Happy New Year!

This Christmas as we sat in church listening to the familiar infancy narratives of St. Luke and St. Matthew, I couldn't help marveling to think that in less than a month, we'll be walking in those same places. Bethlehem & Nazareth the two towns featured in this month's readings, are high on our list of places to visit. In addition, there will be several days in Jerusalem, one of the holiest places in three major world religions, the scene of Jesus' triumphant entry and his death. So we visit the beginning and the ending, and in between we'll hike the shores of Galilee and visit the Jordan River - all those in between places that helped form and inform the substance and message of Jesus' teachings. The Mount of the beatitudes... there's the whole enchilada right there. Blessed are the poor...

So it seems fitting that we embark on the next leg of our trip on the Feast of Epiphany - January 6th. Like the wise men, we're off on a journey of discovery. And even though we're technically heading West, we're going so far that it actually becomes East, so I'm not stretching my metaphor too terribly. It's very exciting and scary at the same time.

Logistically we've got a lot of things in place - visas, airline tickets, hotel reservations where necessary, and a great big long list of names and contact numbers. We've got our house-sitter lined up to return when we leave, the bills on auto-pay, the tax extension filed (we return on April 15th), the neighbors notified, our snow removal confirmed, and hugs and kisses to our loved ones. One more stop at the bank to pick up our Thai Baht (currency of Thailand) and we're ready to roll. First stop Bangkok.