Here and There

Life seems to happen faster than I can keep up with...

I spent the end of November visiting family, friends, and faithful supporters in the South. I was even able to make it to a Virginia Tech football game!!! To those of you who I was able to see- I had a great time! To those of you I missed- I am so sorry and I hope next time I am nearby we can get together.

The Carroll Family celebrated Thanksgiving in Sarasota, FL this year. It was a change of scenery (taking a trip to the beach after eating our turkey dinner) and experience (our Turkey came from Publix, fully cooked and ready to eat!) but I really enjoyed it, and I think the rest of my family did, too.

I arrived back in St. Louis just in time. Winter is definitely upon us as we have made it through the first winter storm of the season. In fact, it was the worst ice storm this city has seen since the late 1970's. It made my backyard a winter wonderland, but caused all kinds of trouble around the city as hundreds of thousands of people lost power for days on end. Thankfully, my power stayed on, but some of our staff team lost power at their homes. Those of us with power opened our doors to our cold staff family and shared the warmth we were blessed to have.

The storm made for a fun backdrop to our sports and rec program December field trip. We had two children qualify for the trip through good behavior and attendance but only one was able to join us for a drive to Illinois and the "Our Lady of the Snows Shrine" where they create a drive-through light show each year. There was even a petting zoo and offers of camel rides, it was quite an event. Sadly, some of the "1 million lights!" were knocked out by the storm, so we probably only saw 800,000 or so...

With the cold temperatures and icy weather I have had plenty of time indoors lately, so I have completely decorated for Christmas. I put up my first Christmas tree of my very own last week. I just love sitting in front of it at night with all the other lights turned off, admiring my handiwork.

My next adventure will be finding a new dog! I have been talking about getting a dog for a while now and I am finally looking. I visited the local animal shelter on Saturday but didn't find my new furry friend. I will definitely keep you all updated on this search!

That should bring you all up to date!