happy thanksgiving

Hope all of you blog buddies had a happy thanksgiving and enjoyed some good food and fellowship with loved ones. Keith and I had a wonderful time with my mom, dad, and sister. My mom is the best cook ever, so we enjoyed all of the traditional thanksgiving favorites! We also had fun playing games, a holiday "must" in my opinion:) We have so much to be thankful for! Sweet family and friends are at the top of the list. It's fun to have a day set aside every year when we are all reminded to be thankful.

change

Over the last couple of weeks, our move is starting to feel real. We are beginning to pack a few boxes and say some good-byes, and though we are really excited about Hohenwald, we are also really sad to leave Abilene. This area has always been home to me. It's all I've ever known, so living somewhere different is exciting, but also sad and a little scary. I've never lived more than an hour from my mom, dad, and sister, and now I'll be over 13 hours away. I've never taught anywhere except Bonham, a school full of teachers and students who are so dear to me. So, like I said, I'm really excited about the future, but I'm sad to leave the past here too. We would really appreciate your prayers as we begin this transition, as we close this first chapter of our life together and move away from the town where we fell in love, got married, and have lived life for so long now. We will miss Abilene, Texas. It is a special place. We'll miss ACU, Bonham, Maryneal, UCC, Highland, our house, friends, and family.

big news for clarksville!!!

We're moving!

Keith accepted a job as the preaching minister for Hohenwald Church of Christ in Hohenwald, Tennessee. We're planning on moving around the first of the year. We visited in early October. Keith preached, taught, and interviewed. We had a wonderful weekend. Hohenwald is a beautiful town in middle Tennessee, about an hour south of Nashville. The people were very sweet and welcoming. They made us feel right at home. After our visit we spent time praying, thinking, and talking to family, friends, and mentors about whether or not this was a good fit for us. Keith and I feel like it is a great opportunity and a really good fit for us. Everyone we talked to was very supportive and encouraging. We are really excited about opening a new chapter in our lives!

music builds

Several weeks ago Keith and I got to go to an amazing concert. In our early days of dating and marriage we went to concerts fairly often; we got lots of freebies and good deals because of Keith working with music at the campus store. Keith's love of music has rubbed off on me, made me appreciate it more, and changed my preferences. Over the past couple of years we haven't gone to as many concerts, so it was a fun throw back for us and it was extra fun because it was some of our very favorite bands coming together to support and raise money for habitat for humanity! We had seen all four of them on their own before, and we were excited because all four played better than ever. Anyone who thinks Christian music isn't quality should have been there...they were very talented and it was FUN! You couldn't help but have fun with Keith, especially during RRand the FB!

sportin' the matching concert tees:)

Jars of Clay

Robert Randolph and the Family Band

Switchfoot

Third Day

summer rewind #2...sisterhood

Before I post about the present, I thought I'd play a little bit of catch-up...

ScrapMania!

All of you scrappers out there....LISTEN UP! This is the way to do it.

Back in July, Jacquie, Lauren, Emily, and I headed up to Oklahoma City with one goal, to SCRAP our hearts out! Dean and Dorothy, Jacquie's in-laws were very sweet and let us take over their house for the weekend and scrap to our heart's content. Our husbands thought we might get tired of scrapping, but we did not! It was a marathon and it was so much FUN!

Keith used to suggest I scrapbook for a couple of hours here and there while he watched a ball game, but by the time I drag everything out and get organized, the ball game is over and we're ready for bed. Unless you have a crafty room where you can keep everything spread out, and if you do, I'm totally jealous of you :), the scrapmania weekend is the way to do it! These three girls are my new scrap heros!!! After a little time with them, I realized what an amateur I am:)

I was inspired with each of them for a different reason:

Jacquie is "super speedy scrapper," she seriously finished almost 100 pages in one weekend, and they were all cute!

Lauren is "super scrap planner," because of her quantity of creative pictures. She is always prepared with her camera and does lots of fun picture-worthy things!

Emily is "super expert scrapper," because of her creativity and patience in making each page extra special!

They also had cool equipment to share. And, though they were my "scrap heros," they were more than that, all three of them are sweet women who love God, and are working to live out their faith in different ways each day. We enjoyed having time to visit with and encourage one another. Jacquie has been my bff for several years, but I'd never before met Emily, and had mostly only hung out with Lauren in big groups, but the four of us had a great dynamic. So, find a free weekend with some girlfriends (old, new, or some of each) grab your pics, paper, and glue, and scrap away, you will have fun, capture old memories, and make new ones!

Women of Faith

In August, just before school started, I was able to attend Women of Faith in Dallas. If you've never had a chance to attend a WOF conference, and you get the opportunity, you will be blessed. There is something special about being with thousands of women, from all walks of life, and from all different kinds of churches, in one place worshipping God together. For several years now, my mom has organized this trip for a group of women, mostly from her church and community, and even within our group of 30 women, we have such diversity in age and life experiences. I love when a group of people can come together, and with or without prior relationship, have an immediate bond through Jesus. Throughout this weekend, I laughed and cried. I heard testimonies of faith, inspiring stories, incredible singing, and received lots of hugs and encouragement. Women of Faith is something we look forward to every year.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

There's nothing like the most wonderful time of the year right around the corner to motivate a blog slacker like me. I love the holiday season so much! Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, the weather is getting chillier, and "Christmas in November" is this weekend! If you've been sipping cocoa in your fuzzy socks and making holiday lists, you probably love Christmastime as much as I do, and I'm sure you're already thinking about this year's Christmas card. The very talented Sharon has recently started redbud designs and is giving away a free custom Christmas card design, and it's guaranteed to be super cute:) Leave a Christmasy comment on her design blog and you might just be the lucky winner!