De-spectacular-ber

December was fannnntastic. By far my favorite month in this semester (maybe because I didn’t have school work for about 3 weeks of it? Could be a good reason)

I’m not going to lie, and I want to write a good long blog on it, but these first few months in Charleston have been tough. Marriage has been great, the town is beautiful, I am so blessed with my job and I like what I am learning in school, and people have been so nice in including me in things. I forget to look at the good side of things sometimes so I wanted to recognize all those blessings on here. But, I miss the DHP. More than words can explain and it has been a tough transition from there to here. (again, more on that later) Luckily, my husband realized how hard of a time I was having and was supportive of me in wanting to spend money and take a trip to visit those beautiful Rocky Mountains.

I had about 7 days in between two of my exams, and the weekend just happened to line up with the weekend that Stephy was not on duty (thanks, God!) so I bought a ticket and hopped on a jet plane to Colorado. I’m pretty sure I cried when I looked out my plane window at the majestic mountains. I mean, geeeez Louise.

My time in Colorado was incredible. Just incredible. Not only was I WAY excited to see Steph and Kallie and spend time with them, I was also excited to go line dancing at the Grizzly Rose, eat fro-yo at ITopIt, and play nerts in Agia Sophia. I couldn’t stop squealing when I got there. I went to a 2:30 meeting and giggled the whole time out of excitement.It really felt like a weekend back in heaven for me.

My whole team (minus Travy and Sam) still works at the DHP. Steph is a team leader, Kallie is still day-time supervisor, Jesse is the other team leader, and Niko works with Phase 3 residents. Isn’t that crazy? PLUS while I was there, Sam was visiting for a funeral of one of his primaries. It was a sad reason to be visiting, but I was just so happy that we could all be together again. I got to see Geordan (my first primary), his awesome girlfriend Deborah, the Comiskeys, George and Jane, Kim!, Matt and Kate and Grafton!, the Woodards! ahhhh. My time there was so rich and full.

One thing I love about the DHP is the amount of comfort and acceptance that is immediately offered by every person there. I felt like I had never left. It was completely...well, just right. I think its because the presence of God is so in that place. More on that in the post that is coming later : ) this is just a catch up blog, not a sappy one : )

Anyway, I had a blast and was sad to leave but happy to get back to Allan. I just feel sooooooo blessed by my friendships with Steph and Kallie. They are rare friends and I am incredibly blessed just being in their presence. They truly get my heart and love me despite my craziness. (They are pretty crazy themselves)

After I got back from Colorado, I had my last and final exam on a Wednesday and Allan had his exam on that Thursday. After that... ...WE WERE FREEEEEEE! For 21 days!!!!!!!!!!! It was bliss!! No studying. No library. No not seeing each other for long extended periods of time. We got to do all sorts of fun things together! It really was awesome. We walked around downtown, rode bikes, went on a carriage tour, out to dinner, Christmas shopping, did house work, watched movies, etc. etc. etc. and only went to the Library to print Groupons. Awesome.

After a small stay-cation in Charleston, we headed to NC!

We headed to NC for Christmas with my family on the Wednesday before Christmas and just had a jolly time hanging out. The time always go by so quickly, but I just love it so much. I really do love watching my niece and nephew for hours on end and laughing at and commenting on everything they do.

 

My family has a tradition of eating lots of yummy, terrible (for you) foods on Christmas morning. One of those being country ham. Every year, my dad and mamaw make a trip to Ronnie’s Country Store in downtown Winston-Salem to buy the ham. This year, Allan and I went along and man, it is an old-timey store with really small aisle, meat hanging from the ceiling, and real bottled cokes from Mexico….yum.

 

We started a new tradition this year, and a funny one considering I am the youngest child, but we started the pajama tradition! My mom bought us matching PJ pants and then made us matching shirts! Even the babies had coordinating PJs. It was fun and cute : ) I’m really thankful for our silliness.

Grandkids at Meemaw’s house!

We drove back home on Christmas day to spend some time with Allan’s parents! It was fun to drive back to our home together knowing that we would celebrate our first Christmas together in our own little apartment! It was a strange feeling too, but a good strange feeling. : )

We did our Christmas together on Christmas Adam (the day after Christmas). It was fun to wake up and go into the living room and unwrap presents together! Sorry the raw-ness of these next pictures : ) We aren’t our normal hot selfs.

I opened my gift from Allan to find this book (one that my cousin actually had been talking about at Meemaws. He said it was a good read). Now, I don’t mind reading, but this isn’t really my type of book. I was pretty shocked to think Allan bought me this book that my cousin had recommended. I tried to act excited and happy (as any honest wife would do), but I think Allan saw through my disappointment and encouraged me to look through the book. It was a trick. He found the book at Goodwill and bought it because it had the word conversation in it (all before he heard it was a good read from  my cousin). Pretty good hiding place if you ask me! I was excited, and still am : )

That evening, we had Christmas with Allan’s family. It was great to be with them and open presents, eat yummy food, and play games! I am thankful for the families we have.

Over break, we were also able to finish some projects! Wahoooo! We finally got pictures printed and in frames! YAY! and finished the end table for the living room! YAY! and the coat rack! YAY! I felt pretty accomplished!

Wow. This is a long post. Props if you made it through the whole thing! It really was a spectacular December with lots of relaxation and time together. Made me really grateful for times of rest that renew and refresh our souls. My soul was for sure refreshed and filled with joy.