Adventure

Adventure.

What does the word make you think of? Someone in a safari hat headed off to see the lions and tigers and bears-oh my!? Or spending the week in some exotic place like St. Thomas or Rome or California:)? Does it make you excited or stressed?

While I was in the states over Christmas I got together with some friends who used to live in Spain and do Young Life there. They are now living life in the states. We met for breakfast-a fun adventure that I don't often get in Europe. In the midst of our conversation, as we were discussing the craziness of their life when they used to live in Spain(and it was TRULY crazy), they both mentioned the word "adventure." They were reminiscing about how even though living in another country and working with teenagers is often crazy and sometimes you end up in random foreign towns and don't know where you are:) it is all an adventure. You literally never know what is going to happen next.

The next day I was driving to the Young Life all-staff conference in Florida and I called my old friend and boss, Paul. In the midst of this conversation and me asking Paul how things were going he said he missed the "adventure" of living life in Belgium. He has an amazing life now but there is just something about the unknown of living in a place where you don't speak the language and you aren't really a part of the culture.

Adventure. . . So today I am choosing to be blessed by the adventure that is my life. It is often extremely frustrating and I sometimes end up in tears but it is always an adventure. An adventure that God-who created and loves me and is with me every step of the way- has sent me on. An adventure that, through the tears, has often seen so much laughter and friendships and blessings. An adventure that means that just today I got to talk to sweet friends in Australia and read about a best friends life in Luxembourg and email a friend in Spain. An adventure that in the next few months has me taking a group of 35 high schoolers to Greece. An adventure that also includes the mundane and day to day tasks of grocery shopping, car repairs, work and running to the post office. An adventure that has far exceeded any expectations I could have had for my life.

John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Let's start at the very beginning

"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you being with a-b-c, when you sing you begin with do-ra-me." Or when talking about a trip to the states you begin with family time!

I had quite the adventure in the states-around 6 weeks of it to be exact. And it started out as any good trip should- with LOTS of family time. We did EVERYTHING! basketball games, shopping, puzzles, playing games, eating, laughing, chatting- and wedid it in abundance. I got home while the kids were still in school so right off the bat I got to go see on of Tyler's basketball games. He impressed me with his 18 points and 20 rebounds- NO DOUBT!!:)

I also got together with 3 friends from High school and we had a blast. We felt like we were back in High school-climbing(because she has a ghetto-fabulous car that has broken seats and has to be started with a screw driver!) into Jen's jeep and driving crazy through the streets of Perkasie-YES,that was us!!:) Finally after 2am we decided maybe it was time to call it quits but it was a blast!

Wanda and her crew got in last friday night after rescuingKari from school:) and then the chaos got taken up a few notches! I think we literally spent every waking moment together. I mean there was a 10 minute time at some point over the next 10 days when I went into my room just for a moment of peace and mom came in asking why I was in the room all alone:) Fun times!

Mom decided to go through 1 of the hope chests and clear it out. So she made us each a bag of items that may or may not have been from our actual childhood-there were too many of us to keep straight:) and told us we had to take them or she was throwing them out. Her I am wearing just a few of the items in my bag. Notice the cute hat, booties and extra special cape! I decided maybe they don't actually fit any more. In case you were wondering there was also a old stained onesie-why she kept it I have no idea and how she could have know to whom it might belong is even more mind boggling.

So in my bag was also the brown sweater that is on the monkey below. In the midst of us laughing about everything mom informs me that there were matching ones for her and dad that my grandmother had given them. This was the point when we realized that she really had no idea what belonged to whom because she remembered that they had worn them when they lived in Vermont- where they lived for 2 years right after they got married and LONG before I was born:) But she got the matching sweater and we took a "family portrait"

here we are getting ready for the Christmas eve service- not sure what is going on but we were obviously having fun!

The following week we headed out to Lancaster for a Green Dragon and Shady Maple run!

And for new years we played the amazing game of Quelf and had pretzel's, nuggets, homemade cake pops and so much more!!

