Merry Christmas 2010

I wondered if I should put this blog address on our Christmas card or not this year, since I've fallen into a pattern of unfortunately rare updates, but I decided I wanted to keep it if I could, so I guess my New Year's resolution will be to actually get here and get some content up for you!

It's been a good year for our family, for which I am thankful. Andy decided at the beginning of the year that in addition to completing his MDiv through Fuller last year, that he would go ahead and pursue ordination as a "teaching elder" in the EPC as well. In May, he took a series of written exams (you don't even need to ask, of course he aced them); in June, he and I flew out together to Denver for our "regional" presbytery meeting for the oral exams. And this fall, our church had the ordination service and now I'm married to Reverend Andy Cornett. Which makes us both laugh a lot...not because it's funny, but because it is. His job isn't changing, his calling to ministry isn't changing...but now he has a title. It's funny on the one hand, but I will say that I am very proud of him.

The children have thrived as well...we continue to homeschool, and they seem to learn and grow in spite of their teacher. I counted on my fingers and realized that somehow this is my sixth year of homeschooling, which seems like I ought to have a better grasp on it by now than I think I do. But I'm thankful for the opportunity to challenge them where they can take it, help them where they need it, and to watch their minds grow. And, I confess, having the flexibility in our schedule is great, because Andy's work (and mine) don't always quite match up with a public school schedule. We started early because it was too hot outside to play, and spent December with a bit lighter schedule than otherwise because I was designing Christmas cards for clients! They also continue in soccer and ballet, and really enjoy all of it.

My photography business has rolled right along, and I continue to learn new things about running a business, taking pictures, and internet/web stuff, oddly enough. I've met new people this year, and taken new pictures of old clients, and kept myself reasonably busy. I also inadvertently stumbled into helping our friends Mark and Mylissa redesign the Habitat for Hope website, which was both fun and a challenging way to learn a lot in a short period of time.

If I try to say too much more here, I'll never hit publish on this, so I'm just going to leave you with a sequence of images showing what happened on my first attempt to capture the kids for our family Christmas card:




I'm sure that I don't need to explain that we ended up doing a "take two" on our family Christmas card session. I'm really thankful that my clients' children handle this better than my own!

Merry Christmas to any of you who visited our little blog, and a very happy New Year as well!

Christmastime is here!

You know how I know that? Because I seriously just put a million Christmas cards into the hands of our friendly postal worker. It's got to be some kind of record in that the cards were not even in my house for 24 hours. UPS brought them at lunch yesterday and they were gone this morning. I can't take any of the credit for the speedy turnaround; it's all the kids. They have been anticipating the card assembly process for weeks (why, I don't know). So yesterday afternoon I was frantically sorting through Outlook, trying to export a long list of people to a document of labels in Word (yes, I printed labels and trust me, the USPS is thanking me for that one!), during which process I somehow ended up with about ten Word windows open (Dear MS: honestly, printing labels from one of your programs in another one really shouldn't be all that hard, and I'm actually considered to be fairly computer savvy, so if I struggled with it?), but I finally emerged victorious over the process. The assembly line was rockin', too. And if you suddenly realized that you moved this year and didn't give me a new address, I hope the USPS is forwarding your mail. And please do give me your new address because I'd like to know that I can rely on my address book.

Actually, I have really been looking forward to the cards this year as well, because I had fun designing them, and my heart almost melted when I opened the box and saw how well they turned out. It didn't hurt that they have three of the cutest children ever on them.

I was going to make this post the 2009 update post, especially since I've done so badly with that this year, but since I've gone on a crazy ramble already, I'll just post some of the outtakes from our Christmas pictures (note the new dog, Judah). If you already saw these over on my own website, well, then, you saw them.

Merry Christmas 2008

I just realized that since I mailed a big batch of Christmas cards yesterday, I'd better get my act together and put some kind of Christmas letter up on here right now. See, we've been putting just the blog address on our Christmas cards for a few years now, kind of figuring that if you want to know how our year was, well, you might be willing to take that extra step to find out. And then, if we're really lucky, you'll come back and visit periodically throughout the year and hear my ramblings, see some pictures, and kind of see what's going on with us. So, here's a lightning review of our year.

