A Tender Tennessee Christmas....Back Where I Come From....Take your pick from the song titles

Bear with me.....this may be the longest blog post ever. I went home for 2 weeks for Christmas so this is a summary of my time in Tennessee. My parents had no idea that I was coming...they were completely surprised. I had a great time with friends and family, but it's also good to be back in Mexico now for the last 7-8 months of my term.

I made a video for my parents, wishing them a merry Christmas and also telling them I had sent a package to them. My sister wrapped up a box and inside there was a piece of paper that said "I was going to send you a present, but the shipping was too expensive so I decided to....." There was also another piece of paper that said "deliver it in person" but while they were getting to that, I walked in the room.

This was my mom's face when I walked in the room. This was shortly followed by a classic, hands on the cheeks, high pitched scream.

I'd say my mom was a little surprised.

This is where my dad was saying to my sisters, "I knew y'all had something planned." We had been planning the surprise since August so it was really hard to keep a secret, but everything went off perfectly!

My mom kept touching me to make sure it was real and she wasn't dreaming.

My friends who came over to see me....Ashley, Bekah, and Briana.

The first time I got to see and hold Gabbi, my friend Bekah's baby. Bekah has gotten married and had a baby since I have been gone, so it was really good to finally get to meet Gabbi.


My whole family: Me, my mom and dad, my sister Kelli holding Mason, her husband Petey behind her, my brother Alex beside him, my sister Kim, and my brother-in-law Sam holding Will.

Christmas lunch at my aunt's house
My sister Kim and I

My brother Alex and I

The four of us

Mason and Will with their mexican soccer balls

Alex with the boys

Me with my parents on Christmas
Me and my sister Kelli

Me and my dog Sugar

Danielle, Briana, Ashley, and I at the Ice Chalet

Yep, we were those people who are always taking pictures while ice skating
Some of my closest friends: Chris, Ashley and Daniel (who have gotten married since I've been in Mexico), Danielle, and Briana
Game night at Chris's apartment

The married team in our married vs. singles game of Cranium

My parents

My nephews love to go to this place called the Bounce House to play, so I went with them one day to play with them.

They love the obstacle course
I think we had just as much fun as the boys

As Mason would say, his ice cream at Chick-fil-a was "delicious"

It looks like Mason and Will are dressed exactly alike, but they actually have on different shirts. There are only 3 months between them so they are going to grow up being really close.

Mom and Mason after eating at Calhoun's on the river

Me and my mom with Will
Me and Briana at Sonic

Just like old times

These are some of the pictures I took around Knoxville to show to my friends here who always ask what it is like there. This is the sunsphere built for the World's Fair in 1982.

Henley Street bridge and the Tennessee River

Pictures of Knoxville would not be complete without Neyland Stadium
Next football season I'll be home for the games!

At the bottom of the famous "hill"..thankfully my last two years of college I did not have to walk up it every day

First Baptist Church of Powell...my home church....it was great to be able to go to a few services in English!

I'm actually from Powell, about 15 minutes outside of Knoxville. This is downtown Powell...it's a pretty happening place if you can't tell by this picture.

I miss driving down the road and seeing things like this....fields of grass and barns aren't a very common sight in Guadalajara, a city of 7 million people

Home Sweet Home

The night before I left we had a Mexican themed going away party/birthday party for my nephew Will

We introduced my nephews to their first pinata. Mason had a great swing...I think he might be a baseball player one day

Will, fascinated by his new dump truck

My good friends Chris and Briana

Will blowing out the candles. He turns three on January 7th.

Will and Mason in their Mexican soccer jerseys I got for them

Amy is my good friend who I met in Mexico this past year. Her journeyman term ended a couple months ago and she is now living in Atlanta. Since I was flying out of Atlanta, we decided to meet up for lunch. Then, Nolan, another journeyman in Mexico, happened to be in Atlanta visiting his family for Christmas so he came too. Josh, another journeyman in Mexico, also happened to be in Kentucky visiting his family. He needed to give some posters to Nolan and I to deliver to people in Mexico so him and his mom drove down to meet up with us for the day. It was the first time we had all been together in the United States.

My mom and sisters drove me to Atlanta and were able to meet my teammates and also Amy's mom and sister and Josh's mom.

Josh and his mom, Amy, her mom and nephew, and Amy's sister.