Over the River, and Through The Woods

Yes, it is time!!! Christmas travel is about to start! In just a few hours we will get to enjoy a nice two week break. Patrick and I are so thankful to have some time off, and to spend our FIRST Christmas together. We are headed to Jackson this weekend to spend some time with Lori, and to see her Christmas decorations. We will be back in town for a little while where we will go to our Sunday School Christmas party, then we will head to the coast. On Christmas Eve, we will head back to Hattiesburg to go to church and to celebrate Christmas with my family. Christmas Day will start early, so Patrick and I can spend some time together and to see what "Santa" left at our house. Then we will head over to my parent's to see what "Santa" left there. After that we will head to Birmingham! On the 28th we will have Christmas with my dad's family. Are you tired yet!?! It might be a little tiring, but it will be well worth it. On this first Christmas we will get to make our rounds to see everyone! We are really excited.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone. As I have said before, I love gift giving. If only I could give more, but I really enjoy seeing the joy on other people's faces. I can almost hardly stand it. We are missing a trip to the mountains with Patrick's family this year that we are a little sad about :-(... We just could not do it all, and at some point you have to make a choice. One of the hards parts of growing up.

In other news, Patrick and I are planning what we want to do for our first anniversary! I can't believe it is almost here. Crazy.. We are really excited about getting a way even if it is just for one night. It will be fun!

Hope everyone has a safe, healthy, wonderful Christmas and New Year!

I hope to be back with some updates along the way.. So stay tuned!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Didn't Patrick do a great job at designing our Christmas card?! I love it! Hope you enjoy!

Christmas: Lowery Edition

A tour of our home:

We have really enjoyed decorating for Christmas this year. It has been a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy looking at our Christmas decorations in our home. Merry Christmas!!!

Stop Hunger Now

Did you know that every 3 SECONDS a child dies from hunger? How incredibly sad. Well on Saturday Patrick and I, along with our church family had the opportunity to help those in need. Our church packed almost 20,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now. How awesome. It was such a humble experience to see everyone in their hairnets and gloves packing meals to feed those who are so thankful for the simple things in life. We take so much for granted, but it was a great time to give back. God has blessed us, and we were thankful to be able to give back this holiday season.

I also wanted to mention that Patrick and I along with my parents shopped for a child off the angel tree. The children on this angel tree has a parent in prison. By buying for these kids their parents are able to give their children a Christmas. Patrick and I have always been blessed at Christmas time and the thought of a child who may not have anything else on Christmas having presents to open warms my heart. It is obviously not their fault that a parent is in jail, and they deserve to know there is hope and love in the world even through difficult situations. I don't say all this to ring our own bells, but to encourage you that anything you can do to help someone out is worth it. I assure you, you will probably be just as blessed if not more so.

I also hope that Patrick and I will continue to choose an angel or some mission to give back to during the holiday season. It really is an incredible blessing.

PS: A BIG BIG BIG thank you to my dad who helped Patrick with his car battery today. Needless to say, it took forever and several trips back to the house to get the battery out. We could not have done it without him. Thank you dad for giving up your Sunday afternoon to help us out. We greatly appreciate it. Also, thank you to Patrick's dad and his Granddaddy Doll for all the suggestions and support. It finally ended up coming out, and a new battery did the trick. Thank you all very much!!!!

The Reason for the Season

It truly is a wonderful time of the year... I love the holiday season. For many reasons, I guess: extended time spent with family and friends, good food, lots of laughter, a break from work, a change in routine, the giving of gifts, warm clothes, and the list goes on... Patrick and I are preparing to spend our first Christmas together. This will be our 6th Christmas as a couple, but every year we have gone our separate ways to spend time with our families. However, this year will be different. We are excited about starting our traditions, but I think we would admit it is kind of weird that things will be different. But, this year is special. Our first Christmas as husband and wife. We will never get our first Christmas back, and we have had a great time so far. It's been fun shopping, baking, listening to Christmas music, and figuring out our holidays plans. But, I was reminded that in the hustle and bustle of this time of year, that there is a GREATER meaning for the season.

