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yesterday we went to his aunt and uncles (jim and jackie) with grandma and grandpa, my favorite cousin mike, his wife ruth ann and nats dad. it was great. we had fondue. a chocolate fondue fountain with bananas, oranges, angel food cake, marshmellows. then we have fondue with steak, chicken and shrimp. it was great. sat around and talked, didnt seem awkward at all. when we got there i was greeted with hugs and merry christmas' ruth ann gave me a hug then went straight to my left hand and felt around. i laughed and said "its not there yet" i thought it was humorous.
after we left we went home and sat around. i continued my three day project of cleaning and reorganizing and he relaxed. Later we were playing with the dogs, and i noticed that etta didnt have her collar. my first thought was that sadie had pulled it off of her and it was lying around somewhere, so i went looking for it upstairs. Nat yells up that he had found it and etta comes running upstairs with her collar on, and an added bonus. it was so cute. then he got on one knee and officially asked me. of course i said yes. then he said "are you sure" and i bought out my little black book that i have been keeping. it lists 100+ reasons why i love him, mainly the little thoughttful things he does (that he doesnt even realize). it was very cute, i loved it. my ring is breathtaking. i can hardly stop looking at it.
so now it is official!! i am officially engaged and officially planning for a wedding in May (family only) and a reception. who knows how it will really end up though.
of course i have some pictures for you. what fun would it be with out them.



MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL. LOVE YOU
C.ALICE

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas has been wonderful to me. i wish i could give more to those around me, but i tried to give as much as i could with what i have. there will be a post very soon....a long one!!
c.ALIce

pics

Christmas Gifts

today i got one of my christmas gifts from nat. its a monitor for our computer. now i can work while he plays his computer games. i am so excited!!! its awesome. now i have a complete computer of my own to work on whenever i want. pretty soon dorian will be moved out and i can paint and rearrange the upstairs and make that my room/craft room/darkroom/workspace/etc etc etc.
anyway. he says i have another gift that i get on christmas day, but honestly i dont want anything else. i really feel bad when i get some awesome gifts and i cant afford to get him what he really wants or what i want to get for him. that goes for everyone.
anyway. i also got a tripod and a a headphone thing for my cell phone. great gifts. overall a great christmas.
thats it
oh yeah. i am planning on coming home dec 26th. i am not sure how long i will stay but maybe through new years. so i want to hang out with you guys. sa,maybe you can plan girls night sometime that week.
c.ALIce

Great Weekend!!

This weekend we went down to Cincinnati/Kentucky for Christmas with my parents. I thought it was great! there was soem manual labor but not enough to get all hot and bothered about it. I am glad i could help rather than be a stuffed potatoe. We hung out, opened gifts, went to Dougs (my uncle) for Christmas and nat played Santa, then we had breakfast and drove back home. I dont know why it was such a great weekend it just was. the best part about it was when nat gathered my mom and dad and sisters to ask if he could ask me to marry him. it was adorable. i cant imagine how nervous he was. my dad said no, but by the end of saturday dad was saying "yes yes yes" then he told them all about his plans....sucks to not know, but i think i will know eventually. I do plan on posting some pictures.
Anyway, that was my weekend. i think my family really saw how me and Nat love each other, which was nice. we talked about other stuff too, but ill get to that later!
love you all
chrissi alice

