Clark's birthday is September 19th. This year he wanted a good steak so we went to the Aberdeen Barn in Charlottesville. It was a interesting place with good food and different atmosphere. It's a little reminiscent of the Angus Barn in Raleigh.
October was BUSY!! The first weekend my parent's came for a visit! It was short but we tried to make the most of it.Saturday afternoon we took a ride through the Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive (which is basically a northern extension of the Blue Ridge Parkway). There are only four entrances to Skyline Drive and we just drove from the most southern entrance at Rockfish Gap to the next one near Swift Run Gap. It was a new experience for all of us full of beautiful views!!
The next weekend we headed to Asheville, NC so that I could attend the Great Smokies Veterinary Conference put on by the North Carolina Academy of Small Animal Medicine. Each year veterinarians are required to complete designated hours of continuing education and attending a conference is one of the best ways to fulfill that requirement. The learning was good- but exploring Asheville was even better! The best part was catching up with my classmate, Justin and his wife, Megan over dinner at the Tupelo Honey Cafe. It was so fun to catch up and share war stories over an awesome meal. On the way home we took a slight detour to Hiddenite to see my family and eat lunch with them in celebration of my Dad's Big 5-0.
Two weeks later we got to see Justin, Megan, and several other friends and classmates at one of my best friend's, Nikki, wedding. It was a wonderful celebration on a gorgeous day at Adaumont Farm. It seriously couldn't have been a more beautiful day. Apparently it was so fun, busy, and beautiful that I was only able to get one pic the entire weekend:
Clark spent the last week of October at National FFA Convention in Louisville, KY. The Riverheads FFA Chapter had a very successful trip including the high scoring individual in the Dairy Evaluation CDE!
The following weekend we spent Saturday morning helping 4-Hers and FFA members get their steers ready for the Market Animal Show. Even though the show isn't until May, preparation is year around. "Nomination Day" as it is called for steers is always in November, and involves each animal getting a Market Animal Show ear tag, a starting body weight, and the opportunity for the animal to receive free vaccciations and deworming. I administered vaccines and Clark helped usher the kids and steers where they needed to be. It was a cold, but rewarding morning. Nomination Day for hogs and lambs is coming up in a few weeks.
While our trip home for Thanksgiving was short, it was packed full of family and friends! It's hard to know how to fairly divide our time, but we do our best to see as many folks as possible.
December was a whirlwind work and holiday preparation and celebrations. The joy of the holidays was quickly brought to a halt with the unexpected death of a Westwood family member. Jessee was a hardworking young man that seemed to have held every position at Westwood except veterinarian. While his family and friends will always miss him and are still coping daily with his loss, Jessee's funeral was truly a celebration of his life and a reminder of the importance of faith in Christ and living life to the fullest.
I was on call Christmas Eve and Day. It certainly was different not to be home this year. When you don't get to participate in yearly traditions, it's almost as if the holiday didn't even happen. While we couldn't be home with our actual family, our Westwood family made sure we had somewhere to celebrate. The Cromers had us over for dinner Christmas Eve and Day. It meant so much to us that we had a family to fellowship with and was a great reminder that over time Virginia will become "home".
Since I had to work the whole week of Christmas up through Saturday morning, I took the whole next week off. It was a much needed vacation, relaxing with family and catching up with friends. We even got to see Clark's nieces who live in Louisiana. It almost seemed like "old times" getting to spend New Year's Eve with the Rowan County crew and New Years Day with my Silliman family. As wonderful as it was to be...home... by the end of the week we were ready to go...home... Home is probably a word I've historically used too frivolously. In vet school I had three "homes": 1) Home to Clark 2) Home to Mom and Dad 3) Home back to Raleigh. But now I think it is accurate to have two homes. North Carolina will ALWAYS be home and where we're from. Virginia is where we're making our current home and life. Throughout or journey here, God has provided ample reassurance to let us know this is where we are supposed to be.
On that note, 2015 is off to a great start and we're excited for what God has in store. We are currently taking the Financial Peace University course at church. We're eager to get Biblical guidance on our finances, especially as we look to buy a house this year and are trying to tackle my student loans. In addition to spiritual and fiscal wellness, I've been on a journey for physical fitness as well. More details on that to come!!
....Hopefully sooner than 3 months from now!!!
The following weekend we spent Saturday morning helping 4-Hers and FFA members get their steers ready for the Market Animal Show. Even though the show isn't until May, preparation is year around. "Nomination Day" as it is called for steers is always in November, and involves each animal getting a Market Animal Show ear tag, a starting body weight, and the opportunity for the animal to receive free vaccciations and deworming. I administered vaccines and Clark helped usher the kids and steers where they needed to be. It was a cold, but rewarding morning. Nomination Day for hogs and lambs is coming up in a few weeks.
While our trip home for Thanksgiving was short, it was packed full of family and friends! It's hard to know how to fairly divide our time, but we do our best to see as many folks as possible.
December was a whirlwind work and holiday preparation and celebrations. The joy of the holidays was quickly brought to a halt with the unexpected death of a Westwood family member. Jessee was a hardworking young man that seemed to have held every position at Westwood except veterinarian. While his family and friends will always miss him and are still coping daily with his loss, Jessee's funeral was truly a celebration of his life and a reminder of the importance of faith in Christ and living life to the fullest.
I was on call Christmas Eve and Day. It certainly was different not to be home this year. When you don't get to participate in yearly traditions, it's almost as if the holiday didn't even happen. While we couldn't be home with our actual family, our Westwood family made sure we had somewhere to celebrate. The Cromers had us over for dinner Christmas Eve and Day. It meant so much to us that we had a family to fellowship with and was a great reminder that over time Virginia will become "home".
Since I had to work the whole week of Christmas up through Saturday morning, I took the whole next week off. It was a much needed vacation, relaxing with family and catching up with friends. We even got to see Clark's nieces who live in Louisiana. It almost seemed like "old times" getting to spend New Year's Eve with the Rowan County crew and New Years Day with my Silliman family. As wonderful as it was to be...home... by the end of the week we were ready to go...home... Home is probably a word I've historically used too frivolously. In vet school I had three "homes": 1) Home to Clark 2) Home to Mom and Dad 3) Home back to Raleigh. But now I think it is accurate to have two homes. North Carolina will ALWAYS be home and where we're from. Virginia is where we're making our current home and life. Throughout or journey here, God has provided ample reassurance to let us know this is where we are supposed to be.
On that note, 2015 is off to a great start and we're excited for what God has in store. We are currently taking the Financial Peace University course at church. We're eager to get Biblical guidance on our finances, especially as we look to buy a house this year and are trying to tackle my student loans. In addition to spiritual and fiscal wellness, I've been on a journey for physical fitness as well. More details on that to come!!
....Hopefully sooner than 3 months from now!!!
I LOVE Financial Peace University. I didn't use everything that he did in that course, but have been using a lot of it to pay off my student loan debt as well. Keep it up...it is so rewarding!!
ReplyDeleteKara, it's so hard to do EVERYTHING! But certainly it has helped. I really wish we could/would be more aggressive on our debt snowball, but I think implementing anything you can from the program is the way to go.
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