I have a new coffee table at my house. It does not match the description of the oddly named furniture piece previously described. My coffee table is dearly treasured. It is a place of refuge. A place of remembrance. A place of prayer and reflection. It is my place to drink coffee (or the occasional hot tea) from my treasured, favorite cup. It is truly a coffee table. 

This week, my friend moved away. Heather  was the second friend I have lost to “a new life’s journey” in the past year. Our mutual friend Jenni moved in late July of 2010 to begin the break-up of our 3M trio. When Jenni and her family moved away, I had an awful twinge in my stomach. I could just feel that it would not be long before Heather and her family started a new journey elsewhere, as well, and then our trio would be spread across the country. No doubt. 3 different states. Multiple-day car trips between us. Insert sad face here. 

 Many of you reading this will say I should get over it and not be so caught up with the loss my best girlfriends to another state. I have a family to take care of. A job. Other friends. You might say that I should be used to this, having lived my full 30 years in a military town. But, because I have lived for 30 years in a military town, where childhood friends move away, I have never had a true best friend. Never, until Jenni, and then Heather, came into my life. Both of these women played and integral roll in growing my Christian faith and ultimately helped save my marriage. They have helped me become a better woman all around, from prayer warrior to wife. All while sharing our lives with each other over a cup of coffee. 

I will never be able to repay my Besties for all they have given me. And we aren’t just talking the maternity clothes they let me borrow or half my wardrobe of hand-me-downs they have blessed me with. I am talking about much more. They have loved me, supported me, let me know when I was wrong and shown me unconditional grace. Through many laughs, tears, prayers and cups of coffee, these women impacted my life forever and they will always be in my heart, no matter the distance between us.  

4 months ago, my husband and I welcomed a baby girl into our, now, family of 5. I can honestly say this wouldn’t have happened without the prayer and support and more prayer from Jenni and HK. From helping me to get my head on straight, in order to get my marriage on the right track, to all the prayers through pregnancy and hospitalization of our little preemie. For this reason, we chose a name for our little girl to honor each of them. Myla’s middle name, Klaire, was given in honor of Jenni. When I asked Jen her favorite girl names in the grocery store, Claire was the first name she gave. The “K” in Myla’s Klaire was given to honor Heather Kate’s beloved nickname “HK”.  

So what is so special about my coffee table? As Jenni, pulled out of town, she gifted me a coffee cup  that I always loved to drink from when we chatted and prayed at her home. Just holding it would bring a smile to my face. When HK pulled out of town, she gifted me her wrought iron garden table and chairs (mostly because they couldn’t fit it on the truck, but also because she knew I loved it.) They are perfect in size and frankly just adorable. So now I have a new coffee table. A treasured table to sit at while I drink coffee from my treasured cup. And when I am sad or have had a long day and I just need a hug from Jenni and Heather, I will sit on my porch with my cup of coffee, at my little coffee table and think of my precious best friends. I will pray for them here. I will think of them her I will miss them here. I will remember them here. And one day, I will sit here and have a tea party with my precious Myla Klaire.

I have had my real estate license for several months now and have been working as a real estate assisstant at Advantage Realty of Altus, LLC to learn the ropes. But, Billy and I decided that it was time to move forward. Of course, one of my very best friends who happens to be moving wanted to list with me, so that helped too.

We decided to start out right by getting a website from the best little web developer in town! My site PropertiesByChrista.com goes live on the 1st. I am very excited about this full service website where clients and customers will be able to find tons of information from Google maps integration on my property listings to useful links for information on the Home Buyer Tax Credit.

Since the company I am with, Advantage Realty, is a member of the Multiple Listing Service, I will be able to show any property listed in the MLS regardless of whether it is listed with Advantage or not. That means that we will find you the home of your dreams no matter what kind of sign is in the yard! And, if you are listing your home for sell, choosing me as your REALTOR opens up a much larger buyer pool than offering your home for sale by owner because your home will also be listed in the MLS!

I am very excited to bring a fresh, new excitement to real estate in Altus! So, whether you are buying or selling, I promise to bring you Real Estate with a Passion!

www.PropertiesByChrista.com

It seems everyone is on the web these days, and of course successful businesses are EXPECTED to be there! Social networking and blogging are through the roof. You can go out and get a blog or a “page” set up in literally minutes! However, the most important thing to remember about putting yourself or your business out there on the World Wide Web is the IMAGE you are portraying to your clients and/or potential customers.

Why should they use your service or business? What do YOU have to offer that the “others” don’t? Now we can all agree that we want to put the best presentation out there to all our clients and customers. We get our picture professionally taken. We advertise in all the hotspots. We post on Facebook and blogs. We start up a website, or at least, we wish we could! 

Most of us don’t have the time or knowledge to create and MAINTAIN a website that actually looks REALLY good. That is the whole point though. We want a website that looks GREAT and has the features that we need, but we want to just snap our fingers and have it done, and we don’t want it to cost an arm and a leg, right?

