Christmas, Come and Gone...

Well, so ends our first Christmas 'sans' family, or as the Spanish say .. ' con hacia fuera'. (according to the translator on jay's MAC...)

We spent Christmas eve with friendly strangers (which pretty much encompasses how we've been living lately anyways.) We were graciously invited over to a pastor's home for finger foods and fellowship with some others our age who attend our host families church. It was a warm, fun time, filled with laughing children and (Jay's highlight) a Ducati (Ferrari Motorcycle) owned by the pastor himself. Jay has lovingly coined him as the 'fastest pastor in California'. Incidentally, motorcycles are great for getting around the more populated areas here, since it's totally legal for them to drive in between the lanes when the rest of traffic is bumper 2 bumper... so now I fear Jay has a motorcycle bug in his brain...

Christmas Day was a relaxing drive around the beachie area's near where we'll be living (in Point Loma). We toured three different areas. The first was VERY touristy and clean and green, Mission Bay park (I think) was very beautiful, and we had lunch, talked to our Huzil Family back in Sherwood Park and got our picture taken about 20 times by some Russian tourist who didn't speak a word of English except a pretty broken 'Merry Christmas' and lots of smiles.

Our second 'drive-by' (no stopping at this one) was a little hairier, more rougher beach, with the sorts of 'beach-bumms' that actually don't have homes and walk around with their pants down under their bumms instead of covering their white bums like normal people. (no pictures of this one!)

The third, last and most exquisite stop was along the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. The very edge of the continent, with houses lining the curvy street (worth, I'm sure multi-millions). The scenery here was a spectacular view of a seemingly never ending ocean, red ruddy cliffs and crashing tides that would swell and mercylessly pound the rocks below us. The sea has carved some amazing architectural calligraphy into the sides of North America. Once again, I felt close to God, and I feel like I could stare out into the never ending blue shimmering forever.

We ended our Christmas with a good meal (I cooked pasta), and just spent some good time together -- no gifts to give each other but ourselves. We feel so blessed everyday when we wake up in the home we're staying in. So, we wish you all the best, this week will be preparing for our move, which happens Jan. 2nd (so one week from today!!) For those that do, please pray for a good solid job for Jay, as we're needing to start thinking about getting those types of things set up for the new year, so we can actually stay here =)