Happy New Year! I may be a little late in posting in the new year but better late than never. I have a good excuse for my absence of blogging--we spent two weeks at home. On December 20th, we made the 10 1/2 hour drive back to KY or as Jace called it, the Promise Land. Being back in KY and seeing friends and family restored my soul. Living outside of KY has only reaffirmed my love for my Old Kentucky home and honey, there is no place I would rather be.
Our 2 weeks in the Promise Land brought a ton of laughs, quality time with family, and too much Christmas food. Lord have Mercy, my momma and Teak were whipping up Rotel every time I turned around and next thing I knew, I ate the entire thing. Now, I am paying for it on the treadmill!!!! However, I wouldn't have it any other way because the matriarchs in my family show their love through their cooking and I showed them my respect by eating. every.single.bite!!!!
Christmas this year was different in two ways. My cousin's twin boys are two and know what to do with presents. They were so much fun to watch and I can see why adults are more excited about Christmas than kids sometimes. Their reactions were so sweet and hilarious. We also have a six year old in the family and when he yelled with enthusiasm about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle underwear, I yelled back, equally as loud, and was thrilled that I could experience the joy of Christmas through a child's eyes. When it came time to share Christmas with Mom, Ross, Beth, and Jace it wasn't about the gifts. No, this year it was the fact that all five of us were together and sharing the day with one another. The gifts were nice but the greatest gift was being together back home with my momma and family.
As for New Year's, Jace and I went to the movies and saw Wolf of Wall Street. I beg of you to save your money and don't go see it. It is filled with drugs, greed, sex, and set the record for the number of f-bombs used. The desire to skip home and head straight to church was intense when we left the movie theater.
On January 2nd, we drove the 11 hours back to Florida. Thankfully, this goodbye wasn't nearly as painful or emotional because guess what...Sandy is getting on a plane to come see me and Jace in March!!! My sweet sister-in-law is coming too and bless her, she has to deal with my scared-of-flying momma. I am serious in that you need to add Beth to your prayer list. She is a good woman to deal with Mom's fear of flying. Since we have that trip to look forward to, it was more like a see-you-soon instead of a goodbye. I don't like leaving and not knowing when I will see family next.
I am not kidding you, when we left KY it was spitting snow and we saw wrecks everywhere. Honey, by the time we reach Gainesville, Jace and I were burning up hot and we had to turn on the AC in the car. How we didn't get sick, I don't know. It is cold in Gainesville and by cold I mean 30-50s. I realize that is a heat wave to the rest of the nation but for Gainesville, you might as well call off school. We finally turned on our heat for the first time this week.
Now that we are back and settled, it is back to the grind. Jace has 5 classes this semester and will most likely work himself to the bone by the end of May. He is taking five classes and has to write a huge paper, basically a thesis. After graduation, he will take one summer course in which he will defend and present his thesis. Supposedly, the last date we will be in Gainesville is the end of June. I am sure that date will change but the official countdown has become. Where we go next is still up in the air.
While we were home, Jace and I had a moment to step back and see the big picture of everything. I needed that. I needed to be reminded of why we are doing what we are doing. I needed my hope to be restored. It was almost like we took a vacation and recharged our batteries. The everyday grind is hard and tiresome and, sometimes, I forget about our goals; all of that was brought into focus again after spending time at home. Oh, what home does for the soul!
Reflecting back on 2013 makes me a little tired. Together, we: planned a wedding, hosted It's Your Reality for UK students, finished law school, graduated from law school, studied for the Bar, took the Bar, left a job, got married, went on a honeymoon, moved to FL, started an LLM program, started living together, started a new job, became a TN attorney, and survived another round of finals. All those things were hard, exciting, scary but we did it together. 2014 is shaping up to be another crazy year. I anticipate the following to happen: graduate from UF, finish a thesis, vacation in Hilton Head, move again, get a job, and who knows what else God has in store. When I think about all of that, it too, is going to be hard, exciting, and scary but God will see us through it. Thank goodness, we had some time at home during the holidays to rest up before all of it begins!
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and that your New Year is off to a great start!
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