becka lippy

Im sitting in bed at the moment watching The Office with Magda. She's complaining that I'm not paying attention. We decided to make our own tradition for Christmas. We stayed in, made mac'n'cheese, and watched The Office. Of course, being the "old hags" that we are, we fell asleep quite  early. But overall it was a nice Christmas. I know it's not the normal traditional Christmas that one might expect. But living overseas, living far away from family, means you have to make your own traditions. So yesterday, Christmas Eve, is the day that chileans celebrate. Usually they all get together with their families, all cousins included. It's amazing to me how extended the families can get here. Somehow people end up siting at the Christmas dinner table with their half brother's wife's brother-in-law's daughter from his first marriage. That's not so much my case (yet). But I do have my own little version of "family" here.

I don't like goodbyes. I assume few people "like" goodbyes. But you would think that after so many moves to new countries, that I would be used to saying goodbye to people. But I haven't. This week I have to say goodbye to two dear friends of mine. Beth and Derek came to Chile to work with ISA (my church) for two years. Sadly, their two years have come to an end and this Saturday they will return to Australia. My relationship with them is funny. We never really hung out much outside of church stuff, but being on the equipo pastoral (pastoral team) together knitted us together in a special way. I have cried to Beth and shared parts of my heart with her that no one else has seen. And Derek has become more than a trustworthy advisor to me. On Friday I went to their going-away shindig at a club. A group of us from ISA went together and we danced and laughed and had a great time. But it was incredibly sad to remember why we were there. I know life will continue, but

I work and rest in a binge/purge fashion. Today was more of a rest day. I got some work done around my apartment this morning, dealt with a few work emails, and spent a good amount of time this morning up at the pool with my bible. It was pretty sweet. I read through part of Revelation, which we are going through in our church. And part of Hebrews, which we will be covering this year in the Lael conference. And I listened to a few sermons on Colossians. In one of the sermons, the pastor challenged us to examine our lives to see what stirs our affections toward Jesus, and what kills our affections toward Jesus. Interesting to think through... Normally, as a faithful workaholic, a pool day is not acceptable. But today, it was so nice to just spend the day with God, laying by the pool (with lots of sunblock mom!) and just enjoy His creation. For the most part I was alone at the pool and I would jump into the pool every half an hour or so. But I didn't jump elegantly, or cautiou