Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is possibly my favorite holiday of the year... if not my favorite, it is tied with Christmas. Its a wonderful holiday to tell the people in your life just how thankful you are for them and to remind yourself all the many blessings in life. It is a holiday that really makes me think and reflect on my own life and how many wonderful, great, and amazing things and people that are in my life. I have so much to be thankful for. In the days and week leading up to thanksgiving, I find my mind turning to the holiday and really focusing on everything in my life that makes it great and special, especially the people I am so blessed to call my family and friends. As I did last year on Thanksgiving, I am continuing the tradition below with a list of things I am most thankful for. As usual, they are not in any particular order, except the first one. The first is the most important thing/aspect of my life, because with out Him, I would be nothing!



1. Jesus Christ- My faith is truly the core of who I am. I am not perfect by any means (very far from it...), but when I waver, wander, or stumble, and fall far short of His glory (on a daily basis), He remains steadfast and faithful. As one song says "Amazing grace, its more than just a song"-- I can say without a doubt that is the truth. His grace and mercy are unending, His love is unfailing, and for that I am forever thankful!



2. My family- They are always there for me. They rejoice and celebrate with me in the good times and they are always there to pick me up when I fall. Incredible people who love me for who I am, even when I am being hard to love.



3. My Friends- My friends are the ones who know everything about me and love me just the same. They are there for me when times are great (like my birthday just last week) to the bad times when I feel like my world is falling apart and crumbling around me. There is some quote that says something along the lines of friends are the family that we get to choose. I do consider my friends to be as close as family and I love them like family, but I did not choose them. God has put each and every last one of them into my life for a reason. Each one has had an impact on my life and forever changed me. I can not say thank you enough to my friends for always being there and remind them that I love them dearly! Y'all make my life so much brighter!!

4. The amazing guy I am dating.... Six months ago I would have never guessed that I would be in a relationship, but I am! The more and more I get to know him, the more and more incredible I think he is! He is so sweet to me and very supportive of me and my dreams, and even seems to tolerate the fact that my life has been taken over with school work these past few weeks! It is an unexpected blessing that I am very thankful for!



5. My dream is becoming my reality- It hit me this summer just before starting my last year of school that finishing school would mean my life long dream of being an architect is truly becoming my reality! Finishing this semester, my comprehensive studio, is a HUGE hurdle that will soon be done! (2 weeks!!!!) Its hard to believe in one more semester and one more summer, I will be done with school. Forever. I have loved my time at Clemson, but I am looking forward to having something that sort of resembles a life. Yet, I would not trade all the struggles, late nights, crazy reviews, stress, and shear emotion because this dream is so worth all of that!

6. Freedom. Here I am spending time with my family for Thanksgiving while around the world, our United States service men and women are protecting our freedom this holiday. Thank you to all of you who protect our country!

Time is flying by....

This year (and this semester for that matter) is flying by..... where is the time going!?!?!

Seems like just yesterday I was celebrating new years by banging pots and pans on the front porch by myself because my family was already asleep....

It seems like just yesterday I was spending my valentines day with two of my closest friends.... having what turned out to be the greatest valentines to date!

Spring was my best friend's wedding... fast forward to the summer... starting off with Sarah Boyd's baptism, lazy days at the lake, family vacation to the mountains, my big trip across the big pond....starting my last year of school...Fall. I met an incredible guy who keeps totally rocking my socks off and has me excited to see where our relationship goes..... Sarah Boyd's First Birthday (and Chad's 30th Birthday).

Now here we are. A little more than two weeks from Thanksgiving (one of my favorite holidays because I have SO much to be thankful for!), 3 weeks from my final review, 4 weeks from exam week... and then Christmas break! Where has this semester gone? It is flying by!

They say time flies when you are having fun... I am clearly having a LOTS of fun! I am so blessed to have incredible friends and family who I totally dont deserve but love more than I can ever let them know, I have this great opportunity to pursue my dream of being an architect, and I totally love living each day full on and all out!!! Life is great!

Here are a few recent pictures....Sarah Boyd's birthday party!! In the next few weeks I will be doing different things and get more pictures! :-)