At church the question was posed what if we had been Mary? Would we have done what God asked her to do. I have been thinking about that a lot lately. I hope that I would, but sometimes I wonder how often I push God to the side, and tell Him that I can do it. Ha! This has not proven to be very wise decision. I am thankful that Our Lord and Savior was born on Christmas. What an incredible event to celebrate. Because of Mary's faithfulness, and the life Jesus lead, I am forgiven and so are you. I wonder what is was like so many years ago in that stable. What an incredible event it must have been. I hope that as you enjoy the holiday season that you too will remember the reason for the season.

It is a fun time of the year and so easy to get caught up in presents and food, but this time of the year does carry great meaning. Patrick and I have enjoyed trying to give back this holiday season, as we know that we are incredibly blessed. We look forward to Christmas day together as we too will be opening presents, but I hope that Christ's birth is what we will truly remember on Christmas day.

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday season!

Thankful

It is back to the real world this week. We enjoyed two and a half extra days off last week for Thanksgiving. It was really nice to have a break. It was much needed, and I feel like I can now make it to Christmas. We spent our Thanksgiving on the coast with Patrick's family. We had a great time visiting with everyone and eating LOTS of good food. Patrick's Nana had everyone on her side over on Thanksgiving day. There were about 55 people there. It was fun to see new and old faces and enjoy all the food. Friday, not too much shopping was done. We headed back to Hattiesburg because Mrs. Tammy had to be in Moselle for a wedding rehearsal that night. Patrick and I enjoyed watching football (although USM did NOT pull through for us). Saturday we did a little shopping and off to the wedding we went. It was a beautiful ceremony. It brought back many memories. Sometimes it makes me want to get married again! ha! Don't worry Mom and Dad it will not happen. It just brings back many happy, wonderful memories.

Patrick and I are thankful for many things this Thanksgiving. We have been abundantly blessed. We have a nice place to live, good jobs, great family and friends, a wonderful church home, and each other. Can't ask for much more. Let me be clear, we have our ups and downs, but we are still incredibly blessed.

My most favorite time of the year is in full swing now. I have always loved Christmas, the meaning behind it, and giving to others. But, this year holds extra special meaning. It's our first Christmas together. I am beyond excited! We have been decorating machines. I can't wait to show you what we have been up to.

Christmas is 25 days away!!!! I need to get busy wrapping presents. I am almost done with my shopping. I am ready to have everyone taken care of!

I hope everyone has a great holiday season. I'll be back soon to share some pictures of our first Christmas decorations.

I can't think of a title:

I sat for for awhile, and came up with no title.. Oh well, maybe you can think of one.

So, it's been about two weeks this time. A little better. I am sure you do not want to hear again how busy I have been, and how I have been meaning to blog, and have not! :-) Back to what has been going on.

The weekend we were thinking about going to New Orleans to watch USM play did not happen. USM lost to UAB the week before in double overtime by one point. Talk about heart broken. It was a sad day to be a Golden Eagle. We did enjoy the weekend on the coast. I bought lots of Christmas stuff to decorate with and even a few Christmas presents. I am ready to have my Christmas presents bought and wrapped so that I can enjoy the rest of the holidays. It really is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the act of giving gifts just as much as I enjoy receiving them.

This weekend after much debate we decided to stay home. Well, Patrick went to the Brandon football game with his dad on Friday night. Brandon did so good. They are playing Oak Grove this coming weekend at Oak Grove. I am so glad that we will get to go. Oak Grove is my Alma Mater, but I would by lying if I said I did not want Brandon and especially Jacob to do well. Getting side tracked: On Saturday we had a pretty lazy day, we did something really fun (which I will tell you about later), and I got some errands done. It was nice to be able to get some things done. I have not felt good the past few days though. I guess it is just a cold or something. Hoping to turn the corner soon.

But, the week is starting and we must press onward. USM plays Houston on Saturday. Hoping for a big win. They beat a ranked UCF team this weekend. And the basketball team is off to a great start too!

On another note,three football players were tragically shot today, really is sad, unnecessary violence. My heart goes out to their friends and family. Praying for a full recovery.

Hope everyone has a great week! Here is a sneak peak of what we have been up to! :-) More to come soon!