Christmas has officially begun...

Oh man, sorry I'm such a bad blogger! Back in the Xanga days, I was a blogging beast! Everyday I would be writing a Xanga post in my head. I would look for little adventures to turn into great stories in a blog. However, now my life is very ho-hum and it's just a little harder to do that. I'm gonna work on that though!

Weston and I had our own special family Christmas tonight since we'll be out of town until the 27th. We went to El Sombrero (of course! our FAVORITE!) then drove around Longview and looked at Christmas lights and HUGE houses. Then we came home, exchanged gifts, and read the Christmas story. This is what we're gonna tell our kids someday "As excited as you are about your presents, you should be more excited about Jesus, so we're going to put away the toys and read the Bible." :) Think that will go over well?

Weston got me wonderful new black heels that I have desperately needed! They are SOO nice! I wish I was going to work tomorrow so I could wear them, but it's really ok that I'm not going to work. He also got me REAL PEARL EARRINGS, which I have wanted for like...forever! Goodness, he is so perfect! (And not just because he gets me great gifts!)

I got him this awesome airplane picture in a frame and this manly soap/shampoo bar. Although the soap sounds lame, he was SOO excited. It's "soap for the meat and potatoes guy." He wanted to take a shower the second he got it to try it! But he refrained.

I finished wrapping presents (which is one of my favorite things to do) and we are getting ready to head to Mount Pleasant for several days full of holiday family fun. I think we are ALL going to especially enjoy it this year.

Merry CHRISTmas!! :)

Oops...

I was REALLY wanting to do Christmas cards this year. So one evening we all (me, Weston, AND Oliver) put on our Christmas clothes and sat in front of the tree FOREVER trying to get a good picture. We finally got one and I was stoked to find a cheap card website and make our little family Christmas card.

But I made a mistake.

I was playing around with the picture and editing it and I put this soft filter on it. It kind of made everything glow and I was like, "Ohhh! THAT'S Christmas-y!!" so I instantly used it for the cards. After ordering the cards, I noticed that it kind of made the picture look blurry. Annnd we got them in the mail yesterday and they totally DO look blurry.

Sad day. I ruined our first Christmas cards. I'm still going to use them but I'm not proud of them. I think I'm going to write an apology on the back of each one. Here's the pic:

Hello December

Wow! November flew by so fast, I don't even know what happened! I don't even know if I had time to take it all in. However, November did not disappoint- I had some good times. Too many to talk about of course, but I'll just highlight a few.

I got to see Chass and precious friends at a shower for Chassidy and John. It was so good to laugh with these girls again.

We got to go to an Ole Miss game! Weston flew a family to Mississippi for the game and they invited us to go along with them. We are definitely blessed with the opportunities we get with Weston's job. We had such a great time!

We had our annual Thanksgiving Dinner with friends at John and Sarah's house. DELICIOUS food, great friends, fun times. I love our friends!

I got to spend lots of time with family over the week of Thanksgiving. (I couldn't be more thankful for having a FULL WEEK OFF WORK! Seriously. So refreshing) I even had a chance to see Alysha and her sweet baby Tyler. No pictures of the high school best friend reunion though :(

My grandparents recently got a puppy. Before going there, we were afraid that Oliver would be mean to it and try to rip it's head off. However, all of our fears were calmed when we got there and realized that Oliver was SCARED of the little puppy that was about 1/4th of his size. So we made them bond as best we could. I think he eventually got used to the little guy.

It's our favorite time of year in the Smith household. We LOVE our tree. It's the perfect combination of pretty and sentimental. Weston and I had a great time decorating the house and we even purchased a wreath this year so the outside of our humble abode can be Christmasy too.

I woke up this morning and opened my Bible to Psalm 142. These words have been speaking to my heart all day:

"I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness."

November!

I'm so excited November finally arrived. I think I'm going to love November.

Pumpkin Hunting was fun! Weston’s idea of a “Pumpkin Patch” and my idea of a “Pumpkin Patch” were quite different. I said “Hey, I think there’s a Pumpkin Patch at that church just off the Loop in Longview. Let’s go there!” and Weston was like “What? In the middle of Longview??” You see, apparently in Pennsylvania, when you go to a Pumpkin Patch, it’s a real live Pumpkin Patch where they actually grow the pumpkins. Not in Texas. In Texas, a pumpkin patch is usually a church parking lot or a random field on the side of the road where they unload a truck load of pumpkins. It was quite humorous. Weston didn’t really know what to think about that. But we did find 2 great pumpkins to take home. Here they are, ready to be carved!

As you can see, the whole family participated, even Oliver!

Weston's driving created a little mishap with his pumpkin, so he had to glue it :)


I'm real bad about taking pictures (I'm trying to get better!), so we didn't get a pic of our finished product at home. But, here's a pic of the pumpkin we carved at the party. It's a bit blurry but ours is the cute little monster next to Phillip and Nicole's Bob and Larry.

