Twenty Days
Twenty days ago is the date of my last post. Though I feel I am something of a slacker, I had good reasons to disregard you, my poor readers. However, if I gave them here they would turn into excuses so I won’t. Instead, I shall inform you about my escapades these last two weeks.
Week 1: Fall Retreat
This week led up to the fall retreat, and annual retreat that my church holds for our senior high and junior high (separate trips of course) in Dayton IA and Aurora NE. The senior high goes to Dayton for the weekend so I got it off work. To keep up my hours though I had to work Monday-Thursday seven or eight hours shifts (icky). But, once those were finally over, after class on Friday i went home, packed, and left town for the weekend. I shan’t go into great detail on this but it was an amazing weekend. It was so great to just have some time with my church small group and relax a little bit, play Kajabe, listen to a great speaker from California, and just rejenerate a bit in my faith.
Week 2: Thanksgiving
I came about an inch to working on Thanksgiving, a major bummer for sure. But since I’d asked for it about a month and a half before my boss gave it to me off, which I am extremely happy about still 
Between classes that week and work and the Fall Retreat the weekend before, I was beat and ready for a break. So Thanksgiving rolls around and I get to sleep in ’til ten (woot woot right? well when it’s usually seven or six, ten is pretty good). My sister drove up from Oklahoma, my brother came home too, and my family was all gathered up with my step-grandpa and that was it. Ten people. But, man, that was the best Thanksgiving ever!
We all ate food and talked a bunch and then we broke out the board games. We played Risk mostly, and speed Scrabble, and I don’t know why, but that has been one of my best days this year. I suppose it’s one of those things, we just have to take a day sometimes and spend time with our family, our loved ones. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, just full and happy and spending time together.
Then the next day after I got off work, we put up our Christmas tree. It is utterly divine! and my older sister and brother went crazy and wrapped three long strings of lights around it…
I had another thanksgiving that Sunday with my dad’s side of the family (considerably more people) and then I hit this week, which I shall publish later this afternoon or tomorrow because it was a nightmare (I blame school!… and procrastination I guess…).
Right now I wanted to dedicate a small portion of my blog in memory of the Von Maur shooting last Christmas time. December 5th, 2007, eight people were killed by a gunman in the Westroads branch of Von Maur and several others were injured. Today our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these victims and with the people who saw the terrible things there. May this Christmas be one of continued healing and solace for everyone involved and abroad as we mourn, remember, and pray. God’s blessings be with you all.
Sarah
