Thus far, Christmas break has been busy. Crazy. Ridiculous. Hectic. Insane.
Awesome. I love being home.
My last exam was Wednesday (over two weeks ago! gasp!). I was all set to spend Thursday evening packing and relaxing, but that wouldn’t have been a very Marriana way to do things. Thursday afternoon I got a lovely text from Mama telling me that, surprise surprise, there had been a change of plans. They were on their way to get me. I wasn’t sure if I should even take her seriously at first, but I started packing anyways. Turns out that was a good plan. It’s a good thing I’m so experienced in doing things last minute. I spent half the time freaking out and the other half saying “Psshh. Chill out Marriana. We got this.” Yes. Sometimes I not only talk to myself, but address myself as being multiple people. Hush. Judging is a sin.
Crazy or not, I was right, cause I did got it. (This is me cringing at my grammar genocide.) Just as I finished cramming all my junk into my bags, Mama and Dad Duncan showed up (with baby Judah!!!!!). Half an hour of cleaning our (relatively gross) apartment and we were on the road. We stopped at Cracker Barrel for my first non-caf food in WAY too long, and that’s where Hannah met us. Joy. In. My. Soul. :D
The next morning, Hannah and I were woken by Spiderman himself. It was Joey’s sixth birthday, and be got a Spidy suit. Jealous? You should be. Hannah and I spent the first week teaching Joey and Micah school. It was… and adventure. ;) Micah almost ended up tied to a telephone pole outside a few times, but other than that it was fine. Joey is now AWESOME at knowing that roots grow below the ground, and carrots are roots. I consider it to have been a success.
ALSO: Micah turned 10. He is officially in the double digits, and none of us has had a chance to forget it. In case any of you out there have never experienced little siblings, let me inform you that between the ages of 9 and 13 is what is commonly known as the butt stage. It’s when the child makes it their sole mission in life to be a butt. Micah is exceptionally gifted. We love him though. I’m considering giving Mama rope and duct-tape for Christmas. Just kidding. I think.
Somehow, despite the truth in my opening sentence, break has been much more relaxing than breaks have generally made a habit of being. It’s been crazy for a lot of the time, but I’m thoroughly enjoying ever minute of it. One of my favorite stories thus far has to be the story of the Dragon Tea.
A few days after break started, I started to get sick, and my incredibly thoughtful sister Hannah decided to get me some special wellness tea to help me get better. Not only did she enable my addiction to all things tea, she also found the tea with the single highest antioxidant concentration in America (slight exaggeration may have been added for dramatic effect just then). It’s called Dragon Fruit Melon, and it’s a kind of Green Tea. Little did we know, it is CRAZY full of caffeine. Sunday night, I drank a cup around ten, just as Hannah was heading out to go to a bachelorette party for one of her friends.
Fun fact about Marriana: I clean things. I mean, a lot. Acts of Service is a HUGE one of my love languages. In addition, I clean when I get stressed, or upset, or basically if something is dirty. I’ve been compared to the little cleaning robot from Wall-E (Mo!!! LOVE him!!!). Long story short, when Hannah got home at 2:15am, I was still folding laundry. She told me I was weird. Then she went upstairs. Thirty seconds later I heard her coming right back down, fast. She said, and I quote “W.T.HECK?!!??!??!!!?”
I may or may not have cleaned our entire room, made both beds, organized her desk, and piled her shoes. I also may or may not have been in the process of doing her dirty laundry when she walked in.
It took her a while to process. I don’t think she knew whether she wanted to hug me or punch me in the face. Thankfully, she opted for the first. I have now been completely forbidden to, under any circumstances, drink Dragon Tea after 2pm.
Other than that, I’ve visited my mommy and sisters, been attacked by six siblings at the same time (pinned down and tickled until tears were running down my cheeks), read a good book, played a lot of guitar, stayed up way to late, hugged people I love a thousand times (not near enough), had some amazing conversations, and done some totally pointless things that ended up being wonderful. Praise and worship with my sister, Mass (not daily. ): Need to get back to that before my heart stops beating right.), Scripture. Jesus loves me and I love Him back. Break has been a blessing, and it’s not even half way through. Time is going by fast though, that’s for sure.
I’m not ready for Austria yet. I don’t think anyone is. It’s ok. I’m not worried. I’m having some trouble with my flights, if people wanna throw some prayers out there for that, I’d appreciate it. (:
Mhhmm. Joy. Peace. Family. Advent. Jesus is coming.
WHAT THE HECK.
Christmas Eve is tomorrow. Anybody wanna tell me when that happened? I’m super excited for Christmas. I love surprises, and there are going to be a few of them. (: Not to mention, it’ll be Jesus’ birthday! Wooo! Praise God. He is so good.
