Getting Settled in Our New Home

...So we took a little while off from blogging to get our St. Louis home packed, boxes shipped and to spend Thanksgiving with family in STL and Cape. Jo came back on Monday after Thanksgiving and I stayed a few more days in St. Louis to tend to work matters that came up at the last minute (after having our flights back to Charleston booked together...had to rebook to stay until Thursday evening).

Thursday night, upon my arrival back, we went for a late dinner and drinks together at Mac's Place before spending our first night in the our new abode. With boxes everywhere, it's been somewhat stressful but we're taking the move day by day and slowly getting acclimated to the new southern way of life.

After signing the lease!

Boxes, boxes...and a cooler

Friday evening, I went to the South Carolina Stingrays game with a friend from work, Trey. Yes, they're playing hockey in Charleston! It's an affiliate of the Boston Bruins. The Stingrays snuck out a win against the Reading Royals (Pennsylvania), a statistically much better team the the Rays. I should have taken video of the late 20 something guys in front of us chanting "Come on Rays" with a response to themselves of "Let's go Rays" the entire 2nd and 3rd periods. Quite hilarious as they had had a few drinks by game time.

Saturday, I (Chris) woke up and went for a 6 mile run with my new Garmin Forerunner 410! Check out the specs on it at the link. It's great if you're training! I came home from the run to find Jo still in bed. She's definitely not a morning person. 

We spent Saturday unpacking the majority of boxes, with the hopes of getting settled sometime this year...looks like we've got a few weeks to do so. We purchased a new 4 post bed and dresser by Fine Furniture at Stuckey Bros Furniture in Mount Pleasant; beautiful furniture that will last many lifetimes! We used all of our Target giftcards in one stop Saturday too...the cashier was quite impressed. We made a final stop at goat. sheep. cow. to pick up some Brie and a loaf of French bread to snack on in the evening. Delicious!

Sunday, the beginning of a new liturgical year and the season of Advent, we continued unpacking, watched a little bit of football and went for a run. Mass at 5:15 at the Cathedral was wonderful with a strong homily reminding us to always stay focused on the meaning of Christmas. The world is so caught up in the materialistic things during the Advent season (reflection by Cardinal Timothy Dolan) with complete disregard for the season and its meaning.  In an ancient document of the early Church, the Didache, and also in the NT, we get a traditional prayer for the Advent season: Marantha or "Come Lord, Jesus"

We pray that all of you have a blessed Advent with your families wherever in the world you may be. We look forward to spending this wonderful time of year with our family and friends. Safe travels! Laus tibi, Christe!

Chris & Rita Jo