Snowless & Mild Christmas
Our excited eyes peered out the window of the Boeing 737 as we landed into the Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee on Christmas Eve. Much to our disappointment, the ground was brown and dead, and not a snowflake in sight. Our expectations were mostly based on last year, where at this time it was 3 degrees out with 2 feet of snow on the ground. Our dreams of a white Christmas didn't come true but there was no lack in quality time or the scrumptious indulgence of Christmas dinner and endless desserts.
Baby Will
If there were only three words to describe my nephew Will who is 5 months old now, those words would be: smiles, flexible, and drool. Haha! We were highly anticipating seeing my sister and brother-in-law and their one and only child, Will. The last time I saw him was a few days after he was born and he has grown like a weed since then! He is so calm, and he has the cutest cooing sound…and I have to say he is a spitting image of his father. Will and I bonded as much as we could in a short amount of time.. and although Ryan loves his niece and nephews but is put off by their helpless bodily functions such as drooling, spitting up, and diaper changes.. he embraced the little guy all the same.. hahaha. It’s kinda crazy that the next time we see him he’ll probably be walking… never grow up little Will!
Adventure Time/Photo shoot
On Thursday night my brother, Derek, and sister-in-law, Hannah had slept over and they planned to stay the whole day on Friday. Many can attest to the fact that during Christmas time you’re not sure what day of the week it is and the days all sort of melt into one continuous weekend feel. On that note, we slept in on Friday and by the time our lazy butts had gotten out the door the day was half over. That didn’t stop us from venturing out to Cedarburg. This is a cute touristy town about 40 minutes west of my parent’s house. The downtown area has all the most unique shops and window displays. Between all the window shopping and exploring, we decided we would see what geocaches were around the town. A couple neat caches were found. One was hidden in a mini-library.. how cute! Our adventure time was a bit dual purpose as Hannah had agreed to take photos of Ryan and I, since she has her own photography business and we haven’t had a photo shoot since our wedding! Enjoy some of these fun photos…and let us know your favorite :)
Christmas Charades & Fun
It’s no surprise that during Christmas time we take a good portion of our free time to play games with one another. My dad had introduced the classic game of charades to my friends that had come to hang out on Friday night. Basic rules are: Split into two teams, each team writes out certain items that are within the category of: book, tv show, movie, quote, or song and gives their items to the other team to act out silently with only the proverbial charade hand signals. I have to say that both teams were ruthless with their suggestions that they gave the opposing team to act out. Girls were giving the guy team all the girliest movies and songs, and the men retorted with war movies, and unheard of quotes. A big round of applause for my friends who did a great job in this silently hilarious guessing game.
We interrupt this Christmas for -- the stomach bug.
Having JUST recovered from being sick right before we left for the trip… we thought we were out of the woods when Ryan’s stomach started rocking and rolling on Saturday morning. It wasn’t really a day wasted as much as Ryan had thought. He was in bed pretty much all day, while I got to spend some quality time with my mom and dad. Between watching movies and helping my mom with a few technology related tasks it was a relaxing day in. Periodically I would check on Ryan upstairs, but all day he was miserable with very little for me to do to help him. I know we could have gone out and visited with more people, but perhaps I just needed to slow down and enjoy being home without rushing around anywhere. I wish I could have said the same for Ryan :( Sunday morning came, and Ryan felt a little better, a bit queezy but at least he was enjoying the food he ate. By Monday morning, he had fully recovered, just in time to head back home.
So long farewell...
All good things must come to an end but that is never fun to say. I realize my and Ryan's life is long distance… now until forever. Whether we lived in Louisiana or Wisconsin, our family and friends would be separated by many miles. It’s not glamorous, it’s not easy….and it’s also not cheap, but that’s besides the point. It's inevitable that every trip back home, the night before we leave to go back, my face and body language isn't as joyful and spontaneous as it was on the first day of the trip. My heart is worn on my sleeve, and it's not exactly easy for Ryan to console me when he sees me crying my eyes out while wishing I didn't have to leave. That's the gut honest truth friends. I can't say I'll NEVER move back, but it's just that I know that God has Ryan and I here for a reason and in this season for however long it lasts. We have these new jobs at the church, and the direction and vision of the church is growing, and we are honored to be apart of it. We love my family back home but it's God that is keeping us here in Louisiana for more than one reason. So while I could revel in the joys of being home in WI for days on end, I have to accept that God has called Ryan and I to do challenging and hard things, one of which is living far away from my family, and the other is accepting the large task of working for the church. We remain grateful for every opportunity to visit my family in Wisconsin, and count it as a huge blessing to take those trips.
Reflection for the New Year.
Through everything ... God is good. We are continually counting our blessings, and looking on all that God has done in our lives. The level of growth, maturity, and faith has increased in both Ryan and I in 2014. We have our focus set ahead of us, taking one step at a time. Sometimes those steps are leaps and sometimes they're baby steps, but we're growing nonetheless. We have goals and visions for this new year, both practical and spiritual. Personally I would love to see my side blog idea come to life; Hope's Pen: a blog of uplifting testimonies including anything from physical healings to the restoration of families. We obviously are in the process of making our house more into a home and aspire to make it a medium for hospitality to those that need to feel welcomed and safe. We have goals for our marriage, specifically in the area of communication. We tell other couples that are only dating that communication is the most important thing to work on...and we are preaching to the choir, so we definitely want to work on that! Spiritually, we want to go to the next level of being mentors to these young men and women in the upcoming generation. To teach them and help them steward their talents and simply do life with them, reminding them they're not alone and they have purpose in their life that they don't have to wait to grow up to fulfill. I could fill up so many more lines of the desires and aspirations we have for this year, but I know as time goes by and this year unfolds, as long as we remain faithful to God and pursue His presence, we will find more than we ever hoped for in this year! We pray for all of those reading that the best is yet to come!!!
Love,
Audrey & Ryan
P.S. I had lost my phone on the returning flight back to Louisiana.. I didn't realize it was lost until we were on our next flight. Miraculously, a pilot from that plane we were on found it and ended up talking to Ryan and he was kind enough to mail it back to me. What a hassle to be without a phone for a few days, but what a blessing to have this gentleman be so gracious and quick in returning my phone. Thank you Mr. Eric Spicer! You're the best!!!
Love,
Audrey & Ryan
P.S. I had lost my phone on the returning flight back to Louisiana.. I didn't realize it was lost until we were on our next flight. Miraculously, a pilot from that plane we were on found it and ended up talking to Ryan and he was kind enough to mail it back to me. What a hassle to be without a phone for a few days, but what a blessing to have this gentleman be so gracious and quick in returning my phone. Thank you Mr. Eric Spicer! You're the best!!!