My First Christmas in Heaven

My first Christmas in Heaven.

I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below,
With tiny lights like Heaven's stars, reflected in the snow.
The sight is so spectacular; please wipe away your tears,
For I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear,
But their sound can't compare with the Christmas choir up here!
I have no words to tell you of the joy their voices bring,
It is beyond description, to hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me, I see your broken heart,
But I am not so far away, we really aren't apart.
Thank you for your kindness, you know I hold you dear,
Be glad I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ, this year.

I send to you a special gift from Heaven, my home above.
I send to you the memory of my undying love.
The gift of love is precious, more precious than pure gold,
And always most important, in the stories Jesus told.

Please love and keep those others, as my Father said to do.
I just can't count the blessings He has in store for you!
So have a merry Christmas, and wipe away that tear,
For I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year!

My Aunt April posted this poem that a friend had sent to her and I thought it would be good to share. A lot of us have love ones who have passed away this year and even though it hurts these words bring such joy to my heart knowing that Dustan, Dad G, and Christa is spending their very first Christmas with Jesus.

Christamas.... falalalala lala la la

I also meant to say that I am SUPER DUPER excited about Christmas this year!!! I am totally in the Christmas spirit and I can not wait to see what this new year will bring! I really would like this Christmas be focused on the True Meaning and less on the all the superficial stuff... yes its fun to buy and give gifts, but the intimacy of that special family time and the reality that we have eternal life is SO much BETTER!!!
I have High Hopes for this year and im so ready for a change... a GOOD one! :)

Catching Up!

Hello everyone!!
I can not believe how long its been since I have done some blogging!! Well first things first... I had a WONDERFUL and FILLING Thanksgiving!! It was definitely different, but GOOD!

The week of Thanksgiving was the typical work and school and I had not seen Kyle since that Saturday which was very brief. :( On Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving) Kyle came and picked me up from work and we headed to his casa to start the Thanksgiving fun! I was so excited to see him when he came to get me... we don't usually go that long without seeing each other... 4 days... that's a lot! We have both been so busy ,so it was great that we got to slow things down a little and relax during this special holiday. I was able to spend the night with his family Wednesday-Friday and it was very nice... usually I stay so late and he has to drive me home, but this week I was able to stay! :) On Thursday morning we woke up and just chilled out around the house, played with Cole, and then it was time for me to wake Kyle up! After we were both ready we headed off to my grandparents house (dads side) and had a lovely meal! We had so much fun.... 4 of our family members were absent this year, but we gained 2 "new" people! My Aunts mom and sister decided to join us this year, it was wonderful to have them and I hope they make it a tradition! :)
We then left to go back to Kyles house to "eat" and spend some time with them for a little while and they as well had a lovely spread of food. After that we made our last stop of the day... my other grandparents house (moms side), I was so full I didn't want to even look at food but she was nagging me about not eating her food so I made a little plate just for her!! She had tons of stuff and the dessert table was literally endless.... we had lots of people to feed. After everyone was finished the children had a bowling tournament , they had lots of fun doing that! When we were finished there we said our goodbyes and headed back to Kyles house.
My Thanksgiving break was wonderful and its really sad that I have NO pictures to prove it! My camera is broken so I have to wait for Kyles pictures but its taking him forever to give them to me b/c they are on the bottom of his priority list.... when I get a few I will post them up though.

As of today I went to school this morning and now im at home working on some papers and studying for tests.... Im thrilled I have the rest of the week off!! I can have more time to study!!
I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed day!!
love ya! :)

Halloween!!

For Halloween it is a tradition that we always go to my grandparents house... we have been doing it ever since I was born!! It is SO much fun, we always invite anyone and everyone who wants to come! This year I did not dress up... but im sure I will next year! My granny had potato soup, chili, and some one brought spaghetti, then we had chips, dip, lots of sweets like cupcakes, smores, and tons of candy!! We had a blast with all my cousins and the kids in the surrounding neighborhoods.... there were hundreds and hundreds of people, lots of cute costumes! Halloween is such a fun time for the kids, they get to play dress up and eat tons of candy... whats more fun then that?? After we left my Granny's house Kyle, Mom, Dad, and I all went to a haunted house, I didn't want to go bc of my headache, but I sucked it up bc my dad was going to go. Last year Kyle, mom and I went and I was terrified, but this year I wasn't as scared.... I think its cause I was talking to them instead of trying to avoid them. I'm glad I went bc we have some fun memories to look back on and laugh about... ha my dad was loving it and mom kept getting scared and Kyle was just chilling!

