home – a thousand new paths

future is now

Published on April 2, 2016April 2, 2016 by Jess StoneLeave a comment

finishing up internship

passed the exam to become a school psychologist

secured a job

we’re moving back home!

The best part of this journey, from CHS to Mercer and Baylor to Cola SC, is knowing that I could go anywhere from here and being able to choose to go home.

Let’s take a look back to 18-year-old me (ahem, almost 7 years ago now) and ask her where she wanted to go. 3 hours–that’s how far the farthest college she applied to was from home. 1.5 hours–that’s how far she moved from home. Then HALFWAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY. It’s time. It’s time to go home. to watch softball games. to share Sunday lunches with families. to finally balance family, fun, and work.
How much stress do you think 20 years of school is for an A-type personality, perfectionist?! I’ve spent years pursuing my dreams, and now it’s time to LIVE them. Enjoy the moment. Treasure my marriage. Spend more time with my family. Do good work in my job. Stress less, love more.

We have been so SO blessed, even in the toughest of tough times. This year has been by far one of the hardest of my life, and I can say with absolute certainty that I would not be here now without the love and support of my families and friends. There has been a lot of heartache this year. Family illness. Students passing away. Shootings. Social injustice. International warfare. I don’t know if it’s that I become more aware as I grow older or if things are growing worse and worse. Regardless, it has taken a toll on my heart. At the same time, there is so much joy in watching nieces, nephews, and cousins grow; friends building houses; new jobs; celebrating new marriages. Balance. Seeking balance. & thanking the Lord for providing that at home.

Thank you for sharing in this journey with us. Continue to pray for our marriage and health. We are overjoyed to share this news with you and thankful for you joining in our celebration!

help us make our house warm

all i want for Christmas

Published on December 19, 2013December 19, 2013 by Jess StoneLeave a comment

bemerry Last night I had a series of strange dreams. First, I dreamed that my family was celebrating Christmas in Arizona. While we were waiting for the food to finish cooking, Mom and I decided to walk outside with my dog, Georgia. Mom and Georgia went first, and I followed behind. So as I’m walking out these sliding glass doors, I see a killer whale jump out of the pool in the back yard and onto the cement surrounding the pool. It reminded me of how the whales slide on the ice to try to catch the seals, and in that moment my dog looked, to me, like a little baby seal. All of this happened in slow-motion in my dream, and what followed was mass chaos. I began yelling at my mom to catch the dog, both of whom were running around the pool like mad men. Finally, I had to run to catch the dog and yell at the whale to ‘GET BACK IN THE POOL!’ Why he listened, I’m not sure, but he did. So that was the first dream scenario that tried to ruin my Christmas.

hohoho

Then I dreamed that I was driving my car around town when every maintenance light began to light up the dash like our Christmas tree. I’m certain that all of the lights were fake, but that’s beside the point I suppose. I think my dream was trying to ruin my Christmas wish and prevent me from traveling home for Christmas. However, jokes on you, nightmare, because we’re not taking my car home for Christmas; we’re taking Cason’s car, and it works fine. (Mine does too, for the record.) Alternatively, the dream could be about how much I dread the 13.5 hour drive home, which would be accurate. If the cars break down, we HAVE to fly, right? That would be nice. Haha. All I want for Thanksgiving and Christmas next year are plane tickets home.

Needless to say, all I want this Christmas is to arrive home, safe and sound, and enjoy a nice break with my family. I want to eat Nana’s creamed corn, have brunch with my friends and go dress shopping, open presents with my family, and make sure my teacup poodle doesn’t get attacked by a killer whale. That’s not too much to ask for, is it? Cason and I have so much to do in the next few days just to prepare for the long trek home, but we are excited, nonetheless. We’ve prepared most of the presents for our families, purchased new Christmas outfits, mailed out Christmas cards, and done all of the laundry. All that’s left is to clean out the cars, tidy up the house, pack all of our things, and make the journey home. In just a few days we will be homeward bound! Until then…

*The images in this blog come from various artists on Etsy. Click on the images to redirect to the respective Etsy shops. I just wanted to share some of my favorite holiday prints, as I am personally thankful for some extra traffic in my Etsy shop this holiday season. Enjoy!

wintertime in waco

Published on December 17, 2013December 16, 2013 by Jess StoneLeave a comment

Why is it freezing in Waco, Texas? I have no idea, but I sure am glad that it’s starting to feel like winter.

I’ve had so many priceless experiences in Waco over the past few months, and I’m blessed and thankful for my time here. I’d like to share a few experiences that I’ve had in the past week or two–since Waco became somewhat of a winter wonderland.

Georgia in front of the Christmas tree.

