Highs & lows: fall 2013

During small group time with the high school girls, we'll often start off sharing highs & lows of our week. Everyone usually enjoys this time as there is a collective sense of relief in sharing the low and saying the hard thing out loud as well as a sense of joy in recounting the high. We share, we listen, we pray. It's simple and refreshing.

Before I share about the holidays and our Boston trip, here are the Norris highs & lows for the fall. I'll start with the lows...

The demise of our washing machine. This is only a semi-low as we got to purchase a new one to replace it. I do miss the character the old one brought to the house though. You could tell the load was nearing the end of it's cycle when the house started shaking.

Hokie football. No further comment necessary.

Redskins football. Enough said.

Steve's work schedule. Earlier this season, he traveled to Utah and Minnesota multiple times. The business trips were productive and good for the health of the team and company but certainly not ideal for family and social life. The last two months have not been so bad as things slowed down for the holidays and Steve is finding more balance.

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Now, highs...

High School Overnight Retreat. I don't know about my co-leaders, but I sure felt like a high schooler again. Pop music, junk food, endless laughter, and scaring the boys... definitely sent me back. Guys & girls had separate sleepovers on Friday then joined together for a service project on Saturday. It was a joy to help paint a local woman's house, clean up her backyard, and pray with her. We ended with dinner around the bonfire.

Open House. Now that our house is more home than work zone, we opened our doors for a par-tay! We had a steady stream of people in and out throughout the day, dear friends and family from here and there. It was great! No pictures from this, sad. The host in me took over, and I forgot all about the camera.

Helene's 2nd Half Marathon. It was a rainy, dreary day. Compared to my last half (one year ago), I certainly did not feel as good during or even after the race. I probably started too fast. Even so, I beat my time by 4 seconds. Whoo! Proud of that.

Christmas caroling for the first time EVER. How have I gone so long without caroling!? Spreading joy and holiday cheer with a few simple songs. People loved us. I'm serious. Their faces lit up with surprise and utter gladness by the sound of our voices. We even got invited into a couple restaurants in Carytown as well as a company party. It's not that we sounded spectacular (have you heard me sing in church?). I think it's more that this kind of thing is so rare yet so good, so pure, so longed for in the mess and chaos and drama of life.