We were home the WHOLE month of December and it was good.
We continued walking five miles a day, praying for snow, and preparing for our family Christmas reunion: the first one in New England since 2015 and the first all being together for Christmas since 2019.
We had very high expectations.
Ministry events in December included Engagement Matters, the Patriots women’s study, and LOTS of counseling, but that left plenty of time for decorating the house inside and out, getting together with friends, wrapping and sending packages, sewing Christmas jammies, making gingerbread houses, and preparing for our long-awaited reunion which was to commence the 22nd of December.
Since my last post on Dec. 27, we’ve only been home eight days.
Maybe that contributes to me forgetting that when I last wrote, my reflections ended with Engagement Matters (EM), which was held Dec. 4–5, and not after Christmas, which the blog post date would indicate.
Whatever the reasons, before I write about our most recent last three weeks—which literally took us to the four corners of our great nation—we must finish December. Strangely, that seems SO long ago already. But what fun to sift back through my December photo library and have many sweet memories surface.
It happened.
The “decades birthday-family reunion” celebration, postponed for a full year, is now in the books, but even more deeply, in our hearts.
It was uncertain until an hour before the six flying from Oakland were to depart due to two lost Covid tests, but mercifully, new tests were done at 6 am, the results of which were registered less than 60 minutes prior to boarding.
The trip was on.
It was a sweltering summer day in Louisiana. My 8-year-old self stood in the kitchen of my paternal grandparents’ home in Shreveport, watching with fascination as Grandma Collins stirred the hot pot of boiling figs, on their way to becoming preserves. With sweat running down her brow, just beneath the thin brown elastic that kept her hair net in place over her thinning curly hair, she turned to me and said, “You know, Virginia, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” With that piece of wisdom pronounced, she simultaneously clicked her cheek and winked her eye at her wide-eyed granddaughter, leaving an unforgettable impression.
My plans to write “Part 2” have been derailed by the maelstrom of craziness driven by the Coronavirus Pandemic. I’m taking a break from all Coronavirus talk to take us back a month ago, when "Life as We Always Knew It” was all we really knew. What a difference a month has made!!
After speaking in Maine for the Valentine’s event, we flew to California for the annual ProAthletes Outreach “Increase” conference, which we fronted by spending two days with my dear mama. As per usual, I “made" her go on a field trip each day because getting out is good for everyone. Off to Coronado we went for Paul to get his every 4–6 week haircut by his favorite barber, and while he was getting shorn, my mom and I rolled through town. This photo was taken by accidental tourists, who just happened to be from Lexington, MA!! Small world moment. The time with my mom is never enough but we’re always so grateful for any time we have with her.
Our very full speaking schedule picked up after having one weekend “home” in February (the 16-18th), and the past month has seen us in North Carolina, Oahu, Pennsylvania, and Boston. Whew! We’re thankful for so many great opportunities and continue to be so grateful for good health and an ever deepening passion to continue encouraging marriages and families.
I don’t know if anyone else is reeling from the calendar date and wondering how we got here so quickly, but I am. The past six weeks are a bit of a blur so the expectation of being home the next three weeks (the longest stretch since we moved to Fairfax in August) brings great comfort.
When the present busyness of the holidays seems like a restful, slow-down-and-smell-the-roses period of time, you know you’ve been on a tear.
So in the dark early morning on this 32-degree day in northern Virginia, it’s good to sit by candlelight and reflect on what has filled the days since Nov. 1.
Home sweet home after five weeks of travel, which took us from Massachusetts to California to Hawaii to California to Massachusetts.
We returned this week to a house adorned with fall decor and with calendars turned to the month of October, reminding us that we’ve been gone a long time! After flying to Northern California on Oct. 25 and spending five days with Windsor Christian Church speaking at a myriad of events, we landed in Kona on Halloween and began a three-week partnership with Living Stones Church, fulfilling our twice-a-year commitment to spend 2–3 weeks on the island with this church, counseling and speaking.
The past 7 weeks in numbers:
47 days on the road
35 degrees - lowest temp
85 degrees - highest temp
345 miles walked/hiked
18,000 air miles flown
25 talks given
50 hours of counseling
We’ve just returned from almost seven weeks on the road (or in the air) and were welcomed home by a large stack of (mostly) recyclable mail, temps that were 55 degrees lower than the average of the past weeks, and leafless trees and brown earth.
It was very apparent we weren’t in Hawaii anymore.
It wasn’t beginning to look like Christmas back when this photo was snapped on October 28! In fact, at that point, it seemed like Christmas was a VERY long way off.
And here we are. Christmas was here. And now it’s in our rear view mirror.
We’re continually being confronted with the reality that the older we get, the faster time goes.
The new year got off to a relatively slow start as we remained “grounded” due to Covid. So from our home base, we continued to do a lot of counseling via Zoom as a couple, while Virginia met with a number of her clients “on the bike trail” for a “walk with a dual purpose.” The therapy was mutually beneficial as the fresh air and sunshine renewed both body and soul. We met up with a few friends in “safe” settings and continued to sort and purge various parts of our home. And we blessed as many people as we could with home made meals, breads, cookies, and jam, using recipes from or newest publication, The Family Table Cookbook.