I spent…uh…Brown Thursday? shopping for a Christmas tree. Cason and I decorated ornaments to put on the tree, which I hope will become an annual tradition. I also got stockings for Cason, Georgia, and myself and hung them on the mantle. I love decorating for Christmas each year, and I have so many fun memories. Most years, I decorate the family tree with my mom, hanging thumbprint ornaments from my childhood. Then throughout undergrad I would decorate the common rooms with my roommates–Kristin, Alli, and Katlyn during my sophomore year and my ADPi sisters in the house during junior year. This year is different, but I like the new traditions and new stockings!
My guilty pleasure: when the holidays roll around, I love to watch those cheesy Christmas movies on Hulu/Netflix. They are so predictable, but honestly that’s what makes them great. This season I’ve already watched a movie about an adorable little Jewish boy who just wants to celebrate Christmas and another movie about a girl who falls in love with her boss’s fiancé. Cason makes fun of them the whole time, so he’s not allowed to watch them with me anymore…seriously. I’ve been watching them while I complete my take-home finals…and while Cason is at work. (Since I started writing this post a week ago, I’ve watched at least 3 more cheesy Christmas movies, and I made Cason watch one.)
I also have been giving assessments to children for one of my classes. (This semester we administered the WJ-III and the WISC-IV.) It’s hard to believe that after just a semester of grad school I now have the basic know-how necessary to give some of the more widely used IQ tests in our field. Also, since I’m not from here I had a harder time finding students to assess. So, I reached out and was blessed with an amazing connection. I now hopefully have at least a few parents I can call on who are willing to let me assess their kids throughout my time here at Baylor. I’ve had great experiences with the families and the students all while gaining experience.
Last week I met a sweet family with four boys, and the youngest fell in love with my teacup poodle, Georgia. His mom told me later that he decided that Georgia needed her own play room with dog treats and legos, in case the boys came back to play. I honestly think that Georgia would LOVE that.
February_2012_0114 (Photo credit: cmiked)

On Saturday, Cason and I went Christmas shopping for our family for the first time. We got some amazing local items from the Waco Downtown Farmer’s Market, and we are excited to share them with our family. We also made a cute ornament to put on the tree! Going to the market is always a great experience.
I’ve sold a few prints from my Etsy shop, which has been both an encouragement and a blessing. It’s nice to know that people enjoy my work. It’s an added bonus that I have a little extra cash in my pocket for the holiday season.

Overall, it has been a sweet holiday season in Waco, but I think it’s safe to say that Cason and I can’t wait to be home for a week. I’m thankful that the semester has winded down and I have a little bit of time before we make the long trip home. I know it’s gonna be quite the ride, but it will definitely be worth it. Several of my family members have countdowns until the day I arrive. I have tons of wedding planning to do. I will get to see several friends, whom I haven’t seen in who knows how long. Plus I will get to see several relatively new additions to the family, including my nephew and first cousins, once removed (yes, this is the correct terminology for my cousin’s children–no, they are not my second cousins). Regardless of terminology, I am excited to see my family!

home is where your thoughts are

Published on December 16, 2012 by Jess StoneLeave a comment

sleepandthink

This is only the second night that I’ve been home since finishing up with school, and I can already tell that it’s going to be a long couple of months. It’s not that I’m counting down the days until I leave for China, and it’s certainly not the case that I dislike being at home. I am very thankful to have a home to come to and a place to rest and relax before embarking on the next big path in my life. However, being at home can be tough, and for me it takes a lot of mental preparation. There are just so many memories from so many years of living here, and after being away for a while, the memories just seem to come flooding back, demanding attention. It feels as if I must remember each memory as it was and store it away again, even with memories that I’ve done this with dozens of times already. Coming home, for me, often means confronting the past and things that I thought I’d left behind. Truthfully, I’m beginning to wonder if this ever ends. Certainly all of the memories aren’t bad. Most of them are wonderful, and I love and cherish them. I’d just like to come home once in a while without feeling emotionally bombarded by all of the memories. It’s really hard to explain, and I don’t feel like I’m doing a great job at all, but maybe you understand.

The problem with thinking about all the things that happened here when I was in high school and middle school is that these memories are endless and they keep me up at night. I’m not sure why they all come flooding back like this or why I feel that each memory requires extra time, thought, and attention. That’s just the way it seems to go. After all, I spent 7 years of my life in this very bedroom at night replaying the day, cataloguing memories, and praying and preparing for the next day. I guess it’s just a habit, but it’s gotten so bad that oftentimes I have to sleep on the couch (which is rather comfy, thank goodness) or in the guest bedroom just to slow down my thoughts and fall asleep at a decent hour. Well, it probably also doesn’t help that I don’t really have an agenda here. I’m not super busy making more memories, so I guess it makes sense that my mind defaults to the old ones. I have a tendency to spend way too much time in the past, so I’m going to have to find a way to focus more on the future and get some rest!

Thanks for reading my random rants. Hopefully I can catch a few hours of sleep now that I’ve vented for a bit.