Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving my mom, her fiance, and my sister came to visit with us. Of course, I went way overboard cooking a feast for Thanksgiving, and we'll be eating turkey and all the fixings for the next month, but it was all worth it. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day with a huge feast, and the Whitfields joined us later that evening. Of course, the rest of the weekend was great as well...we went to some great restaurants, did some shopping, and just soaked up some quality time together. It was fabulous!

Aaron and I have so much to be thankful for this year. The list could go on and on with the number of things we're thankful for, but most of all, we're thankful for a loving God who loves us beyond measure. Our God is so good, and we're so thankful for what He has given us.

Happy Thanksgiving! (a little late...but better late than never)

A North Carolina Wedding

Aaron and I drove down to Raleigh, North Carolina on Saturday for a wedding. One of Aaron's good friends from law school, Jeremy Milton, was getting married, and we were able to slip away for the day to make the trip down. It was a charming little wedding in a small church in North Carolina, and we were able to meet up with another couple from law school, Aaron and Jen Mullen. Jen was in the Law Wives with me, and Aaron is another one of Aaron's good friends from law school. It was great to catch up with them. We hope to be able to catch up with friends from Aaron's class and The Law Wives more frequently than just major life events like Jeremy and Ashley's wedding. Here's an attempt at a picture of the six of us. Jen asked an old lady that we didn't know at all to take our picture, and unfortunately, she cut out Aaron from the picture. Jen said the moral of the picture is "if the old lady is uncomfortable taking your picture, then find someone else to take it. Sorry Aaron..."

Aaron's Swearing In Ceremony

Aaron got sworn in as an attorney in the state of Illinois yesterday. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there, but he was so blessed to have several family members come to support him as he got sworn in. Ma & Pa Kaney were there along with Ryan, Cory, and Rachel. Aaron's Uncle Dave was even able to make it. Uncle Dave is a judge in Stephenson County, and because he is already a member of the bar, he was able to walk across the stage with Aaron as he received his certificate which was great. Uncle Dave even passed on a special gift to Aaron from his Grandpa Jeffrey. It was a book that Aaron's grandfather had when he first started practicing law, and he had passed it down to Uncle Dave. Now, Uncle Dave has passed it on to Aaron. It was a wonderful gift. Thank you, Uncle Dave!

I'm so proud of my husband, and I look forward to seeing what the Lord will do through him with the gifts he's acquired through law school. Congratulations to my wonderful husband!

Aaron & Uncle Dave

Halloween

Aaron and I were apart this year for Halloween. He's in Illinois recruiting, and I'm home in Virginia.

It turned out really great that he was in Illinois because our niece (Rachel) turned 2 this past week, and neither of us have been able to celebrate a birthday with her yet. He was able to spend some time at Ryan and Cory's house for Rachel's birthday party, and he was able to see Rachel all dressed up for Halloween. From the pictures I saw, Rachel was an adorable little lady bug! Aaron didn't have much to say about her costume, but he's a typical guy, and he doesn't pay attention to those kinds of things.

We also got the great news that we're going to be an aunt and uncle again...yay!! Ryan, Cory, and Rachel are expecting their next addition to the family on June 10th next year.

Congratulations Ryan, Cory, and Rachel!!

While Aaron was enjoying his time in Illinois with his family, I spent Halloween with our Goddaughter (Alana). This was my third year spending Halloween with Alana, and I can't believe how big she is getting. She just gets cuter and cuter every day! She was a pirate for Halloween, and she was adorable! We spent Halloween night at our church for the Block Party, and she kept wanting to go get more candy, so of course...I let her. She kept saying "more candy" and when she says "trick or treat" it just melts my heart, so I couldn't help but let her have whatever she wanted.

 

Later that night as I was spending some time with the Lord and reading my Bible, I was praying for Alana and Rachel. I was praying that the Lord would allow Aaron and I to be a good influence on these two beautiful little girls that we are so blessed to have in our lives. I was reflecting back on the evening (which is normally thought of as the "devil's holiday"), and I was thanking the Lord for how he uses so many of His children to mold young people's lives so that they can grow up and glorify God.

The Lord also reminded me of something else...
(In order to paint the scenario a little better... the set up for the Block Party was to walk around the building and the kids could trick or treat at each of the doors to the church, and they could go around the building as many times as they wanted.) With that said, while I was carrying Alana around to some of the different doors of the church, we would occasionally walk by someone that had a scary costume, and I'm not gonna lie...even I was scared by some of the costumes. But the thing I remember most is that as we walked by, Alana would squeeze my neck extremely tight and just trust that I would protect her. She didn't cry or scream or get upset, but she would just cling tightly to my neck and allow me to lead her to the next door.

As I was reflecting on that, the Lord reminded me of how Aaron and I have walked through so many different triumphs and trials over the years, and as long as we have clung tight to the Lord and trusted Him to walk us through it and lead us to the next door, we've been fine.

Aaron will be done with his recruiting position in two weeks, and he is currently looking for a job. He has a few leads, but no job yet. We have no idea what the Lord has in store for us, and it's exciting and scary, but I know that as long as we cling tight to the Lord and trust Him for direction, He will lead us to the right door.

We are so blessed! Thank you Lord for placing these two little girls in our lives!