Better Late Than Never!

Hi everybody! As promised multiple times, here are some pictures from my time in Georgia over the holidays. As I was looking at pictures to post, I realized my mom had most of the extended family pictures on her camera, so I couldn't post those on my blog. She put a bunch of them on her blog though, so if you wish to check them out, feel free to do so here.

While I was home, I was able to take a trip to Greenville, SC and was able to see a couple of my favorite people from my college days, my professor/percussion teacher/advisor/mentor, and a wonderful woman I had the privilege of working with in the Admissions Office. It was so wonderful to see you both! Thanks for making time to allow us to catch up.


We were able to spend Christmas Eve with the Freeman family, as has been our custom for many years. Here is Auntie K with my mom, showing off the scarf my mom knitted for her for Christmas.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my parents, taken on Christmas Eve as well.

I was able to visit with one of my closest friends from high school who had recently had her second baby. It was awesome to see you Jenny - I miss you guys so much!

I also spent tons of time with my "sister", and it was great to reconnect and catch up.

We had a great time having most of my mom's family come visit - we played lots of wii and caught up. Here are the girls in the family - I'll try to get the other pictures from my mom of the rest of the fam!

So there are some of the pictures. I apologize for the lateness of them.... Here in the great white north, it is COLD! The windchills have been hovering close to or below zero, and I can tell how cold it has been because 30 degrees feels pretty warm now! We're supposed to get a big storm on Wednesday, so I'll keep you posted on that.

Much more to come on my blog, so keep reading! I hope that you have a great week!

Snow

I took a bunch of pictures of the snow on my way to work today. It's impossible to describe how beautiful it is with words, and these pictures don't begin to do it justice. But I wanted to share them with you so you could get at least kind of an idea of what the world looks like around here. Enjoy!

Happy Sunday!

Hello friends and family! I have been a bad blogger this week! I had grand plans of posting bunches of pictures, and I had plans of doing that this weekend. But the weekend has not gone exactly the way I planned, which is totally fine....it just means you have to wait a bit longer for a massive picture post. I did want to put up a post though and show you a couple of things from the office.

Awhile back, I posted pictures of my very own office, and I have recently hung some pictures, gotten a bookshelf (that I put together all by myself!!), and I thought you might like to see the end result. The beautiful flowers in the picture are from my most fabulous Pa, who sent them to me to remind me how much I am loved. Thanks, Pa!


On Friday at work, I had to wear a Florida Gator shirt because I had made a bet earlier in the fall and lost. The president of the company I work for is a huge Gator fan, so when they played UGA, we made a bet. Loser had to wear the other team's shirt for a day. He was actually very nice to me and didn't get me an obnoxious shirt to wear. I wouldn't have been that nice!! Michael snapped this picture for me, but he wouldn't speak to me until I had changed shirts. :)

It snowed about 6 more inches today, and it's supposed to snow a few more inches tonight. It was big fluffy snow, so it stuck to everything. I wish you could see what it looks like - Narnia meets winter wonderland meets....well, there are just no words. I'm going to try to take a few pictures tomorrow to share with you. And I really will post pictures from the holidays sometime this week. Have a great week!

Remembering

Greetings from the north, where upon waking up this morning, I was greeted with a winter wonderland as about 8 inches of snow fell overnight. I truly do love the snow - it is so completely beautiful and peaceful. It does make life interesting though. I had to bundle up in a puffy coat, scarf, gloves, hat and waterproof boots just to take my laundry down to the laundry room. But I did get to walk through the snow to get there, so that's fun!

I know I still owe some posts with pictures from when I was home for the holidays....I know you are all waiting anxiously for your pictures to appear so you can be famous! :) Have patience though, for they will get posted. Today, I want instead to share a few thoughts with you.

This coming Wednesday, January 14th, would have been my 3rd anniversary. Hard to believe, isn't it? That means that it's been 2 years since everything changed forever for me. I'm doing well, but I think that no matter how many years go by, I'll always remember a few dates in my life. It's not that those dates incapacitate me - they are, after all, only dates - but I think it's okay, even appropriate, to take time to remember and be reminded of God's faithfulness to us.

