Tidbits from the Season

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time at home, away from school and work, resting and relaxing with friends and family.  A snapshot of all that has happened is below!

Matt surprised me with a trip to Chicago the week before Christmas.  We stayed in the city for a day and a half covering all of Michigan Ave!  It was so wonderful to be in a bustling city, dusted with snow and a definite chill in the air.  We then took a train out to Champaign to spend time with our great friends the Burdetts!  We had a tour of their cute little town, visited their church, walked through University of Illinois where John is attending school to obtain his PhD in Music Education and tried with all of our might to stay warm. The weather dropped below freezing allowing us to feel the pain on your skin of such cold temperatures.  We pray for our friends who will experience that over and over through the winter as we returned to warm California sunshine.  

Upon our return from Chicago we dove head first into holiday activities. We scheduled as many dinners, breakfasts, and lunches as we could and loved every minute of it.  We had wonderful Christmas celebrations with family.  This is how it went for us:

Christmas Eve: 

• Breakfast with Poladian Cousins courtesy of Auntie Barbara - Thanks AB!
• Jenny headed off to breakfast #2 with Dad and Melissa for a little father daughter time - a tradition we both look forward to..We love you Dad!
• Church at ABF - where we met!  So great to be there
• Dinner with the extended Cooper side of the family
• Dessert with the extended Poladian side of the family

Christmas Day:

• Breakfast with immediate Poladian family
• rest of the day with the immediate Cooper family
• drove to Irvine 

Day after Christmas:

• spent the day playing games and hanging out with the Osborne clan

2 Days after Christmas:

• DISNEYLAND - so busy but so fun!  We had a great time with the Poladians/Bosserts playing in the Magic Kingdom.  We really enjoyed the churros!  Matt brought me one at the same time I got one for him.  You can see I had already eaten my half of the one I got and Matt still had the whole thing!  I couldn't wait!!

Week after:

• Some rest and fun in the snow of Lake Arrowhead!  We love being up there and enjoyed our time with the Matthews and Poladians.  We celebrated New Year's by going to bed nice and early at 9:30!  Melissa and Eric were the only ones to stay up and ring in the new year :).  We made a snowman and shopped in the village.  It was fabulous!

And now we are back in Irvine!  Geared up and ready for a new quarter of school. It seemed easier this time to adjust to life in the OC.  I prayed and the Lord was faithful to answer my prayers.  He always answers, but this time he answered how I asked!  I take delight in the ease of the transition and thank Him for his grace in allowing it and giving us such a wonderful time at home.  

Thoughts on the new year to come....