I guess we’ll start at the beginning and see where we wind up!
We left for a semi-last minute trip (it felt last minute because we didn’t decide to do it until late November, and it’s a trans-Atlantic process.. which made it feel kind of last minute) back to the States on Christmas Eve. We didn’t go back for Christmas last year, which I actually didn’t think about until we were there, experiencing so many things we had missed out on. That’s when I got really, really grateful.
We spent time with both of our families and lots of friends, but alas, it seems impossible to cover all our bases. We still missed so many people, but we got to see quite a few that we hadn’t seen over the summer, which meant it very likely had been 1.5 years since we'd seen them.
It was a joy to be able to attend our church there and to see again the number of people we love so dearly, who return it with many prayers while we are gone.
We were so blessed by many family members and friends that gave us gifts and cards for Christmas! I can't even begin to mention them all, BUT, you’ll be so excited to know that I was given a new camera.. And it is niiiiiiiice. And here’s the part you’ll really appreciate. We were also given some $$ to Best Buy, and my genius, enthusiastic husband was like, ‘hey why don’t we buy a tripod?’ So, assuming I’m not lazy and that I make the effort to use my awesome new camera and fantastic tripod there will be no more blurry pictures on this blog! My hands can shake til the cows come home and it won’t even matter :)
I used my camera here and there, but I’m still figuring it out. We had quite a few ‘appointments’ of various kinds most days we were there, so I didn’t feel like I had enough moments to seize to play around with it.. Maybe when I’m back to part time work again :)
I took an absurd number of pictures of Ben.. I know you won’t blame me when I show you these..
I think he looks like a little elf in this one
Already mischievous :)We had some adventures…
My epitome-of-cool dad managed to get his toy plane stuck in my hair. We had to take scissors to it despite the use of the seasoned head lamp..
Ian learned how to make a hat..
And he got to fly a plane (man.. he’s a hunk isn’t he?)
That very hunk also had the time of his life (aside from when he married moi) giving two CV building papers. One at Taylor that was about ethics (Thanks Dr. Spiegel!), and one at Notre Dame on Epistemology (Thanks Dr. Diller!). He was extremely privileged to have Dr. Plantinga and Dr. Audi in attendance at Notre Dame and got some wonderful feedback. I am very proud of him :)
I think both of us would say that all in all we were grateful for our trip back because we were able to spend a final visit with my grandpa. We were certainly not expecting his death during the time we were there, but have many times over praised the Lord that we decided to go home for Christmas and were able to see him again. His death marks the end of my life with grandparents. That is a hard change. But I am beyond grateful for each of them and their impact on my life. I can harbor joy as I recognize they lived long, blessed, and influential lives, they are no longer suffering, and I won’t be without them for long. Praise the Lord!
So now I suppose we are mostly back to the usual routine of our life here in Scotland. We are remembering how doggone cold it is, we are looking forward to longer days in a few months, and we are ever-seeking to deepen our relationships with Christ.
More to come…
