Christmas Family Fun!

So much happened over Christmas Break, that I think I’ll just bullet-point my favorite memories. Here’s our trip home in a nutshell! (these posts have been really text heavy lately, sorry!)

- We got to spend 5 whole days with the entire Farley Family! That hasn’t happened since I’ve known Chris, and it was a really beautiful time. Mike and Lianne are expecting their first baby, so it was especially fun to celebrate that fun life change. It was also really fun to look forward to when we’ll all be close again. In just a few months Mike and Lianne will move back from Kentucky and we’ll move back from India. YAY!
- The boys got remote-controlled helicopters, and quickly reverted to their childhood selves. They didn’t have an adult moment for a good 6 hours!
- I got to go to school with Rachel and see where she works! It was so great to see her job and meet the boys she talks about all the time.
- We had a baby shower for Mike and Lianne! It was really great to see all Chris’ family and connect with them again…a lot had happened in just six months!
- We got to see our puppies! Lexi actually forgot who we were at first and growled at us for about 5 minutes. Then Chris yelled at her and she recognized us. All is well in puppyville.
- We got to spend 6 whole days with the entire Stellmaker Family! That also hasn’t happened since Matthew went to college. AND, we were in the new house! They’ve finished the basement and are living in it while they finish the rest of the house...mom and dad were in one room, papa was in another room, and Chris, Amy, Matthew and myself were in the last room. Lots of quality conversations happen when you have a slumber party every night!
- I got to visit my Webster City students! The new director let me visit choir (thank you!), and it was so great to see them. It was VERY emotional…it sometimes feels like I left my own kids. In all though, it was really great and I was SO glad to reconnect.
- My lovely sister-in-law organized a color/haircut for my Christmas present! It was SUCH a gift, and I’m still loving it. Thanks Rachie!
- We went up to Minnesota to visit both sides of my family. This was the first Christmas without my grandma, and also the first time I’d been to their house since she passed away (she died while we were in India). I loved my grandma VERY much, so this was a really emotional time. I got to take her favorite sweatshirt with me, and have already cuddled up to it multiple times. We also found some of her journals (SO interesting and insightful!), her crochet needles (I’ll now be picking up crochet), and a nameplate. Shirley = Restful Spirit. So true of her, it was really neat to find it.
- We also visited my mom’s side! Unfortunately, my aunt and papa were really sick, so it almost got cancelled! Uncle Doug came to the rescue though, and hosted it at his house. My cousin Erik’s family, the Stellmaker family, and my Uncle Doug and Aunt Sue got together, and had a WONDERFUL time. We called everyone that couldn’t be there, convinced Olivia that not all dogs are evil, and played lots of piano. We love family!
- I had a 8-hour date with Katie, and loved every second of it! I really love sister-friends. 
- It was really fun to bring India presents to everyone!
- I got to go ice-skating with three of my students from last year, and we had a great time. I miss you guys!
- We took family pictures! One of my graduated students (and now one of Amy’s college friends) likes photography and has a nice camera, so she took them and they turned out GREAT! I’ll post them later (thanks Sam!)
- I had a great time reconnecting with my friend Lana. We’ve been friends since high school, but neither of us are particularly skilled at maintaining relationships. When both sides of the friendship are “in the moment people”, it’s hard to stay in touch when you’re not together! We both have so much grace with each other though, and just love when we’re together. I love you Lana!
- We had a REALLY fun New Year’s Eve party at my parent’s house…just us and some of their friends, but we laughed so hard! We played Telephone Pictionary. My favorite sentence was “The family marched to war in the name of recycling.” I post some video of us laughing later.
- We had a fun get-together with at Brian and Rachel’s house…Becca, Jason, Liz, Derek, Tom, Sarah Selby, Rachel, Brian, Matt, Amy, and us. Great talks, some animated games of Bananagrams and Nertz, and Casey’s Pizza. Really, what more can you ask for?
- We went to church with Rachel and Brian, and had a great time reconnecting with some college friends we hadn’t seen in a while. We also had a really sweet time of worship, and both Chris and I felt really touched by the Lord. After church we went out to a Mexican restaurant…and had about 30 people! I didn’t know half of them, so it was especially fun to meet our friend’s friends. YAY!

There really were so many wonderful moments, and I know I’m forgetting to mention a lot of special times. Thank you to our family for making it possible for us to come back, for feeding us, housing us, lending us a car, paying for things…we really love you guys, and can’t wait to see you again in July!