So that is the beginning-more to come!

Exchanges

SO a few years ago I posted this blog

http://marissasadventures.blogspot.com/2009/05/daughter-of-farmer.html

about how I tend to not get rid of things that I think I will be able to fix. Well here I am to verify that sometimes it pays off to hang onto those old things:) A few months back I saw on the Apple sight they were having a recall on the first ipod nanos from 2005. Well I happened to own one of those. It had been a birthday gift from some friends. It was my first ever ipod and I used it all the time until I bought a mac computer a few years later and it came with a free ipod touch. Then it mostly just got used on road trips because it worked with the cheapo device I got at Rice's to play my ipod through the radio. Any how-it was only 2gb and so I was constantly having to change the music/podcasts on it. I am NOT complaining-just setting the story up. So the said ipod was getting recalled. I filled out the appropriate paperwork and waited for an envelope to get sent to my parents house in PA. When I got home for Christmas it was there-waiting for me to put my old ipod in and take to the UPS store. From there they said they would send me a "fixed" one in 4-6 weeks. In the meantime I had looked up online to see if they were going to be sending the SAME ipod back or if it would be updated? The news I read was that they were refurbishing them and sending the same ones back.

So off I set on my 3 1/2 week road trip(more on that later) and when I returned my mom shows me a package and asks if it could possibly be my "new" ipod? She is sure it can't because it is so tiny(and she didn't see the buttons for turning it on). but indeed-my ipod has been upgraded to a 8gb nano-and all because I refuse to get rid of perfectly good "junk"

Here is a photo of my fantastic and new ipod! Yeah for being a Farmer's daughter:)

Day off!

Yesterday I drove here(whilst passing through belgium and the netherlands)

to shop at this

and enjoy these lights

The day started out gorgeous. Drove to Dusseldorf with the plan of shopping for some Christmas stuff, checking out a city I had never been to before and maybe sitting in a starbucks for a bit:) All was accomplished and though the day ended in a mix of rain/snow it was awesome! There may have been one awkward moment in starbucks when perhaps while reading in Matthew I may have teared up and then caught the eye of someone sitting across from me but I think we all escaped relatively unscathed:) Yeah for German Christmas markets, GPS's and awesome travel soundtracks!

Countdown ON!!

Can't wait to see these faces and more!!!

16 more days til I arrive in the states!! I am SOOO excited. Pretty much I become a useless mess when it gets this close to seeing my family so it's always a good thing that there on things on my calendar that keep me focused:) Right now I am listening to Christmas music and baking pumpkin bread! I know-you might think it's past pumpkin bread making days- I mean thanksgiving is past BUT I didn't get to make it even once this year so I am making now. PLUS I am still babysitting(have been for almost 2 weeks) and they have an actual stove(as you might guess) and counter space so i was feeling inspired. As a matter of fact- if I had the other ingredients I would consider making Christmas cookies!! But for now- Pumpkin bread it is. So thank you Mrs. Dovan-one of my second grade teachers-for your awesomepumpkin bread recipe- It has literally made it around the world!!

TRADITIONS

So when I arrive in America I have some traditions. Like the fact that my dad picks me up and always has a few of his famous oatmeal raisin cookies for me to eat on the way home. No one else in the family likes or eats them but they are my FAVORITE cookie in the world and the fact that my dad makes them and remembers to bring them to me makes them that much more precious! Then we drive home and mom has usuallyplanned a home cooked meal that includes lima beans-again you may not be interested in them but they are my fav and they are also grown by my dad:) Can you see why my expectations for a husband are so high?:) Now this year when i arrive home Trisha's kids will be out of school already so I will not be able to surprise any of them at school BUT that does mean we will get to go to Chick-Fil-A together at least 5 times in my first week home:) We will also have our annual cookie baking extravaganza!! This involves a FULL day of baking all sorts of cookies and baked goods while listening to Johnny Mathis on the record player. This has been a tradition for as long as I have been alive and I can not listen to Johnny without wishing I was in my mom's kitchen baking cookies! Sadly Wanda and the girls will not be with us this year because Kari doesn't get out of school until the 23rd- REALLY people??? what if people have baking traditions they have to uphold?! BUT there has been word on the Hunsberger street that Devonand Alexis are quite the bakers these days so I think we will be able to fill in the gaps!

I LOVE traditions- they have a way of making me feel at home and I think it's an awesome way to connect and give a sense of community. I love that my nieces and nephews know and love the traditions as much as I do. I love that I get to SHARE them with so many amazing people. I love that my family appreciates the fact that though we may spend most of the year so far apart, when we are together we get to make awesome memories TOGETHER! New traditions are born every year- like homemade frappachino's on new years:) and the Christmas mice:)

What will it be this year?!!! Can't wait to see!

When there is snow- sledding is ALWAYS a must! this is from last years sledding day! Can you guess which one I am?

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow marks the first in my 35 years that I will not celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a proper turkey and fixings. It's an odd feeling. A mixture of missing the traditions that this day holds along with that odd feeling that this is home now and in this home they do not have the same traditions.

So I will make a list of things that I am thankful for and for 2moro I will be content to say thank you without the amazing food.

a comfy bed to sleep in, a hot shower whenever I want, food in the fridge and cabinets, laughter, good music, relationships, family who are friends as well, friends who are family as well, legs that can walk or run, shoes for various purposes, a car to get around in, God's love and pursuit, the ability to read, joy, iced coffee, airplanes to get me places, memories, pictures that tell stories, love, mercy, internet connection, books that challenge, different cultures, opportunity to cuddle friends babies, peace beyond understanding, selfless people/acts, chick-fil-a, the color orange, life lessons-even the hard ones, wisdom, smiles, wrinkles that show life lived, that God is bigger than my understanding, traditions, that life is new every day, free t-shirts, bathrooms that flush, water from a tap, grace, flowers, fall, sweet tea, a full life, opportunity to share God's love with my friends.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!! I pray that the day is amazing-filled with friends, family, traditions and new memories!

Christmas is coming

I have already begun to listen to Christmas music-and I LOVE it! There has been this poster circulating the web about how Nordstrom's is not decorating for Christmas until after thanksgiving- a one holiday at a time policy. 7 or 8 years ago I would have held this same philosophy. Especially given that Thanksgiving has ALWAYS been my favorite holiday. I love it because it does not include the stress of picking out the prefect gift AND it involves eating copious amounts of amazingly good food. The problem is that it is a purely North American holiday. They do not celebrate it over here. I have found ways to celebrate every year with a variety of friends but it has never been the same since leaving the states and SO -I welcome an early Christmas with open arms. I welcome the fact that my neighborhood has already put up the Christmas lights over the streets. I welcome the fact that the other night I walked past a restaurant and they had their Christmas tree lit in the window. I welcome the fact that yesterday I met a friend at the only Starbucks in Brussels city and they had red cups, Christmas music playing and Christmas coffee for sale. I welcome the fact that Brussels has begun setting up for the Christmas market. I welcome these things because they do not bring the fear and panic of the crazy Christmas season in the US. Christmas here is more laid back, it's twinkle lights, candles and drinks with friends. It's ice skating on the square and getting churros at the market:) It is more about special moments with special people then about finding and buying a gift someone probably doesn't NEED anyway. And in the midst of it I seem to be able to remember a bit better the reason we celebrate-Jesus birth in a manger. The fact that our all powerful, all knowing, all loving God came in the form of a baby and HUMBLED himself to be born in a manger. He is about relationships- about loving people before they ever love him and so I welcome this celebration with the joy that comes from knowing I have been loved for eternity and that I have received a gift that I can not and need not repay. So for all my North American friends- I will join you in eating amazing food this month but I will ALSO begin celebrating Christmas a little earlier than you:)!