February Branning Newsletter & Christmas and New Years in NYC

Sorry it’s been a while since our last update. So much has happened in the last couple of months, I can’t wait to share it with you all. We stayed in NYC for Christmas as airfare to California around the holidays is astronomical. Since we missed out on a few of our normal holiday traditions we decided to do some fun New York experiences and embrace the new. We had a lot of fun, we saw Wicked on Broadway, went on a Cocoas and Carols holiday cruise, did some shopping at a few different winter villages and of course drank our fair share of hot cocoa. 

Don’t worry, we weren’t left to our own for too long. Some of our new friends at Life Center NYC church invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner, it really blessed our heart to be with our new friends and church family. Christmas day we went to a restaurant in Time Square that’s halls were so decked, it looked as if Santa himself threw up all his Christmas spirit inside.

Christmas Eve we also experienced our first truly frigid temps in NYC, 8 degrees! For us Californians that was quite cold. Oddly enough, still no snow yet aside from a few lite flurries. Everyone says it’s coming though. As I write this the low today is 10 degrees and tomorrow it’s predicting to be 2 degrees. We are thankful for the heating in our apartment.

New Years eve was celebrated in our pajamas on our couch watching the ball drop live in time square. Some of those people had been camping out since 10am, that’s just not for us. We enjoyed a restful new year. 

Big news came for me after the new year, my publisher finished reviewing my second book and said they wanted to publish it! It should be released by fall! I’m very excited to keep writing here in NYC and growing in my profession as an author, the atmosphere here is so rich with creativity that it’s hard not to create in this environment.

We celebrated Alex’s birthday at the end of January by having a surprise visit from his buddy Brant. 

Ali’s been having more and more opportunities to make money by babysitting and drawing a ton.

Ministry wise it’s been such a gift to partner with church’s and ministries who already on the ground here who are doing the work in NYC as well as day to day outreach. We are loving New York City to Jesus one person at a time, on the subways, in our building and on the streets.

Your continued prayers and support are so valued by us. Keep praying that NYC would be infused with hope, love and truth.

Stay tuned! Lot’s of big things are in the works!