Long time...

Hi everyone!

Wow--it's been over a month since we posted last, but it's been a relatively uneventful, but busy month at the Bailey house! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Mark's family, and we are looking forward to Mark's first Christmas in Carthage with the Bowers/Dyer crew! When it is your first Christmas at the Bowers' (my mom's family) you have to get under the tree with a bow on your head. While this tradition began as a way of welcoming new babies, it has evolved into welcoming new cousins through marriage! So, I will be sure to post pics of Mark with his lovely bow on his head....if he'll do it! We've been busy going from here to there, visiting the Grifs in KC, seeing a Chiefs game, singing karaoke at Katie's Hannah Montana birthday, surprising my aunt for her 60th birthday, having our community group Christmas dinner at our house, babysitting our favorite Miller kids, and going to fun tacky Christmas sweater parties! What a fun month!

Things with J.Bailey Occasions are going well. Look for my website launch by the end of the month! YAY! www.jbaileyoccasions.com I will be doing a bridal fair in Springdale (the largest in NWA usually) in January, so I am excited to get out there and be a part of the vendor industry for the first time. Pray that I meet lots of brides who are interested in using me! My current clients pick up in the spring, so I will be gearing up for those weddings after New Year's.

I've also been having a blast getting involved in our community through volunteering! I joined a new group called the Young Women's Alliance through the United Way. I've gotten to help out here and there at a really fun fall event for families, sorting clothes at the Peace at Home thrift store that benefits a women's shelter, and yesterday made Christmas ornaments with developmentally disabled adults at the Elizabeth Richardson Center. I am loving every second of it! I am also volunteering once a week as a counselor at Loving Choices, which is essentially a crisis pregnancy center. I am still in training, but I really enjoy the other girls there and the new center is beautiful! It is in the perfect location just between the U of A campus and the Fayetteville High School campus. God is doing really amazing things there, and in the lives of the women that work there. I just love being surrounded by women I can look up to!

Mark's work is still going great! He is going to be recruiting for Unilever at the career fair on the U of A campus in January, which should be really fun for him. He's been having a great time (NOT) lately dealing with all of Jack's mischevious little troubles, like digging up our cable and internet, the sprinkler system, and destroying our fire pit. Yes, it is made of granite and he still tore it apart! He is wonder dog! We're also really excited for the Razorbacks and our new head football coach, Bobby Petrino. It should be fun to see how he does recruiting and getting the fans pumped back up again!

Thanks for checking in, and here are some photos from our Christmas card photo shoot. Chelsea Sloneker, a good friend of ours who is venturing into the world of photography, endured our afternoon with a crazy dog! Take a look...