And God has indeed been faithful. Not only has He healed my heart in ways I never thought were possible, but He has given me so much more. When I think back over the last couple of years at all that I have been able to experience, the places I've seen, the people I have met, the beauty I live in....I simply cannot imagine my life without any of it. Obviously if things had been different, Jeff and I would have had our own adventures, but God has taken what was meant for evil and brought good from it. I will be eternally grateful for that.

I actually ran into Jeff - nowhere near where we live, in a mall crammed full of people - when I was home over the holidays. It was the first time I had seen him since the day he left, and it was a complete God-thing that it happened. Awkward and weird? Yes. But a final bit of healing for me as well. I have learned over the last couple of years that as much as we'd like to, we can't control another person. We can't force them to choose well. All we can do is trust the One who knows the number of our days before we are even born to carry us through any circumstance - good or bad - and to love us more than we can comprehend.

It is my desire to live this year in such a way that my very life is evidence of God's goodness and grace. I want to live in joyful expectation and not in fear - not so that what I want will happen, but that my heart will be open to no matter what God has in store for me, knowing that He is always enough.

Thank you for remembering with me. Thank you for your faithful prayers and your gracious support. And thank you for cheering me on as life continues to move forward. God is good.

Crazy

I don't think I ever thought I'd see this picture, at least involving the parents moving out of the state of GA. I always knew they would eventually move from this house, but still....how weird is this??

It would be quite helpful for the house to sell quickly, so your prayers are appreciated for that. I will keep you posted on the progress! More blogging to come soon....

New Year Ponderings

Greetings to you all from the frigid north! I apologize for being so slack on the blogging. It's just because I was so busy hanging out with so many of you over the last couple of weeks that I had no time to sit down and post anything! I will do my best to get caught up and share as much as I can with you over these next days.

To begin with, Happy New Year! The start of a new year always fills me with various emotions as I look back over the past year and ponder what lies ahead. I've never been a big "New Year's resolutions" kind of girl, but it is a good time to take stock and see if there are areas in my life that I would like to see change.

Earlier today, I went to the hospital to visit my friend Rachael and got to hold her not even 24 hours old son. To look at something so tiny and yet so complete is awesome. I don't know how anyone can see new babies and not believe in God. To know that He cares so much about us that He formed each unique detail of us, down to the things that scientists are still learning about the human body... He loves us, He knows the number of our days before we are even formed....and yet we waste so much of life worrying about things beyond our control. Check out baby William resting peacefully in his new world.


I'm not sure what the northern traditions for New Year's are, but in the south, on New Year's Day, you're supposed to eat black-eyed peas and collard (or turnip) greens - black-eyes for good luck and greens for wealth. I love black-eyed peas, but I detest greens of any kind (sorry Dad!)....and I'm not superstitious enough to eat them just for prosperity. Anyway, on New Year's, some friends were over at our house and had brought these dishes for dinner. My cousin and I were talking about why you eat each thing and he said something about not caring if he had a good year. I responded by saying I'd really like 2009 to be a good year. A very wise person standing next to me asked me what I would consider to be a "good year". I have to admit, I was pretty stumped and didn't really have an answer at that time.

What would I consider to be a good year? What would have to happen or not happen for me to look back at the end of 2009 and think, "now that was a good year!"? What would make you have a good year? I think this is something important for each of us to ponder because when you stop and think about it, most of the things we dream about happening, if we're honest....well, maybe they aren't as important as we might think. Or maybe they are important but maybe they're not really the point. I challenge you to consider this question as we begin a new year. Don't let life just happen to you this year. Be intentional in every aspect - in your relationship with God, with family and friends, in how you spend your time, in what you say....everything.

May we live 2009 like baby William - completely dependent on God for our very next breath, indeed our very survival - and yet completely at peace in His love and grace.

Many stories and pictures to come, but for now, I leave you with these shots of some of my favorite people in the world. I love you guys!

Merry Christmas!

