Tomorrow Kurt is heading home for the Holidays. I will be in Michigan till January 3rd. I hope to see as many friends and family as possible. If you are interested in connecting please give me a call or send an email my way. I will have BOTH my cells; the old michigan number and the Oregon one.
So we celebrated Christmas today. My sister is a fight attendent and was on call yesterday…didnt get back until the evening so we werent able to have dinner together. I went to my grandmas apartment and we had some of her amazing spagetti. YUMM! One of my favorites.
Today mom and I went shopping a little bit, Im on the hunt for a nice new jacket. I have my heart set on a North Face jacket…but they are a little spendy so Im going to keep looking. I did however get some nice shades on sale. After that it was over to my sisters…where we celebrated. It was fun watching the girls open their gifts…so much joy so quickly despensed with gifts. They are truly adorable. My favorite moment was after dinner I went into Aidas room and pretended to fall asleep. (though I really could have slept) Both Adia and Zoe came in, pulled up chairs and sat their just looking at me. After about about a minute, I couldnt hold it any longer…I jumped up and they screamed. Then Zoe kept telling me to go back to sleep. Dinner was good. Each Christmas meal is precious, as my grandma who is an excellent cook is aging and probally wont be doing it much longer. Her Christmas cookies are to die for. I hoping to use them to gain the 10 lbs Im trying to gain.
Michigan has been great so far…during the service at NorthRidge Saturday night was literally the first moment I was excited about “Christmas” this year. Yeah I had been excited about alot of other things…but during the drama and the Good Tidings song I was seriously excited about what Christmas REALLY is all about, how it has personally changed my life.
Friday when I came in we went right over to my sisters place to see my beautiful nieces and my grandparents were just as eager to see me as well. It was so nice to see the girls soooo excited to see their uncle kurt. So often i worry they will somehow forget me or not be excited to see me…and yet they were more excited than teenage girls at a Justin Timberlake concert to see me. Jumping and shouting; UNCLE KURT! UNCLE KURT!!! After that I had dinner with two if my favorite ladies on planet earth; Nellie and Catherine. This two are some of the most genuine, loving people I have ever met. We went to Dearborn and ate at my favorite Arab American place…one right down the street from where both of them once lived. We talked alot…about everything. They are the kind of friends that you pick up right where you left off the last time. I dont know how I missed before, maybe I was in denial, but Catherine is going to the Middle East in June of 07! She will be gone four years! YIKES! I dont want this to be the last time i see her in 4 1/2 years.
Saturday slept in. Then it was lunch and hangout with Kristi! We ran errans, did some Christmas shopping. Had alot of fun bringing back old jokes and making some new onees. We then headed over to the Ridge for service. Actually we hung out for the entire first service talking with people and touring “the underground.” (which is the new student area at the church) Then mom showed up and we sat in the 5th row for the service. It was great as usual, loved all of the drama and Brad delievered a great talk on how Jesus came to fix our brokeness. After church, Mary Buzas took Kristi and I out to dinner at Champs…really nice place. Then we went back to her place and watched some of GOC…and laughed a bit till 1am.
Sunday, I went and saw Kristi and Jordan lead worship at NorthPoint’s church plant in Birmingham called Woodward Church. They did great and it was cool to see a new church meeting in a high school theater. After that it was IHOP, YUMMMY….Now Im sitting at Panera.
oh yeah the pharamacy in Portland screwed up my prescription for my cold…put the wrong dosage down…so I wasnt able to get new meds with insurance until Jan 3…but after coughing like crazy (yes even with some blood) and not sleeping well since i been here, we decided to pay FULL price for it…but at least I know it will help and i will be able to get some sleep.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish” Proverbs 29:18a KJV
So now just hours away from coming HOME for Christmas…Im really excited. Its going to seem weird, but Im not going to let that spoil the time I have with everyone…Im just going to have a blast connecting with the people I love MOST. Even though its only been a month it seems like alot longer…and will continue to seem longer… 
I hope to see as many of you as I can, but please understand that my time is limited! I will be at the 11:15 service on Sunday…so hopefully I can connect with alot of you there. I will have both cell phones with me…so call me on either…if ya want to connect. I will be in D-town from the 23rd (Thurs) through the 28th (Tues) evening.
If I dont see you,
May this Christmas be one of the Best of your Life.
Downtown Portland…Pioneer Square
