7 Things Learned in December

We were on the road for the last  half of November and then all of December.  Our journey took us from Texas to Missouri to Illinois then to Florida.  After Thanksgiving, we traveled to Tennessee, Virginia, Washington DC, Indiana, and ended in Iowa for Christmas.  Now we are safely back in Texas.  Once again I am linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky on the things I learned in December.


1.  The White House is beautiful at Christmas.  We spent a week in DC and loved seeing all  the museums, monuments and just being in the city for Christmas.  My favourite part was getting to see the White House all decorated at Christmas.  It even had the smell of Christmas with all the real trees and wreaths.   

2.  Death is hard especially at Christmas.  We had a dear friend die just a few days before Christmas.  It reminds you of the importance of family and making the most of our time together.  This was also my family’s first Christmas in 5 years together and the first since my Dad died.   He was never far from our thoughts.  It was a blessing for us to be all together and to see mom so happy to have all her chicks at home.  


3. We can be a family that plays games.  This month our family has been making more of an effort to play games together.  It helps that we have found some games we enjoy and that take less than an hour to play.  Currently our favourites are Skip bo, Dominion, and Bananagrams.  


4. We have a lot of people praying for us.  On our journey, we have also been sharing in a few small groups and churches about our work.  Everywhere we went people have come up to us and told us how they have been praying for us.  Many are praying for us everyday.  Many of them I don’t even know their name.  It is a bit overwhelming, but we feel blessed that God would care for us through His people’s prayers.  


5. Giving your daughter a B in history is quite hard especially when it is just a one percent difference.  I love teaching my children this year but being the one responsible for the grades not so much.  It does motivate both us to work harder this next semester.  I as the teacher doing a better job of preparing her.  W doing a better job of studying for her tests.  


6.  With some friends, you can just pick up where you left off.  A friend I grew up with invited my family to join her family for their Christmas gathering.  We had not seen each other in 16 years.  It was like we had just seen each other last week.  It was a blessing to see our husbands and kids also enjoy hanging out together.  Friends like that are a gift from God.


7.  It is good to be home or at least our temporary home here in Texas.  We enjoyed our travels and seeing family and friends but it will be great to get settled back into a routine this next week.