The title for this post is Hawaiian for Merry Christmas!
Reasons: I wanted a different title than I’ve used before and I liked how it sounded…
It’s the second week of January and I’m getting back into the normal school routine. The Cissna Park team is visiting and I’m enjoying time with all the “grandparents.” Two of the couples are part of the grandparent program and the other two are the real grandparents of little Owen Kaeb, born to Adam and Belinda the day after Christmas.
Routine was delightfully broken over the Holidays as I helped out at Casa Palgave on Mondays and Fridays for a couple weeks and hosted my younger brother Justin for a little over a week.
The CVE children were gifted rain boots for Christmas and they proved to be a perfect gift as we had a rainy December.
Christmas day we had breakfast for lunch at the Beyer’s where we also spent Christmas day last year. I made Mexican fruit punch again and also spent a couple hours on a Saturday making tamales with Bertha. It’s so fun learning to make traditional Christmas foods.
Justin arrived on December 30th and the next morning we headed up 'the big mountain' with a group from CVE. Here we are at the bottom.
And here we are at the top.
Balto was privileged to be included on the excursion and took a little nap at the top.
I also captured this photo of him.
On January 3rd, Casa Palgave and friends drove to Hermosillo for the day to experience a seasonal ice-skating rink. It was a blast!
We also watched Frozen 2 at the theater which set the scene for our activities the next Monday as I spent the morning curling "Elsa" and "Anna's" hair, participating in Cristof and "Anna's" wedding, and was surprised to be invited along on the honeymoon. Here "Anna" pets "Sven." :)
Sunday, Jan 5th, Justin and I got up in the wee hours of the morning and drove up to the border. It was a little after four when we got in line to cross and I thought, "I've never waited beside this gas station before. The wait must be pretty long." I checked online and it said 480 minutes. "No way." The average said 106 minutes. "Ok. that's not bad. It's probably about an hour and a half." Nearly an hour later, I started getting rather worried (more like panicking). I got out of the car and looked down the line and realized that those 480 minutes were actually accurate. We were sitting in an 8 hour line. Without a way to get to the airport for Justin's 8 am flight, we turned around, went home, and enjoyed another day with him. As pictured above, he also got to participate in Cristof and Anna's wedding and travel along on the honeymoon. ;) Ha. Ha.
Thankfully, our next attempt at crossing on Monday afternoon was a mere 30 minutes. And Justin was able to fly home on Tuesday morning!
School started on Wednesday, January 8th, and routine...
Here is a little poem from my reflections back in 2013.
The Summons
Another year has ended.
Another moment past.
How soon will be the hour
That will be our last?
Precious seconds ticking,
Time is running short.
Soon will come the summons
To the highest court.
Thank you for your prayers and love!
