The Yuletide Gay

January 13, 2014

The Yuletide Gay

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Make the Yuletide gay

From now on our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days

Happy golden days of yours

Faithful friends who are dear to us

Gather near to us once more

We recently returned to DC from spending almost two weeks with friends and family in and on the way home from Oklahoma. The 20-plus hours traveling each way were easy, and the holidays were fun and relaxing. No crazy stories or catastrophes, thankfully.

As I think back on our little journey, what stands out to me is the friends we got to see. Some of them still live in Oklahoma, and some of them were visiting family, as we were. All of them impress and inspire me in one way or another, and our holiday memories are richer because we got to spend time with them. So let me tell you a little bit about ...

Brandon and Tara. Friends since college. They live in the Kansas City area and have two daughters. Tara went back to school as a mom of two to become a librarian. She now works in a school with a large population of low-income and homeless children, opening their worlds to books. Like us, Brandon and Tara love music and concerts. They are building a house. We had dinner with them at the Iguana in OKC the first night of our stay--just the grown-ups.

Stephanie. She was in Harvey's youth group in Norman, and Harvey officiated her wedding a year and a half ago. She taught in Tulsa her first year out of college, when we were living there. She now teaches kindergarten in the inner-city school that was my neighborhood school when I was a child. She has her master's and is working on her Ph.D. She has a passion for educating underprivileged and homeless children. She adopted a blind dog named Louis. I had coffee with Stephanie in OKC and we talked for hours.

Rob and Lisa. Children's ministers and workers at our former church. They took care of Gracie and Judah from birth in the Calvary nursery and also loved and nurtured Tabitha and Benjamin from the beginning. They have been faithful to keep up with us and check on us regularly since our move. They each have an aging mother they care for, and they have four grown children, all serving God in different ways. One is in the process of adopting a special needs child. Another just returned from a mission trip in Rwanda. We met Rob and Lisa at a barbecue joint in downtown Tulsa, one of our favorite places to be, with some of our favorite people.

Rob and Lisa with the kids

Chas and Robin. Friends from our Tulsa neighborhood. Chas owns a landscaping/lawn care company and builds and remodels houses. He also owns the lot next to our house in Brady Heights. Robin stays home with their three kids. They lead their church's ministry to inner-city teenagers, regularly hosting youth in their home and mentoring and discipling them. They're the family we stayed with during our Tulsa visit last summer, and this time they had us over for dinner. Our kids are close friends with theirs and their house is always a fun and warm place to be.

Randal and Minon. Friends since college. Randal was a Journeyman (two-year missionary out of college) in Mongolia. I worked in Minon's law office for about nine months in Tulsa before I had Judah. They have three kids and for the past two years have been working on bringing two more home from Haiti through adoption. This process has brought them much heartache and pain, but they are not giving up on their two Haitian children. They opened their South Tulsa home to us for two nights between Christmas and New Year's so we could spend a little time in our hometown and visit our church. They are generous and fun and full of love and joy in spite of their adoption struggles ... something familiar to us.

Jerry and Michele. Friends since college. Jerry is in the Navy and regularly has long-term assignments overseas, leaving Michele and their four kids in the states. They've lived in Florida, South Carolina, and Virginia, now in the Chesapeake area. We have visited them several times, including last Easter, and our kids are best buddies. They also came to DC last summer to see us. Always hospitable and gracious. Our family gathered with theirs, Randal and Minon's, and one other family at Jerry's parents' house in Beggs. The other family was ...

Scott and Carrie's. Friends since college. Scott's a lawyer and Carrie stays home with their three kids. Currently building a house in Mounds, OK. Recently transitioned to to the world of homeschooling (while building a home--sounds like a challenge to me)! Planning a visit to see us sometime this year.

Four families, fourteen kids

Dave and Jenni. Jenni was my childhood friend. After college at Baylor, she moved to the San Francisco area and met Dave, who's from there. They now live in Concord, CA, where they're raising three kids. Both teach at Catholic high schools in San Francisco (Dave, Bible; Jenni, French and English) where their traditional, conservative Catholic beliefs and practices are regularly questioned and criticized. They love the outdoors and all the Bay area has to offer. We met them for dinner in OKC and loved talking faith and parenting and politics with them. We were the last ones sitting in the restaurant that night, chatting away. You can do that when you leave the kids with their grandparents.

Dan and Brandi. Friends since college. Dan's an education professor and Brandi's a nurse and they have two kids. They came and spent a week with us in DC last summer. They had us over for pizza and we got to see their new home in Edmond. They are kind and creative and we always have interesting, challenging conversations.

Aaron and Jessica. Went to OBU with us but we didn't really get to know them until they served on staff at the church in Norman where Harvey was youth pastor. Aaron was working on his master's in philosophy at OU at the time, and he came to Immanuel as the part-time music minister. Since this was pre-kids, we had lots of uninterrupted time to spend together to do things like share meals, watch TV, and write screenplays. They now live in Xenia, Ohio, where Aaron is a college professor and Jessica does writing and editing part-time from home. They have two adorable girls. We have been to visit them many times, and they came to DC for a visit last summer. They are smart and funny and always welcoming. And Jess makes great pizza bites. This trip we stopped for a few hours at their house so Harvey could rest after driving overnight and we could complete the trip home to DC the same day.

With Callie and Maddie in Xenia, Ohio

So those are some of our friends from Oklahoma, at least the ones we saw during this holiday season. I'm amazed that somehow we've managed to make friends with so many great people--not just the ones I mentioned but others we didn't cross paths with this time and the ones in Washington. The only way I can explain it is God's goodness and grace, giving us friends who encourage us to be better, who inspire us to follow their example as in different ways they follow his.

So we had a merry little Christmas, a Yuletide gay, happy golden days. And much of it was due to our faithful friends who are dear to us. Thanks for gathering near.

And here are a few other Christmas pics, for good measure:

Christmas at home in DC before the trip