Where's Connie?

Well, merry Christmas, and happy New Year to ya'll from mild, rainy NC! Sorry I disappeared there for a while... I would like to say I got whisked away by Peter Pan, but the truth is that any creative energy in me - physical and mental - has been used up daily for the past two weeks on a huge cross-stitch project that I finally finished yesterday. Took me 11 months to finish it, and I am super proud of it! I'll post a picture of it later.

Besides the project, I've enjoyed time with my family in Winston-Salem over the holiday, as well as a few precious hometown friends. Spent some significant time in Greensboro, too - got to meet Pastor Meng Pu's sister and family in their tiny humble apartment, had a great lunch meeting with the new I-Teams area director at Four Seasons Mall, and joined Kevan for weekly potluck and concerts with his community of Christian musician friends in the Glenwood neighborhood. All around, a relaxing and enjoyable trip home.

Before all that, the Hobbits (and cousins from the Nunnery) had a big holiday feast together, with a 20-pound turkey and all sorts of delicacies to accompany it. Then we went to Valparaiso and watched The Hobbit (part 2) together, and got snowed in at Brie's parents' home. The next day we took our Hannah to the airport for her big trip to Uganda, and picked up my mom to take her back to Fort Wayne. That night when we arrived back at the Hobbit Hole, we had to get our manly neighbors to shovel us in, because our alley, driveway, and ramp were piled eight inches high with snow! The next day, after my international Sunday school Christmas party, Mom and I drove down south.

I had planned to leave yesterday to get back to the Hobbit Hole, but then "Snowpocalypse 2014" attacked the Midwest, and with predictions of more than a foot of snow and negative degree temperatures and deadly wind chills, I decided to stay put for a few more days. Kevan and Richard have promised to take me out for an authentic crepes dinner this week to make the delay worth it, and I'm pretty sure they won't disappoint me.

So that's where I've been and where I am! I'll take a couple days to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next, so stay tuned!