We are still in Fort Myers and loving it. Going on eight years now, minus the one in Pasadena. We have to say that we like it more than we thought we would.

Andy is three--count 'em--three classes away from finishing his MDiv. I'm excited about that! He has a class coming up in just under a month and then has to figure out how to snag the last two. It may make for another whirlwind summer schedule, but he has promised me that he will finish on time (it will be 10 years from start to finish!)

The kids are being... kids. Caroline has "officially" joined our homeschool this year and is doing really well. She has finally started reading and is doing really well. It's still quite a bit of work for her, but she's taking the time to make sure she understands everything she's reading (she is at the stage where it's sometimes easier to just figure out the words and miss the forest for the trees altogether). She has an incredible memory and diction, and continues to just steamroll her way through math. Michael does well in everything and tries to spend as little time as possible on his school. Elanor is our little pistol--full of personality and sass, and boy, does she know it. She does some school with us, but is mainly along for the ride. Michael played on a recreational soccer team this fall and loved it, although please don't ask about his team's record. The girls are doing ballet for their second year now (Caroline has moved up to a higher level class but "helps" with the little girls' class) and really have enjoyed that as well.

I have been working on homeschooling and building my little photography business, which has been really fun. [Hi! Andy breaking in here - trust me, Robin is absolutely awesome at this. I am so proud of her! normal programming resumes now ...] I love being able to observe families and document a little bit of their lives. It's also spilled over a little bit into doing some web design--my own site, and then the girls' ballet studio's site, and our church's site. I have really enjoyed that side of it, which was not something I ever expected to do!

I guess one of the big events of 2008, which I don't want to go into for this post, was that our congregation voted to leave the PC(USA) denomination this spring. Although our vote passed, the local presbytery voted to keep the property as a PC(USA) church (as was their right), so many of those who voted to leave the denomination did so and formed a new church in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) on Easter Sunday. This included our family, so our church home is now New Hope. The winter/spring were both kind of a wild ride at our house, as we (well, I) worried a little bit about whether Andy would have a job when all was said and done, but God has provided for both churches. If you would, join us in praying for New Hope, that it would become one of those shining places where people are growing in a love for God and for others, and are known for their love.

Our other big event of 2008, which is closer right now, is that we had to make the hard decision to have Emma, our dog of ten years, put to sleep just last week (the kids are doing all right with it, but it was much harder for Andy and me. We adopted her before Michael was even thought of and she was a great dog for a family of kids (see here). I was just remembering how Michael would crawl over to her and sit and play with her... she'd start licking his face and he'd start giggling like crazy, so his mouth would open and yes, she would lick inside his mouth. I suppose it's gross, but it was always so funny to watch. Emma apparently had cancer all through her abdomen and it was really starting to hurt her, so we took her in, which was really hard. We do plan to get another dog, but not until March or so (we have family trips in January and March and that doesn't fit with a puppy somehow).

I'm sure there is much more to tell (as is true for everyone's stories), but we'll leave it here for now. May God grant you grace and peace this coming year.

with thanksgiving

I was sitting at my desk in our crazy Hub just now, having been hard at work for a few hours on preparing to teach. I was reading a book that dealt with the importance of imagination in inspiring people. I had my headphones on, the world shut out - when a line of 8 3-year-olds burst in, faces all smiling, hair glittering with tinsel, singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" to me (it's a MOPS day at New Hope). Call me a sap, but it was beautiful I almost cried. Talk about inspiration! They made my day.

easter report

I almost just don't even know where to begin with this post. Easter is a holiday which takes on a whole new meaning when you have a closely loved one who has died, I think, and the fact that the resurrection is the act which gives us cause to hope for a reunion really never ceases to awe and move me. So really, whatever else is going on during Easter (and let me tell you, the very thought of baskets and candy and eggs never even crossed my mind once this year), when it comes, I am always thrilled to think of the promise this day holds for me (for all of us, I know). If you don't know, I am thinking specifically of my mother, who died nearly ten years ago after a long and courageous fight with cancer.

Bill quoted someone today (I don't know who) who, on his deathbed, was dictating the following to his secretary: "I am about to leave the land of the living. No, wait, don't say that. Say instead that I am about to leave the land of the dying; I am about to enter the land of the living." Y'all, that right there is the promise of Easter. We are all dying--some more quickly that others, true, but we are all dying. And the empty tomb whispers to us that death is not the end, but only the beginning.

Sorry, that's not what you came here for, I know. I will say that I lay awake for several hours last night, my mind churning with thoughts, not necessarily of what might go wrong this morning, but of so many issues for which I feel responsibility right now. To top it off, it rained steadily for much of the night. Normally, I love falling asleep listening to the rain outside, but last night I kept thinking of the walk to church this morning (the road is still mud for much of its length and sidewalks are not yet poured) and of all those who would be parking in a field near the church and down the road (instead of paving parking lots which get only intermittent use down here, we leave them as grass, which is a great idea except for the mud). And then I started thinking about everything else I'm working on. And then the rain would start in again and I'd think about that. For hours.

I have to say that the logistical side went incredibly well this morning, from what I could see. Parking and shuttling seemed to go smoothly and everyone made it in and out of church in a timely fashion. We mingled on the lawn. Everyone looked just thrilled to be there. Seriously. Inside the service, it was no different. The choir had an energy I felt I hadn't seen in quite a while (plus I loved that they weren't wearing robes!), and the entire congregation just exuded joy. Pastor Jose, the pastor of our host congregation, and his translator Ilso (sp?) attended all three services and shared a blessing with us. They are so warmhearted and generous; it is really awesome. The services were all pretty full. The number that I heard for the total for the entire morning was 1,734. I just still have a hard time believing it!

All in all a delightful morning and a satisfying new beginning. There were several of us taking pictures all morning to document and since I did, I'm going to share a handful of favorites with you:

Bill with Pastor Jose and Ilso (sp?).

Our organist's hands at work. I like hands.

I love daddies who hold their little girls tight.

Our sign this morning: it's still the old Gulf Coast Church of Christ sign but someone spray painted over their name for us.

My piglet, hard at work in the nursery. I think she is making a craft.

I have a thumb sucker, too, so I love thumb suckers.

The girls insisted that I take their picture, too.

A blessed Easter to you all. Hold tight to the promise of a new life, a new beginning, and a new hope. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.)

grace and peace to you in 2008

Today we had a family envelope stuffing, labeling, and stamping fest--that's right, Christmas cards are on their way! Actually, since it's January, I suppose they are technically New Year's cards... what can I say about the delay? Only that I failed to get a satisfactory picture of the three children together until we went on the "three mile" hike with Uncle John. And since the picture is the most important part of the card, it just had to wait. The second most important part would be our blog address, which may be what brought you here today--either you've never known yet that we had a blog, you lost the address and were too embarrassed to ask me for it again, or you just were never that interested in what's going on (no blame here and you are welcome to stop right now if you like. If you are one of the first two categories, feel free to add our blog to your RSS reader, whatever that may be (I use Google Reader myself) and you will be subjected to my words and pictures all year long.).

What to say about 2007? It was both a fun year and a busy year. I'd like to tell you about it in an organized and sequential fashion, but you know that's not just me, so sit back for a little paddle down my stream of consciousness.

Andy drew ever closer to finishing his (eternal) M.Div. program through Fuller Seminary with two more full-time quarters (yes, straight A's even though he took more classes than his advisor was comfortable with). I believe this leaves him with five or six classes to go, one of which he'll be knocking out in the next few weeks--Medieval Church History. Other than that, I don't know what's left for him other than the Preaching Practicum which has to be done totally live, in person, and on Fuller's campus (don't get me started) or at a local seminary (is Orlando local?). He wasn't able to take it during the summer quarter as planned because it runs for two weeks and he had a trip to Mexico with his teens on for the second week. One challenge of planning seminary education is that Andy plans his schedule (meaning youth) 6-12 months in advance and the school seems to go more like 8-12 weeks in advance. It's a challenge.

We drove back across the country in June, taking the quickest route we could and driving for an entire week, instead of the dawdling, friend-filled trip we took out to California in 2006. Andy's dad helped us drive part of the way, which was a huge blessing to us. There's not much to say about the trip itself, other than it was long and trouble free. We pulled into our driveway just a few days after the city ground up our street in preparation for laying down new water, sewer, and storm drain lines. I'm writing this just one day after the crew came through laying sod in order to (almost) finish up the project on our street. I believe there is one more layer of asphalt to be laid. The whole project has provided a lot of entertainment for the children--watching different machines at work, climbing on the stacks of concrete pipes in our yard, and feeding the workers fresh baked cookies. Every trip in and out of our neighborhood has made me feel like a lab rat in a maze, not knowing which roads were passable, which ones were open, or even if I could get into or out of my street at all. It's actually been kind of fun.

Michael finished first grade and received a good evaluation. He is devouring books at an alarming rate and every visit to the library feels like a 60 second shopping spree. Thankfully one of the librarians is an avid reader herself and views Michael as an exciting challenge rather than a cause for alarm. He also played on a soccer team with the YMCA this fall--although the team's record was not impressive, Michael's enthusiasm for the game was. He was an eager and excited player. I think we'll be signing him up again next year.

Caroline and Elanor are in ballet together at a local studio. They love it and spend most of the week looking forward to each lesson. Caroline is one of the older girls in the class and is very focused. She continues to impress us with her impressive memory--after one week of learning the Christmas dance, she knew it by heart for the next class. Elanor is one of the youngest in the class, but she is dedicated to following Caroline and therefore also pays close attention. Her trademark is to dance with her mouth wide open and her tongue hanging out.

Caroline is in kindergarten with us this year and is a great student when she feels confident about what she's doing. She is a little high strung and gets very frustrated and obstinate if she feels that something is too hard for her or too confusing. Her math is coming along much better than her reading/spelling. Before Christmas, she finished the math book for the first half of first grade--which covered addition, subtraction, multiplication, telling time, measuring, and basic perimeter/area. She really impresses me and amazes me.

I have not been idle this year, either. Thanks in part to a series of sermons at our church in LA at the beginning of 2007, I decided to step out and start my own little photography business. I shot some families out in Pasadena before we left to help start my portfolio and am now shooting here at home. I got to fly up to Memphis for Labor Day weekend and shoot some families for friends Mark and Mylissa (Habitat for Hope). The fall was pretty busy as families were wanting pictures for Christmas. Now that that's over, I'm taking a little time for some revision and re-visioneering. (May I call it that, Mylissa?)

So, it's been a packed, fun, and busy year. We are thrilled to be back in our own home and with our church family here at Covenant (which I would be remiss if I failed to mention their support throughout the time we were in Pasadena). The children are thrilled to be home with Emma again, who seems to feel like she's loved a little too much at times. Andy loved being a student full time but was ready to come back to the trenches (so to speak) and hang out with his teens again. I would ask for your prayers for our church over the next month, as we are holding a congregational vote on February 3 to determine whether or not we should leave the PC(USA) and join the EPC. It's a big decision and we pray that our congregation would hear a clear call from God for how to vote (if you are wondering, Andy and I will be voting to join the EPC; if you would like more details or information you may email either one of us).

To close, because I should, I would just like to say that we are thankful for the different places that God has taken us in 2007. We are thankful for our time in Pasadena. We are thankful to be home in Fort Myers. We are thankful for our house (complete with the popping tile and the sugar ants). We are thankful for Emma (and especially for the Elliotts for giving her a home while we were gone!). We are thankful for Andy's bright yellow truck (it's not the Grocery Getter, I know, but trust me, it's a lot more fun to drive to photo shoots). We have more to be thankful for, but I'm afraid that having the luxury of not being confined to an 8.5x11 piece of paper has led me to ramble on. Suffice it to say that we are blessed. Thank you for stopping by and for sticking with me for as long as you have. Feel free to come back and leave a comment anytime!

christmas in virginia

It has been pointed out that I have failed you in my duties as a blogger. Not only have I not wished you a Merry Christmas yet, but I also forgot to tell you all that we were leaving for the holiday (not, I suppose, that that is a fact one wants to advertise online, is it?). To make up for it, today's post is excruciatingly long. We flew up to Virginia for a family holiday with my mother's family--our first time with that side since last May/June and this was actually my first time to see my new niece! Who is not so new anymore. She is cute, though, and now I have documented that fact for myself. Here are some pictures.

What little boy doesn't love new trains for Christmas?

And what little girl doesn't love new shoes?

The cousins on this side of the family--my brother David, me, cousin Julie and her brother Mike.

My great uncle Don and Elanor.

We wanted a picture of all the great grandchildren with my grandfather. My father has absolutely no reason to be in the picture except that her Miminess (the aforementioned niece) refused to let him put her down. I think he encourages her.

My grandfather. Looking pretty distinguished for 88, isn't he?

My grandfather and my uncle. Who is not distinguished. And who took my family on a "three mile hike" on Friday. He neglected to mention that we would have to still hike back.

Her Miminess and her devoted slave, I mean, my dad.

More.

Isn't he cute? This is my nephew. Who looks just like my brother at the same age, but in a different shade. Actually, her Miminess looks even more like my brother at the same age and the two kids don't look much alike, so the conclusion is that Isaac actually looks more like his mama, which is totally OK. And I will point out that her Miminess is actually cuter than my brother, but most toddlers are much cuter than their parents.

We wanted a picture of the two three year olds together.

Mine didn't want to cooperate.

What is it with the tongues?

Still no cooperating. I give up.

If you are wondering if you are no longer on our Christmas card list, don't worry, you probably are. We just haven't ordered cards yet. We'll be doing New Year's cards this year. Or SuperBowl cards. Maybe Easter?

thoughts on the nativity

I received an email today which made me laugh out loud. This picture was attached.... a typical nativity set with one minor alteration, courtesy of four year old Ryan (whom you may remember from here). Do you see it?

Apparently, when the nativity was first set up, Ryan's question was, "Where's the witch?" He is a fan of the musical Wicked, which I have not seen, so can offer no commentary. Jason (my friend and Ryan's dad) explained that the witch isn't actually part of the story of Jesus' birth and left it at that. However, Ryan took matters into his own hands and Jason found the revised nativity set up like this today.

I think it's hilarious. I begged (yes, begged) Jason to let me share the picture and story with you. Although he is concerned that either I or Ryan will be blasted for blasphemy for it, he gave his consent, for which I am grateful. And I wanted to share the story because I think Ryan, little though he may know it, has a real point about what is missing from our standard nativity sets: the presence of evil.

I touched on it last year when our LA pastor preached on Herod's murder of the innocents. Evil did not stand idly by when God started his invasion. We sing songs like "Away in a Manger", which paint a painfully sweet picture of Jesus' birth. We slide right past the fact that Joseph and Mary are alone, in a barn (probably a cave), without any family nearby (probably ostracized), far from home, with no hospital, doctor, or midwife. When Herod began his massacre, Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt, even farther from family, and waited to come home until Herod's wrath was spent on the children of their friends, little boys that Jesus should have played with all his life. Revelation gives us the imagery of Satan as a red dragon, crouched at Mary's feet: "His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born." (Revelation 12:4) People, Christmas is a story fraught with tension, danger, and evil. Our nativity sets are pretty, but they miss the story.

Jason, I would leave the witch right where she is. Our nativity sets can remind us that Jesus' birth is both a joyous time--peace on earth and good will to men--and a perilous time--the beginning of the Great Invasion. It's a crazy tactic for Jesus to surrender his power, to embrace humanity completely, to enter the world as a poor and defenseless infant, in order to storm the gates and reunite us with God. Unheard of. Of course Satan was there, lurking in the shadows. I'd leave the witch in.

I don't have a Wicked Witch at my house. I wonder if I can borrow one of Michael's dragons for our Little People nativity set?

some christmas irony

Let me preface this by saying that we all really love our Pasadena church. The services are worshipful and energetic; our small group is friendly and supportive; the preaching is scriptural and challenging; the kids' Sunday School programs are exciting and loving. We had a great sermon today and I won't give you a blow by blow description, but I did want to share some of it with you because I thought it was really profound.

Erwin has been aiming for nontraditional Scriptures to use this year and he has done a pretty good job of it. However, since the Incarnation (etc.) is key to our faith and beliefs, I might point out that probably any Scripture might somehow point to it. I say might, not does. So it's probably fun to look for verses that aren't related and then find the threads that connect. But I digress. This week's verse was about Herod's murder of the innocents, a story guaranteed to wring any parent's heart. If you're not familiar with the story, here's a synopsis: the wise men come to Herod (under Roman rule, king of the Jews) saying that they want to worship the child who has been born the King of the Jews. Herod is naturally threatened, but plays cunning and asks them to return to him to tell him where the baby is so that he, too, can go and worship. The wise men see Jesus and worship, but are warned by God not to go back to Herod, so they take the long road home. When Herod realizes that he's been outwitted, he orders the death of every Jewish baby boy under the age of two. Every single one. Jesus escapes because Joseph runs to Egypt with him and Mary.

So part of the point today was that so often, we treat Christmas as this beautiful, tender, lovely story. Sweet pregnant Mary, loving husband Joseph, happy animals sharing what they have with the newborn Lord (oh wait, did you not read that picture book??), and of course, the little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes. Yeah, right. Let's skip that part lest I digress again and I will stick with what Erwin was talking about. What we fail to remember is that behind Christmas lurks this angry red dragon (Revelation 12), aching to murder Jesus as a helpless infant: although this attempt on Jesus' life fails, the Jewish parents of the day are left desolate ("Rachel weeping for her children"). Jesus was born into peril from the very beginning. Christmas is beautiful--remember, we have been invaded by God himself--but any enemy will retaliate against an invasion, especially one intended to strike at his very heart. The light of that star at Bethlehem shines in the shadow of a darkness of evil.

That's all from me... now for the ironic part. Two things: the sermon followed right on the heels of a "rousing" rendition of "Away in a Manger" (possibly my least favorite Christmas song--could anything be more sacchariny sweet??); each of my children came home from Sunday School with very cute, happy nativity pictures. Complete with smiling animals.

a little love to covenant

Andy thought you (meaning Covenant) might enjoy this.

our charlie brown christmas

For those of you who received our Christmas card and were wondering where the annual Christmas letter was, wonder no more. It is here. We are trying a new thing with putting the blog address on the card and expecting that if you want the annual update, you will be curious enough to come here for it. So if you've made it this far, welcome and Merry Christmas! (Yes, we have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree in our little apartment this year).

You already know that it's been an unusual year for us with making a temporary cross country move. I spent a lot of time planning it out, of course, going back many months before we moved. Researched the best and cheapest way to get out here, mapped out schooling options (for first grade), waited for an apartment to become available, and made arrangements to rent out our house. For the most part, everything has gone smoothly. We had to downsize our trailer at the last minute, which entailed leaving behind a few things we'd not planned on, but we came out here with what was important and look forward to seeing some old friends (like our bed) when we get home again. Schooling is going as well as it can, I think--Michael is eager and hungry to learn and Caroline is getting more serious about "doing school" every day (she is learning her phonograms and is adding!); most days I feel like I'm in charge of a three ring circus. A nice apartment was waiting for us (its two nicest features are the dishwasher and the washer/dryer). We found a renter and lost same about two months later; we are now hoping to find someone who is interested in a very short term rental. We have managed to settle in as much as we can, make some great new friends, and establish a routine for ourselves.

