Home for Christmas

Ah...Alaska. It's my home and I love being here for the holidays. I had a wonderful Christmas with my family. My mom and I went to church for our Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve. It was wonderful singing Silent Night in the candlelight. I've spent most of this first week with my family. I did get a chance to spend some time with my two best friends; on Saturday I spent the day with Corina, her daughter Cadence and we got to watch her husband Ty's hockey game, while yesterday Sarah and I went snowshoeing, took a sauna afterward with my dad and ate dinner with my parents. I so enjoy spending time with the people I love! Yay for good friends and family! If you haven't already heard, the surprise to my students at Birchwood went great! I surprised them four days early by showing up at their Christmas party. They were stunned...the look on their faces was priceless! I've spent a little time with a few of them so far, but hope to spend more with them in the coming weeks. Yesterday, before the snowshoeing trip, I got to go on a helicoptor ride with one of my friends and fellow youth staff, Frank. It was amazing flying over the glaciers, Palmer flats with all the moose on them and in the mountain range. I am so blessed to be home and I am excited to share my vision for the ministry with the staff and students. I'm learning a lot from Fellowship and although I love being home, already miss the staff and students in Texas!

It's a Simply Fondue Christmas

These first two pictures are the two tables of girls enjoying their first course of cheese fondue. Me and Kenda are the next shot. Then we have Kristen and Whitney (in the polka-dot dress...she doesn't usually dress up, so this was a big night for her!). Then the group is (from left) Lindy, Moe, Kellie and Shannon. Beautiful girls!







Last night we had a little Christmas party for all of the girls of Campus Team East. About a dozen girls showed up for the party, so it was a perfect group. My great friend Kristen planned the whole thing and decorated our little room with Christmas beauty. The girls were so excited to get dressed up and enjoy some fondue together. I realized, as I was driving to the restaurant last night, that for the past two years I've done fondue with the girls of my Sunday School class at Birchwood, and now I get to do it with my girls in Texas. The girls looked beautiful and loved the three courses of fondue! I couldn't help but think about how much my fondue-loving friend, Stacie Gracey, would love this restaurant. One of my girls gave me a beautiful Christmas gift of a dark ruby red cross and matching ring...a perfect addition to my outfit! Thanks Andrea! The highlight of the night (besides the chocolate fondue) was sharing the blessings that God has given us this year and some of our family Christmas traditions. It was a sweet time to spend with this amazing group of girls.

The Winter Wonderland

I picked Morgan up from school on Friday and we had a little Christmas evening together. We went Christmas shopping at our local outlet mall, Grapevine Mills, where she got presents for her family. Then we drove over to this super sweet hotel down the street. It's called the Gaylord (yeah, I laughed the first few times I heard it, too) and it sits on Lake Grapevine. This hotel is amazing and goes all out for the holidays! We were excited to go check out their decorations and the ice sculptures we had heard about. It cracks me up how people in Texas react to the cold...can I just say that? We found out that the area they keep the sculptures in is only 9 degrees, which Morgan was freaking out about, and they gave us these sweet coats to wear! As we made our way through it was beautiful, but I have to say that it did not hold a candle to the ice sculptures in Fairbanks! It was super fun experiencing this with Morgan and we both got to ride the ice slide at the end. She was pumped to see her breath in the cold and laughed that our cheeks and noses got red. I really would like to see her in Alaska! Christmas is Texas is so different, but really cool. People go all out with their decorations in the neighborhoods of DFW. I do have to say, I'm ready to come home for a real white Christmas!

Putting Life Into Perspective

This past Saturday we took our monthly trip to the Dallas Day Resource Center in downtown Dallas to work with the homeless. The past two months our Campus Team has made sandwiches and gone down to feed them. This month we paired with Campus Team North and they fed while we handed out blankets and socks that we had collected. It was awesome seeing the smiles on their faces when they found out we had brought them socks and blankets! I mean, it's an awesome feeling when you feed them, but there was just something different about providing them with something they could use for a while. The students were so amazing and when we had passed them all out, they went around and spent time with the homeless talking with them and getting to know them a little bit. It was so good. God is good. He's given us this amazing opportunity to love these people who rarely feel human kindness. There is a certain joy that comes from ministering like Jesus did, especially at this time of year.

Snow in Texas!

Yesterday we got our first snow/ice storm of the year. I guess to have snow in November is really rare, but we got it on November 30. Craziest thing is the temperature dropped 40 degrees in one day! Wednesday morning I got up and jogged in shorts and a t-shirt...when we got out of the Mix on Wednesday night, I dug my fleece coat and mittens out of the back of my truck! It didn't get really bad on the roads until mid-day on Thursday. A handful of the schools (including Morgan's) were closed on Thursday, but we all went into work. We watched as the snow storm blew in (I took these pictures from the stairs outside of our office) and discussed maybe leaving early. Around 1pm we all got an interoffice e-mail that they were closing the offices and wanted everyone to go home early due to the roads. I have to say, it kinda cracked me up because, as you can see by the pictures, there wasn't a lot of snow. But, the bad thing down here is the ice. On bridges and freeway ramps ice builds and creates big problems. I am blessed in that I live pretty close to the church and had no problems getting home. I got to spend the afternoon and evening with Dori and Morgan, playing games, baking, watching movies and doing a Bible study. We had too much fun. We watched the news as they covered the icy roads in downtown Dallas. There were semi trucks stuck on icy ramps and cars that were flipped on the freeways...crazy. I'm so blessed that I got home safe. Today the weather warmed up to around 45 and most of the snow melted off. We are supposed to stay around mid-50's for the next week or so. I guess this is winter in Texas!