love more and more

everyday i love my babies more and more. etta is getting so big, and their personalities are so different. i cant imagine what it would be like to have children, but i am excited. i mean seriously, the pups are handful enough, and i dont have to watch them every hour of the day, though i probably should. I am not so sure i am totally ready for kids, but i must say, that each day i get more and more excited about it. one day....
i will try to make these short and sweet.
church
went to church on saturday with Nat to Northwoods. we met his mom and her husband there. i really liked it. it reminds me a lot of the vineyard. one of the only things i really want in a church (and because most lack it) is a prayer ministry. Not only a prayer chain, but a safe place to grow spiritually. I believe that prayer is the most powerful aspect of Christianity that is often overlooked. I believe to really tap into the power of God and live a life honoring Him, prayer is the key. i need some work in that area so my focus right now is the surround myself with like-minded and more expereinced people that can guide me. the church is 45 min-1 hour away, which is pretty far. like driving to lexington or something. i may not go as often to that church, but i definately like it.
march of penguins
cute movie, but it is sad to see so many die to survive.
myspace
i rarely ever go onto myspace. yet today i went on and i had a new message. i looked at the name and thought to myself..."i only know one person with that name" i went to his page to see if my suspensions were right and i was. Keith West. I have always wondered to myself what ever became of him. well he seems really happy. he is married with 3 children, in the military stationed in Japan and due home in february. I thought it was great to hear from him. For those that dont know, Keith was my first boyfriend in high school, one of Carols favorite (i can imagine her squeal as she reads this). anyway, thought it was interesting and somewhat off the wall that he sent me a message but i am glad. Its good to know he is doing well.
I think that is it. Life is great!!!
Love you all
c.ALIce

having fun

i really do have fun working on my blogspot space template. I made a whole dollar last month with adsense. hey every buck helps!! i forgot all about it till i was checking my bank account and had a deposit. helped keep me from overdraw!! yeah me!! well not really, but seriously, how many times have you had to pay for bounced check for a couple cents!!

what if you said....

i was thinking...what if you said "Merry %#^$#&$ Christmas"..do you think they would be offended then? I am about ready to boycott Christmas. There is so much controversy and hatred. I appreciate the Christmas story, but i think this particular season has lost all dignity of its truest meaning. i suppose instead of boycotting the entire season, maybe i can be one of those rare examples of what it is really about. Its not about converting your friends and family, its not about santa or giving gifts, its not about merry christmas vs happy holidays, honestly its not even about going to feed the hungry or spending time with those unfortunate. Those things should be everyday. So what is christmas about? Its a celebration that God was graceful enough to send his son in human form to save us. i almost think that it is sad that we only celebrate that once a year. Thanksgiving isnt a "christian" holiday but I think most people have a firmer grasp on being thankful everyday, but still celebrating being thankful with friends and family that one day a year. I think thats why its my favorite holiday. but Christmas, its lost something, yet it isnt a reflection by any means the degregation of God is people's lives or people seeking the truth of Christ and realizing His sacrifice. I mean HE was born in one day, but he still exists today. Maybe we should celebrate with HIM. Take some time to sit quietly and reflect with HIM how we should go about celebrating this time of year. Maybe instead of making it a spectacle, HE simply wants us to spend time with HIM. Although that again, should be a daily thing. I dunno. How do we reflect what we are celebrating during the Christmas season without being cliche? i dunno, what do you all think?

my precious lil girls

church

so in an attempt to find a community here i went to church this morning. I went to new life christian church in morton, its only about 10 minutes away. i was sitting there thinking that my finding a church isnt about where i can be helped, but where i can help others. i would like to be involved in something that is relevant and life changing. I dont want to go to church to appease people, i want to go to church to grow deeper in my relationship with God and encourage others in the process. i was sitting there jealous of the ministry brewing in cincinnati with the crew, yet i know if i was there i would have no place. I was thinking that going to church was a mission for me to reach out to people rather than for people to reach out to me. then the sermon started. the title was gatherings, the first of a 4 part series. the pastor was talking about how we needed to be ambassadors for christ this christmas season, and take every oppurtunity to let those around us know the true story of christ and his sacrifice. my insides were fuming. the entire message was so redundant. i suppose i have had that same thought drilled into me for years. maybe my bitterness for church and my liberal ideas were full force. i wasnt mad at them, i wasnt angry at the people sitting there desiring to coem closer to God. i think i was angry that it was all about the christmas season and that they were teaching that converting people to christianity was our ultimate goal. maybe so, but how? do we do it once a year? do we do it by forcing ourselves to do kind things, that arent from the heart? i am sure they had the best of intentions. my expectations are just too high.
i want to find a place where people are searching deeper than sunday morning. that people desire a lifestyle of living for Christ. i wish i could be that person as well.
Nevermind, that makes no sense at all. i just wish i could go to a church that had relevant messages about my life and where i am and not about the best methods in order to convert/convince people to choose christianity. i guess it bothers me that the sermon was not about creating genuine relationships with people with no hidden agenda.
i dunno what i am thinking. i know i am not going to walk into a perfect church or that it will fall into my lap with no effort. but i think i just want something authentic and not a cookie cutter church to make me feel better.
c.ALIce

