Holidays!

I am sorry to admit how sadly I have been neglecting my blog! Garrett and I just got back on Monday from our 10-day holiday in Indiana. It was wonderful to see family and friends there, to spend time having DnMs (deep and meaningful conversations), playing in the snow, and attending two weddings. I was the matron of honor in one wedding, and it felt strange to not be around for most of the wedding preparations. We got to help out quite a bit the day before the wedding, though, and we also spend a long time helping clean up. Garrett and I were happy to help because we were thinking about how after our wedding, we simply left and let everyone else clean up the mess late into the night!

Some of the highlights of the couple of weeks included the following:

• Seeing my brothers, sisters-in-law, and niece for the first time since our wedding
• Having breakfast with Garrett's sister and brother-in-law before they headed to Kansas for the Mann family Christmas
• The Indiana blizzard that yielded about 7 inches of snow, which we all went out and attempted to play ultimate frisbee in! Felicity, my one-year-old niece, got uncomfortable in the cold very quickly, so our game didn't last long...and running through the snow was rather hard work, too!
• Staying up late talking to our old pastor and associate pastor and their wives
• Driving for 20 hours with Garrett, talking, reading "Jane Eyre" aloud, and enjoying the beautiful snowy scenery around us
• Spending two nights in a cabin at Tuttle Creek back in Manhattan over New Years, taking a long walk with Garrett in the beautiful snow and spending a lot of time praying and talking about the Lord and what He has for us right now
• Making a whirl-wind trip to Kansas City the day after we were finally home, just to watch the K-State football game with Garrett's family and see the Indiana siblings one more time

Yes, it's been a wonderful couple of weeks, and now it's back to "reality." Honestly, though, the Lord has been helping me have a lot of peace and contentment about "normal life." He is helping me to find my place here in Manhattan, giving me good things to do, providing deepening new relationships with people, and giving much spiritual refreshment after our holiday time. And with those, and many other blessings, I am very thankfully looking forward to 2013!