The Elder and the Deacon

In other news, Chris and I have been elected to serve in different leadership capacities at our church, First and Trinity Presbyterian in South Orange. I had been asked to be a part of the Session, the governing body of the church, and agreed to put my name forward for the election. When the lists were distributed, it was clear that not only was there no competition, but that there was actually room for more candidates on the list of both Elders (Session members) and Deacons (the group that provides pastoral care within the congregation). By the time this part of the rawther long annual congregational meeting had arrived, Chris had left to take Wendy to an appointment and to go with Fer to an open house at the local Catholic school. So, after a fast and furious exchange of text messages, I got clearance to nominate him from the floor and did so. So, we are now Elder Weeks and Deacon Weeks, but given my recent obsession with historical fiction (specifically about medieval English times) I think I still prefer to be addressed as "my lady mother" or "my lady wife," depending on who is doing the addressing. Sadly no takers yet as Fer and Wendy somehow still insist on calling me "Mami" and Chris seems committed to "sweetie", but a girl can hope.

Gigi's Birthday

We had a wonderful day in NYC celebrating Gigi's birthday. She treated me and the girls to see "Annie", which was amazing as only Broadway can be in costumes, sets, singing and dancing, though a bit odd in its perspective on orphanhood and adoption. But the girls really liked it, and "Annie" was one of the first movies they saw in English and a favorite for awhile so they knew all the songs and generally knew the story. I remember when Fer first saw the movie she was so offended by the quality of Miss Hannigan's orphanage where Annie and the other children were, pronouncing it "muy feo!" (very ugly!) with the clear implication that her orphanage had been far superior.

After our "Annie" adventure we met up with more family and friends for a celebration Chinese dinner on the Upper West Side. A good time was had by all!

Outside the theater in Times Square:

Birthday dinner:

Scripture for the Season

In honor of the last day of Christmas (January 6, Three Kings Day), I thought I would post the verses that have been running through my head since early December because this year, particularly, they have felt so true. And thanks to my parents' dedication to classical music and especially Handel's Messiah, the words have been running through my head in song:

Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed . . .

We have been through some hard valleys and some very rough places in the last 3 years, and we are still climbing the mountain together, but we rejoice that at least some of our valleys are now exalted and some of our rough places are now made plain. Though there is much more to come in our journey together, we had such a wonderful Advent and Christmas season that we can only give thanks.

Only One Direction in 2013!

Fer invited 3 friends over yesterday to immerse themselves in all things One Direction (the British boy band, for those of you not in contact with the tween/teen set these days) -- one of her friends brought the action figures, another the fan magazine, another brought various accessories, and of course, Fer had her concert DVD from Christmas. After time spent poring over the magazine and playing with the action figures while Wendy and her friend ate the candy off the gingerbread house as consolation for not being involved, the 6 of them enjoyed a screening of the concert, singing along for most of it. The evening turned into an impromptu sleepover, which, though a bit taxing for Mami, was well worth it in encouraging these friendships for Fer. It has taken some time, but she has connected with a really nice group of girls at her school. We are really proud of how she has built up these friendships -- when we moved from South Orange in June 2011, she had to leave her beloved friend Emily and for the first part of last year, it seemed she missed Emily so much that it was hard to think of having new friends. When I would go to pick her up in Aftercare she would often be on her own, drawing. But this year when I go to get her she is always with this little group of girls from her grade, all of them sitting together talking and drawing and writing. The other girls are all in Girl Scouts and Fer joined the troop this year as well, another way that she was willing to extend herself as last year she refused, and it has been a really nice way to see friends and spend more time outside of school. As Harry, Liam, Niall, Louis and Zayn (Fer's favorite) would say, there's only One Direction in 2013: Up!

Festivus in Virginia

Earlier in December, our brother-in-law Terrill fell and hurt his leg, and has since not been able to travel. We were going to go ahead with Festivus in South Orange, missing the Gosas, but then Jack and Deb's dog needed medical attention and it just wasn't going to work for them to come. Terrill had the idea of moving the party to Virginia and we were so happy to be able to visit them there. We had hoped that Brian and Marykate could join us there as well, but they got turned back to Philly by a snowstorm Saturday morning. So, our determined remnant celebrated as best we could. For the Feats of Strength, a few of us took a walk, and since I didn't bring any beans with me for the Festivus Bean, we settled for an almond and dubbed the finder (Terrill) "nuts about Festivus!" It was a great mini-vacation though we really missed the family who couldn't be there. Looking forward to the next get-together!

Boxing Day Brunch

Christine hosted a brunch the day after Christmas -- another chance for all of us to be together and enjoy some time.

Christmas Day in Tivoli

After opening presents and spending some time in South Orange Christmas morning, most notably enjoying Fer's One Direction concert DVD, we packed up and headed to Tivoli for the rest of Christmas Day. We stayed with Christine and Matt this time, a first for us all and so much fun, and we had a great time celebrating with much of the extended family on Gigi's side.

Two pictures of the adults at dinner as Christine and I took turns with the camera:

The kids' table:

Some before dinner conversation and revelry: