News as of January 2nd 2008 Happy New Year!! Sorry for the delayed news, the holiday
season was busier than I expected. I
did manage to make a few cookies the week before Christmas and the staff on
campus enjoyed my efforts :). I
only made 9 different varieties rather than my usual 15 since I was short on
time. I think next year I really
need to rethink the whole cookie thing.
I think the cutouts with the children and some snowballs, maybe some
shortbread and I’m stopping.
(Remind me I said that next year) It was so great to see
everybody at Church on the 16th & the 30th, to get
all the hugs and well wishes. How much we miss you all, the feeling is too
great to describe. The homesickness
is getting better, but I still miss my familiar routine. We will have to make trips to Thank you all for the
kind words after my participation in worship on the 30th. Those of you who know that I struggle
with stage fright will be happy to know that I had a few butterflies but no
panic attack. The experience
reminded me why I’m here and what I’m doing (sometimes I forget)
and that with God all things are possible—even overcoming stage fright. Maybe he can start working on the
homesickness now? The kids enjoyed their
annual trip to the Nut Cracker at the Blumenthal on the 15th and had
a great time bringing their old friend (Angela & Eddie’s daughter)
from down the street. Despite the cold & rain we survived the walk to and
from the parking deck to the theater but we skipped the annual ringing of the
chimes around the 7th street parking deck. Neither Charles nor I
felt that we would stay warm enough on the journey round the building. We were
glad to see The kids were also able
to enjoy sleepovers at their various friends’ homes while Charles and I
stayed at a hotel. We look forward to taking up the numerous and kind offers of
hospitality during our future visits to The family attended a
great Christmas Eve service at Emory Presbyterian and yet again the Rev. Deidre
Rich managed to pull off organizing the kids into a wonderful presentation.
This church is strong at including the children in worship. Between Rev. Jill
Oglesby Evan’s preaching, Rev Deidre Rich’s interaction with the
children and Elise Eskew’s energetic choir
performance, we are beginning to find a home away from home. We spent Christmas Eve
with our dear friends, Joe & Marci.
No one was left hungry, not even the dog Morgan. Christmas was a pleasant
affair and the kids were provided with at least one thing off of their Santa
list. S followed the rule and did not request our presence at the tree until
after 6 AM (S also managed to arrange a trip from the tooth fairy as well on Christmas
Eve). We had to wake B. As usual, everybody got a book –
Charles surprised me with his choices for me – Really Bad Girls of the
Bible and Being a Jewish Feminist. I’m not sure what he is trying to
say here? Semester grades have
been coming in (unofficially) and you will be proud to know that I should be
receiving at least 3 A’s and 1 B possibly 4 A’s. The official grades will be out soon so
I’ll let you know for sure. With some time off and
my parents coming into town, I have managed (with the kids help) to tidy up the
house a little. I may have finally
got some nesting done since I haven’t been able to do that since moving
here in July. My parents stayed with
us from the 26th to 29th. We were going to put them up at
the On the 27th, the kids
and I visited the Atlanta Aquarium with my mother. It was very busy but the kids seemed to
enjoy themselves. We bought tickets at 1.20 PM but they did not allow us access
until 3 PM so a visit to a coffee shop was on the cards. The aquarium itself is awesome. We stayed at the whale shark tank for at
least the longest just staring at this tank the size of a movie screen. It really was beautiful. Dad stayed at the apartment to fix some
issues with our kitchen sink and screen door. We now have a working sprayer in
the kitchen sink and our screen door doesn’t stick anymore. We could have asked maintance
to fix these things, but then Dad wouldn’t have any fun when he visits. Charles cleaned out the
fish tank again, and found another baby wag, however this time he will leave it
to survive on its own due to the fact that we now have 8 fish not including the
baby. It has since not been seen so we can only assume that it may have given
its all for the others to survive. The kids stayed up till
10 PM on the 31st watching Shrek 3 and
then went to bed. We survived until about 1 AM. We lost power on New
Years day at about Noon because a tree fell from the campus onto the overhead
line. We were concerned about the fish because their tank began to cool even
though we had it wrapped towels – they need to stay at 72 or above and it
got down to 73. Fortunately the power came back on at 6 PM so the dire
consequences for the fish were avoided. Backup plan was going to be heating
water on the GAS grill. Fortunately we have a back up air pump so at least they
could breathe. With the cold weather here
today, Charles has put a towel at the bottom of the front door to keep the
draughts out and also wedged the door with some cardboard so it pushes tight against
the weather stripping. My feet appreciate the effort. Our neighbors also let us
know last night when it was snowing, so Charles woke up S so he could see. B
remained sleeping despite being informed. I start tomorrow with a
short two week course in Galatians.
It is an exegesis class with Greek translation involved. Then I have another two week break
before starting the spring semester with Preaching, Intersections (a core class
with a smattering of different topics), and New Testament Survey. I am scheduled to take the Bible content
exam on the 1st of February—previous students nicked named
this exam Bible Trivia. I have
visited the study help website and I’m pretty sure that I can pass it—no
problem. God Bless, Diane J
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