Gimme a Little Break!

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rest from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience." -Hebrews 4:9-11

After probably the hardest semester of my college career, I was definitely ready for some good 'ole home time. Time to do more resting and relaxing then anything else, and yes I did get some of that but I also got a whole bunch of time that was not rest. Which I mean is good, all things considered, I'm not saying I wanted to go into hibernation. I'm just saying that I got some of what I wanted but a lot of what God knew I needed.

On the first night of being back home I had the chance of going to Jordan's Christmas choir concert. It was almost nostalgic, but I had graduated only two years ago so really it was just nice to finally get to see him perform for choir. As it is his Senior year, there are so many things I wish I could be there to see (more soccer games and concerts, things of the like) but it was cool to be there for him all the same.

Speaking of growing up, the day after that I finally did something I thought I would never do (for lack of time, motivation, ambition, etc.) I decluttered my room and donated all the clothes I don't need anymore. And yes, it was a lot of clothes. I have the type of room layout that really only allows me to have two room setups: the one I had for 10 years and the one I just figured out. Once I moved my furniture around and got literally seven garage bags of clothes, shoes, and other things out of my room I finally had a room with some space. It felt really good to finally donate all those things because I really only wear the same 6 outfits so it was definitely time for a downsize.

After the adventure of cleaning my room, donating my clothes, and listening to the spirit of Christmas from a bunch of high schoolers things really s l o w e d_d o w n. My family was either working or at school and so I was left at home with the dogs for basically a whole week. And this is where the concept of things I didn't think I needed or wanted comes in. I was in an empty house for hours on end with almost nothing to do and I was getting restless fast. The only upside was that I did have the dogs Bella and Luna. Luna followed me everywhere for literally the whole duration of break and I couldn't help but capture a few moments of our time together.

Luckily, my time alone came to a close as the Christmas festivities came in full force. Jordan and I had our 2nd annual Christmas cookie baking night, this time accompanied by Danny (it was his first time making Christmas cookies!) Jordan decided he was going to give cookies out to his teachers and others in the community and said we had to doubled the batch. We ended up with 155 cookies in the shapes of dinosaurs, pigs, bells, bones, and trees. Here's the real kicker, by the end of the break he hadn't delivered any of those cookies...but they were all gone. Don't worry we didn't eat them all, I ended up giving them to people (that would have been a disaster for all of us if we would have done that). Christmas fun continued when one of my best friends Izzy invited me to her family's Christmas party in Milwaukee. It was so cool to be able see so much of her family and her interact and celebrate a holiday I'm so use to seeing celebrate one way, with certain foods and traditions, do it completely different and have that be the norm.

Finally Christmas Day came around and we were able to celebrate as a family both because it is the season of giving and because of the real reason. Jesus was celebrated in so many ways both traditionally in service and intra personally this year because we need a little reflection time on the birth of Christ and the many promises he fulfilled and blessings he graced us with.

I was blessed to get quite a bit for Christmas (even a trip to a Bulls v. Bucks game!) but one of the greatest gifts I was blessed with while on break was being able to go back to Camp Luther for the Staff Reunion and being given God's protection as I traveled so many miles over break. For those who don't know the Camp that I love most dear is a whomping 6 hour drive away from Antioch, IL. As I was driving up, I was about three hours into my trek and it starting snowing. The plows could only move so fast, next thing I knew I started fishtailing everywhere and ended up in the ditch in the middle of Wisconsin. Now God was definitely present in this moment because myself and my car had no damage to it at all. And if this was to happen to me even a 1/4 of a mile in either direction it would have been a very different story because there were so many signs and mile markers. God was truly there for me in that moment.

I made it up to camp safely, I got to my friend's house shortly after the accident and she drove up the rest of the way. Being at camp was interesting because I had so many emotions I didn't think I was going to have but it was good to be there anyway to feel what I had to feel and to be surrounded by people I loved and who loved me. The weekend was all worship, broom ball, and tubing, oh and a *really* good homemade pizza. Being back at camp just reaffirmed in me my desire to be back next summer and my even greater desire to pursue a career in Outdoor Ministry.

One of the last things I did over break and most definitely one of the hardest things I did was say goodbye to Eve before she went to Spain for a semester. Over the past five years we've become so much more than camp friends. Although we have definitely had our ups and our downs, that just reaffirms that she is my soul sister and someone you want in your corner. And now my corner (and her's) is stretching out as she heads to Spain and I honestly couldn't be more excited and proud of her. She is about to go accomplish and experience so much and come back and share it all with me and I CAN'T WAIT!

So if you are still here, you are either Joy or you like me;) just kidding. But as I said in the beginning I took my time to R E S T as God saw fit for me. And there was a lot packed into these past few weeks but I am glad there was because it means I entered a place of rest and I place that was needed as God saw fit. It opened my eyes to things I needed to see and know before going into this new year and next semester where so many things are different, but also so many things are possible.

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rest from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience." -Hebrews 4:9-11