my sister

My beautiful sister celebrated her 26th birthday yesterday. So in her honor, here are just 26 of the reasons I love her:

1. She's the smartest woman I know.

2. She writes the best, most encouraging cards, no matter the occasion.

3. She helped bring Esther into the world.

4. I can call her about anything, anytime, with any question and she'll answer.

5. She's one of the hardest workers I know.

6. She spent countless hours patiently tutoring me in math. She's the reason I passed every math class from 8th grade on.

7. She stood up with me at my wedding.

8. She's loyal.

9. She let's me kiss her baby as much as I want.

10. She'll let you borrow anything she owns for as long as you need it.

11. She showed me what it looked like not to settle when it comes to husband picking.

12. She never physically hurt me when I continued to steal her clothes without asking (and there were many times when she would have been justified in doing so!)

13. She's the best packer. Seriously, she can get anything to fit into anywhere!

14. She made running cross-country in high school fun and memorable. Having her as team captain was my favorite aspect of running.

15. When I registered for classes at Mizzou, she made sure I had a good schedule.

16. She's so secure in Christ that we can tease each other and crack each other up as we try to figure out how to do life, without taking it too seriously.

17. She's one of the most caring people I know.

18. She's an awesome mom.

19. When I had to go to the hospital in college, she drove me there and she was right by my side the entire time.

20. She's fun to shop with even when we're not shopping for something for her.

21. She has always supported me in my decisions.

22. She's amazing at juggling all she does. Anytime I get stressed out about my workload, I think of what she handles and it puts things back in perspective.

23. She's understanding. She's easy to talk to because she just gets me.

24. She's a problem solver. She doesn't flail about in a tough situation; she gets to the bottom of it.

25. She has a huge servant heart. She'll take care of everyone else before even thinking about herself.

26. She's one of my best friends in the whole world. She loves me when I'm unlovely and is patient when I am not. She's slow to anger when I am just downright cranky. I miss her so much and I'm excited every time I get to see her. She's beautiful and talented. I love her more than I tell her. I hope to be more and more like the Jesus I see in her.

Happy Birthday Manda!

how lovely are your branches

Here is a picture of our beautiful Christmas tree. (It's all in the eye of the beholder, right?) I put it up a couple of weeks ago, before our big ultra sound. Once I was done I walked into our room where Danny was and told him, "Well Dan, I'm not sure what our child is, but our Christmas tree is definitely a girl." If you can't tell by the picture, I have a serious infatuation/issue with making bows. It's like a mini therapy session every time I sit down with some wire ribbon. I definitely inherited it from my mother. Two words: Bow Queen. (No lie, the morning of my wedding she, my sister and I were making the pew bows for the church.) So when Daniel came in to admire her in all her glory, I was sure he'd want to butch her up a bit. Surprisingly, she passed inspection with flying colors. You see, anything that shares a color palette with the Kansas City Chiefs gets a thumbs up in the Hinton home!

some pics from SH fall retreat

i am a slacker!

It's official. I am officially an official blogging slacker. It's been (wincing) 2 months since I last posted. And it's not because I haven't had anything to say. If you know anything about me, you know I'm never at a loss for words. No, the only thing responsible for my absence from my blog is that I have been L-A-Z-Y! But I am whooping my lazy, no blogging behind back into action! In the words of our beloved Mississippi neighbors, I'm fixing to get fired up!! So, to update you, here are some of the highlights since my previous post:

1. The Senior High fall retreat at beautiful Windermere. A fabulous time was had by all. There was one incident during the caving expedition. Praise God, we can laugh about it now. And if it had never happened, we wouldn't have coined the phrase (say it with me now) "what happened in the cave, stays in the cave!” Thank you Deborah Anne for joining us!

2. The Middle school fall retreat at beautiful Camp Lake Stephens. Once again, a fabulous time was had by all. I tell you what; the seventh grade women could have stayed in the cabin all weekend with the entertainment Mo-Caps and Meggie Mobs were providing.

3. Thanksgiving! We traveled back to Kansas City to spend the week with our family and the time off was an answered prayer. It was a week full of Chipotle eating, football playing, Christmas decorating, movies on demand watching, furniture arranging, HHHAG bowl competing, black Friday shopping and some intense auntie- on- baby loving. There's not really anything I love more than cracking up with my family. If you put us in the same room, it's inevitable...we will start laughing, there's just too much material there not to!

4. Mizzou Tigers. It's bittersweet reminiscing about our tigers. They made us so proud that at one point, Chase Daniel Hinton was under some serious consideration as the name of our first-born son. Unfortunately, due to the outcome of the season and the outcome of the BCS, the Hinton home is now in mourning for one month. Enough said.

5. Baby Hinton's big ultrasound. Exactly one week ago, we found out that Baby Hinton is a healthy baby GIRL! And man, is she squirmy! She was swinging her arms, kicking her legs. To Danny, she has the makings of a place kicker, but I was getting more of a Rockett vibe. I guess we'll have to wait and see! :) I kept exclaiming, "I am in shock! I am in total shock!” And Danny, in all of his logic calmly replied, "Rach, you can't be shocked. It's like flipping a coin and being shocked it's heads." Hahahaha, he is so right. We are thrilled about our future daughter, and more freaked out than ever.

So there you have it. I'm officially back in the business of blogging. Thanks for bearing with me.