We had an apocalyptic storm on Christmas Eve—for more than five hours, a fierce thunder and rainstorm raged around us and over 24 hours we had 5 inches of rain. There has been extensive flooding in the area and though the worst we got was water in our garage and Sherod’s shop, it is sobering to think that these are the kinds of storms that come with climate change. Even if I chalk this up to El Niño, I am convinced we’re moving into a new normal.

Services went on as scheduled, our sweet girl Maria had a place in the early Christmas Eve service, helping to ring bells with joy and gusto during the Sanctus. She did well on this longer visit and I miss her desperately, now that she is back in Ft. Lauderdale. We continue to gather the information to look at a move for my dad with some setbacks and some surprises, but overall, with a growing sense of clarity. All of this is woven into the regular patterns of work and worship at Ascension.

Somehow, it made for an absolutely wonderful Christmas even if one far less jolly and festive than in years past. I think probably, that’s the way it should be, given such heartache in the world.

In a while, cousins I haven’t seen for over a decade will arrive from North Carolina to spend New Years Eve with us. There’s a shrimp boil in the offing, Sherod will watch is Alabama game, at some point we will toast the New Year and then, some sleep. It feels like a life-time was crammed into a single year, when I consider where we were on January 1^st of 2015. The word for 2016 is resilience—you take a few steps back to gain momentum and then jump again. So here goes…