The holidays....a blur

Christmas came.  And it went.  Very quickly.  We feel like it's been busy.  It's been filled with lots of things to do.  People to celebrate and see.  It's been fun, but tiring.

It's a little surreal to think that at this point in time we have spent time with both of our families, in northeast Ohio, as well as northwest Ohio.  We've driven to Indianapolis, Illinois and back to northwest Ohio.  We're ready to be done riding in a car.

One more week.  On January 8th, we leave bright and early in the morning to fly to Curacao.  There, we will stay for 2 nights and then get a flight to Caracas, VZ.  It was actually cheaper to do it that way and pay for a hotel than to try to do the travel all in one day.

The dreaded overnight bus taken on Dec 5th

We're ready.  I think.  The longer we're here in the States, the harder it seems to feel to want to go back.  Part of that is because we were able to spend the past four days with some really great people at the annual conference in Indy.  It was really good for our hearts.

Enjoying the hammock at staff conference in Dec.

Our kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while we were in Indy.  They had a blast and didn't really miss us much.  Such a blessing.  It also freed us to up to be totally flexible during our time in Indy to go to set up meetings with friends, co-workers and just all around great people.

The surprise visit from Mickey
while out at dinner

Now we take the next week to figure out what needs to be packed.  What needs to be thought through?  What does the team need once we're all there?  There are many questions to think through to figure out how we can help the team get settled after all of this and enter into another semester of ministry.  We want the team to be in a healthy place.

Leah posing with Santa at Wendy's
in Aruba (the 1st time)

With all this to say, I think we're doing pretty well.  We are exhausted.  We need a lot of extra grace right now.  But we're ready to not live in limbo anymore.  We're ready to get back to our home and finish what we've started.

We'll try to take time over the next week to share more of our thoughts over the past two weeks.  It might be fragmented.  It more than likely will be messy.  But it will be our hearts.  Welcome.