This morning really early my mom and I went to vote..... MCCAIN/ PALIN..... im anxious to see the results!

More Pictures

My Brothers State Championship ring!

Jack playing a video game




The Kiddos Playing Red Light Green Light











My granny, and my 2 aunts....























Emilie and Madeline!! :) This is Tammy and my mom!

~All these pictures are form what I talked about in the blog below..... sorry the coloring is off in my pictures, my camera is being retarded!

Birthdays and Family Get Togethers

Last Friday night we celebrated my sisters 11th birthday!! I cant believe it she is growing up so fast!! She had here closest friends from school come and her cousins, we decided to have it at a dance place in hendersonville and it turned out great. When everyone got to the party we had food for then to eat like pizza, chips, candy and some cold drinks. Then we handed the party over to Mady and let her do her thing. They danced and cheered the night away.... whoo it was so loud in there, if you can imagine! To wrap things up we sang happy birthday and let her blow out candles and then she opened her presents! She got tons of cute stuff and 100 dollars from like 5 or 6 of her freinds... lets just say little mady was very excited!! My mom took her shopping this week and she has already bought her first pair of high hills and a black pea coat.... she is sooo totally cute!! The high hills arent that high, but its enough to make her feel like a "lady"!
The next day we had a family get together at one of my cousins house. The "point" of the get together was to see how well one of my other cousins was doing, if you heard about the knoxville shootings at the church there she was one of the people that had been shot. Her injury was very servere, but she has came through it like a champ! You would never know by talking to her that she is recovering from a brain injury! Her eye sight is messed up, she said that she sees two diffrent things out of each eye, so the doctors are working with her on that. There is a lot that she still has to face, but she is a fighter and I know that she will be fine!
I do have some exciting news.... I finally found a job!! I am working at Home Goods in Hedersonville and I love it so far! Its weird having to work again, but this job was MUCH needed! This week has seemed so long but its finally over so whoo hoo!! I have been sick, sick, sick and I have looked like a hobo all week, well at least that what mom said... lol! Oh well, this is the weekend and today is HALLOWEEEN and im excited! :)
I will upload some pictures from tonight some time this weekend or next week!
BE SAFE!! :)

Today has been a very cool and rainy day, in fact it just started raining really hard! Even though the weather isn't that great I have enjoyed being at home. I really needed to catch up on things that needed to be done a long time ago! Later this afternoon my family and I are going to attend Light the Night Walk, it is for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's. I have mixed emotions about this event, because we are doing it in memory of Dustan. Our family will be carrying gold balloons because Dustan is passed away, the other colors are red which stands for if you have beat cancer and white is for the people who are fighting it right now. it will be a great night and I'm looking forward to representing my cousin... I know he will be proud! :) I will upload some pictures later and explain how the night went.

This past Sunday my family decided to go on a camping trip to Cedars of Lebanon and we had so much fun! After church we went and grabbed some lunch and then headed to Lebanon. When we got there we found a spot, which turned out to be one of the best ones there, or at least we thought so, we set up camp, started a fire and by that time everyone was hungry again. My dad grilled some pork chops, we baked some potatoes on the fire and grilled some corn and then we heated up our baked beans... it was YUMMY! The potatoes were my favorite.. they were so soft! That evening we just sat around and talked while the guys went exploring in a cave.. lol you should have seen them when they got back!
The next day we woke up and ate breakfast, we had bacon, eggs, tater tots and toast! Then everyone, except for my dad, got dressed and headed to the cave. The cave was unlike any cave I have ever been in, it wasnt a guided tour or anything you just went in on your own. The whole cave was mud and the ceiling was a mixture of rock and mud... it was great , I loved it! It was definitely a work out though, we had to basically crawl the whole time, there were a few parts where you could stand, so that was nice. When we finally got out we were a mess, so we went and took some quick showers! After that we played some board games, ate lunch and then we packed up and headed home! Although the camping trip was nice and relaxing we were all exhausted when we got back! :( We had so much fun and I hope to go back soon!

