Over the River and thru the Woods....

To Granmother's house we go!!! We are leaving in a few hours to head to my parents house for Thanksgiving! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I really love Durham a lot but every day this situation gets harder and harder. All of the temporary living does not allow me to work (which shockingly I really enjoy), and having a little one at home makes it hard to do much without the help of of my husband or family. I am learning a lot about what it means to have my identity rest in the Lord rather in my work or my relationships.....but that is an entirely different blog post (one that I'm not sure I'm ready to write).

Anyway, to say that I am thrilled to head to Greenville for a few days is an absolute understatement. I am a little bummed b/c Garrett will only be able to be there for about 24 hours....when you work in retail, being off on Black Friday is not an option. This is our third holiday season in retail..there are times when I feel like I am totally used to Garrett having to work and there are times when I feel like I can't take it anymore...the roller coaster ride of being a human with emotions I guess. Anyway, I think I just decided I will choose to focus on the time Em and I do get with him and celebrate that rather than mourning over all of the time we don't get together. I mean it is THANKSgiving!

So, heres to 24 hours together as a family and being thankful for every second we get together. I think about all of the families who have lost loved ones or have family members serving over seas and I realize how selfish my heart is at times. But I also am reminded of how important family is and I think it is ok to long for them....just not ok to feel bad for myself.

Also, for those of you who don't know, Garrett's brother, Cullen and his wife, Amber, have been living in South Korea, teaching english, for a little over 2 years now. We have only seen them once since they moved and that was before Em was born! And Garrett's sister Courtney is living in Colorado and was in California before that, and I think we have only seen her twice, maybe 3 times, in the past 2 years. All that to say, WE MISS YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!!! We love you guys so much and can't wait until we can spend the holidays all together...maybe next year????

Lastly, Emerson turned 6 months old last week. Some quick updates on her: She now weighs 16 pounds and is 26 inches long (40th to 50th percentile on all her measurements). She has 1 tooth, but based on all the drooling and fussiness I would say there is another on the way. She can sit up by herself (although she still falls backwards every now and then). And, she is working frantically on learning to crawl but at this point she only goes in circles or backwards....this frustrates her to no end. I am perfectly content with her not crawling for as long as possible. She gets more precious and sweet every day. I think Garrett and I are both constantly amazed at how we could love one person so much. It used to annoy the heck out of me when people used to say things like, "you'll just never know how much you could love someone until you have children." I TOTALLY understand now, but I will still try to refrain from saying that to other people. For some reason someone telling someone else about their abilities to feel or not feel drives me nuts (even though i am sure i am guilty of this too).

And the moment you have been waiting for.....new(er) pictures of our sweet little girl. Some of which are ones that were in the running but did not make the Christmas card.