MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hi everyone! I can't believe how long it has been since I last blogged on here. All is well - which is probably why there is not much to share. ...don't you love how all Christmas catch up letters start like that! :)

The sum up of this year....

Luke came home in August - and that is really where our year began again as a Dickey family. We missed him SO much! He is doing well. He has one more year with the Army Reserves and then he is done. He went back to his job at George McKenna Electric and really enjoys working there. They really have a soft spot for him there. :) He is also back in school at IEC, 3 more semesters and he will have his journeyman license. HE IS READY TO HAVE THAT LICENSE. He still has his eyes set on installing solar panels for homes, so he was happy to see Obama win, just for the increase funds to alternative energy. :)

The kids are well - heck, the kiddos are GREAT! We are so blessed to have the wonderful kiddos we have with such beautiful hearts.

Hannah is in 3rd grade and for the first time EVER has an INCREDIBLE teacher and she is learning like CRAZY! Her reading button turned on this year and is reading everything in sight, it is quite amazing what billboard signs you don't notice until your child points them out to you! ;) Her precious faith continues to grow, and sometimes I catch her at night reading the bible. Right now she is fixed on Moses life. They are studying that in her class at church.

That is another thing that has changed. Long story short, just like everything else in life things change, cultures change - especially in new communities, and well, the culture at the North Campus kind of changed and we didn't change with it. So after much prayer and church shopping we have found our home - at least for now. :) It is a really healthy bible church out here in McKinney. We love the church, the message, the worship, and their small group life is established. A friend of mine is apart of one and we hope to check it out the first week of the new year. We are ready to be apart of a small group again.

And Mr. Mateo.... well, he is growing up! Every time I see him I am surprised by something he says or does or how he looks... he is becoming Mateo and it is good. He is in kindergarten this year. He has a precious teacher, who is so sweet and very patient with my little one. We joke that his first language is capital scribble, so we are working hard write now to get him to write on the line right now. Next is the to get lower case going, then to use finger spacing, then punctuation - yes, all little kindergartners are expected to know such things....? Go figure. So, thankfully Mateo has a big sister that he likes to copy and LOVES doing homework with her. *whew*

And more news on the dickey front - I have started my own photography business and I LOVE IT! http://www.capturedwhispers.com/ We are going to launch into the SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHY realm this March - hopefully never to return. And the LORD has continued to open doors to us along the way - including blessing us with being the photographers for the Melissa ISD PROM! He is sooo good to us! :)

Luke and I are well. On November 29 we celebrated 10 crazy and incredible years of marriage to our best friend. Do you know we have lived in 2 states and 2 countries and have moved a total of TWELVE TIMES over those 10 year?! I tell ya, it has kept us from being pack rats for sure! :) We have finally settled for a while in Melissa, TX. The town kind of suits us. We have been in our home for 3 years now. It is cozy and in 324 more months it will be ours. :)

Well dear friends, I hope all is well with you. Feel free to comment or email or just drop by anytime, - we might be in the middle of a Spin UNO game, but you are always welcome to join! :)

much love to you and yours,

the dickey clan

just a swingin

So, the boys decided they needed some guy time. So, hannah and I hung out in the living room watching HSM2 and the boys - Mohawk and all - hung out in MY hammock. YES - luke is cutting the apple with his pocket knife! :)

can they be anymore adorable?

You know it is amazing how much mateo is becoming more of a little man everyday. And our precious little hannahbear - gosh, if you haven't seen her in a while - you will be blown away by how much of a young lady she is becoming. I promise I will get a pic of her up soon.

God was generous when He blessed us with such incredible children.

The Common Sense Fix to the Economy

Forgive the RANT - but this really makes sense and I passed it on to my senators and reps.

The Common Sense Fix

Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following three-step Common Sense Plan.

I. INSURANCE
a. Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance. Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.
b. In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they must do two things:
1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent to a 6% fixed-rate mortgage.
a. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into the balance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a chance to keep their homes.
b. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any deficit balance. FHA does this now, and that encourages mortgage companies to go the extra mile while working with the borrower—again limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.
2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and executive team members as long as the company holds these government-insured bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming executives from being paid when they don’t do their jobs. c. This backstop will cost less than $50 billion—a small fraction of the current proposal.
II. MARK TO MARKET
a. Remove mark to market accounting rules for two years on only subprime Tier III bonds/mortgages. This keeps companies from being forced to artificially mark down bonds/mortgages below the value of the underlying mortgages and real estate. b. This move creates patience in the market and has an immediate stabilizing effect on failing and ailing banks—and it costs the taxpayer nothing.
III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX
a. Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the real estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating tremendous—and immediate—liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the taxpayer nothing. b. This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many will say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but it will be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all Americans to have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up instead of down.

This is not a time for envy, and it’s not a time for politics. It’s time for all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.