New Year, New Start.... but with a lot of great memories!!!

I look at the past year and I think "Amazing! Ive come such a long way!!" What has occured the past year you might ask!? Anything and everything! What was I doing for New Years this time last year? Shaina and I were in Dahlonega, bringing in the new year with her old friends and my new ones! We had an amazing night and oddly enough VOWED to spend the new year as single ladies, conquering our biggest fears and having the time of our lives. Well.. I had the time of my life and have conquered a few fears... and accomplished a small portion of my "bucket list" as well. The beginning of the year brought new possibilities and experiences: from skydiving to starting my first semester of clinicals for Nursing, it started my year out as one that Id never forget. I became friends with people I never imagined I would... experienced two great loves, and somehow came out on top in the job department! Longly-separated family members are now home, my grandparents are still in decent health...well, still around ;), and my friend base expanded far beyond my expectations! I've learned so much about myself over the past year: that sometimes you have to worry about yourself first, that it is OH SO important to figure out what I want for myself before trying to give any of myself to another person, and to turn to GOD for strength instead of trying to do everything on my own! He has blessed me with SO much the past year and I have so much to be thankful for! God is certainly a loving God and a forgiving one at that. I wont go without saying that I havent had to learn some lessons the hard way the past year... but who doesnt! Anything worth learning is never supposed to easy! So thank you Lord for all of the amazingly positive experiences and people Ive come across the past year and even the mistakes Ive made because theyve taught me more life lessons than I couldve imagined!!!
Ill close this with some of my most noted blessings over the past year:
-getting through my first year of clinicals
-getting the opportunity to skydive
-getting a new job at Tanner that I love
-Paul, Cole, and Jake (my mom's brother and his sons) moving home just in time for Christmas
-watching my sister and Tim progress in their soon-to-be marriage (they just bought a new house, yay!!!)
-getting to meet and love new people that have touched and changed for the good

so blessed this holiday

Hello all!! I honestly could not begin to tell you how blessed I feel this holiday season. My family was together and we were graced with the presence of my mom's youngest brother and his two boys that live in Texas. They actually moved back here the week before Christmas and have moved in with my parents. While life at my parents is a bit chaotic with another adult and two teenage boys living there, along with three small (and very loud dogs)... we are still so blessed that they have moved home to be near family. My uncle is in the military and they have had the opportunity to see and experience many different things in their many moves, it is good to know that they will now be in a stable environment during their toughest teenage years. Life couldnt be better as far as Im concerned. Santa was very good to me this year at christmas! I received a new Flat screen HD TV, a new photography camera, and the Wii Sport!! I consider myself very fortunate and could not thank God enough for the blessings He has bestowed on me this season. But more importantly, seeing how blessed I am reminds of the real meaning for Christmas. I'm so thankful for a loving, forgiving, and astonishing God that sent His beautiful Son to die for my sins... to die for all the things that I do everyday that hurt and disappoint Him. But He loves me no matter what I do. And that is the best Christmas blessing of all: To celebrate the birth of Jesus and the sacrifice of God to send His Son for us!!! Thank you Lord for everything youve given me this Holiday season!!

In the Christmas spirit

I love Christmas time. I am already counting down the days until Christmas... especially Christmas at my house (well... my parents'). They seriously go all out and it looks like a beautiful, classy, christmas house that Santa would live in... and no I dont mean the toy factory! We have a full size Christmas tree in every room except the bathrooms and kitchen (because they wont fit in those rooms). Each tree has a theme and definitely matches the room decor and colors. Go figure with my interior decorator mother who is also a perfectionist. Our house smells of cinnamon and cider starting from about mid-November to end of January and I love it! She never has the will to take them down right at New Years or put them up right at Christmas because it takes too much work to transform the house for her not to enjoy it! So Christmas is really about 2 1/2 months long at my house. I dont know how to explain it but theres nothing more comforting to me than being at home for the holidays. This year will be a little more sentimental. It will be the last Christmas the its the four of us! Of course Tim will open presents with us Christmas morning but its the last time that Courtney and I will open up Christmas gifts from Santa together at my parents. Its seems like only yesterday that we opened gifts up in our old small den when she got a Miss America set and I got a bowling set for Christmas (along with a ton of other amazing gifts that my parents always bless us with). How funny that those gifts match our personalities so well! Santa was always really good about that... about making sure that we got gifts that we wanted and that were unique to us. My parents really made the holidays special for us in more ways than one and this Christmas.. I just feel especially blessed. God is good!