36 Hours!

Last weekend, I realized how much I could do in 36 hours - I flew to Virginia and back to California and was in Virginia for a grand total of 36 hours! Joshua and I were invited to three different weddings on three different weekends in October (all in Virginia), and I really wanted to be at a least one of them. Well, as it turned out, since I have no vacation time at work, and two of the weddings were held on Sunday evenings, I ended up flying back for Joanna and Chad's wedding, which was beautiful!

I left Sacramento at 11:00 pm Friday night and I arrived at Dulles International Airport at 7:00 am Saturday morning. I picked up my rental car, and drove to my parents' house where I hung out for a couple of hours. Then I drove to the wedding in Maryland and had a great time since I hadn't seen anyone from Virginia since June when we drove to the other side of the continent! It was hard to believe that I was actually back on the East Coast. Anyway, after the wedding, I headed back to my parents and had a relaxing time with them and my sister Louisa, who in the time I have been gone has grown about 3 - 4 inches! She's catching up to me! Since I knew I would be having a packed day on Sunday, I stayed up as late as I could, which considering the red eye flight the night before meant I was functioning on little sleep. But it was worth it.

On Sunday, we went to church, and I saw most everyone from our Wednesday night shepherd group. I was able to see our friends Courtney and Eric who got married at one of the Sunday night weddings in October, and see how pregnant Elizabeth is. (She and Matt are having their first in February!) After church, my family and I had a quick lunch, and I drove to see our friends Tom, Mary and Carol Shumaker. I almost didn't go over to their house due to time, but I am so thankful I did. Tom is struggling with cancer, and as of Sunday he looked ok, but he is now back in the hospital, and everyone is waiting to hear the results from the latest tests. All of the Shumakers are dear friends, and Tom has been a special part of our life. The Lord's will will be done.

After visiting with the Shumakers, I drove to our friends' Jonathan and Christine's house to get together with our Tuesday night Bible study. It was great to fellowship with everyone. Jonathan and Christine's little Timothy is crawling and has changed so much since June. Kate is very pregnant now, and it was fun to see all of the couples. We miss both of our Bible studies so much!

I left that gathering and drove to the airport. My plane left Virginia around 7:30 pm, 36 hours after I arrived. It is good to be back home, especially since Joshua couldn't come with me.

I realized during my time in Virginia that I am feeling more like California is my home. I miss my family, and it was wonderful to see my mom face to face when we were talking. I miss friends from HSLDA and PHC, I miss our Bible studies and church, but life has changed. California is beautiful, we have jobs here that we like, we have a church, and God has been working on my heart to allow me to feel at home here. It was hard coming back to California, but my life is here now. Joshua and I are together, and I know that our home will be wherever both of us are.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to visit this last weekend. To all of you that I didn't see, maybe we'll see you in December at Christmas time, but remember that you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Yes, we are coming back at Christmas!! We'll be back from December 21- 28!!!