Conglomeration of SD Travels

it's been a whirlwind visit so far.
thursday: after the plane landed in sioux falls, we visited the humane society. my little nephew, jaden, thought that was pretty cool. then we ate at panera bread - always good food. then a visit to the local Christian books store. then a stop at the beauty supply store for my mom. oh, and somewhere in there we stopped at the grocery store and 2 goodwill stores. then home to see derrick and skylar. we had a great dinner, then hung out.

friday: left about 8 am to drive to hartford to visit the swiers. laura was the only one up when i arrived, so we had fun chatting and catching up on life. it was really great to see her and the rest of the family again. dave has been diagnosed with cancer cells in his lymphnodes, so he's going for treatment. friday was his first day of this treatment. the highlight for this day was when we all gather togethered and prayed for dave and me. in the afternoon, we all packed up and headed into sioux falls to help sheri with her new house. laura and i helped to paint one wall in nolen's room. it's a great house, and working together with one of my adopted families was great. those kids are like my siblings. on the way back to colman, it started to freeze and the roads were a bit slippery. after being gone from SD for 5 years, driving on slippery roads is a bit tricky. i arrived to discover my mom had brought my cousin, lexi, home with her. so lexi and i got to hang out and play cards all night. it was pretty fun. she's growing up to be a great kid.

Saturday: took all morning to prepare for the Christmas fandango at 4 pm in madison. about 2, my uncle ron brought 2 of his boys by our house. i hadn't seen eric in about 15 years, and i still remembered him. it was great to see him again. we laughed about spending so much time having fun doing nothing. and matt is now 5'10". last time i saw him he was about 5'. guess it's been too long.

before the party, we had to make a quick stop at pamida so i could buy lexi her first watch. she was so excited about it, and i loved getting to buy it for her. i remember my uncle ron bought me my first watch when i was about her age. and it was pink like lexi's.

ron and the boys were for the first ones to arrive for the party, so we all set up the decorations and silverware. the turkey was late arriving, but nobody cared. being late is pretty regular in my family. we had a great Christmas. family and food, fellowship and re-connecting with people i've not seen in a long time. the highlight for this day was when my cousin, tatia, leaned over to me and asked, "what's your favorite Bible verse?" it was very random, but it was really cool to get the opportunity to share this with my 19 year old cousin. btw, my favorite verse is Romans 13.14 "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature." she shared that she really enjoys 1 cor. 13... a reminder of how she is to love.

sunday: got up early and went to church. got to meet several of my parent's friends. i'm so glad that God led them to the church where they call 'home'. they are connected to this church, and their lives are changed because of it. the message was about moving from your comfort zone. seemed quite fitting. ;) after church we went to eat at the rollin' pin with Cheryl and Lynn. they are a neat couple from the Church at the Gate. then, of course we had to do some more shopping. we returned to hyvee, and ran into my uncle ron. he bought me a tazo chai from starbucks. good times! then a trip to wal-mart and menards. now we are finally back in colman.

i have mixed feelings about tonight - new year's eve. staying here with my parents just doesn't seem like the most fun thing to do - since they'll be sleeping by 10.30. guess bringing in the new year, just me and Jesus, isn't such a bad thing.

so, that's the run down so far.