GREAT NEWS!

Now you CAN have a great looking, professional website with a custom look that won’t break the bank! My dear friend Heather McKelvey, who happens to be a BRILLIANT website developer, has just expanded her company TheDigiFix! Previously Heather worked with custom built websites, creating every little detail from the layout (no free templates downloads here!) to search engine optimization (that means people can Google you and they will FIND YOU!) Heather is now introducing a new division called Main Street Web Development!

Main Street is for those of us that fit the criteria I listed earlier! In fact, she is working on my website as we speak! Heather will give you the personal one on one time you deserve as a client, plus she puts it to you in PLAIN English, so you won’t feel overwhelmed and ummm…let’s say…technologically challenged!

So if YOU or ANYONE you know, is interested in starting up their own website, or just making the one they currently have BETTER, call Heather! She will totally hook you up! Make sure you tell her that I sent you so she knows how the word is getting spread!

Check out www.SitesOnMain.com or www.TheDigiFix.com !

Trust me, she is AMAZING! Plus she is one of the friendliest, talented, most adorable nerds you will ever meet!

In the last week, our town and surrounding area has been hit by a MAJOR ice storm! We were very lucky for many reasons but probably the most significant is that our wonderful neighbor allowed us to hook our heat up to his generator. We were able to stay warm and with the entire house warm, we were able to provide warmth for several other family members without power.

Even though we were out of electricity for almost an entire week we still enjoyed many “popsicles” as a result of the ice storm! Don’t get me wrong, it was very stressful cooking for 8 plus people each meal, making sure the grannies got hot showers and hot coffee (with the right amount of cream and sugar,) and everyone had a comfy place to sleep. But I have chosen a few of my favorite “popsicle flavors” that I was able to experience despite the disaster and state of emergency.

Cherry – The heat from the generator that warmed our home

Orange – Roasted marshmallows, baked apples with caramel, brown sugar and oatmeal, and pineapple up-side-down cake made on hot coals

Grape – Candle-lit hot, steamy, quiet showers

Lime – 4 generations of Murphys together in one house taking care of each other

Lemon – The wonderful taste of whole milk that has been chilled on the front porch in 28 degrees weather, WAY colder than the frig could ever get it

Blue-Raspberry – 2 of my children’s Great-grandmothers in the same house to talk with them and play with them all they wanted

Strawberry – The joy of using my Grandad Harness’s 150 year old oil lamp to light up my house in 2010

Pineapple – 2 little Hawaiian boys with excitement in their eyes about cooking over a fire, lighting candles, playing card games and sleeping on a blow-up mattress in their toy room

Lemon – Long candle-lit talks with my sweet husband as we got into bed to rest for the night, ready for the sun to come and shine some light through the windows

Without our family and neighbors we would all have been cold, hungry and lonely. Thanks to God’s many blessing we able to enjoy many flavors of popsicles instead of just freezing in the midst of an ice storm! I will treasures these memories forever.

I hope that while the ice storm was devastating, stressful and exhausting, you discovered a few popsicle flavors to enjoy along the way!

“Because they are a bigger size than you wear.”  – “Why?”

“Because Will’s bottom is bigger than yours.” – “Why?”

“Because Will is older.” – “Why?”

“Because he was born first.” – “Why?”

“Because that is how God wanted it.” – “Oh, OK!”

And so it begins.

Yesterday, my dear sweet Owen, who will be 3 in April finally came down with the WHYs.

The WHYs are such a milestone in life. Mostly, as parents I think that we dread this time of constant questioning. I remember when Will got the WHYs. He was just around 2. I thought, “Should he be doing this so early? It isn’t time for the WHYs yet, is it? Maybe if he starts early, he will stop asking “why” earlier.” Boy was I WRONG!!!

I have always tried to be the mom that actually gives answers to the why question instead of saying, “Just because!” But I will admit that there was more than one occasion when I said to Will, “That’s enough questions for now!” Then I turned up the radio and started singing at the top of my lungs. I know. Terrible, aren’t I!? But what do you do when you have mothered a walking test? I finally got to the point when I just started asking him questions back. One day we were driving home. Will was being incessant with why questions. I asked, “WHY do you ask so many questions?!” in desperation. Will simply answered, “Because, I am the Question Boy!” 

GOOD GRIEF!

So, I guess with all that question asking, which is still going on by the way, I had somehow forgotten that little Owen would eventually get to the WHY stage as well. Thankfully, for now, it is quite a bit of comic relief! Owen’s whys are totally random and spontaneous leading to much laughter and giggles. I think it will be good for Will. So far, he has only gotten a small taste of his own medicine and he has already said, “It just is!” And that was all on the first day!

I am sure that we will have many WHYs to come! At least now we have Will to help give some answers! Can’t wait to see this dynamic unfold! Why, you might be asking. BECAUSE it will be HILARIOUS!