The break was so great! Really loved it. Had a blast in Oklahoma with Dad, Mom, Tricia, David , Matt, Brittany, and Nat, in David's apt. in Edmond for Christmas. It was one of the best Christmases ever! Christmas Eve we ate breakfast burritos and played games. That might have been my favorite evening. The night before we ate out and went to see this great Christmas light display in Chickashaw(sp?). I really, really enjoyed David's graduation -- more the party afterward than the food. He has some great friends. It was fun watching them together.
Then Lubbock was super fun as well. I told G and G this, but I always enjoy being at their house. Ever since I was little, I love going to see them or have them come see us. As with many things in life, I appreciate them more, the older I get. Also Nan and Billy came over. Got to see more of Nat, Chrissy and her sweet kids, Ethan, Uncle David and Janet, and Uncle John. I'm so thankful for lovely family. Oh yeah, I can't forget one of the highlights on the way back to Lubbock: getting to drive Nat's truck. That thing is great!
On the 31st I drove over to spend New Year's with Heather. We went to singing night at church with her family. Gotta love the old hymns, especially when they're led by 3 year olds. Possibly every male of every age in the church led a song. Then she and I went to the Cheescake Factory for dinner. I got an "Incredible Grilled Eggplant Sandwhich" or something like that. Yes, sounds weird, but it's something I would never fix for myself at home. It was pretty good, but I probably wouldn't order it again. We got back to the house just in time to see the ball drop and then we dropped into bed for a few hours of sleep. Then, she so kindly took me to the airport early the next morning so I could fly to Boise.
Ahhh, Boise how I love thee. It would be nice to somehow transplant that city right here for the rest of the time I'm in school. Mom, and Dad, and I played several good games of scrabble, walked, shopped, and drank coffee, and... not sure what else, but it was relaxing. They've just started small groups at church and the first one was excellent. Very challenging. I got to hang out with my friend Gina a lot. It was good to catch up with her. We went night skiing one night. So, so fun. And I didn't fall a single time! Also we went and ate dinner with her and her husband one night. Saw several other friends also and enjoyed seeing people at church. Man, I'm overusing the word "enjoy", but no other words are coming to mind right now.
So, here I am, back in Monroe. My flight back was very enjoyable (can't stop using it). The first flight I sat next to a girl who's in grad school in Omaha, same age as me, very similar family background, and altogether a delightful person. My dad told me when he dropped me off at the airport that he prayed I would have good conversations on the plane. I kind of thought with dread, "Oh great." When I pray or others do when I fly, pretty much always, I will talk the entire flight and often talk with people about God. Should be a good thing, right? I pray; God answers. Should be good, but I had a bad attitude and was tired and didn't want to have that kind of in-depth conversation. The first person who struck up conversation was a somewhat creepy middle aged man, and I thought to myself, "Well, this is the guy Dad prayed about. Here we go." In a few minutes though, he fell asleep and the girl next to me started talking. Have you ever talked with someone and walked away feeling refreshed and enthusiastic about life? This was that kind of situation. I am fired up about the semester after talking with her. It is still amazing to me how faithful and generous God is to me even when I have the opposite of an attitude of worship and love for him. I did not want to listen to someone's life story or talk to them about the Lord. In my selfishness, God was gracious to me and gave me encouragement. I didn't see myself in need of encouragement at the time, but wow, was I refreshed afterwards! God knew what I needed, when I needed it better than I did. I'm thankful for my dad praying. I'm thankful for Bekah who was very obviously intentional about sharing what's important. A couple of things God showed me through our conversation was how I need to love my classmates and coworkers. Sounds simple, but is not so simple to live out. One of the ways I can do that is to speak positive encouraging words to them and about them to others rather than being part of negative gossip. Last semester I saw and was part of in some ways, I think, some very destructive gossip. In a class with 15 females and 2 males of first year mft students who love to talk and analyze people, you can imagine that gossip is rampant. I've been wondering recently, what is it about me that will make me stand out to others as being a follower of Christ? More than that, am I the kind of person who is expressing God's love in the true and healing way his love is expressed to me? Being committed to God is a radical way of living life (see Nat's blog. it's good.). This means a little self-sacrifice, and probably a lot. For me, it means not taking sides or participating in the drama and divisiveness that goes on. I get sucked in all too easily. It's always easier to get wrapped up in the content rather than the person. The content is often a distraction from what's real and what's important in life -- loving people and dishing out as much hope as possible.
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24