Sad Goodbyes

On Wednesday my best friend Amanda flew away to Australia to do her student teaching abroad. We took her to the airport and hung around for a little while until it got closer to time and then we walked her to the gate, said our goodbyes, hugged and then we watched her walk away. It was so sad because while she was leaving she was crying and we were all crying.... ahh so sad. She will be coming back home on Dec. 11th and im sure a big group of us will go out to pick her up.
As for the rest of the week I have been babysitting and tying up all the loose ends on school stuff. Im officially a student at Vol State now and im going to get my Bachelor in Elementary Ed, if only I would have kept my major that in the first place I would be graduating!! Oh well I have learned a lot on my little adventure through college. This semester I really am going to try my hardest and get this over with... hopefully all my grades will be good! :) Ha I sound like a dork!
Last night I babysat Jack and Emily for the "last time" and they had bought me cupcakes for my birthday that will be on Tuesday and we all came over to my house bc my sister was having a party. We all had fun, the girls and Jack danced and ran around like little crazies!
Tonight I was going to go on a double date with my bro and his girlfriend and Kyle, but I remembered this morning that I have to babysit for a couple... at least I can still do dinner with everyone.
The pictures are from the airport and last night!

Kayaking and Double Dates!

Last Wednesday, Kyle and I went to the Hendersonville Lake to go kayaking! It was my first time to ever do that and we had so much fun! To be my first time I think I did great and we went so far out, surprisingly it wasn't tiring at all. While we were out there we went to 2 islands and Kyle wanted to go exploring but that was a big No on my part!! It was very nice to be out on the water especially since it was during sunset. It was so peaceful and quiet, Kyle and I were able to talk about things and have a nice time to ourselves. My favorite thing about being out there was the sunset, every time I see the beautiful sky or a sunset like that night I always think of my cousin. I can not even imagine how beautiful Heaven is going to be, the sunset is just a little treat for us here still on earth. After we left there we went to his house to watch a movie on his big screen... im so glad he has a theater room now.... it makes watching movies so much more fun! :)
On Friday night Amanda and her boyfriend, Kyle and I all went to Barfeilds to eat and it was great... the service was a little off but the food was good! Afterwards we went to Kyles (go figure). The guys played pool while us girls went out to the porch to drink some yummy coffee. Later that evening we went up to watch a movie. The night was great and I cant wait to do it again soon.
So far today has been rough and I am not sure if it will be getting any easier. This morning I have been missing my Dustan a lot and on top of that my BEST friend Amanda is leaving for Australia and she is staying until December!! I can not believe it has come so soon, I am going with her parents today to drop her off at the airport and it will be very sad... im not looking forward to it! :( We already said that we are going to try not to cry but after the way this morning has been going I dont think that will happen. The good thing is there is email and of course facebook and myspace so we will be able to keep in touch. We also have a thing on our computers where we can talk and see each other! :)
Please keep her in your prayers today, pray that her flight will go well and that she will love the people that she is staying with and she will have favor with who she comes in contact with!
Thank You!! :)

Passing By....

These past couple of weeks have flown by! I feel like time has been going by so quickly lately and nothing I do can slow it down... I dunno its a very strange feeling. Anyways babysitting has pretty much been what has been keeping me busy on a daily basis, if I have a day off with my kids (jack and emily) then I am watching my sister and cousin. (Pictures above are who I am talking about... we are constantly doing something) Dont get me wrong I very much enjoy my time with these children and I am not looking forward to the fact that summer is almost over and that I may have to find a job of some sort. I would really like to work at a daycare or pick up a few more cleaning jobs... who knows what will happen! Last week my aunt, her friend and I went to see Beth Moore and it was amazing. We heard exactly what each of us needed and I learned that no matter what the circumstance God is always with you and knows what you are facing. He defiantly showed up and meet us in our places of need. Hailee told me last week to beware because at that moment I was at a high place and was so spiritually filled up... she said that I do not need to let anyone take that away bc things will start to happen if not careful and the joy that once was there can easily be stolen if I didnt continue my journey and protect my heart. She was so right... I think about that almost daily, it is so weird that you can be so high and then boom there you are again, the things you think you have overcome start coming back. This week has been extremely hard, maybe one of the hardest... the realization that my precious little cousin is not coming back is so hard for me to grasp. Sometimes I get sick to my stomach even thinking about it. I know that I will never get to the point where I dont think about it, but I thought that I had finally come to the place where I was at peace with everything, apparently not!
Tonight we had a girls night for some of my aunts to get together and catch up, one of my friends came along as well. We ate at a Mexican restraunt and then we walked around the out door mall, we went into the book store and a few of my aunts bought some books. Then we headed to the movies to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. It was super cute and I had tons of fun!! :) I was so happy to see everyone come out and spend time together outside of church!!
Im looking forward to tomorrow, my friend Amanda and I are going swimming and I hope to catch some rays!
The two pictures are from tonight one of them my sister took and then the one where my aunt aprils eyes were closed a stranger took... excuse the bud light sign!!

