at work as the Sonic girl and my boss tells me every time she passes one, she thinks of me. When Jeff and I were getting to know each other, I wrote to him that "Sonic drinks make me happier than anything in a Styrofoam cup should!" And, he married me anyway...he told me he was glad I didn't have expensive taste!

5. I can find the positive side to most situations, although it takes me longer to find it sometimes.

6. I am very clumsy. I am notorious for tripping over my own feet! I even remember several occasions when I mortified myself by falling UP the stairs in school and another time in high school when I fell all the way down a stand of bleachers and into a pizza box, after pulling my friend down with me! So embarrassing! Now, I just laugh at myself when these things happen because I figure it gives me character.

There...I did it!
I am going to tag:
1. Libby, 2. Katie, 3. Lauren, 4. Wendy, 5. Lynn, 6. Daisy

What we've been doing...

Becca: Baking (from scratch!)


Jeff: Raking (from Ike)


Life is not quite back to "normal" for us, but we are much closer to it than most Houstonians and for that we are grateful! Other than long lines at gas stations and grocery stores and a down fence, life is pretty typical for us. Jeff started back to work on Tuesday, though most of his co-workers have not been at work this week. My office is still closed, but I am on call (24 hours a day), so I am still working. I have driven up to the office in the Galleria area yesterday, to pick up the on call phone and today, to pick up prescriptions for my kids. The office has some major damage and is still out of electricity. They have a generator, but it can only be used to supply a few lights, not a whole air conditioning system and computers. Our computer network is also down, so I can't access my email, even from home. The clients who live on site at the RTC (residentail treatment center) were moved to Richmond due to power outages, and were moved back to the central site late this week when some power was restored there. Most of the outlying office staff in Angleton and the Woodlands still don't have power, nor do any of their foster families. Thankfully, all of my caseload has power, though one of my families had a tree hit their house. They are currently staying with relatives. Everyone is in pretty good spirits otherwise.

My parents got electricity back on Wednesday and they called to tell us as we were pulling up to the Putt Putt place. Yes, Jeff and I went putt putting on Wednesday night. We both wanted to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather so we played a round. It was so fun! It has been a while since I have experienced a "first" with Jeff and this was one. We had never played putt putt together. He won (even though he miscounted my strokes a couple of times ;)and actually is very good at it! I think it is because he is so precise and systematic.

That's all I've got for now, but I'll keep ya'll posted! Have a fantastic weekend!

Ike Menu

So, we have AC and we are SO grateful for that, but I selfishly am looking forward to getting some of the more unnecessary comforts of life back, like my Sonic drinks. For the last two days I beg Jeff to take me for a drive to see what is open, hoping my precious Diet Vanilla Cokes are available. So far, no such luck. On our quest yesterday we found an open Little Ceasers with a sign outside that said, "We're open but only DP and Cheese pizza." We found a few other places open yesterday, including a gas station at the Kroger that had fountain drinks, with I willingly accepted as a substitute for Sonic. The sign on the gas station said, "No bread, no milk, no ice, no lotto." I understand everything but the "no lotto." Weird.

In the evening we decided to try to have a "date night." This time we got smart and called places to see if they were open. After a couple tries, we found Hasta La Pasta. This restaurant is one we would actually choose and have in the past. It's yummy, has a nice atmosphere, and is right by the house. The location is nice due to curfew in Houston and a TON of cars on the roads. Well, Ike had also left his mark on Hasta La Pasta. It was VERY busy and everyone looked tired, unbathed, and hot. Parts of our area still don't have electricity and I'm sure most of these folks were taking a reprieve from a hot house. You could also hear some inpatient parents as I'm sure I would be in their situation. When we sat down at our table we were handed a one page paper menu instead of the several page regular menu. At the top it read, "Hasta La Past Ike Menu" and had very nice, but limited options. We were grateful that they had the ingredients to make two wonderful meals for us and we enjoyed each others company and even some dessert!

Hurricane Ike

Well, we made it through the storm unscathed. I wish I could say the same for our fence! We watched 24 hour hurricane coverage for a day and a half waiting for Ike to make landfall. We lost electricity at our house at 5 AM on Friday. There were loud bumps and Jeff said he heard sounds like our window was about to break on the left side of our house. This makes sense because that is the side were the fence was demolished. I slept on and off throughout the night, but Jeff was up most of the time. We left the house yesterday afternoon to drive around our neighborhood and see what was open and what damage was done. We saw that many people had fence damage and down tree limbs like us. Then we drove to my parents house to check on them. They also had a portion of their fence down and no electricity. There neighborhood has a lot of mature trees and many of the large branches were broken off and some were uprooted completely.

We returned back to our house, ate some cold left offers and hunkered down again for another night without electricity. At 8 PM we were surprised when the lights and air conditioner came on! We were SO excited, but very aware we were one of the only 115,000 people in the Houston area with power. We were even more aware when we called my parents and there's still was not restored. It still isn't and so it has been a day and a half since they have had air conditioning. My mom, as many of you know, is in a battery operated wheel chair and suffers from MS. MS patients can easily over heat and it can cause exasperations. We are waiting for them to come over here for some reprieve and to recharge my mom's chair, but are praying that their electricity is restored quickly. We simply don't have what she needs (ie: hospital bed and widened door ways) that she needs to stay here. Thanks for all of your continued prayers!

The Calm before the Storm

So, I admit, I was one of those sceptics that did not expect Ike to come here and/or be bad. Well, I was wrong. We are waiting for landfall now and about to turn off the computer due to possible electricity outages to come. I have had two baths today and plan to dry my hair before I go to bed (Liz, thanks for the idea!). I want to be as clean and beautified as possible in case it is my last chance for a while! Jeff has been home all day and I made a quick trip to Michaels this morning to pick up some last minute scrapbooking supplies in case I get bored and have electricity. They were closing at noon. There were tons of ambulances and charter buses on the road and business were boarded up. It was sort of suriel! Oh, and I went to the Sonic as well because I wanted one last Sonic before I was stuck inside for possibly days. Priorities, Sonic and scrapbooking I suppose. We are ready to wait out the storm at home with Harvey, Cookie, and Snowflake. Thanks for your prayers and we will keep you posted!

Faith and works

So, it's the life long question/debate that can be heard in Christian circles. The old faith in relation to works discussion is frequent, but I never have thought about it the way I heard it in the sermon at our church last Sunday.

Our church, HFBC, has been renovating the sanctuary and giving it a much needed update and improving the sound and lighting systems. Sunday was the first official Sunday in the "new" sanctuary. The seats were packed and there was a lot of excitement, but what was most exciting to me was the refreshing message with a new perspective on our role as Christians.

As anyone who frequents our blog can tell, I have been experience some major "burn out" at work for over 6 months now. This, I'm ashamed to admit has also deeply effected my attitude and therefore relationships outside of work as well. This sounds like a tangent, but it isn't. Pastor Greg's sermon spoke to me regarding this. He began a series on 1 Thessalonians in which we examine the church in Thessalonica in relationship to who we are as a church body. The first section is called "Gathering Our Hearts", to be followed by "Grow our Souls" and "Give our Lives." If you are still with me, I am going to list the points in the sermon.

1. Grace then peace - Ignoring His grace forfeits His peace
* Pastor Greg urged us to "humbly acknowledge our need for God's leadership"
2. Our faith produces (catapults) our work
3. Our love prompts our labor - this is my favorite point!
4. Our hope (expectation of God's work) inspires our endurance.

It has been some time since I experienced peace and this message got me thinking about why. I "know" that I need to trust God and depend on him for strength to live each day, but I truly don't do it. If I did, I would experience peace and I would be prompted by His love to labor with endurance.