Hi everybody! Merry Christmas a little late to you all! I have been enjoying my time at home immensely, and I just haven't had time to blog. I have so much to share with you - pictures and stories, so I will be trying to catch you up over the next few days. I have had a great time hanging out with my family, seeing friends and extended family, and having some cool experiences that have provided some more closure as one chapter is closing and a new one opening before me (and my family) in 2009. So there is much to share, and I promise to do so soon. For now, I'll leave you with a few pictures. I got a wii for Christmas, and it is SOOO fun! I think I have developed tennis elbow from playing it, but we've had a blast. Enjoy the pictures, and have a Happy New Year!

Ellie & Snow

Ellie really hates the snow. I found that out today when I tried to get some pictures of her in the snow that was on our porch. The poor cat was quite miserable. Check out this hilarious picture to see...

And before you report me to the animal rights people, I did let her in and held her and dried off her feet after this moment. Well, after she begged to go inside.

Hahaha...Anyway, to gain a little perspective, here are 2 pictures off of my deck - one from the summer and one from today.


Amazing, isn't it? The weather today has been interesting. It snowed for most of the morning and afternoon - gorgeous fluffy snow. Then it started sleeting, then raining. It is now sleeting, freezing rain, and it's supposed to change back to snow to give us up to 3 inches more before it stops. It should be a nice skating rink outside tomorrow. As long as we can get out on Tuesday, we'll be fine. It's been an awesome weekend, and I've enjoyed every minute of it! Can't wait to be in GA in TWO days! Love you guys!

Christmas Snow

As I sit here and type this blog, it is STILL snowing outside! It started yesterday afternoon and hasn't really stopped since. We have probably about 12 inches on the ground at the moment. It is supposed to stop snowing later this evening only to start again tomorrow, with another 6 inches expected. It's a Winter Wonderland out there!

Earlier this afternoon, I decided to go for a walk to try to get some pictures. It was a little difficult because it was snowing at the time, and I was trying to keep my camera somewhat dry. So I didn't take as many as I might have otherwise. But I thought I'd still share with you what I captured. To begin with, here is a picture of a car that has been almost buried by snow and the plow...

Here are some pictures just of the scenery with snow on them.





Then we have some Christmas decorations with snow on them. I love these pictures - I love seeing the snow covered decorations. There is something so quaint and right about it. :)



Finally, a self portrait. I put my camera on a bench to take this picture. I was trying to show how deep the snow is, and as you can see by my legs - well, it's deep!

Right after this picture, my camera fell in the snow. Oops. It's drying out now and seems to be just fine. Depending on the weather tomorrow, I'll try to get some more pictures taken. I wish you guys could be here for this. There is nothing like walking along in the snow, while it's snowing, with the ocean in the background, in a peaceful, quiet, magical setting. God's power shows itself all the time here in this creation I am surrounded by. But His peace and majesty and stillness and silent awe that is present when it snows....words and pictures fail to describe.

More to come soon. It's supposed to stop precipitating after tomorrow, so we should be able to fly home on Tuesday with no problem. See you soon!

White Christmas

I love Christmas! It is an awesome time of year. And I love snow! Snow is a glorious creation, and the beauty of a good snowfall just takes my breath away. So imagine my great delight that these two things are being combined - and before I leave to come to GA where it is 70 degrees! We are currently under a winter storm warning, with the potential for a foot of snow to fall tomorrow. A foot!! Do you know how cool it is to see Christmas decorations with snow on them??

Anyway, even here in the north, precautions are being taken. Our office is closing at noon in an attempt to get everyone home before the roads are no longer safe. It's actually fascinating how awesome they are at clearing the roads off up here. The only trouble we have is when what is forecast for tomorrow happens - when it snows an inch or more an hour, the plows can't keep up with keeping the roads clear, so then we can run into trouble. Once the snow stops though, they'll have the roads clear in no time. Can you imagine if we got a foot of snow in GA? The state would shut down for days!!

Anyway, I am taking Christmas gifts into my office tomorrow. Each cup has soft peppermints in them and a few chocolates, but I thought the cups were awesome coming from me. Check it out:

I got Ellie a Christmas present today - this is a squirrel filled with catnip. She really likes it!

Finally, here is Ellie herself, looking very cute.

If this winter storm happens as predicted, I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post them for you to see. If I can't have a white Christmas in GA, at least I can enjoy an almost one here! Can't wait to see you all very soon!