I'm lucky (blessed) enough to have a job that provided me with two weeks of Christmas vacation this year. I flew to Omaha on the Saturday before Christmas where my dad picked picked me up and we drove the 2 1/2 hours to Des Moines. I was able to attend the church where I grew up on Sunday and see a lot of friends there. Monday night I went out for wings with some old youth group friends and leaders. Tuesday night my sisters and brother-in-law and I planned a family night with my parents where we had dinner and played the Wii and my sister and brother-in-law's new(ish) apartment. Wednesday we decided to leave early to go to my grandparents' house in order to beat the incoming snow storm. We attended the beginning of the Christmas Eve service at church because my family was scheduled to read the Christmas story and then left early to hit the road. We spent the next few days with family and had a great time eating too much food, playing board games, teaching my grandparents to play Wii bowling, and just spending time together. It was the first time we had all been together since last Christmas. My family, with the exception of Gerty and I, left on Sunday to go home and Gerty and I stuck around till Monday morning before leaving to go visit friends in Michigan.
Monday night Gerty and I stayed with my super-awesome friends, Bob and Charissa Karr, near Lansing, MI. I had the opportunity to travel on a ministry team with Bob during the summer of 2006 and then be in Bob and Charissa's wedding back in the summer of 2008. I'm pretty sure they are two of the coolest people ever. Tuesday morning Gerty and I drove to Detroit to visit all my Cornerstone friends. I interned at Cornerstone for 1 year before moving here to Denver in August.
A bunch of students came and hung out in the gym on Tuesday afternoon. We ate pizza and played basketball, volleyball, and dodgeball. I miss hanging out with the students and bunch and can't wait till they're old enough to take a road trip to come visit me in Denver (hint, hint).
[Devin and I have a tradition of him picking me up in pictures. He's huge like that.]
I spent the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday seeing as many Cornerstone friends as possible. I am forever grateful for the relationships I have with so many incredible people there.
Gerty and I left Detroit around 5:30 on Thursday morning to head up to Lake Ann Camp for The Break, a college-ish age retreat over the New Year holiday. It was Gerty's first time at Lake Ann and we had a great time seeing old friends and making new ones. One of my campers from 2 summers ago is now a college student and so it was fun to catch up on life at little bit. Gerty and I had the opportunity to help lead the music with Mike Morter and Gibby Fingers and Brian the Drummer. New Years was ushered in with a Shawn McDonald concert and I got to sit front and center for the show. Last time I saw him live was in 2006...I think.
[It snowed pretty much the whole time we were at The Break. Happy New Years!]
[Photo Bomb! Cherise and I..."05!" and Mike.]
[Gibby Fingers, Mike, and I doing the gangsta beat down pose. We bad.]
After The Break finished on Saturday, Gerty and Mike and I drove back to Des Moines. Then Mike and I drove the rest of the way to Denver on Sunday. There, I think I've officially caught up on the blog. I'm only 1 week behind now...which more or less negates my previous sentence. I'm over it.
No comments:
Post a Comment