EXCITMENT:)

I WILL BE WITH MY FAMILY IN 4 AND A HALF HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!!!!

home for the holidays

i'm so ready to see my family! only 14 days until landon and i make the 6 hour drive to friona and i couldn't be more excited!!! this is the longest that i have ever gone without seeing my family. i talked to my nephews the other day. there is nothing better than calling and hearing "B!!!!!!" on the other line. when i called, they were making cookies. i told cash that i loved making cookies and he kindly invited me over to help if i wanted. i love making christmas cookies, so i decided that when i get home, i have a cookie date with my nephews!

i love christmas sugar cookies!!!

another favorite, corn flake wreaths! (rice crispy treats)

and last, Tiger butter homemade candy!!

Well, now my mouth is watering and i'm super ready to see my family! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your family...................... and eat lots of goodies.

thankful

this time of year, it's easy to be thankful for so many things. it's the holidays. it's the most wonderful time of the year. i have plenty of things to be thankful for this year!

the most wonderful husband i could ever want/need (and our first christmas trees together:)

most adorable nephews!

best dad and little brother

best sisters/best mom/best friends

most amazing family i could ever ask for

i have a lot to be thankful for this year. God has truly blessed me...more than i ever deserve!

changes

the last 6 months, i have personally gone through a lot of changes. changes that were expected and also unexpected. changes that i couldn't wait for and changes that i wouldn't mind waiting a little longer. changes that have been hard and changes that have been easy. changes i love and changes could do without. changes that are easy to trust in God and changes that have tested my faith:

graduated from college, married the love of my life (will be 6 months on monday), moved away from friends from school, moved away from my family, moved to a brand new place, searched for a teaching job, didn't get a teaching job, and the list really goes on.

needless to say, it's been an exciting yet very different time in my life. and i'm learning to pray and trust God more and more every day. He has brought wonderful new people into my life and am looking forward to the relationships and friends that will continued to be strengthened and the ones we have yet to meet. this weekend, some of our very best friends were engaged. i'm excited about that friendship that we will get to continue to build on for the rest of our lives. i'm excited to have friends that are married. i've been really wanting a young married friend who i can relate with and understand the wonderful and difficult aspects of marriage.

all this to say, random and mixed up as this whole blog is, God is good. He knows what I need and when I need it. When I get discouraged in some of the changes i have gone through, He knows how to lift me up. This week, it was simply witnessing the engagement of two wonderful people, and the friendship we will get to share with them.

holiday decorating!

i'm a little late, i know. i didn't think i was until i went to the store to find fall decorations and there is only christmas decorations! so i got a few things on sale, a couple candles, and now i'm feeling very festive. i should probably get started now on getting stuff for christmas. i still don't have a tree, am trying to figure out what colors i want to go with on the tree, stockings, garland, centerpieces, a wreath, etc. i need some good ideas if anybody has any pictures they would like to post! i love the holidays!! i love being festive!! i love the joy in everyone and everything!! i love the weather!! i love everything about it!!

home sweet home!!!!!

friday was the BIG day!!! my last day in Friona and my long drive home to my sweet and wonderful husband who i missed terribly! i was able to leave school early so i could get on the road and not get home so late. i didn't tell my students that i was leaving early until about 15 minutes before i left. a few girls cried, they begged me not to go, and i laughed...haha! heartless?maybe. ready to be home? definitely!

when i got home, landon had supper ready for me! fetticini with chicken, red potatoes, asparagus, and bread. it was DELICIOUS! i hadn't seen landon in 2 weeks and 1 day! it was such a wonderful welcome home!

we have really enjoyed being back together. i finally feel like his wife again. i have been able to cook dinner, do laundry and hang out with my husband. it has been PHENOMENAL!

i had a great experience in friona. it felt good to be a teacher. i had my mom and my aunt across the hall for help. i had a great group of students. now i'm ready for my own classroom. i turned in all my paperwork to sub here in denton so i'm hoping to at least start doing that asap!

thanks again for all your prayers. we truly are blessed!

felt the prayers

a lot of people have been asking how my sub job has been lately, so i figured i needed to just update my blog. the week before i started, i found out that i would only be subbing 3, maybe 4 weeks, which was great news! on the first day, the kids tested me out, just like any kid would do to a sub, but they quickly realized that i meant business, but we could still have some fun. the first week went by fast, like SUPER fast! that friday was my sister's homecoming and she was on the homecoming court. she asked me to fix her hair for the football game before i flew home to be with landon for the weekend. my flight was at 6:45, and if you have ever flown in amarillo, you know that you can get there 20-30 minutes early and be fine. i got to the southwest counter to get my boarding pass at 6:20 and the lady says to me, "ma'am, your flight is at 6:25. you need to run down there." i ran down to my gate only to see the terminal pulling away from my plane. needless to say, that "fast week" that i was talking about earlier, all of the sudden seemed SO long and i was dying to see landon!! tears + a super nice southwest lady = changing my flight to saturday morning with no charge. the interesting thing about it was that my bags made it on to the plane, so i had to get them on saturday when i got there. i cried all the way back to friona.

saturday morning, i woke up early and drove to the airport and got there with plenty of time to spare. i wasn't going to miss another flight! i finally made it to landon after a missed flight, lost luggage, and a 50 dollar travel voucher for losing my luggage, and we had a great weekend. it was hard to leave on sunday. but once again, the next week went by fast. the second week i had to drive back to denton on wednesday after school to go to a subsitute orientation in denton on thursday and then drive back on thursday when i was done. luckily my sister skipped school to make the trip with me so it wasn't near as bad. i didn't go home that weekend because landon was gone, and frankly, i didn't want to make that drive again.

this week has gone by fast again. the first two days the 5th grade has had field trips and today we had parent/teacher conferences (a little weird as a sub having parent teacher conferences, but i made it through). i'm not sure yet if i will be here again next week. the lady i am subbing for had surgery, but now has the flu. i am ready to go home and be a wife to my husband, have the same schedule, see him every day, and not feel like we are dating again. i'm not a fan of this long distance. the money would be nice, but i now can sub in denton so i'm really ready to go home. i miss landon a lot.

all this being said, thank you for praying for us during the last 3 weeks. we have definitely felt every prayer being lifted up for us! God is good and he always provides.


ps...i applied for a 4th grade position that opened up in the ft worth area yesterday. say a prayer for me that if this is where i need to be, the doors will open. thanks so much!!!