Breaking Down Christmas Break

The last few days have finally felt like I am truly on a break from school. 

What a beautiful experience it is to have rest! 

Yesterday, due to the good fortune of delayed airplane flights, 

I was blessed to spend an entire afternoon 

with my dear friend, and my Resident Assistant at school, Ruth. 

{this is what it looked like, with tea and yummy soup to sprinkle it with some flava flave}

It was a pure 

de~light 

to hear how her heart is being 

strengthened

as she has experienced the greater extent of her 

weaknesses

throughout this semester. 

How grateful I am to know a woman like her!

~~~~~~~~~~

Today was a day for catching up and traditions. 

I snegged lunch and some time in one of my favorite

hometown spots with an old friend.

{looking out on my city, so lovely}

 Sean has been such a good friend my whole life. 

We realized today that we literally went to school

together from preschool until high school graduation.

He's the only one I've had that with.

What a joy to have such consistency in my life. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight was an evening of family. 

One of my favorite Christmas rituals each year.

An evening pre-Christmas spent

with some dear family friends.

They are such wonderful people.

We always consume copious amounts of

 bread rolls, soup and sparkling apple cider.

White Elephant gifts are exchanged. 

And Bingo is played to a mad happy extent. 

Christmas seems to be a time when 

family 

doesn't just mean you have to be related. 

When we got back, my mom had 

pre-Christmas gifts

 for me and my sibbas to open.

*GIANT* Gingerbread Men!!!

{mine had weird bumpies on it's face, all gb men are different}

We cranked up the Christmas music 

and channeled our inner-cookie-decorating skills. 

I decided to make mine into a gingerbread grandfather. 

Gb's age too, ya know? 

I started with his heart and then made eyebrows. 

And suspenders. 

Those are the things that matter you know? 

Oh and his left arm is in a cast. 

He fell whilst playing Christmas bocce ball in the snow. 

{whattastud}

It has been a thoroughly joy-filled week. 

I am grateful for each moment...

the tastes...

the smells...

the images...

the people...

and the hugs, always the hugs. 

{grateful and ever so blessed is this Maddy in this pre-Christmas time}

A Time for Laughter

Today was a day for loving Jesus more. 

Today was a day for loving Jesus more by spending time with dear people. 

Today was a day for loving Jesus more by spending time 

with dear people in deep moments of laughter.

Today was a good day. 

There were moments of quiet and conversation 

with my dear roomy and friend, Rinny. 

{Just before we "embarked" on the journey of building our couch. Ha, that was good.}

Simple words exchanged. 

Serious words exchanged.

Many silly giggley smiles. 

Nearly four hours were spent in catchy-uppy conversation with sweet Hilary.

{Our day of adventurous statue hunting.}

Hearing about her trip to Argentina 

and sharing about my experience at Hume 

were high on the list of verbal priorities. 

It was such a joy to strive to slow our words to

keep up with the joy in our hearts.

The evening involved so many silly moments with my girl Melanie. 

Adventuring to a boy's room with the expectation of

 seeing its fantastical setup

surprised us...

when there was no boy to be found in the room. 

Rather there were nearly ten girls watching Tangled together. 

Awkward...but followed by oh so much laughter. 

The capstone of this joyous day was a skypefest with Melanie and Jax. 

{This was taken on a trip down from Hume Lake to Cat Haven. 

I demanded a 'stache picture since they were dragging me down to a cat zoo.}

These pretty ladies were my close friends all summer long.

It was a grand time of story-telling and life-sharing.

Our laughter echoed throughout the hall of my dorm. 

I'm so thankful for friends like all of these, 

and so many others. 

Sweet souls that make my heart giggle. 

I can't help but think that God must have been smiling from heaven. 

I wonder if His laugh is ever a solo...

(which I'm sure would be killer to hear)

or maybe his laugh is heard in the melodic harmonies

 of the joy-overwhelmed bellows of his children. 

In that case, I very much enjoyed the 

laughter-chorus 

I worshipped Him with today. 

(( giggle-FULL is this happy heart))

I've Got the Joy Down in My Heart...and Exploding Through My Fingertips

Oh my goodness.

It's another one of those incredible days.

The extremely explosively joyful ones that involve a lack of ability to communicate.

I need an emotional popsicle again.

God has created to me to very much thrive off of being around people.

It has been a good day for extraverted me.

So many rich and deep and beautiful and didactic conversations.

I feel so blessed and overwhelmed and joyful and...

words fail at capturing the sheer elation.

My body is responding with a strong desire to frolic for hours.
((I am thankful for the great people in my life who let me explode
and tolerate my claims to joy every fifteen minutes....)

The morning began with a beautiful service at church 

that perfectly captured the grandness of God's word and 

the Holy Spirit's involvement in the lives of His people.

I spent a relaxing and full lunch hour with dear

friends in rich conversation

about how we relate to people

and the way that God has created and taught

us each to do that in different ways.

A pineapple pursuit brought me to the grocery store

where I had an encouraging conversation with the lady rang me up 

((who is a Christian))

and felt blessed in blessing her.

I spent a grand hour with my good friends Deb, Allison, Kelly and Alicia.

Wonderful women whom I have grown close to throughout my life.

The evening ended with a glorious time at the Cheesecake Factory

for some fabulous dessert and solid fellowship with

my Torrey group.

Dear friends who have become my family in the last LONG months.

There are like fifty synonyms for joy and none of them are sufficing. 

I feel like it's a little taste of heavenly joy...

ultimately indescribable...

so rooted in the work of Christ in my life...

and the beauty of the people he has placed in it.

((joyxplosive is this heart))