I feel as though we left 2007 like a lion and I am more then willing to see 2008 come in like a lamb. There was a flight to the States two weeks before our daughter's wedding where we all became wedding planners on steroids. There was the Thanksgiving meal with a house full of family and friends (it couldn't have been more fun). There was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner (prime rib, swordfish steak, glorified chicken) the day after the Thanksgiving feast (we'd already tossed our belts) followed by the wedding with a lovely reception at a beautiful country club where more amazing food was shared with over a hundred friends and family. Natasha and her groom, Scott, are living somewhere between heaven and earth, so in love! What a treat to bask in their glow.We managed to leave the land of plenty a few days later for Richmond, Va. where we spent two weeks working along side our new personnel and attending a member care conference. We then barely beat a snow storm back to Ohio to spend a few more days with the newly weds and our son, Jonathan. (More holiday feasting, shopping and credit card fun. Forget pulling out a wallet, I should have carried that card between my teeth.) We caught an early Christmas Eve flight to the Gulf arriving on Christmas morning. Since then, I have been resting, scheduling our next six months and bemoaning my waste line. We head back to the States for our Stateside assignment (furlough) in late June and between then and now we should be traveling about half the time. At present, the word 'suitcase' and 'root canal' produce about the same reaction in me. I am weary of viewing my cloths in a horizontal pile...hanging them vertically is still my personal preference.
Well, there is so much more I could share but continuing jet lag and wedding jag has me in it's grip. But if you ever want to hear a litany of funny, unexpected, goofy happenings on a wedding day, we can supply you with some entertainment. Fortunately, our family has a sense of humor and thoroughly enjoyed and treasured each moment no matter what was missing, stuck, broken, unyielding, forgotten, falling, crying, ripped, tripped, unlit, too late, too early and bleeding. Perfection will exist at the wedding and banqueting table of Jesus and not until then. But love, commitment and the celebration of friends and family is a wonderful foretaste of this future heavenly reality. God has such good ideas.
Thanks for following us this past year. What valued companions you are. May an abundance of blessings find you and your families in 2008 and may we all recognize with thankful hearts when the
y come.
