the past couple of days..

It's been a nice Christmas here, home with my family and friends...relaxing...

Kelly is home!!! (a dear friend currently living across the country), and, Friday we had a lovely reuniting, and I got this super cute purse from her for Christmas, specialized for me!*

*she's super creative

and, well it's just been real nice to spend time with people I love during this holiday season..

Spent Christmas Eve in church with my parents, and my cousin Josh (^) before picking up Ash from the airport after a long day of trying to make it into G.R.

Christmas Day we slept in,

dad (chef Jeff) prepared us a late breakfast,

went and saw Happy Feet 2 :)

then made a delicious dinner just in time for mom to be home from work!

gifts and family time,

it was a real delight

And these past couple of days I've been spending with Ashlie around G.R. and watching Logan.

...Monday we hit up 5/3 Ball Park for some Christmas light viewing!

There were tons of lights, but these are some of my favorites...

I haven't been Christmas light viewing in quite some time, it was fun! - Reminded me of Santa Land in East Texas... and since most people are too poor these days to be able to put up and run lights on their houses, this was perfect!

Now today me and Logan are hangin out, trying to keep warm... currently watching Veggie Tales "Moe and the Big Exit," playing with toys, and walking! :)

He says hi!

And to have a great day!

[cortney & logan]

christmas pictures

Here's some more photos from an early christmas with my fam...:)

with credits to my dad for his photography

And a special R.I.P. to my friend of almost 14 years

this was smokie's last Christmas, she died Monday :'(

She was a good cat.

...that's all for now.

hangin with my little man..:)

and Z is downstairs chillen...

literally chillen because it is FREEZING here,

definitely not in Antigua anymore!

feliz navidad.

Made it home, safe and sound... just past midnight Friday we landed in DTW and I arrived back in G.R. to my house about mid day yesterday :) Oh it feels good to be home!! Hit up Meijers last night for some groceries...WAY different then shopping in the market in Antigua..

And today we celebrated Christmas with my brother and his family

and I finally got to see this little fella!!!

sportin his new Antigua jersey!

and the moroccos from Costa Rica were a hit too!

Isn't he just the most precious little child you've ever seen?! haha...

Ok, I'm bias but...

:)

And just to let make mention, you can't see it in this picture but his shirt he was wearing today to greet me says, "my auntie is awesome!" = He loves me! lol But anyway, there are more pics to come, but right now I'm super tired so they're going to wait for another day.

Goodnight - Buenas Noches!!

10,000 miles high in the sky...

OH MY GOODNESS I'm homeward bound!!! Currently flying over the Golf of Mexico and... who woulda thought, 30 minutes free wifi with Delta! :)

Today has been a bittersweet goodbye, after an interesting week in my life and a long couple of last days, I said my good-byes and see-you-laters and... well my best friend would tell you that my emotional response to leaving people is entirely delayed and so well... it hit a bit late, but felt weird because it's so mixed with crazy amounts of excitement because I'm about to be home with my family and friends for the holidays and that, I have been looking forward to for weeks!! So anyway, a few picks last pics from Guatemala until the end of January...

Wednesday night Marta prepared for us a traditional Guatemalan Christmas meal and we had an in-house gift exchange, it was really quite nice!

And Connie (Marta's best friend) joined us for the occasion :)

We each had picked a secret santa and, Connie had me...

She got me this great coffee mug with biblical encouragement in Spanish on it = SO nice, I love it!

Oh and then this is us this morning in front of the Christmas tree :)

It's been a really great semester...

really great group,

really awesome home stays,

fantastic teacher,

beautiful memories...

Looking forward to returning in January but first,

some much needed quality time back in the states with family and friends.

Les extraño

I stole these from my uncle...

Gosh I miss my family and can't wait to spend time with them soon!!

My cousin Matthew :)

Super precious nephew... I think you're about familiar with him now!

Brother's beautiful family

Super cute butt!

Grandma. Grandpa. Matthew. Brother. Uncle Jim (and Logan)...

Mom. Sister. Zachary (my other nephew). Michael. Austin. (cousins)

Pouty face because someone misses his auntie!!

Family time... (Dad on the right side)...

bottom left-hand corner = logan praying for his auntie to come home :)

Soon dear family...

And for now, well, I'm putting off my final paper...catching rays during the day and bundling up at night... Grabbing some last-minute Guatemalan coffee this afternoon with a friend, having traditional Guatemalan Christmas here tonight with roommates, afterwards hitting up a charity event...and tomorrow is going to whirl by as well... I'm almost there!

Now, need to run to the laundry mat to get me some clean clothes to pack!!

love.

3 days...

...need I post more?

Unglaublich Schönertag

4 more days and i'll be home!!!!

*Well, technically 5 till home home, but 4 until we hit the States :)

There's all sorts of lovely Christmas decorations and examples of holiday spirit happening around here... Trees and lights and an even greater amount of firework displays at night ...and during day... and mid-morning... ha - Guatemalans LOVE their fireworks!

This is the fountain in the center of La Union (my school)... how pretty :)

And on my street...

Oh and this isn't Christmasy but... Saturday was Julia (our house-helper)'s birthday so we went up into the mountains to have breakfast and... look how fancy my tea kettle was!!!

Definitely teavanna style, and SO good!

The place we ate at was beautiful and had all sorts of pretty things to look at

One large foot Jesus had...

to complement his very very large heart ;)

Jen. Marta. Me. Estephan (new roommate). Julia (birthday girl!).

And this, I've been wanted to snap a picture of for quite some time...

the horse here have diapers...

poop-collectors, if you will - haha!

But it helps keep the roads clean, so I'm thankful for these

Guate! Guate! Guate!!!

This is a "chicken bus"... but only us northern americans call them chicken busses... These are written about all over the U.S. Embassy website as to be incredibly dangerous but...

Anyway, they're the most practical way to get to and from Guatemala City around here.

Oh and after breakfast we tried to wrap up some Christmas shopping for Jen while giving our new roommate a mini tour of the city...

And this I took yesterday morning as Volcan Fuego was erupting...

Pretty sweet huh?!

So this morning I'm trying to head to the gym then get something productive done around here toward my finals... Still not feeling quite up to par but... Very very excited to head home Friday, so I'm trying my best to finish strong.

Happy last week of school college students!!

*Oh and ps- I know you were wondering about the title... it's German! I decided I want to become trilingual :) It means "an incredible day" and well... I just really like trying to pronounce the word unglaublich... If you need a good laugh today, try looking up some and pronouncing some words in German, it's hilarious, I promise you'll get a good laugh! ;)