We had a lovely day! There is something so complete about seeing a friend who you've known for a long time but haven't seen in awhile... Lots of laughing and smiling and remembering, and the wonders of meeting new babies and marveling over God's faithfulness in stories we had been in the middle of last time we saw each other... The lovely Charlotte and her hubby Jeremiah hosted and showed us around, and I was totally inspired by Char's decorating prowess. Thank you, Kel, for letting me come in and hang out during the family visit-- it was truly wonderful to see you.
I was really nervous about going back to school after Christmas break, because I knew there wouldn't be a good break again until the baby comes, and school weeks just fly by. But that first week back I did get a nice break, in the form of a personal day-turned Chicago visit. On Thursday night I packed up and drove up to Mom & Dad's house, and then on Friday morning I made my way up Lakeshore Drive and visited Kelly in Loyola! Kelly, her husband, and their little Raindrop were in town from Georgia while he attended a conference and interviewed for jobs. It was a perfect excuse to drop everything and head up to Chi-town. Kel and I were roomies in college and afterwards, and we spent a semester together in the jungles of Honduras (you'll have to read her description of it!), and through getting married and living overseas and moves and lots of life changes, we've kept up and our friendship has grown. I count myself so blessed to have her as a friend.
We had a lovely day! There is something so complete about seeing a friend who you've known for a long time but haven't seen in awhile... Lots of laughing and smiling and remembering, and the wonders of meeting new babies and marveling over God's faithfulness in stories we had been in the middle of last time we saw each other... The lovely Charlotte and her hubby Jeremiah hosted and showed us around, and I was totally inspired by Char's decorating prowess. Thank you, Kel, for letting me come in and hang out during the family visit-- it was truly wonderful to see you.
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I can't truly identify or understand what these ladies are describing, but Lord willing in six months or a year I will have a small inkling... Both articles floating around facebook and other places right now, and both worth reading. If you're me, they're also worth tearing up over-- but then again, most things do that to me these days. :)
To the Mother with Only One Child by Simcha Fisher Don't Carpe Diem by Glennon Melton I love making things! And I'm so lucky that I married into a big family-- my husband has six sisters and three brothers. I have two brothers of my own too. I grew up without sisters (learned to french braid on my Cabbage Patch doll), but now I have 9 sisters-in-law! and 6 brothers-in-law! And 3 nieces, 3 nephews, and 3 more on the way before the end of the summer, not counting our own son, coming in 6 weeks or so. That's a lot of people to make stuff for. :) Choosing something to make for Christmas gifts is one of my favorite things to do all year. I usually make the same thing, and then I can make a big batch and perfect my technique. Well, this year I made jewelry jars. I got the idea somewhere when I was looking around for better ways to store my jewelry. I love how it keeps my necklaces visible but protected, and it was a pretty quick project. In fact, the part of it that took the longest for me was locating tall jars with cork lids.
Some gifts, some to keep for the baby... :)
Worrying has always been a favorite hobby of mine. Lately it has looked like fixations on the baby... Wanting to have all the gear we need and making sure everything is ready for when he comes-- the nursery, my sub plans, reading review after review of baby stuff online, spending more time than I have at the sewing machine, trying to finish the graduate classes... Add a too-full work schedule to this, and I feel out of control, like worrying is the only thing I can do to love my family. Christmas vacation has been wonderful with the time off, but I've been dreading going back to school tomorrow. I just envision a really fast and furious several weeks (hopefully!) before the baby comes.
Today Dirk and I came home in time for me to meet with some sweet former students who wanted to feed me Vietnamese food. They called out of the blue the other day. Talking on the phone is always hard with a language barrier, and I didn't quite understand the plan-- I knew they were coming to me, but I didn't know if they were bringing food or what. And then this afternoon I got a little nervous about the state of our house. We're not exactly company ready. They ended up showing up to our old apartment, so we decided to meet at the Chinese restaurant... I got there, and it turns out they wanted to take me out to eat there-- the Vietnamese restaurant would have been too far of a drive. It was so lovely! They were very excited about our baby, and it was a wonderful time of reconnecting and marveling over how much better everyone's English is. I just felt so blessed. So lilies and sparrows don't worry about company coming over... they don't agonize over nursery choices... and God is willing and able to meet all their needs. I'm not a big one for resolutions, but I really hope that these next several weeks can be enjoyable and filled with little surprises like spending time with my students today. And that means letting go of the worrying. That's my prayer this New Year's Day. |