I had forgotten that Andy is such an avid student. When we came here, a friend listened to Andy's fall class schedule and prophesied woe. I immediately envisioned a mental breakdown on either Andy's part or mine. I may have come close, but this husband of mine has actually thrived on the unbelievable amount of work he's had to do. Learning Greek at an accelerated pace has been the equivalent of a full time job for him; he also took an Old Testament class, which he loved. We've just finished finals week and it appears that his A average is intact. Next quarter is the Hebrew intensive, Exegetical Method (using the Greek that he learned this fall), and another Old Testament class (did I mention that he really loved the Old Testament class this fall?). It is a lot of fun to watch him dig his teeth into studying and learning.

I find myself coming into the Christmas season exploring a heart which is both humbled and thankful. Honestly, we always planned for this year at Fuller to come at the end of Andy's time at Covenant. I was not optimistic when he first came to me back in 2004 and told me that he was feeling called to stay there beyond the time he had available to finish his degree. His words were something like "Do you think they'll let me take a year off and then come back?" I shook my head, said it wouldn't hurt to ask, and started revising my mental moving plans. With Andy's current level of education, there was honestly no reason for the church to let him have the year--no reason except a love for him (and our family) and a faith that his work and education were both important. We have felt bathed in the love and support that Covenant has shown us. Our church has not only kept Andy's job for him, but also hired fantastic part time staff to serve under Krissy while we are gone. Andy is continuing to work long distance for the church for a few hours each week and will be heading home for a whirlwind high school retreat between Christmas and New Year's. We were blessed by so many friends before we left in many ways: everything from financial gifts to friends who are housing our dog Emma until we come home. Our trip out here was both fun and safe, allowing us to visit dear friends along the way and see some amazing countryside (like the Grand Canyon). We have found everything we need out here: a church to rest at for a year, good friends to spend time with, and furniture for our apartment.

We've been having fun out here, too: a trip to Sequoia/Kings Canyon, Joshua Tree, the beach, hiking, the zoo, the Griffith Observatory, and some yummy restaurants. We're planning on visiting Legoland in San Diego before Christmas (courtesy of Discover's cash back bonus and Aunt Jenny's connections) and my uncle and I will go to the Rose Bowl this year (um, Go Blue?). We're expecting Andy's family for Christmas for the first time in several years--we have been too far apart before--and my Dad again in January, as well as my uncle (see the Rose Bowl) and then my cousin Julie. Who knew that moving so far away would mean that people would want to visit us more? We also hope to see some other parts of California while we're out here, like Yosemite and possibly Monterey. The time seems all too short to do all the things we'd like. We are all thrilled with our current situation. We're meeting amazing people and getting to enjoy a lot of fun as a family.

As much as we enjoy it here, none of us love it enough to want to stay or to call it home. Even the children are yearning to go home, to go back to Florida. They have settled in so well--making friends, working hard at schooling, having fun at church--but they miss our church, our dog, our home. To me, this sojourn here parallels our journey on this earth. We may love it, we may enjoy the gifts it brings, we may even count every minute a blessing... but just as our hearts long to be back "home" in Fort Myers, our very souls should long to be truly home with Christ. At times, mine does, but I know I am too comfortable in this skin, this life of mine. I am surrounded by love and blessings and laughter. Christmas is a fun time of gift giving. I need to remember that this world is not my home (you've seen that bumper sticker, too). I need to remember that Christmas is a celebration of the invasion of Light into a dark world, the beginning of God's astounding act of reclaiming us, his beloved. I need to remember that we were so loved--that I was so loved--that God held nothing back in his work of bringing us home.

This year, this Christmas, let's delight in God as he delights in us. Let us seek him and hold fast to his light. Let us long for home even as we enjoy this gift of life here. Merry Christmas to all of you.