Home!

It's nice to be home for Christmas--my bed feels good, the house looks beautiful (thanks to our daughter Elizabeth and her friend Dana Earl who flew from Utah to have Christmas ready for us). The lights outside are all up--thousands of them, carefully strung by our son Andy, and his sons Blair and Ben, our son-in-law Chris, and his sons Alex, Nate, and Jeremy.  Jenny had stocked the frig with everything we love, including blueberries, blackberries and raspberries--lots of them.  Katie had placed fresh flowers, hydrangeas, and orchids in all the right places.  It is spectacular inside and out.  Laguna is as charming as ever, always enhanced by the beauty of the Christmas season. We have been blessed with beautiful sunsets, as well as much needed rain.

Our wonderful family has greeted us with so much love, and we feel gratitude beyond measure that we can be home with them.  The grandchildren have all added inches and pounds and beauty.  Being in Church with our dear friends of so many years, was like a bit of heaven.

There is a slight restlessness in my soul, however.  I realize part of me has been left in India--I miss the children, the warm rain (we've frozen since we have been here), the wild roads, the cows, the colors and the Indian people.  Our landscapes down the freeways look like backdrops, waiting for someone to bring their paintbox and add the color and the excitement--even the garbage!! The driving is so orderly... and boring! The quiet is almost unnerving.   Who would have guessed! 

It's good to be home for the holidays... but for a few more months beginning in the middle of January, it will be good to return to a land we have truly learned to love.  

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas--at this wonderful time of year, we rejoice in the gift of God's Son.  All of His children are precious--those near, and those far away. May you feel the peace and joy of His love.

Lovingly, Joyce and Ron