Grandma's Baptism

I've kept putting off updating this about Grandma's Baptism, but here I am! I'm just so lazy when it comes to finally getting on here to write something down and post pictures... things that are pretty basic and easy!

Anyways, my Grandma was baptized this past Sunday by my Daddy. It was a really awesome experience to witness. Grandma wrote out her testimony and dad ended up reading it out loud for her. Grandma's a crier, so she knew she wouldn't be able to get through all of it. This was expected, but it really hit me when Dad started to get a little choked up while he read. Even Naomi and I started to tear up! I took as many pictures as I could, but all I had was my iPhone... so I apologize for the crappy quality. The lighting was not very forgiving, and Dad's white shirt practically glows in all of them, but here they are!

My favorite picture is the one at the bottom in the middle where Grandma turned to the audience and raised her hands up in the air while the audience whooped & yee-hawed & hollered! It was really awesome.

Yesterday's Post

I'm sorry if my last post was depressing, but I really needed to get all of that off my chest. I know that I only have a few readers, so I'm sorry that y'all will have to deal with the moodiness I'll sometimes leak out.

Anyways, today I have an eye appointment for a check up in Tyler this afternoon and then I'll come back home. I'm going to try to meet with someone about working over the break & figuring all that out, but I'm not sure about all that yet.

Tomorrow should be busier since all of the family will be home. Mom has a lot of things she wants to get done, mainly going to go try to find a Christmas tree out at nana & papa's place. Apparently we threw away our Christmas tree last year and didn't realize it until we started looking for it again this year.

We are also supposed to be making Christmas candy sometime soon. I think that if we don't get to make some Saturday that we're supposed to be try to next week on Tuesday or Thursday. Sad thing is, I don't know if I'll be able to help then since I'll most likely be working. 

Oh well, at least I'll be pulling in more money than I'd get from just giving plasma.

Dream Job

I don't want to have to work at Brookshires over the break. Yet I know how badly we need the extra money & I definitely do not want to add to the burdens mom & dad have.

All I want is to open my bakery. It's the dream job I've always wanted. I didn't even want to go to State... I wanted to go to culinary school instead, but mom & dad wanted me to get a bachelors degree in something (hence the food science degree!).

I know that opening my own bakery will be hard. It will take a lot of time, patience, sweat, tears, maybe even blood, and a whole lotta money. But that's all I've kept thinking about this past year, especially since I'm so close to graduating.

I keep dreaming up recipes & menus, designs & the layout, uniforms & cleaning, etc etc. Boring things that only I would think about this far in advance & get excited about. I yearn for the tiredness I'll feel, the pain in my feet from standing all day, the stress in having to make decisions & deal with day to day operations. All weird things that most people would normally shy away from, but it's something I genuinely want.

I almost feel like there's an emptiness in me since I know that I'm nowhere near seeing this dream of mine come true. I know I'll have to work at Brookshires, or a bunch of other jobs I won't like. I know that I have student loans I need to pay off once I graduate. I know I have hardly any credit and will have one heck of a time if I want to get a business loan. I know that I'll need even more money to start up the joint and will be lucky if I start seeing ends meet & maybe making a little extra in five years. I know all of these hard things and so it makes me sad. And it makes me upset. And I stay up thinking about all this and so it makes me tired.

But it's time for me to grow up and just deal with all these facts. I'll need to suck it up and just do the things I don't want to do and try to be happy about it.

Home for Christmas Break

My fall semester is over & so I was able to get home this past Friday. I was only back at school for a couple days, but it was weird how it felt like much longer.

Today is a super rainy & cold Sunday, so I'm just spending the day with my family.

I'll try to post something more interesting later!

Going back

I postponed my drive back to tomorrow morning. I'll leave around 7 when dad & Lin also leave to go to work/school.

Hope I can get a good night's sleep!

Semi-Finals game

The Cougars lost today to Midland Christian 49-7. The loss hurt, but we were the first team to score against them since the playoffs started! They will most likely end up winning State next Saturday.

In other news, Mississippi State won against Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl 31-3. I'm sad I missed it, but I'm way more happy with my decision to stay here & cheer on my brother.