moving home

i am sure the title alone has most of you anticipating my return. though i am not sure what i am supposed to learn from this experience, its none the less a irrevocable lesson. I went home for thanksgiving and i was very sad to leave. i love being around people that i love and that love me. i love spending time with my family and seeing freinds and having a good ol time just existing together. i almost dreaded the ride home, back to tremont, back to work, back to no friends, back to nothing really. I was literally crying on the inside because i wanted so much, as i did while in california to come home. to come back to that place where everything is established. you have friends, you have family, you have a church you love and believe in, etc etc etc. But then there is the other side of my heart, which is Nat. I have to admit, i have not made any suffucent effort to go and make friends. I have actually been quite content in not doing anything, one cause i was broke and couldnt afford to even if i wanted to, and two, cause i was consumed by the new adventure in my life, namely Nat. I am amazed how fortunate i am to have him in my life. i dont even think that i can describe in words how awesome he is. i wish that you, my family, my community could really get to know him. to prode into him about his loves and passions and heart. To see why it is a truly chose him above anyone else. So i talked to a good friend about my desire to move back to cincinnati and drag Nat along with me. I guess its the hardest lesson to learn that my life is not my own now, i have committed to him and plan on being with him for a long time, yet it is still hard to put aside my desires. i have lived driven by them for so long. I have all these high expectations in my head, how it would be back in cinci with Nat. then i think about all the high expectations i had for any other adventure I have done; ie, california, campbellsville, covington, florida, russia etc etc etc. They never seem to work out as planned. anyway, i suppose its a lesson on submissiveness. not in a bad way, just a harder way. its alot easier to move back to cinci, get back into old routine with same ol friends, same ol life...yada yada yada. I have made no effort to meet people here. I have been here since august and the only person i know is Nat. sometimes i think i am smothering him, and sometimes i think i am smothering myself. I dont think that my desire is necessarily for people to hang out with. My desire is for ministry, to impact lives and delve deep into my spirituality by creating an encouraging community of like-minded believers that i can touch in less that a 6 hour drive. I put it off, thinking, after we sell the house and get settled, after i get to a certain point in my life, after this, after that. so basically, i have to start from scratch, and no matter where i have gone in my adventures, i dont think i have ever really had to do that.
So i am going to submit to the circumstances of life and stay here. there is no telling how long or even where we will end up. Its like i have to redefine myself as someone other than chrissi from cincinnati, the rebel, the "_______" (fill in the blank). I am redefining myself as Nat's wife, a mother, an encourager, someone that stands up with what is right. I have longed since before i went to california for a safe place to redefine myself. to escape from the constant eye of those that have always been there (no offense). a safe place to explore who i am when i am nothing. what will i do? will i sit passively on the sidelines waiting for life to come to me, or will i make life what i want it to be? will i continue to live my life by my own devices, or will i actually trust that HE knows what HE is doing. Who am i when no one knows who i am? does that make sense?? i will always be me, thats inevitable...but when given the freedom to spread my wings and really fly as an individual, seperated from the old and stepping into the new unknowingly. its like a blank canvas really. i just sorta stare at it waiting for it to paint itself. getting frustrated because nothing is coming. when it all starts with the stroke of a brush.
so staying here is not a curse. its not holding me back, its not preventing me from anything, if anything, it is the clean slate i have been praying for. its all the newness of life at my command, what will i make of myself? I hope that me being here only strengthens my relationships with those back home. that we will talk more, share more, love more boldly...does community consist only in a specific area? can it transcend miles and hours? my core group (you know who you are) will always be. i cant imagine not continuing my life without you in it. i know i need to make a better effort at being closer to you all despite the distance, and i want to be apart of this great adventure in your lives, please help keep me accountable.
love you all
c.ALIce