The Holidays

The past month and a half have been incredibly wonderful. I love that the Lord sent His son for us, and we get to celebrate it with our friends and family. This season has been a full and blessed one at that. Our friends Josiah and Cindy had their sweet baby girl. There were Christmas parties, tacky sweaters, and some fabulous home-made treats. Garrett was inspired to make some AMAZING Cinnamon Candy.

Here is a little rundown of our Holiday travels.

December 22
Garrett and I went to the picturesque Beaumont Ranch for our anniversary, even though it was a few days early. You would think the ranch was in Beaumont due to it's name, but it actually is just south of Fort Worth. The cabins were set up in a little village around a lake on the ranch, and it was beautifully decorated for Christmas. Here are a few pictures, including the overlook of the ranch.

December 23-26
After we left the Beaumont Ranch, we traveled to Georgetown, TX and had Christmas with my (Samantha's) family. Our time mostly consisted of me beating my sisters at Bananarams, and us laughing hysterically at our silly sentences from Telephone Pictionary. Oh, and we ate FABULOUS food. It was a great, refreshing time.

December 26-28

After spending Christmas in Georgetown, we headed to Kemah, just south of Houston for the day with my family (My parents, sisters, and grandmother). It was a cold day on the water, but we enjoyed walking around the boardwalk. We also stopped by the Battleship Texas and the San Jacinto Monument before heading to Garrett's parent's house. We love how our two families get along so well. We enjoyed getting to play and hang out with our nieces and nephew, although it was sad that Alyssa's family was sick so that we couldn't see them. It was a really relaxing time with all families together.

December 28-29

On our anniversary (4 years!) we traveled back to our apartment in Bedford, where Samantha's family stayed with us before departing for Amarillo. The boys headed out to a gun store, while the girls made a much-needed trip to Sam Moon.

December 31 - January 1

We celebrated New Year's eve by attending the weekend services at Gateway and then we headed to dinner with our great friends, Jeff and Jean. After that, Garrett treated us to a wonderful night at the Hilton by the Galleria. We left around 8 so that I could join my friend Ginger and little Avery for a trip out to Canton for the 1st Monday trade days. We had so much fun spending time together looking at arts and crafts and making a few purchases.

January 4

Back to reality...My students showed up at 7:30 am ready for the new semester. I am really praying that the light bulbs will come on during the next few months.

Garrett just received some great news!! He was blessed with a trip to Sri Lanka with Gateway Church in February. I am slightly jealous he gets to go without me, but I know that the Lord is going to bless everything the team does while they are there. He will be posting a blog shortly to share more details about the trip, as well as how you can join with us to bless the children there.

We hope that your holidays were as blessed as ours. We also pray that 2012 will be your best year yet!