almost a third down the road

We had a wonderful week of Thanksgiving spending a lot of time with friends and family. Our celebration kicked off a week early when we travelled up to GR for a housewarming party of friends who just bought their first house the weekend before Thanksgiving. We spent the weekend with friends and I had some good time with my siblings. Another couple of good friends also just bought a house so we got to tour that also (from the outside, with a flashlight, around 1:00am). Andrew stayed up in GR while I came back down to the windy city for class and some group project work the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Once that was finished, I made a beeline back up to W.Mich and spent some time in Holland on Tuesday and Wednesday. Andrew came down on Wednesday and we spent more time with the siblings and made it to a service at the church where we used to work. Also snuck in a showing of the newest Harry Potter movie...we were not disappointed.

Our Thanksgiving Day was jampacked with family activities. First church with my family in Holland, then noon-time dinner with my Grandpa's extended family, then another meal with Andrew's extended family. We were blessed to be able to see so much family in such a short period of time, but were definitely exhausted.

The rest of our weekend was spent celebrating the wedding of two good friends. Andrew was a groomsman and I accompanied the service. It was a beautiful, joyful night of dancing and laughter with good friends.

Unfortunately, times like that never seem to last long enough! We headed back down to Chicagoland with a few tears in our eyes and have been readjusting for the last several days. My transition back to "real life" has been (and will continue to be) rocky, since I have approximately 55 pages to write in the next ten days. It's going to take some major discipline on my part.

We're already looking forward to joining our families and friends in a few short weeks to celebrate Christmas and the New Year, but I am trying to keep myself focused on Christ's advent this season instead of idolizing friends and family. When I find myself longing for that fellowship again, I am reminded to anticipate more the celebration of Christ's coming to earth.

With prayers of Thanksgiving for you all,
ACJ