November 2022

November was another very full month for us, and we so thankful for all of it.

We started the month by spending a few days in Gatlinburg with Josh's parents and my mom. We hiked in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, had breakfast with some friends who had been missionaries in neighboring Zimbabwe, did go-karts and a mountain coaster, and were blessed with the gift of tickets to Dolly Parton's Stampede dinner show, which was so fun.

Taylah believed in Christ for salvation a couple of months earlier, and Josh had a free Sunday in November where he could be at Hardin Baptist to baptize her. It was a very special day.

We voted in person for the first time in four years! We love teaching our kids about the civic duty of voting in elections big and small. We also celebrated my sister winning the mayoral election in my hometown of Marion!

We spent a lot of time at Josh's parents' house enjoying the last warm days and big leaf piles.

Josh submitted his first book to the publisher! The Bible Guidebook is a project we've both worked hard on (him writing and me editing) for a few years now, and we're so excited to see it come to life! 

We celebrated my dad's 80th birthday with a surprise party!

We got snow for the first time in four years! It wasn't a lot, but when you haven't seen it in that long and you don't know if it will snow again, you make the most of it! We had a fun morning out playing in it, mostly making snowballs from the snow on the vehicles and trampoline and throwing them at each other.

The day we got snow, Jude saw it and started saying, "Christmas tree." So we got out the Christmas decorations we'd kept in storage and put them all up. Jude loves Christmas more than just about anyone, and it made him so happy to decorate. It made me happy to see him so happy, and it really does help this house feel so much more cozy.

 

JJ got glasses! He actually only needs them for reading, and the prescription is not very strong, but he loves them and wears them almost all the time. He has always been a nerd in an athlete's body, and I feel like the glasses help his outside match his inside. Ha.

I ran in a turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning! (I didn't run in the hat, I got it afterward.) I was so excited that I accidentally got there over an hour early. I'm a slow runner, but I pushed myself and did really good for me. I got 5th in my age group (out of 11) and it felt great!

We had Thanksgiving lunch with both sides of Josh's family, and it was so great to get to see almost everyone!

And then we went to my cousin's house to have more Thanksgiving with some of my mom's side of the family! It was so great to see them, too!

We pulled off some extended family Christmas card pictures with me as the photographer. I think we got some really good ones!

And we wrapped up the month by meeting a guy at midnight to ship some totes and boxes of things (mostly books and a few household items) to Malawi! We can't believe the time to go back is already starting to creep near (mid-January).