So, this week I have been working on this. Though it is an ongoing issue, I do feel more cognoscente of my part in surrendering my work to God so that I may experience His Peace!

A finished book and a new chapter

So, I tried to tie what truly is a random mix of pictures and thoughts into a single theme with the title I created. In general I am not a fan of change, but God seems to be teaching me a lot through transitions the last couple of years. Getting married was of course the biggest change that brought a series of more change, which have been the best of my life! You'll see in the slide show that I posted some of the spreads I created for our Wedding scrapbook. It has taken me months and it is HUGE, but the scrapbook is complete and I am proud of all my hard work! I have had a lot of fun creating it and am looking forward to starting on a honeymoon scrapbook along with one for our first year of marriage. All this has gotten me thinking. I saw online the other day that some people have their own business for creating scrapbooks for others. I have often considered doing such a think, but wasn't sure how it worked. So, I am toying with the idea of trying it out. Of course, I would start with people I know and then try to branch out if it works out. What do ya'll think, would it work?

Jeff recently surprised me with flowers. I had forgotten that we were coming up on 2 1/2 years of being together, but my thoughtful husband didn't forget! He had to explain what the flowers were for, but once he did, I couldn't have appreciated him more! He is a wonderful provider and God has truly blessed me with my perfect match!

Also in the slide show I've posted pics of my goodbye lunch with some of the foster care staff at the main campus of DePelchin. I have been feeling God moving me towards making a change for at least 6 months, but I didn't want to leave DePelchin because it is such a wonderful organization to work for and I truly believe in the mission statement. I thought about staying at DePelchin and leaving the foster care department, but that wasn't God's plan. So, instead He has decided to bring me and my supervisor, Gabrielle to the Ft. Bend satellite location of DePelchin to join the foster care staff there. I began the new position on August 18th and spent the first week with two caseloads as I tried to transition my previous families to the new clinicians. It was crazy! Now, I am starting to settle in and am realizing I have my work cut out for me getting everything organized and meeting a whole new group of kids and foster parents. It is going to be a good change though and most of my families are closer to my home and the office is too. I will miss my sweet buddies/co-workers at the main campus, but I'll be back once a month for our all staff meeting.

A "Suite" deal!

This weekend was a great one with the perfect mix of time with friends, time together, and time alone.

Jeff filed at work on Thursday and was able to make it to our small group Bible study for the first time in about a month. The group was glad to have him back and so was I, even though everyone was very sweet to me while I was a "single woman"!

Jeff had the day off on Friday and I worked from home, so we were able to have lunch together, etc. Friday night we watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics. AMAZING! I multi-tasked by scrapbooking at the same time. When we were done with that we made a midnight trip to Wal-Mart. We rarely do this, but we walked on the wild side! After navigating the isles filled with boxes and workers re-stocking the shelves, we retrieved our items and headed home.

Saturday Jeff took care of some car errands while I cleaned and did laundry. Saturday afternoon Katie, Josh, and Caleb came to see us on their way back to Dallas. We had a nice visit and celebrated Caleb's half birthday with sweets that he was too young to eat. Sorry Caleb!
Here are some photos from their visit:


Saturday night we had the wonderful opportunity to get free tickets to the Texans game from Jeff's company and sit in their suite at the game.
Reliant stadium:

The players taking the field:

The sign outside the Live Nation suite:

The suite was decorated with Live Nation and concert/band signs:

We also got free parking, food (including ice cream sundaes in the little helmet), drinks, and a game day program. I also got to meet Jeff's co-workers, whom he has spent most of his time with lately. They were all very down to Earth and we had an amazing time! I told Jeff that I would like to be rich so that I could do things like this all the time! I joke with Jeff that he is a "rock star" because he works for the world's largest concert promoter, even though he is on the accounting staff. This time it really did feel like he was a rock star, at least for the day.

The game was close, but the Texans won by a field goal!