Idaho: The Land Where Dreams Come True.

The top 5 most exciting highlights from my Thanksgiving weekend jaunt to Kennewick, WA and Nampa, ID with Mark, Cindy, Corrin, and Paula Spencer (in no particular order):

1. Holiday football games. Not that any of them were too exciting, with the Lions performing so poorly, Craig Krenzel getting injured, and the Seahawks making a rather pitiful Sunday showdown. BUT, I realize I really do love football, and for whatever reason, I find it very easy to get excited about.

2. Spending approximately 25 hours in the car with the Spencer family. By the drive home yesterday, I decided that if we were an episode of "Full House," Corrie could be D.J., Paula could be Stephanie, and I could be Kimmy Gibler. I really did feel like a long-lost cousin by the end of the trip. Mark laughingly told his mother that I had been officially initiated into the family and endured all the necessary hazing. I think it was I who actually initiated them...praise the Lord they were tolerant and receptive to five days worth of my stories and jokes.

3. Campus Life--our weekend in Idaho was spent at Homecoming 2004 of Northwest Nazarene University. We watched basketball games, saw a campus play and frolicked in the Idaho snow. It made me very nostalgic for the joys of college life and inspired me to continue praying about and learning about Graduate programs for some future time.

4. Thanksgiving Dinner--I had three Thanksgiving dinners in eight days, and I'm really overwhelmed with the gloriousness of Thanksgiving dinner. In a way, I think it really is my favorite holiday, because it's not nearly as overwhelming and material as Christmas, AND, it seems to be all about anticipation--because it finally means we can sing Christmas songs and watch Christmas movies and people won't think we're weird. (I have already watched Christmas with the Kranks, Home Alone, and Love Actually in honor of Christmas.)

5. Snow. We saw lots of snow this weekend in Idaho and drove through a lot of snow at the Meachem pass in Oregon. In Western Washington, there is very little snow...but to see snow in Idaho and Oregon--well, my heart rejoiced a bit...and it rejoiced even more knowing that my Christmas will be in the Midwest and I will not want for snow after that.