It's been quite a busy week. Well, compared to my normal schedule anyway. On Monday, I hung out with a couple of girls from my Bible study to watch the Packer game. We had a blast watching the game and talking about which Packers we think are cute. ;) I'm really enjoying getting to know them better.

On Tuesday, I went with a small group of people from my Bible study to volunteer at a halfway house called Jeremy House. It's a temporary home for people with mental illnesses. We cooked them dinner and just hung out with a few residents for about an hour and a half. The whole thing was totally out of my comfort zone. To start, I'm not a good cook. And I'm not great at making conversation with people I don't know...let alone people with mental illnesses. But it turned out to be kind of nice. There was one resident named Sue there that was interesting to talk to. She is a recovering alcoholic and told us about how her 27 year old daughter stopped talking to her because of her addiction. She got teary-eyed when she told us that her only Christmas wish was to talk to her daughter again. It was sad to hear Sue's story. But she was very grateful for the meal and the company. I'm glad we were able to be a dim light in a lot of darkness in her life right now.

On Wednesday, when just about everyone else in the area had a snow day, I ended up having to sub for one of the kindergarten teachers I work with. Because of the weather, the district ran out of subs, so I had to step in. The day went pretty well. It definitely helped that I have been working in the classroom since the end of September and I know the routines and kids well. The kiddos were pretty hyped up about the snow, so it was a busy and challenging day at times. But, it was fun to be the teacher again and have a chance to show my principal that I am capable of handling things on my own.

I had kind of another hard night with my family tonight. Nothing to the extent of Thanksgiving, but enough to make me feel kind of down. At dinner, my sister was talking about how her boyfriend only likes his fish beer battered or fried (we were eating fish for dinner). It's been a running joke that her boyfriend and I are basically the same person...we have many things in common. Well, I also happen to only like my fish fried, so I mentioned that that was another thing he and I have in common. My stepdad responded with "Wow, it's scary to think there's more than one of you running around." Normally, I'd just laugh and let it roll. But it bothered me. Why am I so bothered by this kind of thing now? Sometimes, I get to the point where I just feel like crying. I feel like my family either is making fun of me or annoyed with me. I have friends here (who I'm very grateful for), but the friends who know me best live out of town and talking to them online every now and then just doesn't replace being with them. I think things just seem harder around the holidays. It's hard enough to be single, let alone feel hurt by my family and feel so far away from my closest friends. I usually characterize myself as an extrovert, but more and more lately I've been finding myself just wanting to be alone. If you know me at all, you know that isn't like me. I feel selfish for feeling this way, especially after my experience volunteering at Jeremy House. Overall, I have a great life. I have so many things going for me and my problems really aren't that big. So I think I just need to push aside my measly complaints and try to focus on putting other people's needs ahead of mine. We'll see how that goes.