Ah, November 25th. My favorite day of the month, and it also happens to be Thanksgiving. I love when it falls on the 25th! Today my family from Graham came to our house, and Wade spent his last Thanksgiving as an ACU student with us. Wade and Brad York spent their first Thanksgiving with our family their freshman year at ACU. Brad started going home after that, but Wade spent last year with us as well. It's always fun to have someone from outside our crazy circle included in the festivities (eating & watching TV). I am going to miss those guys next year!

Of course it’s always good to reflect on how the Lord has blessed you, as is the tradition around this time. I have realized lately that I need to do it more often. While I know that I am supposed to be in Abilene for this time, I often think about the future and when I get to leave. But if I only look to the future and what might be, I will completely miss out on what is happening now, and what the Lord might be trying to teach me now. So here is a list of the things I am thankful for this year (in no particular order):

• My family- a girl couldn’t ask for better parents to live with, and my bother of a brother isn’t too bad either.
• My job- this has been the most incredible, unexpected blessing of this semester; Shelley, my “boss”, is so gifted, and the other people I work with are awesome.
• Old friends- I am grateful for my best friends from high school, Carrie & Erin, and that we have only grown to love each other more over the years.
• New friends- I have made a few new friends since moving here, and I am so excited that the Lord put them in my life!
• Rosa’s- this yummy, new Mexican food place that just opened up here; I won’t lie- it’s only been opened 2 weeks, and I have eaten there at least 9 times.
• Woodmont- who am I that the Lord blessed my life with two years at Woodmont? I love my FOGWHCC family!
• Highland- if I had to leave Woodmont, then Highland is the next best thing; Mike feeds us such a rich meal each Sunday, and the strangers are starting to look like family.
• Anne Elizabeth & Nathan Wade- these are the two precious children I have been babysitting every Tuesday afternoon over the past semester; my job is to take care of them each week, but I always learn more from them than they do from me; they are moving to NC at the end of the year, and I am going to miss them terribly!
• Jessica Duty- my soul sister; we spent the summer in Perth together, shared a bed for most of the time, and shared our hearts each night before going to sleep. I love this girl.
• My new sister- Lindsey Webb, my sweet friend from ACU days, is coming to live with us next semester! This is an answer to prayer for her, but I am just as excited as she is!
• My degree- sometimes I forget that I am a big girl now, and actually have a college degree; when I transferred, it took me awhile to get used to the idea that my diploma would say “Lipscomb University”, and not “ACU”; but now I am so proud that I studied at Lipscomb and will be honored to (someday) hang my diploma in my office.
• Aussie friends- though I was only in Perth for 2 months, I made some lifelong friends; at least once a week, I get to instant message with an Aussie friend or receive an encouraging email; thank you, Lord, for bringing us together!
• Wednesday night class- these are the kids that chose not to be in the musical, and I am selfishly glad that they made that decision! I have learned more from teaching them than any other time I have taught, and I pray that the Lord has used me to teach them something as well.

Yikes, that is a heap of blessin’. Most of these things wouldn’t be so if I were not in Abilene. Thank you, Lord, for my time here. I pray that I will be a blessing to others, just as you have blessed me.

Last night I participated in my first Taize worship. I first heard of it after seeing it advertised at Trinity Pres in Nashville, and always wondered what it was. Then I saw that Highland has them once a month on Sunday nights, and called to find out exactly what it was. If someone had described Taize to me as the latest and greatest new worship style, I'm not sure I would have bought into it. However after finding out the history behind it, there was a greater significance in participating. My favorite part of the evening was the readings of scripture: the Lord speaking to Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, and a couple of psalms. Typically when scripture is read in a church service, you are listening to see how it relates to the sermon or what you can get from it. But the Old Testament is a great compilation of stories passed down through generations. And sitting last night and listening to God speaking to His children made these stories come alive. This is how they were supposed to be heard. If there is a Taize service near you, I highly recommend checking it out.

On Wednesday nights I teach the 2nd and 3rd grade Bible class. It's only about 20 kids, at the most, because the rest are participating in the Christmas musical. Typically it goes pretty well. The first couple of classes were shakey, but I think they were just getting used to a new teacher. Now we have a routine down, and they are starting to really enjoy our prayer time at the beginning of class and learning to respect one another as we share our prayer requests. Over the past couple of years, the idea of mission work has been something I have thought about more and more. I am now learning that I don't have to leave the US, or Abilene, or Highland to do mission work. For the past few weeks we have had 3 guests in our class that have come from a land that is foreign to myself and the rest of the kids. They live nearby in some apartments and come to Highland as a part of an outreach program of the university ministry. Talk about opening yourself to a new culture! Honestly our classtime hasn't gone quite as planned since these boys have joined us. The first week, it took myself AND my 2 helpers to get them under control. Last week our group took a little "field trip" around the building, and I didn't have a choice but to leave them behind with a helper. Each Wednesday night I leave frustrated, not because my class didn't go as planned, but because I am at a loss of what to do. My main goal is that these precious boys know that we love them, God loves them, and that Highland is a safe place for them. However I don't know how to give them that attention that they need AND teach my class. Right now the only thing my 2nd and 3rd graders have learned are probably some new swear words and some sketchy things that are going on in the boys' homes. So far the BEST thing that has come from our new neighborhood friends is that me, my helpers, and my kids have had to step out of our comfort zones. If my 2nd and 3rd graders walk out of the church building knowing more about truly loving our neighbors and don't really remember who rebuilt the temple... I think the world will be a better place for it. Please pray for me tonight!