I love the reminder this time of year of God's loving gift to us. Jesus is so much more to us than a little baby born in Bethlehem...He was born to be the intercessor for us with God and to die on the cross for our sins (those mistakes we make daily, intentionally and unintentionally). He is the only way we can have forgiveness over our sin nature. I'm so thankful for Him. I pray daily I can learn to be more like Him and focus on His business instead of my own agenda that falls so short of what He plans for me. My Christmas was good. It was just Mom, Dad and I. I got up early to beat my mom to the kitchen and made Aebelskivers (Danish pancake ting) for breakfast. It's a family favorite and every other roomate I've introduced it to favorite ;-). Then we opened presents and rushed off to church. Then Deer Harbor Inn( where I worked this summer) puts on a free Christmas dinner, so they asked mom to play the piano and dad and I helped out with tables, then we ate there. It was nice. Other than that, I'm currently listening to Casting Crowns. I am 8 pictures away from finishing my Uganda Scrapbook. I ran out of glue. :-( Now I'm not sure what to do with my left over pictures. Unfortunately I still have Japan to do.....keeps me busy I guess. I'm not complaining. Hopefully I'll have a lot of subbing to do when school starts up again next week. My mom has a cist behind her knee so has been in pain so is looking at surgery (no insurance) and dad has interviews next week since his current job ends on Friday. Dave has a principal at his church he's supposed to get me a phone number for. The principal told me to call him directly- it's a public school there in Union County where Dave is. So that's a possibility for the fall of next year. But Dave and Susie and Baby Carson (pending) are all doing great. Love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

So, I'm feeling a bit down. I'm enjoying being with mis padres, but am feeling other absences. Perhaps I'll always be that way, I don't know. Mom took me to a concert tonight that took place in this little Victorian Chapel, it was all decorated for CHristmas and was beautiful. The concert was fabulous and had humorous parts too. All in all good. Still sad and bummed though. I need to snap out of this!

I am the boot camp director of my home. Low Calories for everyone and as much exercise as can be handled...which turns out, isn't much. I think it will be good though, we shall see. It gives me a project at any rate and helps me monitor myself.

So how is everyone else doing this Christmas season? Write me stories, I might find them entertaining.
Until next time...

Grandpa at the burial service.

My mom, aunt, and 3 uncles

cousins and Aunt
Brother Cousin and I at Carlsbad Beach

Hello, I'm not sure if anyone still reads this since I'm not good about updating it very often. I apologize for that, but life goes on. I managed to mail off what I needed to mail today and I sent a package to the wrong address...sorry Grace, hope you're able to get it anyway.

THis past week has been bitter sweet. My Grandmother on my mom's side passed away. She was 83 yrs. old and has had failing health for the past few years. She recently had a surgery to remove a tumor and it was too much for her and she didn't really recover. I was able to fly down for the Memorial Service and then extend my ticket to stay for the burial which was 3 days later. When I scheduled my ticket the dates weren't firm yet. Anyway...the miracle of getting all my Aunts and Uncles together and they sang together was wonderful. And seeing cousins I hadn't seen in 7 years due to location etc... My brother flew out but my dad couldn't make it. My grandpa is doing alright. He has his moments...they were married for 62 years ( a beautiful legacy), but has been keeping busy and my uncle has been with him until tomorrow (Friday).

I subbed for 8th grade yesterday, so I've officially begun subbing here on Orcas Island. It was a good day, so I'm thankful to the Lord for that. Aparantly a bunch of the kids- church and non church- go to the youth group on Wednesday nights and a few recognized me from my missions prayer card that was on the bulletin board at church. I'm hoping to help out a bit with the youth in the New Year. I think it will be a bit different from the international youth in Uganda, but not completely different. Well, That's all I have for now.
God Bless!

Okay so the pictures I tried to upload had nothing to do with what I wrote, but those pictures are not yet in my computer and the power is supposed to go off in 10 minutes. Oh, the reminisce of Uganda power cuts. I feel like the one here may actually be punctual though. THey didn't upload anyway and I have to try to post this and shut down. chow.

I'm back....home in Washington. And had a beautiful snowy Dec. 1st. It's been a long time since I've seen snow, so I was very excited. Naturally Dad wasn't excited as he had to go outside in it and do the mail run on the boat.

I'm flying down to San Diego on Sunday. My Grandmother passed away Wednesday Night. She was 83 yrs. old and ready to go. I had a really good and cherished visit with her and my grandfather in August which I am so thankful for. She was still at home at that time, so it was nice.
Blessing: The largest number of my relatives will be together at the funeral than have been in over 10 yrs. It will be good to see everyone.

Life: I've almost got myself settled into my room downstairs. Mom and Dad rearranged it for me so that the heater isn't blocked, which I appreciate VERY MUCH!!! (It's cold here!) And some things were moved out so I'm working myself into the space. I'm hoping to start substituting soon, but by the time I get back from CA, Christmas Break will be around the corner..so it may not be until after New Years. Other than that...I'm not making any decisions right now and I'm enjoying that. I need a break to recoup.

Talk to you all later

I'm back....home in Washington. And had a beautiful snowy Dec. 1st. It's been a long time since I've seen snow, so I was very excited. Naturally Dad wasn't excited as he had to go outside in it and do the mail run on the boat.

I'm flying down to San Diego on Sunday. My Grandmother passed away Wednesday Night. She was 83 yrs. old and ready to go. I had a really good and cherished visit with her and my grandfather in August which I am so thankful for. She was still at home at that time, so it was nice.
Blessing: The largest number of my relatives will be together at the funeral than have been in over 10 yrs. It will be good to see everyone.

Life: I've almost got myself settled into my room downstairs. Mom and Dad rearranged it for me so that the heater isn't blocked, which I appreciate VERY MUCH!!! (It's cold here!) And some things were moved out so I'm working myself into the space. I'm hoping to start substituting soon, but by the time I get back from CA, Christmas Break will be around the corner..so it may not be until after New Years. Other than that...I'm not making any decisions right now and I'm enjoying that. I need a break to recoup.

Talk to you all later

I'm back....home in Washington. And had a beautiful snowy Dec. 1st. It's been a long time since I've seen snow, so I was very excited. Naturally Dad wasn't excited as he had to go outside in it and do the mail run on the boat.

I'm flying down to San Diego on Sunday. My Grandmother passed away Wednesday Night. She was 83 yrs. old and ready to go. I had a really good and cherished visit with her and my grandfather in August which I am so thankful for. She was still at home at that time, so it was nice.
Blessing: The largest number of my relatives will be together at the funeral than have been in over 10 yrs. It will be good to see everyone.

Life: I've almost got myself settled into my room downstairs. Mom and Dad rearranged it for me so that the heater isn't blocked, which I appreciate VERY MUCH!!! (It's cold here!) And some things were moved out so I'm working myself into the space. I'm hoping to start substituting soon, but by the time I get back from CA, Christmas Break will be around the corner..so it may not be until after New Years. Other than that...I'm not making any decisions right now and I'm enjoying that. I need a break to recoup.

Talk to you all later