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we go together like whamalamalama a-diggy-da-ding-di-dong

Three years people! We go together like lamb and tuna fish!

I think God usually puts opposites together; it just seems to work better this way. Where I'm lacking - Mike excels, and vice versa. It works perfectly! Sometimes we may question it, but God knew before we ever met that we were perfect for one another. It's amazing, and these three years have been nothing short of amazing. This next year will be a learning experience for both of us. We've never known one another without school being meshed in the middle. It'll be nice getting to spend lots of quality time together instead of sitting by one another in the living room while we study.

Here are some pics from 3 years ago to the present.

You can call me Master McGrath

Yep, that's right, we officially hold the title of graduate school graduate...um...master mcgrath's...um...master's degree holders...um...higher education achievers. Whatever you want to call us, we call it FINISHED!

Mike began his seminary experience Fall of 2004. While I was still working on my undergrad degree at NSU, Mike began driving on Mondays to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's extension center in Marshall, TX. What a blessing that the extension center was so close; otherwise it would have taken him a lot longer! Kuddos to Mike for working 40 hour weeks over the last year. He has worked very hard to complete his Master's of Art in Christian Education degree. I couldn't be prouder!

When we first moved to Ft. Worth, TX, in December of 2005, I decided to sit out a semester and find a job. I was accepted to Texas Woman's University and started working on my Master's of Library Science degree summer of 2006. Who would have ever thought we would finish at the same time. Believe me, neither of us did! This past year we have worked incredibly hard in order to finish this December. We haven't seen much of one another this semester, but we knew it would all be worth it in the end.

Hopefully it won't be another year before we post again. Until then...

take me out to the ballgame

Baseball season is just around the corner, and this year Denney (my little bro.) will hopefully get to play in quite a few games for the NSU Demons. Here's a little information about him that they have put up on their website: http://www.nsudemons.com












Denney Choate
2006 Scouting Report: A very smart young player who will have a bright future with the Demons. High School: Lettered four years in baseball, earning all-district, all-area and all-state honors... Honor roll student, graduating with a 3.87 gpa... Hit .498 as both a freshman and senior; .470 as a sophomore and .370 as a junior... Member of the Superintendent’s Roll and National Honor Society. Personal: 19 years old... Born June 8, 1986… Son of Dennis and Jerrie Choate…Majoring in health and human performance with a minor in athletic training… Father was a pitcher for the Demons from 1972-75, having racked up several school records, some that he still holds today. He is also a member of the Graduate N Club Hall of Fame... Mother was a member of NSU’s first-ever women’s basketball team... Both parents began the baseball and softball programs at Mansfield High School.

say cheese!

My mom goes crazy with the camera when we're all together. Here are some pictures we took for Christmas cards this year.

Dallas Mavericks

The MAVS Game












Tony Romo was actually at this game!





Matt and Cassie Hubbard

God's country

Over Thanksgiving we headed to Branson, MO. We love it there. The mountains are absolutely beautiful!


Us at Silver Dollar City
The McGrath Family @ SDC
Mom and Dad Choate @ SDC.

oh Christmas, where have you gone?

Santa himself!


More pics from our trip to Colorado...



Us at Durango after a long day of skiing.

Mr. Ski Bunny






Not such a ski expert! =(

ski experts only

Whoa - long time since anything has been posted on this bad boy! Slacker city!

A New Year - 2007! Wow!

For Christmas of 2006, Mike and I spent time with my family in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We tried our best at skiing for three days and had a blast. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Lame-o

Well, you would think I could keep up with this thing, but I guess not! I’ll try harder. We have had quite a few fun weekends in the month of October. Of course, Mike’s birthday was fun. He got a nice looking cookie cake that said, “Happy Birthday Booger Lip.” The cake ladies at Wal-Mart thought it was hilarious that I wanted Booger Lip put on there, but they did it! Here’s a picture of Mike. He’s so proud of his new Monty Python t-shirt and Bill O’Reilly book.

The first Thursday in October we headed over to The Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas to see Family Force 5, this awesome group that we (well, maybe just me) are addicted to! They’re so random and their music is hard to describe. That was a fun night – DRAMA QUEEN~!
We also met up with Elizabeth and her beau at a pizza place up near the Grapevine Mills Mall. It was nice to catch up with her and hang out.

The second weekend in October we decided to try something we’ve never done before – GO TO THE DRIVE-IN MOVIES!!! Can I say – so much fun!!!! I can’t believe more of those things aren’t still around. We drove for about an hour down to Ennis, TX where they have a very nice drive-in with four different screens. It’s only $6 a person and you get to see a double feature. It was cheaper than going to the regular movie, and they show current/popular movies. We saw two really stupid movies, but the experience was the best. It was like we were back in the 50’s or 60’s or whenever drive-ins were really popular. They showed the old intermission clips between movies and we even used the authentic old-timey speakers that you hang on the side of your window. I want to go again!

Also on the second weekend in October, Mike’s dad and brother came over for a Cowboy’s game.

Mike’s parents were kind enough to buy Mike and me tickets to the Cowboys vs. Texans game. So, we were heathens on that Sunday and headed over to Texas Stadium instead of to church. The game was fun. I think the Cowboys even won – go figure.

T.O. made quite a few touchdowns. The only bad part about the game was that there was a guy in front of us that thought it would be cool to not wear a shirt! Ugh – he was very hairy. To top it off, he shaved a star into his chest and #11 on his back. He was nastily hairy!!! YUCK! We had fun though.

Lisa and Drew (two of our former youth from Coushatta) came to visit us the third weekend in October. They saw Third Day and David Crowder in Tyler and decided to head on over to Ft. Worth to hang out with us. We were so glad to see them. It’s nice to hang out with them as friends instead of youth minister/wife and youth. We tried to show them around Ft. Worth/Metroplex by taking them out to the airport, Grapevine Mills Mall and Sundance Square (downtown Ft. Worth). I think they had a good time, at least I hope they did!

The fourth weekend in October we headed home for my cousin Kim’s wedding reception. She was married in Holland back in August to Baus Sijm, but only her immediate family was able to attend. So, they had a huge party for them in Bossier. We got to meet Baus’ entire family; they all flew in from Holland! My cousin is such an incredible person and it’s so amazing to see how God is using her!

We also went to NSU’s homecoming game. I honestly don’t even know who they were playing because all I did was talk the entire game – go figure! Leah, Carly & Jason (Leah’s man) came in for the game and two of my cousins and their families were also there. It was nonstop talking! We ate at Mike’s parents after the game. It was so good to get to see everyone!
On Sunday, we visited FBC Coushatta. It’s always good to see everyone there (there are too many to name!!!). They conned me into singing, which I didn’t mind. The church seems to be doing well.

Oh, we are joining a church here in the next week or two – Hulen St. Baptist Church. It’s pretty cotemporary, which we enjoy, but the preacher is really good. We’re excited about finally plugging back into a church family.

jack-o-lanterns

This is the first year that we've bought pumpkins at halloween. We don't really do anything for halloween. For the past two years we worked at the Fall Festival thing at FBC Coushatta, and that was always fun, especially the penny throw for the little kiddos! Well, this year I begged Mike to buy two pumpkins so that we could carve them and make jack-o-lanterns. We had never done this together and I thought we should at least do it once. So, Mike came home from Wal-Mart the other day, after buying a new tire for his car, with two big 'ol pumpkins! We got out the knives and printed patterns for us to use. They turned out great!!! We had the best time, as you can tell from the pictures...

We started out with our two big, beautiful pumpkins.
Elpod did not care for the pumpkins at all!
We then began carving our pumpkins.

Fun stuff!

Our finished products!