Not nearly as exciting as the last....

Hello faithful readers,

The fact that I am writing again a mere 3 days after my last post is no cause for the setting of a new precedent, it just happens to be that I have the time this morning.

We've spent the last couple days getting our house in order. We feel really settled, but we are still "moving in." From what I understand, this is no uncommon phenomenon, but I would think the size of our house would make it easier to actually "finish" moving in. Anyway, that's what we've been doing. I'm hoping to really be done by the end of Christmas break, then maybe I'll post those much promised pictures.

Other than decorating and organizing, we've just been using some of our extra time to go for walks together, and spend time on some of our hobbies. Greg got me some beads for Christmas, so I've been creating some jewelry in my spare time. So far we have only watched one movie, but it was a good one. 500 Days of Summer has a fairly interesting plot line, but what is more interesting is it's presentation. The movie is completely non-chronological, mainly in color with some vintage style shots in black and white. There is even a moment when an animated bird enters a scene. It is artfully put together and quite interesting to watch.

No more news for now I guess...

-Anna

Hope, Water, Charlie Brown, and Baked Potatoes

Here are some pictures of our house looking all Christmas-y...=)

I got a lot of razzing from family when I went to Vermont for Christmas about the "infrequentness" of my blog...but I'm not writing because of that...mainly I'm writing because its Christmas and I have a lot to say...

It's our first Christmas being married and we decided to spend it alone in our own home. In a way I miss the craziness of Christmas with 6 younger siblings (but we sorta had that a week ago anyway), and I sorta miss leaving my parents house to see other parts of the family for the afternoon, but there was also something really special about spending Christmas, just the two of us, resting.

We all know that Christmas is a season, and not just a day, but I've been wondering what the season really is...? Is it a season for shopping (one that starts with black friday and ends on Christmas eve)? Is it a season for baking (I know I've been doing that for a few weeks)? Is it a season for parties (we've been to so many between work and friends and family)? Is it a season for family (we certainly want to spend time with ours)? What is the season that surrounds this one day really all about? The church that Greg and I attend down here in Florida has been exploring this concept in the past month or so, and I think I may have begun to understand. Christmas is a season for giving...and I don't mean gifts of material quality (although that certainly does happen), it's a time for giving time, love, aid, care, kindness, and most of all, worship to a baby, born to be King eternally. Our church got really involved in a new way of looking at Christmas, and it has really affected Greg and I. Here are a few of the awesome organizations and ideas we got involved with:

www.adventconspiracy.org - check it out! An awesome new way to look at Christmas, not as a commercial, stressful, and expensive rush, but as a time to give love and worship!

http://www.water.cc/ - Living Water International is an awesome organization spreading Christ's love by bringing clean drinking water to the many places in the world who go without. We learned the horrifying statistic that every 15 seconds, a child dies from lack of clean drinking water. This means that while I sit and idle my time for 20 mins on facebook, 80 children, real live beautiful children, die. I can't even wrap my brain around that. Advent Conspiracy has partnered with this awesome organization to encourage people to cut down on Christmas spending, and instead build wells for these people. Although this horrific statistic seems unstoppable and overwhelming, I was encouraged to find out that $1 will provide clean drinking water for one person for a whole year!! This really makes me feel like I can make a difference! How awesome is that! Really put my $3.89 starbucks grande chai tea latte in perspective...sadly I didn't have to look up that price, I've bought enough of them to know exactly what they cost...

A few local projects our church has been involved in are Oasis Compassion International, a group dedicated to feeding the hungry of Palm Beach County, as well as a project which grew right out of our church, The Tree of Hope. The Tree of Hope was a tree set up in our church with paper ornaments all over it. Each ornament held the name of one of our community's homeless men and women or a member of our community's working poor, as well as an item that would bless them or satisfy one of their needs. There was overwhelming response in our church, and 89 gifts were collected and distributed.

One more awesome organization to check out> http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

Samaritan's Purse collects shoe boxes full of gifts for children living in poverty...it's an awesome way to get involved in a child's life at Christmas. This was one organization that I've been blessed to be involved with for years. My family always put together a shoe box each Christmas, and it was a fun time for my siblings and I to fill the box with things to share with someone.

Anyway, we've been really blessed to witness and be a part of some of these things this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much more involved we can get this coming year!

As far as our first Christmas was concerned, what a fun and restful day! We slept in, baked cookies, had baked potatoes for supper, and then had some cheese and crackers a little later while watching some free hulu shows. I'm not going to lie, I was a little sad to spend Christmas away from my family, but I got to talk to them on the phone...which resulted in some tears on my end after I hung up (thankfully I have a very sweet and understanding husband...I don't think he took it too personally). Here's a few pictures from our day:

Greg really enjoyed the frosting for those cookies...=)

As you may have noticed in the pictures...we did not have a real tree or a fake tree, we had our very own Charlie Brown Tree. It was a very cute little thing, and luckily Caleb gave us a little ornament for Christmas which was small enough to hang on our tiny potted tree.

Merry Christmas all...and may you truly know Christ's peace this year!!

Love, Greg and Anna

Felt the need to post

I decided I should write...but not spend all my time apologizing for not writing...

I don't really have time to write at the moment...I just finished the fourth of my four Monday exams, and in 15 minutes I'll start my library shift, but, I figured I could atleast say hi.

What a crazy exam week this has been aready. Usually, exam week is not a bad week for me, as all the concerts and papers are for the week before...but this year...ughh...8 exams...all squished together with hours of work in between....plus a few papers on top of these. I'm soo tired! Somehow, the exams managed to squish themselves into 3 days instead of the regular 4, which is great as far as getting home earlier, but it certainly makes for 3 very long and busy days.

Anyway, despite all this, I've been feeling overwhelmingly thankful lately (I know that whole paragraph was one long complaint...but I really am thankful...I promise). I could list all the thingss I'm thankful for, and it would sound like the cliche list that anyone would write, full of things that I would never deny being thankful for at any time in my life...so I know that this is different. I feel like although I'm really thankful for all the things I would list, I'm not really thankful for anything, I just have a feeling of thankfulness and joy that is engulfing me...some may say its the season, and it's possible, but I feel like it is larger than that. I just feel blessed!

Well...my shift is starting...and then it will be time to study a lot more and hopefully get at least 5 hours of sleep before the next exam at 8 am tomorrow. =) There I go...sounding like I'm complaining again...=).