Hearing from an old friend...

Have you ever noticed how nice it is to hear from an old friend...someone you hadn't spoken to in years - and then, out of nowhere, you hear from them, and you remember the sweetness of the person and their friendship - and even if you were friends with them through a rough time in life, you remember their kindness and gentleness - and that time doesn't seem so rough in retrospect?...

I definitely think it's one of the more joy-bringing experiences in life. Realizing that, maybe it's time for me to reach out to some old friends that I haven't spoken to in ages...friends from high school, or Young Life...Speaking of Young Life, I miss it...I miss investing in lives that way. One of my discipleship girls, Lauren, is getting married in May - and she sent me an encouraging email the other day, telling me about the fruit that she bore, as a Christian - one of her discipleship girls...who is now investing in other girls...and has her own discipleship girls - and Lauren traced the chain back to my investment in her life...it's so encouraging to see what God can do with people's lives...I told Lauren that it didn't stop with me...but that the chain went back through my YL leaders, Glynda and Lisa...and certainly those who invested in their lives. And it's not just my YL leaders, but the people who invested in my life along the way - like Wendi and Aimee and Amy Scherr. It's just cool to see the interconnectivity - and it's a testament to how we are all in need of one another. It makes me want to get connected again with YL. I know that work makes it virtually impossible - especially since I'll be travelling a lot in the upcoming months...but wow, I need to invest...in people. :)

Not a whole lot else is going on here w/J and I...we're headed to Ohio for Christmas, as usual. Looks like Saturday, we'll do lunch with his family, and then Sunday will be spent at my aunt's and then at my mom's for Christmas with my sister, brother, brother-in-law, mom, and nephews. I'm pretty excited about it all :) J keeps telling me that he has some "great surprises" for me...which is a switch from last year - last year, I had "the perfect" gift for him, and he was struggling to shop for me - it's the opposite this year :) But I have some ideas up my sleeve. However, 30 years from now I am definitely going to have to drop this insane desire to get him "the perfect" gift...because I believe I will have used up all the "awesome" gifts out there by that time!! :)

For those of you who haven't seen it, here is J and my Christmas picture w/the "kids" :) It looks like we are strangling them, but I promise, we're not. :) They're just not quite camera-friendly :) Merry Christmas!!! :)