The Ussery Update

One of the things I got for Christmas was a day by day calendar for my desk at work. Each day, the calendar page lists about 10 things to be happy about. By the end of the year, I will have read about thousands of things to be happy about. As I tear off the page each day, I circle one or two items on the page that really brings me happiness for one reason or another. Since we are at the end of the month, I thought I would list my favorites from January and a little reason why. I am going to try and do this each month. It will be a fun way to focus on the little things in life that bring such happiness. Here are my January things to be happy about... A Terrific Hair Day - What a perfect start to any girl's day A Warm Cocoon of Blankets - I love to snuggle up in blankets A Warmed-Up Car - Every single morning, John starts my car for me so it's nice and toasty when I get in to drive to work Short Naps - I'm not one to take long naps, but sometimes a short recharge is grea...

We LOVE board games in our house and both of our families love to play games. We have a completely full game closet with over 60 games in it! We enjoy playing board games any chance we get. One of the games we got for Christmas was a version of "Farkle" - it is called "Farkle Party". Have you ever played "Farkle"? I had never played it before we got it for Christmas, but John had. He had some memories of playing it at his Grandma's house, so that was really neat. It is a lot of fun! It's a dice game, kind of like Yahtzee. We really enjoy it too because two people can play it and most of the time, it's just the two of us playing a game. For several games, it required to have to more than two people to play, so this works good for us. We've kind of gotten on a Farkle kick where we play it several times a week in the evenings after we're done with all our "stuff" to do. We played it twice last night and John absolutely de...

We would like to wish our sweet nephew, Jacob, a very Happy 11th Birthday! He was 4 the day we got married - wow, how time does fly. We hope you have a wonderful day - we love you very much! Uncle John & Aunt Riley

This morning, the sermon we heard was about those times in life when things happen that there is no explanation for and how in those times we should just run to God instead of trying to figure out why. So many things happen in the world and in life that don't seem to make sense and we'll never understand, but in those times we need to just go to God, crawl up in His lap and be held. There is a song that fits this perfectly. It's by Natalie Grant and it's called "Held". It's such a powerful song! Here's the video... Have a wonderful week! Until we meet again... John & Riley

Happy Monday - hope you had nice weekend! We certainly did - this was our first regular weekend at home since before Christmas, so it was nice to have things back to normal (even though we really enjoyed all of our holiday travels). Friday night I got my hair cut after work and then John and I met up at El Chico for dinner to celebrate the day we met (for the story behind that, click here to read all about it). After dinner we ran a few shopping errands around town, got coffee at Starbucks and bought our groceries for this week. It was a fun Friday night! Saturday started out rather cold and rainy, so we spend most of the day inside doing all sorts of "To Dos" around the house. There were basic weekly things we needed to take care of and we worked on a couple of "projects" as well - we got a lot done! Being the planner/organizational freak that I am...I love being productive so it felt great. Also, I finally got the buffet table in that I've been wanting for th...

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, CALVIN! Though we aren't sure of the exact date, we know that Calvin was born in January 2003 so we are celebrating his birth month instead of his exact birthday. You can read more about this adorable dog on the right side bar. We got Calvin in April 2003 (all 5 lbs of him at the time) and he has been a joy ever since then. He's brought us so much happiness and is tons of fun. I know he's "just a dog", but if you are a pet owner, you know how special they are and that they are truly a part of your family. Everyone says this about their dog, but Calvin is simply the perfect dog. We've had so many people comment on what a calm, well behaved dog he is. He's such a sweet dog and a wonderful friend! We try to take care of him as best we can and we also pray for him that God will allow him to remain healthy and be with us for many more years to come. We love you, Calvin! Until we meet again... Riley

It was eight years ago today, January 8, 2002. I flew to the Little Rock airport to meet John - face to face for the first time. If you don't know how " Our Story " began, you can catch up and read about it all here . Reading that will help with the rest of the story... I exited the plane and made my way to the friend/family waiting area and there was John, with daisies in hand (my favorite flower). John had come to the airport to pick me up along with Jason and Angela. After leaving the airport we all went to lunch at El Chico. After lunch, Jason and Angela dropped us off at John's house in Conway and they went back home. John gave me a tour of his cute little house and gave me a few PEZ dispensers (which I collect). Later in the afternoon, we drove out to Mount Vernon to eat dinner and spend time with John's parents and Jason, Angela, Jacob and Isaac. It was a really nice, fun evening. John still says to this day that he was so nervous that day - too c...

I don't typically make "resoultions" per se as each new year dawns, but I always try to think of things that I would like to do better or do dfferently. A new year serves as an Etch-a-Sketch to erase the past and start anew - isn't that really nice sometimes? John and I both have been thinking about what we would like to change in 2010... The "eating better" and "exercising more" usually goes without saying - it's understood really. We spend from Thanksgiving to Christmas eating all sorts of yummy things - anything we can get our hands on usually. By the time the new year rolls around, we are usually carrying that "holiday weight" on top of the unwanted pounds we had already gained through the year...so we are miserable and ready to get back on track and get healthy again. I too am ready for that! We are currently celebrating a late Christmas in Arkansas with John's family, but when we return home it is back to the routine. We wi...

NFC EAST CHAMPS!!! Very few even predicted the Cowboys would make the playoffs much less win the division, but they did - hooray!! What a great game and such a dominate performance by the Cowboys. Here's hoping they carry their hot streak into and through the playoffs - it's been FAR TOO LONG! Saturday night is the re-match of the Cowboys vs Eagles. We will be visiting John's family this weekend, so we will get to watch the game with them. Our nephew, Jacob just so happens to be a huge Eagles fan (poor guy!) so I'm sure there will be a lot of trash talking Saturday night back and forth - fun times! I'm sorry sweet Jacob, I think the Cowboys are going to beat your Eagles one last time (3rd time this season) and finish them off for good!! I can't take another playoff loss... I still need to post some of our Christmas pictures. Ahhhhh - it's just been such a busy time and now we are getting into the swing of the new year! We have lots of pictures from our tr...