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?