ooh child.

so we are officially back from our winter break. our bible study starts back tomorrow night and next week our classes start back. i'm going to one of my students houses tonight for dinner and i'm very excited. she is so sweet and i love spending time with her. 

during our break, we were abundantly blessed (like last year) in that our families gave us money to travel. and travel we did. we took a cruise to olympia and athens greece, jerusalem and ashdod israel, and ismir and ephasus turkey. whoa, it was incredibly amazing. i wrapped up the in's and out's of our trip in a video here on facebook. we had the most fun we have ever had as a married couple, that's pretty good. i think it had to do with the fact that we got to experience some of the most unique places on earth together. it was such a special trip. 

when we got back we shared christmas eve with some american friends and on christmas day i prepared a small feast and we cuddled up to the computer and watched christmas movies all day. we bought a real and very small, very cute charlie brown christmas tree. we decked it out with our new christmas ornaments (we collect ornaments from places we travel to) and some dollar store lights. it was really cute and it made us happy. 

one of our new efforts here is feeding the homeless on sunday nights with a group of nuns. we have continued that through our break and are excited to keep doing that for the rest of the time we are here. you can read the post before this one about how i'm trying to make spending time with poor and and homeless and meeting some of their basic human needs a regular thing in my life. i'm hope i'm not "tooting my horn" but more holding myself accountable by reporting it to cyberspace. and just telling you about my life.

we had to tell another fair member of avanti bye-bye when ermenita left to start her life in america on monday. we spent some time with her this weekend but it will not matter, sadly. we will miss her like crazy...i already do. 

i have been doing a lot of painting and knitting during this break because i love to do those things and don't really have time during the semesters (not complaining just stating a fact). i have also been cooking a lot and savoring it because also during the semester we eat on the run. 

basically we've just been enjoying this time together and planning for the next few months we have here. oh, you can also tell that i have been playing with some graphic design. i got a program to help with with that kind of stuff that is easy and perfect for what i need it for. when i create things for church or other activities, sometimes i need the computer aspect to put it all together but i haven't known how or been able to do it until now. right now i'm just playing but i think it will help me be able to do a lot of cool things in the future. 

we are so thankful for this downtime that we have had oh and we are also extremely dog-sick. we might have spent a little bit of time looking at adoptable dogs online lately. anyway, i'm so excited about this upcoming semester and the things it will hold. we will have a women's retreat and a youth retreat and get to start thinking about vbs for this summer. 

time is flying and i'm so thankful for every minute. our god is so amazing and sadly it's when i look in the past that i see how he carved out my path and provided for me constantly. i'm trying to be conscious about the things THIS MINUTE that he is doing, the things he is telling us, and the ways he is providing. my heart is so happy and warm and i'm ready. ready for whatever comes next. ready to tell more people about the love of jesus. 

thank you for your love and support, 

make the most of your days, 

live for the one who is our only reason for life.

-lulu