I've fallen in love . . .

with Tennessee, that is. :-) What a pretty stretch of the country! Let me start at the beginning:

My contract in Greenville finished last Saturday, and I caught a VERY early flight home last Sunday morning. Perfect timing for me to be able to spend Thanksgiving at home with the fam. (amazing how that worked, huh?) My sweet parents picked me up at the airport, and we headed to one of my FAVORITE Tex-Mex restaurants to meet Amy & Ronnie for lunch. YUM!!After a good visit with them and filling my belly, we set out to return to my parents' house. Monday & Tuesday were "all business": unpacking summer stuff, packing winter stuff, and sorting through a bunch of mail - some junk, some not so much. Monday night, I did get to go to my parents' dance lesson. HOW FUN!!!! :) We were doing some form of swing dancing - one of my favorites. Poor dad had two partners that night, so he never got a rest, but we sure had fun! Tuesday night, after my parents got home for work, it was time to start the decorating process. YAY!! When they walked in the door, I was surrounded by Christmas lights I'd been checking. We got a lot done that night, and I got a few pictures. (shocking, I know) :)

My parents' tree all lit up!

Most of their collection of Nativities

Wednesday was "grandparent day". Dad & I ran a few errands that morning until mom got off work around lunch time. Then, we were off to visit two sets of grandparents. We first went to my Grandaddy & Granny Shirley's house. It was so nice to visit with them. After this, we went over to my Papa Art & Mamma Granny's house. As an extra bonus, one of my cousins, Jason, and his friend, Angie, were also there. It was like a mini family reunion. :-) He had just come from the north east on business and warned me about the "unforgiving" I-40 through TN & NC. Boy was he right! It was so much fun to visit with them while eating some of Papa Art's famous fish. :) While the guys were in the garage cooking, the girls were inside decorating the Christmas tree. I didn't get a picture of this one, but it turned out VERY cute. When we got home, we put up my little tree in the game room that has all my ornaments I've gotten while traveling - my souvenirs.

Yep, that hat says "I believe in Santa Claus!"

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, was at my Papa Joe & Mema's new house. It was delicious as always and so nice to see the family again! Everyone got involved in the preparations and the clean up, which made it fun and go much more quickly.

Jenna & Chloe washing the dishes . . . & counters & walls & floor etc. :-)

Friday was all about finishing the last minute details before leaving Saturday morning on my return trip to NC and being the 12th Man from afar for THE GAME that afternoon. How proud was I of my Ags that evening after their win against t.u.?!?!?!? Words cannot express!!

TEXAS A&M 38

t.u. 30

So, Saturday morning, I headed out on my trip back to North Carolina. My plan was to make it to Nashville, TN, by Saturday night. It was amazing . . . the trees started showing amazing colors as I crossed from Arkansas to Tennessee. I got to meet with some of my friends for dinner in Nashville as they headed home from spending the holidays with family in Chattanooga. This morning, after a small "Jenn detour", I found I-40 and headed east. I'd hoped to finish my journey and end up in Greenville tonight. But, after 11 hrs in the car, I had to stop driving about 2 hours short of my final destination. All this to say, I love the views in TN! The drive from Nashville, TN, to Asheville, NC, is absolutely amazing!! I wouldn't recommend it in the dark or when you're tired because it's full of tight curves and hills. But, the trees and rocks are AMAZING!!

So, that was my trip in a nutshell. After doing a few things here in Raleigh tomorrow, I'll be heading back to Greenville to start another 3 weeks of fun with miniature babies!! I hope your Thanksgiving was a great as mine! :)

WOW!

I finished packing up and cleaning my apartment early today, so I decided I should play the rest of the day. So, I went to my favorite mall and walked around for a while. I almost cut all of my hair off, but I was one inch short when she measured it (I need 1o inches). Guess I'll have to wait another month. After I checked out all the Christmas decorations the mall had to offer, I headed to a nearby state park. The drive along HWY 540 was absolutely GORGEOUS with all the colorful leaves! The park was just as pretty, and it's much safer to stop & take pictures! I'd been told over & over that the leaves wouldn't be pretty this year because of the drought. Well, if these are the bad ones, I can't imagine what they look like on a year with plenty of rain!

Another 13 Weeks Flown By

Hard to believe it, but my contract here in Greenville finished today! I must REALLY be getting old because time is absolutely flying!! :) It's been a great 3 months. So great, in fact, that I'm coming back after Thanksgiving to work here a little more before Christmas. I'm flying out early Sunday morning - my flight LEAVES at 7:30, which makes for an early start even for me! - to go home for Thanksgiving. I'm so excited to get to spend the holiday with my family. Have a wonderful weekend!

Trees that "POP"

There's this tree across the parking lot from my apartment that turned this gorgeous, bright red color a few weeks ago. I've been watching it in amazement as it was the only one that had changed. Yesterday morning, on my way home from work, I noticed that the rest of the trees had finally turned. But, they were all orange. Being that it's my last week in this apartment, I decided to get a picture. :) Hmmmmm . . . Random observations from Jenn. Have a great day!

Fall Colors

I went back out to the garden at Duke University yesterday. It was a beautiful day, and I just felt like walking around outside. What better place than an area where I can be surrounded by pretty flowers? :-) I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Incredible Perspective!

A friend of mine just sent me "Eliot's" story, and I thought - a perfect story for my blog. Eliot is truly a miracle. The faith of his parents is amazing and inspiring. I've only seen a few trisomy 18 patients at work, and NONE of them made it out of the nursery alive. What a blessing for us that his parents shared God's gift with the rest of us! To see his story, just click on his name above. But be warned . . . you're gonna need some tissues to get through it!!

Halloween Warm Fuzzies

We were sharing trick or treating stories today at work, and a friend of mine had THE BEST! After a long night of going door to door with her 2 kiddos (5 yrs. old & 7 yrs. old), the kids were hyper and less than obedient. So, as a last resort, she threatened to take away all of their candy and give it to the kids at the hospital. Her son (the 5 yr old) looked astounded and asked her, "Are there really kids in the hospital? I thought kids just went to the doctor." Paula then explained to him that there were kids of all ages that had to spend holidays in the hospital. A little while later, both of her kids had collected about half of their candy for her to take to the kids at the hospital!!!! How sweet is that?!? :) I hope you had a great Halloween and got a lot of good candy!