I'm going to church tomorrow morning with my family & then I'll head out afterwards to go back to State. I only have one week of classes left & one final so I'll be back home in about a week. I don't wanna leave, but at least I won't be gone long!

Before I go, here's a pic of Lin putting his stuff on the bus this morning when they left at 7:30. It was awesome sending them off, standing in the pouring rain!

And here's another picture of Naomi & me. We made matching hats & wore crazy blue eyeshadow & eye liner to cheer our Cougars on! (this pic is courtesy of Naomi. Once I put on my gloves I couldn't use my iPhone!) Aren't we adorable? :)

Regional Championship Game

I can't believe it's been a week since I've last updated this. It's wonderful being home, but it has also made me slack off... I've only been on my laptop once since being home. I keep thinking "I should update about what's been going on" and then I manage to convince myself to push it off to the next day.

Well, here's the recap of what's been going on.

Thursday, I got in around 2 to Tyler and went straight to see Mom at Memaw's house. I then went to see Lin after school/before football practice and then went home after a quick stop at Brookshire's to pick up a few groceries (man, I missed that store!). Mom made pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and homemade bread! Nana had intended to come & eat with us, and then John, Naomi, & Hazel also ended up eating with us. They didn't intend to, but it wasn't hard to convince Naomi once she heard we were having fried okra!

Friday I went with mom to aunt Leah's and we visited for a while. We went back home and got ready to leave for Lin's football game. Grace played Northland Christian from Houston for the Regional Championship. It was in Buffalo, TX at their new stadium there. A bunch of our family came. It was a great time full of football, cheering, & laughter. I forgot how much I desperately missed high school football games! Grace ended up winning 28-21. It was such an awesome game. We were standing most of the time, ringing our cowbells, and being as loud as we could!

Naomi & Me after the game was over!

Me & my sweet Mama after the game

Me & My brother... can't believe he's taller than me now!

A bunch of pictures from after the big win!! We now have 3 trophies!

We celebrated with the team for a while after the game. The field was new, so Buffalo wouldn't let us go out on it like we usually would after a game. Coach Maddox was awesome, though, and led the team out to the bleachers where we could all crowd around them and pray and congratulate them. It was a wonderful night!

I slept in a little on Saturday and then went over to my sweet Nana's for biscuits & gravy she made me for breakfast (my absolute favorite!). We helped her hang some pictures & do little things around her house. We went back home & just messed around until around 1 when Lin got back from watching film up at the school. We unloaded a trailer full of branches from a tree they cut down, and then came back to the house to watch the State v. Arkansas game at 2:30. It was a sad loss, but it was still nice to be able to watch the game with my family. That night Lin & I went to Tyler with our cousins Abbi & Gray to get some ice cream & hang out a little. It was great seeing them. It's weird how we all grew up together, yet now we hardly see each other.

Some of our adventures in Barnes & Noble. I love how crazy we are together!

Sunday morning we went to church and it was awesome being able to go to a service at Grace again. I forget how much I love it there. And it's really nice now because John & Naomi have started attending church there with us. I basically spent the rest of the day with the family doing stuff around the house and just enjoying being home.

On Monday, I pretty much spent all day over at Naomi's. We visited during the morning and then went to town with Patti to get some ornaments & materials I needed for a project. Then when we got back to Naomi's house, we got working on my Toms. I've worn the pair Nana got me last year out and they were starting to get holes in the toes. I wanted to save them somehow & decided on covering them... let me tell you, it's much harder to do than it sounds! I think they're going to turn out awesome, though!

My recovered Toms project

Tuesday was the big Dallas trip. Nana had a catering job she did for a company and all we had to do was drop off the food to them around 11:00 am. Since we would already be in Dallas, we decided to do some shopping. Abbi got to come with us so that was wonderful! We started off eating breakfast at LaMadeleine's... it's basically a tradition for us it seems, but they have a wonderful breakfast there! We went to several stores and the Galleria. They had their Christmas tree up and we all got pictures. We then went to Matito's for lunch/dinner around 4 and it was delicious! Some of the best Mexican food I've ever had!

And today has just been full of cooking and trying to get ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, along with me stitching on my Toms whenever I get a chance! My fingers are so sore!

Hopefully I'll update again soon about how Thanksgiving went! Hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow!