lots of photos

Over February break I headed to Spain to meet with my new Regional director and to hang out with friends for a few days! Emily and I went to Toledo for the day!

We went to a "hipster" party-I think we did a pretty darn good job with our costumes:)

Fiona came into Brussels for a day and Jenna and I met her downtown for lunch.

A few weeks later Jenna and I drove to Luxembourg for the day to visit Fiona- here they are looking out over the beautiful city

This past week Celine got hitched. This is us after the civil wedding-she was legally married but still had the church wedding to go:)

And now she is OFFICIALLY married-big wedding and all:)

Met these awesome ladies at the bachelorette party where we got to experience the magic of pole dancing-it was hysterical!!:) and continued the party at the wedding!

Young Life Bulgaria reunion at the wedding:)

Another sweet friend whom i met a few years back in Ghent-we got to party it up on the dance floor.

More Christmas vacation

It has been a while but just wanted to share a few more pics from my January adventures across America. It had been quite some time since I have taken a proper road trip-for some reason in Europe a road trip usually consists of planes or trains and not so many cars. SO it was actually fun to drive around and be able to stop wherever. I left PA and headed to Virginia where I stayed with a college friend, Delia, for a few nights. Sadly i did not take any pics. From there I headed to Hilton Head South Carolina where I had lived for a year before moving to Norway. I stayed with my old roomate who is now married and has 3 kids 3 and under!!! it was SOOO much fun seeing her as a mom and just enjoying the sun! I also got to speak in my old church and go to the beach!

From South Carolina I drove to Atlanta where I spent a few days with AmyBeth for a few days. We taught together for a few years back in the day and now she also has 3 kids. and again sadly I did not take any pics but we had a great time! From ATL i flew to California to visit Sarah who used to live here in Belgium. It was so great and I realized why God never sent me to California to live-cuz i NEVER would have left!!:) We even ate breakfast at this little airport one morning and walked out on the tarmack to check out the plains-sarah was a bit concerned that we weren't "authorized" as the sign said but we just acted like we were gonna buy that plane:)

We also went to Santa Barbara and Ventura one day

I got to meet up with an old dear friend whom I hadn't seen in over 10 years. We had gone to middle and high school together so it was such fun catching up on life!

After Cali it was a flight back to ATL where I met up with a BUNCH of dear friends over a few days but again did not take any pics-I am a slacker!!

Then I drove to Florida for Young Life's all staff conference. It was AMAZING and included a night at sea world!!

After the conference I made to 15 hour drive straight through back to PA and then flew back to BXL the next day-fun times!! So that was my stateside adventure!

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?