We decided to dress up as nerds for the party and it was so fun! Weston is quite the nerd. Oh it was great!

I feel like I’ve been doing lots of searching and discovering lately. I almost feel like I was living in the dark for a while and my eyes are just now starting to open, the fog is starting to clear, and I’m starting to see things that I never saw before.

It’s been less than a year since I graduated college, but it seems like now that I’m out of that setting, but kind of still in it, I can see so much! Working at a college and being immersed into the social aspect of things, without being a student, has been very interesting so far. I’m on the outside looking in and things seem so clear from this point of view. Sometimes I just want to grab a student and say, “That thing that seems so huge right now is really not that big of a deal!” or “Stop dressing that way! Maybe you want a lot of attention from guys, but that is not the way to do it! Your future husband will be eternally grateful if you wouldn’t do that right now.” or “That little decision that you make right now is going to have a pretty big impact in the future.” But I can’t always say those things. I pray for wisdom, to be able to make an impact on students in a positive way. I mean, that’s probably why I’m here, right?

The Great Pumpkin Hunt

I have recently become a fan of blogs. There are several blogs that I love to read. The first thing I do when I get to work in the morning is check the blogs. They aren't famous bloggers or anything, just friends that I enjoy to observe or people that I feel are friends now that I've been reading their blog for a while. In fact, most of them don't even know that I read their blogs. Yes, I'm a blurker. But sometimes when they don't update often, I'm disappointed. I'm like "Geeze, why won't they write a new post already?!" I get pretty impatient. And that is the very reason why I have been hesitant to start a blog. I don't want to disappoint people. Ha! This seems humorous to me for some reason.

However, since I haven't shared this blog with anyone yet, I guess I don't have to feel bad about disappointing anyone yet!

It's Halloween and we're going to a Costume/Pumpkin Carving Party with our Sunday School Class tonight. So the goal for the day is to come up with some awesome costumes and get a great pumpkin. Weston is flying right now, but I have this grand idea in my head that when he comes home, we'll go out in search of the perfect pumpkin and it will be a fun, beautiful, romantic, and picture worthy adventure. Weston usually doesn't feel the same way about these things, so we'll see how it goes. As for costumes, I think we're going to go as nerds. Cowboy and Indian is our second choice. I'll post pictures of the final outcome!

Tomorrow is November and I couldn't be more excited. October has been one of the craziest months! I feel like I was going non-stop and I have been eagerly awaiting November. Along with a SLIGHT break in the schedule, November means Thanksgiving and family and Christmas! Like everyone else in the world, I LOVE this time of year. It seems like the older I get, the more I get into the spirit of the season. I really want to do Christmas cards this year. Weston has always said that he doesn't want to do Christmas cards, but I think it would be sooo cute to get a good picture of us with Oliver, design a cute card, and send it to friends and family! Oliver always puts a smile on people's faces.
Exhibit A:

How could you not love this?

Well I'm going to finish my Candycane Lane Tea (ok, so maybe I'm getting in the spirit a little early?) and get ready for the day. Be blessed!

Passion

Whew, this week has been a crazy one! It's Homecoming week at ETBU and it has been a week of stress, anxiety, excitement, frustration, overwhelming, accomplishment... I've experienced it all in one week! However it will all come together on Saturday, I'll see wonderful friends, my family will be here, and it will be fun! That's what I'm looking forward to.

I've recently been having this conversation with myself about passion. I used to think I had a passion for certain things at various times throughout my life but now I feel like I am passionless. It seems like I am just going through life- working and enjoying little bits of time with friends and family when I'm not working. It's like this never ending cycle of monotony. And I sit back and look at that and think, where is my passion? Do I just find something to do and make that my passion? Or do I force myself to be passionate about something I'm already doing? It seems like God would just place something on my heart to make me feel passionate about but instead, I feel like He is just sitting back watching me, waiting to see what I'll do without His prompting. So what do I do? I don't know.

I see my friend who is passionate about missions, so she is working for a missions sending organization and through her work, the gospel is being spread throughout the world. Her passion is evident.

I see my friend who is passionate about international students, so she has devoted a year of her life to living in Hawaii and pouring into international college students. Lives are being changed, people are coming to Christ and will go back and impact many more people for Him. Her passion is evident.

I see my friend who is an extremely gifted photographer, who also has a heart for helping and getting to know those less fortunate throughout the world. She constantly travels, capturing their smiling faces and telling their stories when they cannot. Money is being raised, people are praying, and lives are being saved. Her passion is evident.

I see my friends who are passionate about the students on this campus, who have devoted their time to praying, mentoring, teaching, and leading. Students are becoming more passionate about their Lord because their passion is contagious. Their passion is evident.

I read the blog of the young girl whose passion led her to Uganda to adopt 13 young girls and care for thousands more. Her story is incredible and the Lord is using her in ways you would never imagine. Her passion is evident.

I find myself looking at these people and being jealous of their passion. What do I do about? I am seeking the Lord on this one.