Its been almost a week since my last post, and lots has happened here!
We had a wonderful trip to IA. The weather couldn't have been more perfect - almost 60 in Dec! (I remember washing my car in the driveway the first weekend in Dec while I was at Dordt, the next weekend was a HUGE snowstorm - and that's the day my brother got married and my aunt and cousin got stranded....) I realized the kids and I have put a lot of miles on that van traveling the country. We have never had a breakdown, problem, car crash, etc. There have been many close calls - literally crashes that happen before my eyes or large objects blow out of trucks, land in my lane and slide away before I hit them - but nothing has happened to us. How many angels are on my wheels I wonder? A great thing about traveling in the evening and going west is you get the longest sunset possible - it was great. Of course the opposite was true coming home, but such is life.
It was wonderful to see family and friends again. I had a family adopt me while I was at Dordt. They still live in Sioux Center, and my kids don't know life without them, as their kids don't know life without me. It is a relationship I hold very dear and it was great to talk with them again. Much of my biological family also lives there and we spent lots of wonderful quality time with them. Again, relationships we hold dear. There wasn't much exchanging of presents but there was lots of laughter, pictures, game playing and memory making. I loved showing my kids that Christmas can be about fun with people you love, not just getting something. Maybe they missed that point, but I didn't. It was wonderful to feel normal, to know where things were, to feel like we were 'home'. We even walked into the mall on Saturday and ran into a college roommate of mine, so cool. The kids will tell you that it was too long of a trip, but they would also tell you that they would not stay home if they had the choice to do it again!
While driving home I wondered about the verse, "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." What does a 12 year old girl, holding a baby in a basement stable, and newly married... ponder? I can't even imagine. Was it a cool mommy moment? We all have some of those. For instance, a few moments ago, all four kids were laughing, playing together and making up their own game. It was a good ponder moment for me. Notice I also said it was a few moments ago, life changes quickly - so do attitudes. Anyway, I can't imagine giving birth in a stable, or having complete strangers show up a few hours afterwards. She had lots to ponder, I'm thinking.
We bought a house on Monday. That actually was hard for me. Just the permanence of it all and the fact that the loan isn't fulfilled until 2042. That's crazy to think about. Matt is already painting and we are making some redecorating plans. We probably won't move in until mid January.
I was one of the driver's for Jessica's class field trip to a nursing home to sing Christmas Carols yesterday. The night before we had gone caroling with our church in the neighborhood surrounding church. I give both of those instances in how life is here for me. Caroling was fun, the kids enjoyed it, we walked and talked and drank hot chocolate and gave strangers some joy in Christmas. I took the kids to a musical light show afterwards. The field trip was hard. I'm used to understanding how the school system works, seeing familiar faces, knowing what's going on. Very similar things, very different emotions, both just getting used to life and the range of emotions that go along with it.
We have lots of plans if this weather continues. A trip to Matt's parents for Christmas Eve, Christmas dinner with people from church, Christmas evening with my aunt, and friends coming to visit from MN next week. Can I ask that we don't get any snow until Jan. 1?
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