It's super late. I've been packing for hours. And I have to be up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight to London. But before I tell you about that little adventure...
Can I tell you what a wonderful holiday season Josh and I savored?! Yes, let's!
It was truly blissful. Full of long, cooked together and lingered-over meals with friends, trips to the country to visit my family, chatting endlessly with my mom in the kitchen while she stirred pots and pans and cast iron skillets. (One of my favorite things ever. The chatting. Not the skillets. Though I do love those, too. How can you not love a cast iron skillet??) We hosted a homemade soup night complete with a viewing of Elf, sat for hours around the fireplace with so many people we love, went to parties and weddings and a showing of Broadway's Grinch the Musical. (I actually cried, it was that good. But, don't repeat that or anything...) We celebrated Tommy and Linda moving in a few doors down, perfectly between us and Kyle, a dream realized for all of us. We spent a week in Tennessee with Josh's family, filled with long catching-up chats, cooking savory breakfasts together, and catching snowflakes on our tongues. We surprised Josh's little brother and sister with a Spring trip to Europe, a first for both of them, and then excitedly poured over photos and maps together for hours. And we even somehow managed to haul a 30-pound slab of granite home on the plane (a gift from the parents), which a few days later took center stage as we hosted a close-as-you-can-get-to-authentic-Italian-wood-fired-pizza-party for friends to ring in the new year!
It's been a beautiful season of celebrating. Each other. Covenant friends. Family. Food. Life. My heart is truly full.
And now, back to my leaving for London... The short version is that this Spring I'll begin leading a few trips, primarily to Europe, with a wonderful company called Joshua Expeditions. I'll be leading groups of teenagers on educational type tours with a Biblical base. This particular trip happens to be British Literature tour through London, Stratford-upon-Avon, Manchester, The Lake District, etc. Of course before I can lead, I have to train (thank God in heaven), and that's precisely what I'll be setting off to do in a few short hours...
So! There's a little update for ya! I have so many exciting things to share in the next few weeks, but in the meantime please pray I don't lose my extremities to frostbite. Or get lost forever in some tiny English village where I wandered off to find cheese. (Let's be honest, it's a real possibility.)