Christmas Break! (so far)

I cannot believe that we are two weeks into Christmas break! It is so crazy to think about. It has been a restful, busy and fruitful break thus far, I am thankful for all that has happened this break, and am hopeful that it can continue until I am back at school for what Lord willing should be my final semester as an undergraduate!

Here some of the highlights so far:

1. My Church family: Oh my goodness what a blessing it has been to be back and worship once again with them. Sunday mornings, young adult group on sunday night, evening prayer/Bible study on that first wednesday, and a special Christmas Eve service, have all been wonderful. After the bible study on the first wednesday, I had the opportunity to go out to dinner with one of the most influential families on my life that I know, and to be able to fellowship with them once more was so great, and very much needed. At our Christmas Eve service we had a technical mishap and the organ wasn't working, which forced us to do our lessons and carols acappella. It was definitely a blessing in disguise as it ended up being one of the most beautiful services I have ever been a part of, and you were really forced to focus your heart and mind on the words of the hymns being sung.

2. Seeing old friends: I have to admit, it was definitely weird coming back and realizing that most of my friends were not also returning home for Christmas, but have been in the midst of what some would call "real life." As you see, most of the friends that I still have from High School graduated college this past may and are either working full time, or in the midst of the job hunt. But that being said, it was really awesome to see that they all work really hard to keep in touch! On the first monday night of break and the following saturday (because of Christmas) I was able to join a group of them for a weekly dinner that they had been doing. It was really awesome just to catch up with them, and see how they were doing. Hearing them talk about work and life after college, makes me excited to graduate and get out there (though don't get me wrong, I am going to miss school DEARLY). Some of the guys also have a monthly book club that I can't wait to join once I get back out here. Other then that I have been able to grab lunch with a few people, get the inside scoop of what's happening in their life etc, oh and I went to a shooting range with some guys and shot a shotgun for the first time! And of course, I've had plenty of long drives, and deep talks with the good ole Brent, the guy who will forever be a part of my life as we have just gone through too much together for him not to be.

3. Being around family: Moving into my new room because we rented out the basement has proved to be both a challenge and blessing, mostly the latter. The challenge for me has been that because of it, I am around my parents ten times more than I have ever been, which has provided plenty of opportunities to practice (and fail at) patience, on both sides I'm sure! The blessing is very much the same thing as the challenge, I am around them ten times more than I have ever been. It has been wonderful to just be able to hang out with both of them. For example: one of the days leading up to Christmas, my mom and I baked some pies, went shopping, and had dinner together. My dad and I have been able to get some good quality time together as well, hanging out, watching football and we also went to a college basketball game! One special time we all had together happened a few days after Christmas, when my parents and I went down to a theme park called Busch Gardens and visited their ChristmasTown, which was a part of the park that was specifically opened up for this holiday season, and decorated as such.

On Christmas, My dad, mom, uncle and I opened presents in the morning, and then one of my uncles from dad's side and his family all came over for a late lunch early dinner, and then in the afternoon we all went an watched The Hobbit together. Currently my brother and his family are in town celebrating the new year together and it has been such a blessing to have the newly adopted 4 year old nephew in town!!! A bunch of family came over sunday night to watch the Cowboy/Redskin game, which was crazy because my entire family are Cowboy fans except me (since my dad and his brother were born and raised in Texas), and so it was sweet to see the skins take it to them!

4. Reading: So far this break I have been able to complete three books, and would like to try and get to three more! The books I have completed have been Are You Really Listening? Keys to Successful Communication, The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung (highly recommended), and When God Writes Your Love Story by Eric and Leslie Ludy (don't agree with absolutely everything, but the basic principle was fantastic and there was a lot to learn). I'm hoping to complete Holiness by J.C Ryle, (which is one of the best books I have ever read and so I'd like to get through it a second time), John Owen's The Mortification of Sin, and this last one was a change due to a bunch of people recommending it, A serve Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken, which based off reading the description on the back I CANNOT wait to get to it.

This break has been wonderful so far and I only hope that the sweetness can continue. God has blessed me with the will power to be productive and make things happen instead of sleeping in till 2 each day and not really make anything of them, which has sadly happened in the past many times before. He also has given me the grace to be in His word almost every day this break, since really starting again on the 17th and that has been really helpful. I cannot stress enough how important it is for His children to be in His word as often as they can, it is where we learn about our heavenly Father, our Lord, His Spirit, our sin and how to live for Him!