m e a d o w l a r k

Well, christmas is over, so i feel obligated to get something done during my days besides take in a game or two of football…

I added a link to the ‘pages’ section on the right and also added it to the top panel.  It is a link that links directly to the ‘dashboard’ or the main administrative page (where all the writing takes place).  If you click on the ‘dashboard’ link and it takes you to a log-in page that means a) you do not have an account, or b) you are not currently logged in.

This link is useful because i hate scrolling down the page to get to the ’site admin’ section and i’d rather just have it accessible to us in the main view.  I hope it helps.

-wil

Well the Christmas holiday is over at the Chiaravalle home. It was overwhelming preparing for it… making sure every gift was perfect and met a need or touched a heart… hmmmmm failed at that one…. Attempting, somehow to figure out how to make it special, fun, interesting, etc… when life has been like the arms of an octopus (the ride) stretching, spinning, twirling to different places feeling out of control but then landing again and again on solid ground. (failed at that one too….) Yet it was so wonderful to have our family home, together (missing Heidi and Joe so much, although understanding it is a year that we are together in heart only) celebrating one another, the giving and receiving of gifts and the anticipation, hope and fear of a new year.

I personally found great joy this year in decorating in a somewhat contemporary theme. I admit, I love modern, clean and fun design and brought it into the theme of Christmas this year in our home. Bill loved it also, everyone else tolerated it; wondering, “what’s happened to tradition?” I don’t know really, it just left this year, to much change I suppose.

I found it fun and funky and it helped to keep my spirits up!

Then…… Wil & Kristen completely blessed us by spending three solid days and nights here at our home. It was so nice having them here (although I know we are a quiet and a bit boring of a house) we enjoyed the time with them so much and the fact that it caused Laura and Michael both to be home here with us a little more often (o: We played thrilling games and had very good times of just hanging and talking with one another. We are so thankful for the gift of their visit, it’s been a blessing.

They loved Sophey so much because they missed Gracie even more, she REALLY liked them a lot. Gave us & Laura more room on our beds for a few nights!

You can see from the photos that our games pf poker, scrabble, apples to apples, poker (I guess I mean 21) etc.. are very thrilling.

Actually I think either Wil or Kristen won every game, hmmmm…

Anyway, we all received wonderful gifts that are fun. We had a yummy prime rib dinner that was really good. We shared our anticipations, hopes and fears for the year to come……..

Leila- Laura leaving home….)o:………yet (o: for her……. but me… I’ve been a mom a long time now. A home without a teenager??????????? Huh?
Kris- Graduation……and all that is involved in that…..a different job, perhaps the corporate world….

Wil- his future with the company he loves working for (Starbucks) ans what that may bring… he also has a degree to complete

Alyssa- School?????? trying to make the school of her choice fit the degree of her dreams (it is proving to be a challenge)

Michael- moving out, all on his own, being responsible for his own place, bills, etc… YIKES!

Laura- moving out and going away to college, growing up, even more… away from home…

Bill- his studio building coming to completion and moving into a place he has always dreamed of..

It was interesting that everyones hope was also their fear, says something about life I suppose.

Anyway, I hope this Christmas you:

-Received a gift that touched your heart.

-Gave a gift that blessed a soul.

-Enjoyed the pretty lights of the Christmas Season.

-Saw a light in your home that you know only came from Christ.
-Anticipated your year to come with some anxiousness and hope mixed with a good dose of fear.

Warmly, loving you all.

Leila, with my mouth wide open

i’m running some tests right now with google ads and they will show up on the page. Don’t pay attention to them right now; they will be moving around and stuff… please bare with them for the time being.

-wil

*Update

Yes, there are some ads on the site in the sidebar… but they are pretty minimal and blend right in. I brought them in to generate some revenue for the website which will help pay for bandwidth and stuff. (it’s a pretty minimal amount that i’d be earning… this is just to help out a bit). I’m using google ads because they are simple to use and implement. Google ads is cool because it pulls words from our website and shows ads that are relevent to our content. So, if you see something interesting in the ads, click it. It will take you to a google search for the word you click on. I hope they don’t seem to be in the way, and if they are, just let me know and i will move them around.

I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR FEEDBACK! Thanks very much guys!

-wil

hello there everyone. this is my first official ‘post’ on the meadowlark site… i think i really wanted to see how the site would take off before i nudged my way in as a member (as opposed to administrator). i have REALLY enjoyed hearing about everything that is going on in my family and seeing some pictures along the way as well! (i’ll get to that later). here is a look into my life in the past while:

• at work i am taking on more and more responsibility while our store continues to grow and grow. we continue to top our sales from the previous week and out staff is getting stronger, more diverse and more enjoyable all the time. my manager and i are good friends and i really enjoy working with and learning from him… needless to say, work is quite busy.
• i have spent a lot of time considering my school situation and have decided that belmont is simply not worth the money right now (due to a number of reasons), and transferring to a community college to finish my degree would not only save me time, it would also save my parents a lot of money and i’ll be able to take some classes that i will actually enjoy. i will be registering this week sometime (i’m actually excited).
• kris has been insanely busy finishing up her main senior semester at omore. she is almost finished with her final design studio project and has a very important presentation on tuesday… it’s okay, she doesn’t need luck, her project is stellar and very well composed. it has been hard to find time with her over the last two weeks with her being so involved, it’s only for a short time though, and come the end of the week, she’ll be finished with school and i will have a wife again.
• christmas time is here and i have only shopped for my wife… i’m sure i’ll get around to the other christmas shopping by the time february rolls around.
• it is freezing cold in tennessee, but there is no snow.
• my dog is adorable … and gigantic. more here
• … that’s about all i can think of.

despite all of the craziness going on… life is good and kris and i are enjoying being married.

=D

-wil