Since Then...

Since I last wrote a lot has happened. The semester has been so busy I haven't bothered to keep my blog up to date. I went to the Christmas Banquet. Jonathan was my date but we went with all the girls in my house. It was a lot of fun. But, not because of the banquet (that was kind of lame) but, because of the people I was with. It was in Greenville, South Carolina. I had no idea how cute Greenvile was until I went there! I love it! IT was all decorated for Christmas. Me, Jon and MEredih got a caricature of ourselves. We also went to The Underground. It was a really neat coffee shop that was underneath a big building downtown. They had an Indian theme and booths. They waited on you. I have never been to a coffee shop like it! We just stayed there after the banquet playing Uno and other card games. It was fun.

The next week I only had one day of classes and then got to go home for Thanksgiving. I really needed the break from school! It was a nice time to relax and just be with family. Of course we had way too much food. It was really good to see family. I hadn't seen my grandparents or aunt since May. It seemed like it had been longer though. And, it was really weird to think I hadn't seen them since going away to the Philippines. Time goes by so fast! We fried a HUGE turkey this year. All the girls also worked on making Christmas decorations. We made cute trees out of candy and also decorated gingerbread houses. Gingerbread houses are one of my favorite traditions of Christmas. Saturday of that weekend we went down to Cartersville to a Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree. The one we went to this year was located on several acres of land. They had decorated all of the trees with christmas lights. But, I have to say, they decorated it in such a manner that it looked a little redneck. It was raining that night and it was dark. So, we went pretty fast when picking out a tree. They also had a barn with several animals that you could feed. They had a huge camel, goats, and reindeer. It was really funny feeding them. We took our tree back and decorated it that ngiht. I think it is the prettiest christmas tree we have ever had. I like it a lot!

The last week and a half of school was really busy for me. This whole semester was my busiest semester yet. I didn't feel like I had much free time. I read the entire Koran and also about 300 pages of several other religious writings. I also had to write my 50 page senior paper. With that, other homework assignments, class and cooking for my housemates once a week I was bogged down. I feel a little bit like it ran me through the ground. Thank goodness it it Christmas break and I have a chance to breath and get rested up for my last semester. It feels weird to say it is my last semester of college coming up! WOW! Life goes by so fast sometimes.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I always get excited around the holidays. I have to admit: I really love christmas lights, decorations, christmas movies, music, etc...For some reason this year, more than ever I have been filled with a sense of excitement about Christ's birth! I guess with the world around us changing so much and becoming more unstable I am encouraged more in my spirit to see that christ came to us. He is with us always. I am so thankful He came. Because it makes my life so different. IT changes everything for me.

This past week Jonathan took me to Lake Lanier to see all the Christmas lights. IT was really beautiful! I liked it a lot! Only a week left and Christmas will be here. I will be going to Mississippi for Christmas this year! That is really exciting!

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks: