First Christmas Gift Trip of the year

 For Christmas this year Pete suggested we give the kids more experiences and fewer gifts, so that's what we did.

Strider's big gift was a trip to watch the Cowboys play in a Thursday Night Football game -- in Nashville.  He and Pete had a great time!  They left 3 days after Christmas and drove the 9 hours down and back in a few days.

They both seem to be big fans of Nashville now.  All of the bands playing live music in venue after venue amazed them and they spent a lot of time going from place to place to hear as much music as they could.

One of Strider's friends from the college lives in Nashville now as a musician so they went to see him play with his band, which was a highlight.

And the other, bigger, highlight of course was the GAME!  It was a dramatic one and the Cowboys won, so it was a good trip all the way around.

This was their third trip to watch the Cowboys play now in 3 different cities.... wonder if this father-son tradition will continue!

Boxing Day

...And Boxing Day brought the Tottas, Crossleys, and Grandpa and Gee-Gee!  It was nice to have everyone all together for a couple days.

We did a white elephant exchange, put together some "boxes" (bags) as a Boxing Day observance, played games, and enjoyed some meals together.

After dinner, we had the annual cousin performance of an original song.  This year's was "Gritty for Jesus" and was their best composition yet!

We loved having everyone in Grove City! We missed David and Erik's families, and Andrew who is across the world, but it was good to have the rest of the family here.  The addition of Karl into the family is a very good one -- according to everyone!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day brought the Boyers and the Bains!

We had a lot of fun eating, playing games, celebrating Krista and Karl's recent engagement, and singing!  I don't know why I don't have more pictures.  :(

The cousins also spent some time downstairs in the basement, composing something special that would be debuted the next day.....

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve brought some snow -- and Dean and Wendy for brunch!

We enjoyed a cozy celebration at home.... and when we weren't eating, the table was being used for ping pong allllllllll day!

We ended the day with a lovely candlelight service at church, all 7 of us.

It was a nice calm before the whirlwind of the 25th-28th....
 

Thoughts on my 50th birthday

Last month my therapist suggested that I start praying daily that God would show me how He loves me.  This might be my all-time favorite prayer to try.

I expected that He would show me through some small ways, some little "coincidences" through the weeks.  And He has.... but He's also shown me in very big ways, ways that could not be written off as just coincidences.

In fact, I would say that these last few months leading up to my 50th birthday have been full of some very big realizations and mind-shifts... a time period unlike any other.  I have felt God telling and showing me things I really needed to hear.

I'm not sure why this season has been so rich, but maybe there are a few contributing factors. Talking with my counselor, aptly named Faith, has been instrumental.  She has been a real spiritual coach, praying with and for me regularly in very powerful ways.  A few books I've read have also been key in showing me things I needed to hear (You're Only Human and Hinds Feet on High Places among them).  Practicing a couple habits have also probably helped:  reciting Psalm 23 before bed, praying the Lord's Prayer more regularly, even my new weight training regimen.  Attending a church where the weekly messages are full of reality and hope, where the priests depend on the Spirit and look for Him to change us, has definitely helped. Finally, I think having the space and time to process, think, and pray more have given this season the fullness I was looking for.  I'm thankful to be in this stage of life with fewer demands on my time and to have the luxury to talk with friends more and spend more time reading and studying.

God alone knows why I needed these messages now and His orchestration of how I was to hear them is beyond my comprehension.  I am very, very thankful that they corresponded with the conclusion of my 50th year though.  That just feels like such a gift.  Happy Jubilee birthday to me!

As if to confirm that He is delighted with me and wanted to show up in great form on my actual birthday, this is how the first hour of 12/21/22 went for me:

1. My Advent devotional reading for the day just happened to include 1 John 4:7-8 -- my life theme verses

2. I was greeted by several friends and family via texts before I even got out of bed

3. The author I have been so changed by this month just happened to be interviewed this week on one of my favorite podcasts and I was able to listen to it as I worked out

4. I got my highest score ever on the SpellTower app

5. Pete decorated the house with balloons and a big banner and the kids all joyfully celebrated me when I came downstairs.

The day continued on in this fashion.... I was able to meet both Strider and Miles at the coffee shop while I was there for a few hours.  Then Pete made a fantastic lasgana dinner and invited over the Browns and Jefferises for a little dinner party.  I haven't laughed that much in a long time!

Turning 50 was pretty great.

Harp debut

Jinna has been taking harp lessons over the last few months and this week she had the opportunity to play with her teacher and a few other students as the prelude to the Academy's Christmas program!

They all looked quite elegant up on stage!

 Hopefully this is the start of a long harp career!  It's a beautiful instrument to hear around the house, even when the student is a beginner (which I think is really saying something, after all the years of out-of-tune violin screeching and shrill tin-whistlers practicing!).

Quick visit

Nonna and Poppa graciously invited Rayna to stay with them for a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving and then they drove her home to our house.  We wish they could have stayed longer, but we enjoyed seeing them for a day anyway!

 

St. Nicholas Day

This year's St. Nick's Day was a neighborhood affair!  We invited friends who live next door to us, behind us, and across the street from us (such a blessing to have friends like this SO close!) and we had a fun dinner together.  This year's crowd was already well-versed in who St. Nicholas was, so we breezed through the story and then got organized with over 1100 candy canes!  

Off we went on our stealth missions.... although we weren't quite as stealthy as may have liked at a couple houses.

Thankfully no one called the police -- because one of the town officers was in our group with us! 

As always, it was a memorable night!
 

Girls' group, senior edition

Over the last few years I've had the joy of meeting with these 6 college women for Bible study and prayer and I've loved watching their journeys!  We started meeting when they were sophomores and now they're seniors and making their plans for after college.  I love getting a glimpse of life through their eyes and look forward to seeing what else the Lord will do in their lives!

 

A Santa Combine

 Strider's fraternity came up with something I had never heard of -- a Santa Combine.  As a fundraiser for a charity, they held a competition on campus where various "santas" (professors and administrators) competed in various drills and challenges.  It was hilarious!

Our favorite Santa (Pete) came in second place! Strider was one of the referees, but we're confident no nepotism was involved.

XC Nationals

Colsen and his team competed in the Garmin Running Lane National race in Huntsville, Alabama this month!  They had a great trip down, driving 2 vans 12 hours each way (which doesn't sound fun to me, but was to them).

They just barely missed qualifying for the top heat, but in their "Silver" race they finished 3rd, giving them a 25th place finish overall.  Colsen had a good race, finishing 4th on his team which he was very happy with since this is his first year running!

 

The Advent of Advent

 We jumped out of the car after our 8-hour trip back from Charlotte, quickly unloaded everything, and then jumped back into the car to go pick out our Christmas tree.

The kids asked for a real tree this year and since there is a tree farm right here in town, we decided that would be an easy request to oblige.  We probably shouldn't have attempted this in the dark, but we had a short window before the rain was to settle in, so that's the way it was.

And now it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 'round here!

Gus promptly took up residence below the tree, and that is where he would remain for the month.

Epic Scavenger Hunt

 The Wray family knows me well.

To celebrate my upcoming 50th birthday they picked the very best activity I could imagine.... a big family-wide scavenger hunt!  They created a big race through uptown Charlotte, divided the fam into 6 teams, each with a different color bandana!, and sent us out to find clues.

What was supposed to take about 90 minutes and go about 1.5 miles around the city actually lasted more like 2.5 hours and we ran about 4 miles.... but who's counting.

Some funny little blips -- like having a homeless person steal some clues and the World Cup-viewing throng blocking an alley we needed to go down -- just added to the adventure of it all.

Despite Poppa repeatedly saying, "I thought this was supposed to be a nice WALKING activity!" most of us ran most of the way, and ended up quite sweaty at the end.  I was worried Jinna would have a hard time keeping up, but in the end it was her team that WON!

We had a great time and I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon.  (The weather was perfect, too!)

A Charlotte Thanksgiving

We had a fantastic, over-the-top Thanskgiving in Charlotte this year!  The *whole* family was together, which meant first and foremost it was time to get another "tree picture."

In addition, there was plenty of time for hanging out at Nonna and Poppa's,...

.... hanging out and having dinner at John and Keiko's new house....

.... playing with the Clarks at a park....

.... and of course the Thanksgiving day football game on the golf course!

 It was very refreshing to be with everyone again and we were very grateful to be there!