Christmas

Christmas this year was alot of fun and very busy for us. Drew and I only had a week in which he was off from school and I was not gone to Urbana, so we packed alot into that week. :)

We hung out with my family for a few days which was very fun. Ate lots of good food, opened presents, watched movies, laughed, ate more food. We have taken to sleeping out in the garage because it is actually very comfortable on our air mattress and best of all there is no animal hair or dander out there to both Drew's allergies. He said it was the best visit yet for him. I think he was able to breath through both nostrils the whole time (BIG victory, who wants to feel miserable when they are on vacation with family?)

Then we went and hung out with Drew's family. I have lots of good pics of our cute niece and nephews. We also ate lots of good food, opened presents, and laughed with them. There was also a good deal of snow, ice, and a slow driving trip in that snow, ice, and blustery wind from Christmas Eve service in Sherman back to Jameson. But all turned out alright; Drew did a great job driving and keeping us safe. :) Here are some pictures...

After all of the excitement Drew and I headed back to Dallas to spend the night in the garage again before I headed out to St.Louis for URBANA and Drew headed back home...to study, play video games, and (in true best husband ever fashion) clean and organize the apartment 'til it glowed. I was so relaxed when I got home because there was nothing left for me to do! I really love my husband and the ways he cares for me.

Back at Home

I have a few posts and pics from Christmas with our family. It was alot of fun! I also have a few posts from Urbana09 - InterVarsity's Missions Conference, held every 3 years. There were 16,000 university students in attendance! It was held in St.Louis Missouri and I was working there most of last week.

For now, I am taking this week off...as Drew goes back to regular (grueling) class schedule. We had a fantastic and relaxing weekend together though. We bought ourselves the Platinum Extended Edition of Lord of the Rings (used & cheaper on Amazon) and had a marathon watching them over the course of a day and half. We pretty much just took breaks to eat and sleep. For us, there are few opportunities to indulge in such complete relaxation and little responsibility. We enjoyed every minute. Drew definitely made it a great weekend for me because he cleaned the whole house, top to bottom (even inside the fridge), so I had nothing to worry about and could just focus on spending time with him.

So the rest of this week, I will be getting back into the swing of regular life, without adding work on top just yet. I went grocery shopping yesterday and have all our meals for the week planned out. I have a stack of library books sitting on my desk, waiting to be read. I am so excited to have time to get lost in several good books. And since the apartment is so clean I can get to some reorganization projects I have been putting off (closet, desk, and that pesky corner in the living room). We like to keep clutter to a minimum, and especially since we move so often purging unnecessary items is vital. I also plan to bake a few things, I enjoy doing this when I feel I have the time to both create something tasty and then clean the kitchen. :) I am also planning a short trip up to Dallas later in the week to spend some time with my brother before he returns to the frozen north at Carnegie Mellon. He has been telling me all about Avatar and how awesome it is, so I think we might go see that together. Feel free to give me a call if you would like to catch up this week, its definitely a good time.

Do please pray for Drew, it is hard for him to return back to school, knowing that he has NO BREAKS until this summer. He has a spring break, but he needs to use that time to study for his licensing exam (part 1), called the Step 1 that is in May or June. The next 6 months for him will be spent gearing up for this important milestone. The next 6 months for me will be spent supporting him, helping him stay sane, and encouraging him when he does not want to do it anymore.