BirthGiving Day... ThanksBirthday

Last week I went home for Thanksgiving, and my 29th birthday.  I love it when I get to go home.  I miss my people so much.

BUT I did miss Chattanooga while I was away.  This place and its people must be growing on me more than I admit. :)

I arrived on Tuesday, and my sister and I spent some quality time in the car stuck in traffic on the way home from Reagan.

Wednesday I slept in.. which is no small feat given how uncomfortable my bed at home is.  I was exhausted from going non-stop since our retreat the weekend before.   That night I stayed over at Stacy's and Bryan's so I could wake up Thursday for the guys' football game... and hangout with my favorite kids, Noah and Chloe.

It was stinkin cold as all get out watching the game.  I didn't last very long at all before I headed home to hangout with my parents and my older sister, Erin for Thanksgiving.  We had a really great day, and then I headed out to hangout with my second family, the Griffitts clan.

Last week I also got to see Megan and Beth and meet their babies, and celebrate my birthday with my parents, sisters, their boos, and the Griffitts family.  It was a great day.  One of my favorite parts of my week home was worshipping at my home church, a church that I love so much.  It feels like home when I'm there, and I miss it a lot every Sunday morning.  It was a great trip home, and I can't wait for my Christmas trip home to get here!

Some pictures from the last few weeks:

 The Middle School girls and me on the bus to Gatlinburg for Fall Retreat

They're crazy fun!

 Waiting to get in the opening night of the conference

 My sweet High School senior girls

 My Rebels

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 My friends surprised me for dinner for my birthday the night before I went home for Thanksgiving

Love these people!

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Home

 Stacy and me playing Singstar...

The passion on our faces could mean only one thing:

Wilson Philips "Hold On"

 Noah was so kind to put down his iphone (or so he thinks its his) to smile with me

 Cute Chloe all bundled up watching her daddy and uncles Jake and Bryan play football

 Everyone likes some friendly competition so I pretended to like the Ravens while Stacy was clearly pulling for her team, the 49ers.

Love this girl

 Baby city... but don't worry people, they're not mine.

Hanging out with high school friends, Beth and Megan

 My birthday was filled with happy texts and facebook comments and phone calls wishing me happy birthday.  This was one of my favorites from my some of my students back home.