It's about 25 days until Urbana (the triannual mission's conference InterVarsity holds), and for the first time, I'm not really all that stressed about it. And that's probably because for the first time in 12 years, I'm not going. So strange.
We finally made the decision about a month ago that I would stay behind with the little one. Between Matt's late nights, hectic day schedules, and confining a 6 month old to a hotel for 7 days, it just seemed like it would be less stressful for everyone involved if I stayed back.
I'm both happy and sad about that decision. Sad because Urbana is always so cool. And watching the live stream online just isn't the same. Sad because I'll miss seeing all the video's Matt's been working so hard on unveiled before a huge audience. Sad because I'll miss seeing a bunch of close friends. And sad because Urbana always provides a needed spiritual kick in the pants.
But in many other ways I'm happy. Happy not to have all the stress of preparing for and executing a major conference. Happy that my introverted self doesn't need to be around 16,000 people for 7 days. Happy that I get to spend New Years and Christmas with friends back in Madison.
So it's a mixed bag.
All that said, we're in crunch time and Matt and his team are working hard to finish up all their projects in the next three weeks. In some ways since so much attention is focused on that right now, Christmas still seems pretty distant. We did however manage to get the Christmas tree up and other various decorations. And we did our first round of Christmas shopping last weekend.
So Christmas and Urbana. That's pretty much the state of our life right now!