Pictures!

Here are a few pictures from the party on Saturday!



playing croquet, Connie and I were on a team and we were in last place, but thats ok we had fun anyway!
Kyle and I!!
Little Cole, just hanging out!
2 little trouble makers! (J/K)






Cole talking to Mama JO
Father and Daughter!
Playing Horse Shoe

Long Weekend Review!

This past Thursday Kyle came over in the afternoon and we went to work out. He usually hits the weight room and I head for the treadmill to run. After I get finished doing my thing I go meet up with him and work out my arms and legs!! The problem that occurred while we were there on Thursday was that when I was running I started to get a little dizzy, I was like what the heck is wrong with me, not thinking I bumped up my speed I continued to push myself... that wasn't a good idea. I slowed down to cool off and then it hit me that the reason why I was getting so light headed was because I had barley even eaten anything that day!! When we left there we went to the peoples house that I am watching and watered the flowers, fed the fish, and then got the mail. Afterwards we headed to his house to make some dinner and just chill out. We sat out on his back porch and read and then ate our dinner. That night we just relaxed and watched some of his favorite shows... :( ! On Friday I just stayed around the house with my sister and cleaned and got some things together for school. Around 4:30 Mattie and I went to moms store and kidnapped her and left my dad at the store. We wanted to go eat at our favorite little place in Hendersonville, Salsaritas and ate, then we went to the mall to get Madeline these little strips for her hair that she can clip in.. one is bright pink and the other is a bright blue!! We then went to Target to pick up some things for 2 of my cousins birthdays. By this time it was like 9:00 and mom had to get me to the movie theater, because the movie started at 9:50 and Kyle wanted me to be there a little early. I got to the theater and Kyle was there waiting on me with a few of his friends. We all went to see the batman movie.. it was great, I love batman movies!! Saturday afternoon Kyle and I went to his Granddaddys birthday party and we had a lot of fun! We grilled out, played some games, and then ate some yummy cake! :) Afterwards we went to Kyles and watched a movie with his cousin and girlfriend. Sunday we of course went to church and it was awesome! When we left there we went to Kyles and he helped his dad put together some furniture for the back porch and I helped Connie get lunch together. We had kabobs and they were delicious, I think the heat knocked us all out because we passed out and took about a hour nap. When Kyle and I got up we went to a friends house to have dinner and to discuss prices for her wedding book and things like that.
Today I have a busy day of cleaning! Tonight mom and I may take my grandmother out to eat and go see Mama Mia! I am so excited I have been wanting to see this movie! :)

This week sure has gone by fast so far! Monday morning I worked at my moms shop, I went home around 12 and was so exhausted! I havent been sleeping that well at night so during the day I have been a little slow and feeling tired all the time. So I took a nap and then woke up to go babysit Cole. We had so much fun together!! This was the first time is was just us two and he did great! Tuesday my mom planned a fun day for us girls to go downtown and eat at our fav. place, SATCO, and then we walked around and did a little shopping and then we went to the Nashville Library. We got back into Hendersonville around 2 and dropped Madelines little friends off and then we went to get our nails and toes done! Later that evening we went to my grandmothers house and went to see my Uncle graduate from DC4, this is like a rehabilitation place where people learn how to overcome their addictions. We are so proud of my unlce for making it through the program and wanting to better his life. He now gets to live in a half way house and live pretty much like a normal person! My uncle got in trouble with prescription medicine, it started taking over his life and before it got really bad we were able to help. Today has been a interesting day... as I was doing my devotion this morning my eyes were open to so much!! Im not going to go into detail, but today I conquered some firsts.... I was able to laugh with true joy today for the first time since my cousin has gone, I was able to dance and be silly in the car for the first time today, and I was able to overcome the battlefeild of my own mind today! I am still working on a lot of things, but I know that with Gods help I will be able to fully recover from this loss. Kyle and I was able to go to the pool today and spend some time together. Tonight we went to church and had a blast! Tomorrow im not sure whats up, but im sure I will find out soon!! :)