It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I can not believe it's already Christmas time. I've been teaching my students about different traditions and religions this month and it's been so neat to go over what everyone is celebrating this time of year. We have discussed the smells of Christmas such as pine, cinnamon, and peppermint. We have gone over symbols of Christmas such as trees, lights, nativity scenes, gifts, and poinsettias. And, of course ,we've talked about our favorite sounds of Christmas like the ringing of bells at all the shopping centers and Christmas songs being played in our favorite stores and on the radio.

Personally, my favorite Christmas tradition growing up was our car ride to Mamaw and Papaw's house. We always left from Mimmie and Pawpaw's house. We would usually eat breakfast with them and Pawpaw would check my Daddy's oil and he and Mimmie would stand on the front porch waving good bye, no matter how cold, until we were out of sight. The 6 hour drive would begin for the Lamb family, off to Tennessee. We would usually fight over calling Mamaw and telling her we were on our way. We would sing Christmas carols and play car games and Momma, Jill, and I would have girl snuggling time while Daddy and Zach navigated in the front. Though we tended to almost always have a family fight during that long car ride, I always loved that part of Christmas!

Justin and I have started our own Dellinger traditions! We decorate the day we get back from Thanksgiving with our families and we try and attend all the Christmas festivities at church. We also have been lighting candles on the mantle and turning off all the lights in the living room but the tree at night and snuggling with each other and Mason. It's so nice and peaceful! We also have Christmas goodies we are planning to make for family and friends.

I can not post all this about traditions without discussing the most important part of Christmas, the birth of our Savior. The community of Forestdale, near our house, has Bible verses displayed in everyone's front yard with a beautiful Navity painting in the middle of the community! How could we celebrate family, friends, gifts and all the wonderful things about this time of year without recognizing Jesus Christ, our Lord and His birthday. What a precious gift we have been given and what a wonderful time of year we have to celebrate with the people we love the most!

This really is the most wonderful time of year!

So Much to be Thankful For...

Us Girls
Jill after Mason ate her cake...

The damage...

We had such a nice Thanksgiving break this year. With Justin having the whole week off with the University, I went ahead and took advantage of my personal days and took Monday and Tuesday off. We were able to spend the whole week at home! Justin and I made it to my parents house around 1:00 am Saturday morning and were exhausted. We didn't get a lot of sleep due to Mason stirring around quite a bit since he was in a new place. But, we woke up Saturday and Justin and Zach took Mason over to Uncle Dave's to play while Mom, Jill, and I went with Jill to get her hair done and get lunch at our favorite restaurant, Something Different. It was so great to finally just be around the table talking and giggling with my Mom and sister. After lunch we went home to cook and got ready for our big Thanksgiving Celebration at church. This was when Mason decided to take advantage of Jill's Italian Cream Cake cooling on the counter...needless to say, he had a tummy ache! It was so funny though!

On Sunday, we enjoyed a very nice service at my Dad's church, which is growing in wonderful ways, and had a great meal. No one even noticed that Mason had nibbled on the ends of the cake once we iced it, haha!

Over the next few days we continued to enjoy catching up with family and friends, including Jillian playing little nurse and checking all of our blood pressures and our blood sugar.

When were were at the Dellinger's, we continued to enjoy family! We are so blessed to have wonderful Christian homes with families that love us! Thank you Lord...we could not ask for more!

Longing...

Longing: sa trong, persistent desire or craving, esp. for something unattainable or distant

This definition definitely describes my feeling for my family right now. My thoughts go to how Dad and Zach are doing at their new jobs, how cute Jillian must look in her scrubs, and how I can't wait to feel my Mom's arms hugging me....Whew...I am longing!

As I was thinking about this last night, it reminded me of how I should long to be with my Savior. Not necessarily in a morbid way by not enjoying life and living it to the fullest, but simply longing for my time with Him. Just like I can't wait for Friday night or to see Justin every afternoon, I often do not "long" for my quiet times, my walks to the park, or to worship on Sunday mornings. It has been a good reminder to be thankful for the time I do have with my family, but to also remember to spend quality time with my Lord every day. I long to see His face, to worship Him, to live to please Him alone.

I am longing...

Happy Halloween

I can't emphasize enough how much I love this time of year. The smell of pumpkin and spice, the colors or oranges, deep red, browns, and yellows, sipping hot apple cider, the football games, having a nice chill in the mornings, but it feeling great in the afternoons...the list goes on and on. I also feel that it allows me to anticipate the holidays coming up! One of my favorite things is Justin and my tradition of carving pumpkins. Since we started dating in October of 2006, we have carved a pumpkin every year. This year, we were able to enjoy this tradition with Brittany, Karibi, Katie, the Busbins, the Freemans. The pumpkin turned out really cute and it looks great on our front step! Enjoy!

24...

Wow, I turned 24 today! I woke up to a sweet husband cuddling me and giving me my first birthday wishes then to my sweet puppy giving me birthday kisses. My day followed with Boof calling first, then Momma, then Coach Jan and the texts, emails, cards and calls continued. My wonderful co-workers and students had cupcakes, brownies, and gifts and Rebecca brought me a pumpkin filled with Jelly Bellys! What a wonderful day to have a field trip! We went to the pumpkin patch, which we all LOVED! I feel so special and am excited to celebrate with dinner and a movie tonight with Justin!

Justin surprised me early with my 2nd wedding band to finalize my set! It looks beautiful! Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and made me feel so special today!!!

Mason's Vet Visit

So, yesterday Mason and I had an adventure trying to get to the vet. I got home from work and poor Mason was really hot from being in his pin all day. I thought I would be sweet and go ahead and turn the car on to get the air going nice and cool. I get Mason into the car, close the door, and realize I LOCKED THE KEYS IN THE CAR, RUNNING, WITH MASON IN THE CAR! Oh goodness! I was frantic. I ran to our neighbors' house, who happens to be a mechanic. His wife called him and he came home from work and luckily got into the car in less than 2 minutes. I was so relieved and sweet Mason was just chillin' in front of the air. However, on the way home from the vet, Mason must have decided he was mad at me because he puked in my front seat on my new sunglasses! Sweet, sweet puppy!

Cheesy Chicken Noodle Soup

So, I was brain storming about some of our favorite things to eat and I put some things together and here's what I got. Justin and I both LOVE Velveeta cheese and he loves Rotel. I love noodles and soup, so we put these together, plus some chicken and veggies and we got Cheesy Chicken Noodle Soup. It is SOOOO yummy! I think it's one of our new fall favorites! ENJOY!

Ingredients:
-1 lb cooked chicken, cut into bite size pieces
-1 can Rotel with chilis
-1 can corn
-2 cans cream of chicken soup (98% fat free)
-1 1/2 cup chicken broth
-1 small package of Velveeta cheese, cubed (I use the one with 2% milk)
-1 package of whole wheat egg noodles, cooked and drained

Directions:
Add all ingredients to a crockpot. Cook on low heat for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally. Don't cook on 2-3 hours on high. The high heat will burn the cheese.