Our First Tree!

"I Hope They Call Me On a Mission..."

Elder Erik William Barron is now in the Missionary Training Center!

(I forgot to post this when it actually happened though...)

Elder Barron has been called to the California Roseville Mission and reported to the MTC on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009. The WHOLE Barron clan (Keith, Sharon, Dave, Erik and Grandma Pat) came out west from New York to visit and bring Elder Barron to the Provo MTC.

We were SO lucky to have the Barrons come to Rexburg to visit us before taking Erik. Their visit made our week wonderful! Once they landed in Salt Lake, they rented a car and headed up here to Rexburg. I had a HUGE dinner ready for them (delicious spaghetti and meatballs) and even invited 3 friends over to celebrate the Barrons' arrival! We have a small apartment, but we fit TEN of us in our little front area! It was a blast!

The next day, Drew and I played half-day hooky to spend more time with the family. We shopped, we ate, we went to Idaho Falls to visit and eat Craigo's Pizza with the Larsons! Finally, we realized that we should take some pictures before Elder Barron left us for 2 years...

We had a great time with our Barron family and we are so grateful to them for driving up to visit and helping us as much as they did. THANK YOU GRANDMA AND SHARON!!!!!

Let's Eat Some Turkey!

The Holidays have begun!

Thanksgiving happens to be Drew's favorite holiday! He says it's the best because it's the start of the season and everything just gets better from there. We can't wait for tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day, when we have an excuse to eat crazy amounts of food, lounge all day, and be with friends (and, in most cases, family)! Best of all, Drew and I are going to make it a tradition to set up our Christmas decorations and tree on "Black Friday" every year. Woo!

Now that we've moved to the middle of nowhere, Rexburg, Idaho, and are still less-than-wealthy newlyweds, we aren't able to make it to any of our family's homes for the holidays. Luckily, we have amazing friends in the area, and one of them, Tyler Larson, invited us to spend the day with his family and have Thanksgiving Dinner! We were eager to accept!

I can't wait to spend the day eating and laughing and being with wonderful people! Most of all, Drew and I are both thrilled to spend our first Thanksgiving together!

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Make sure to tell your loved ones that you are thankful for them, maybe even start a new holiday tradition like going around the dinner table and naming one thing you're thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Count Your Many Blessings!

"When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost..."

We sure count our blessings! I thought this an appropriate topic considering the season.

For those who pay tithing, you will understand what I mean when I say money comes out of nowhere whenever we need it most. When we pay an honest tithe (10% of any increase paid to the Church), we find ourselves coming up with solutions to pay the bills we owe when we didn't think we were making enough to do so.

It's not just money that we've been blessed with. I (Carissa) was having a hard time finding a job. I even tried to go back to the Subway I had worked at last year, but had no luck. A girl at church works in the public school system and told me about some openings for Aides in the school district. I applied for a few, was turned down by two, and, finally, accepted by one! I started working as a recess monitor at Madison Middle School and had a good time with it... while it lasted.

Unfortunately, the money we made between our jobs wasn't covering the bills we needed to pay (Drew at a market research call center, and me doing recess duty), so we started looking for more work. I applied to some part-time teacher's aide positions at the middle school, and interviewed with the principal and two assistant principals. I didn't get the job, but when another position became available, a full-time resource aide position, I was referred by the assistant principals (I guess I had made a good impression before!), and was hired immediately! The whole process- finding out about the job, applying, interviewing, and getting hired- only took 2 days! Since I started working, I have been learning more and more about these special needs and low-comprehensive children. I work one-on-one with 2 children; one in the morning, one in the afternoon. These kids do not have the same level of comprehension as the rest of their classmates. It's a struggle sometimes, but most days I come home thinking about how I can help them more and finding it very rewarding. I just took and passed my certification test for this job, only missing 3 questions out of 90!! I plan on sticking with this job as long as we're here in Rexburg!

Okay, so money and jobs aren't all! Drew and I have been blessed to have been called to serve in our ward (church congregation)! We have just had a new bishopric (leadership over the congregation... similar to a Priest, Minister, or Pastor) called in the ward, and the Bishop wanted Drew as an Assistant Ward Clerk, handling all the finances of the ward. I was given a calling as the Relief Society Fellowshipping Leader, befriending and getting to know all of the women in the ward. Just this past Sunday, I was called into the Primary Presidency in the ward. (For those who aren't familiar with Primary, it's a program where we teach the children of the congregation under age 12 about God and Jesus and sing songs.) Being in a young ward, we only have 5 children in our Primary, the oldest being 3. So we have Nursery! It's so sweet that the children are learning young about how God loves them!

We live in an amazing community with so many members of the church that we love. I can't imagine that we could be blessed any more than we are now. Then again, I know the Lord loves us and will continue to bless us!

We will continue to "Count [our] many blessings; name them one by one..."