Where has time gone...

I know..I'm sorry.  It has been an awfully long time since I last blogged.  So much has happened in the past few months.

First of all, my older sister, Nicole, married the man of her dreams!  November 2, 2012 was the most beautiful day ever.  Everything was absolutely beautiful.  I felt so honored to be able to stand up with my sister as her maid of honor.  

As I stood there, a flood of memories came rushing over me.  Memories of my big sister describing to me exactly what we desired in a man.  As I watched Jack intently  I realized that he was all Nicole ever wanted and so much more. They truly are made for each other.

I love my big sister so much, and seeing her get married caused so many different emotions come over me. I was so very thrilled yet also sad to know that life was changing,  We were all grown up now and all going our different ways.  However, I know distance will never change the relationship between sisters..we share a kind of bond that will never be broken. 

Just a couple weeks later I was once again able to travel home for Thanksgiving.  Although my stay was short I thoroughly enjoyed every moment with my family.

At this season I couldn't help but become quite overwhelmed with how blessed I truly am.  God has been so good to my family and I this year.  

  My dear friend, Kemisha, was able to share the holiday with us this year.  I always enjoy having her around.  I am so very thankful for our friendship!

 As a family tradition we always set up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.

 After setting up the tree, we headed downtown for the beautiful Christmas parade. 

 Saturday afternoon I made my trip back to Ohio, but this time Kemisha was able to come back to Ohio with me.  She was only able to stay a couple days before she had to return for college.  However, we had so much fun simply catching up.  I loved showing her around my new place.  She was able to come to school with me.  My students found it to be quite the treat to finally meet their teacher's best friend from Grenada!  For the next several days they were intently studying the world map to find exactly where she was from. 

School is going really well.  I absolutely love being a teacher.  Here are a few shots of our day to day activities:

 Friday we had a Christmas party with the kids.  After our gift exchange. We went to a nursing home in town and put on a little Christmas program for the residents and passed out some crafts that we all worked very hard on

 After the nursing home we came back to school where we enjoyed fun, games, and food.

 As I look back over my first semester as a teacher, it has been quite an adventure.  It had its ups and downs and of course a few times when I thought to myself.."what in the world am I suppose to be doing?"  But now that I have successfully completed my first semester as a teacher I can say it truly has proved to be the most rewarding job ever.  I absolutely love my school, my church, and everything about my new hometown.  I thank God every day for my new friends as well. Especially my coworker: Shauna.  She has become a very close friend, one that I know will last a lifetime.