Only 354 more days until Christmas happens all over again!

Phew, Christmas is over... Mom is upstairs cleaning with a vengence. I guess that means I should finish unpacking from coming home from Africa! There's just been so much Christmas fun that I haven't gotten around to it yet!

On the Friday between Christmas and New Year's, my dad and I took my two older nephews to COP to ski/board. They were boarding, me and dad went old-school style skiiing. We were definitely the minority on the hill! I think they need to make a little "holding pen" at the top of the lifts to keep all the boarders in while they stick their foot in their bindings. It was actually hard to find a way through the wall of boarders sitting on the snow to actually start going down the hill. Skiing at COP definitely isn't quite like skiing in the "real" mountains, but there's something kinda cool about skiing and enjoying the view over the city, and then having a 5 minute drive back home at the end of the day!

For New Year's, we celebrated a "Newfie New Year", since we're getting too old to stay up too late, and the kids are too young to stay up too late. So we found a radio station from Newfoundland online, and joined in the countdown at 8:30pm our time! Then the kids went to bed, the adults cleaned up a bit, and then sat around, watched some episodes of Smallville, and went to bed just after our own midnight! I think I'm going to do Newfie New Year every year - afterall, I really should celebrate my Newfie roots more often...

Over New Year's, we spent a lot of time just sitting around and being together and watching Smallville on my computer! There always seems to be dishes to wash, too, My sister does an amazing job at cooking and providing amazing food for us to eat all the time when we're hanging out at her place, so the least mom and I can do is try to keep the dishes clean... not an easy feat when there are 10 people living together in the house!
I also had a great opportunity to share in a small church service about my work in Africa. It was a real encouragement to have the opportunity to talk with people and tell them a little more about why I work in Africa and what God is doing there in me and through me.

And now that the holidays are over... it's back to work! But I'm not sure exactly what that looks like for the next few weeks... I think it's just about time to start making lists of everything that needs to be done and procured before heading back to Africa!