full home ... full heart

After 6 days straight of academic conferences, it was a delight to come home to family. My parents were able to join us, and the kids had a whole week off of school. Never has a week gone by so fast, but we enjoyed every minute of it. Together we soaked in the food, games, late night conversations, Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower), Cosley Zoo's Festival of Lights, downtown Wheaton, a campus tour, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas back-to-back has its challenges (like having everything ready on time), but now the rest of the season will be easy, right?

The highlight of the week was gathering around the table with my "brother" Austin and his wife Heather. Austin is a fellow Blockhead (i.e. one of Dr. Block's doctoral students), and he and Heather have become like family to us. It was fun to celebrate God's goodness together! We ate and played 'pin-the-feather-on-the-turkey.' We read all of Deuteronomy 8 together, but our theme verse was verse 10–

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you."

He has, indeed, blessed us in so many ways. We are profoundly grateful!