We’ve almost made it through the first semester! Josh is finished! One semester of seminary down. He had his last final exam Thursday after pulling an all-nighter . . . the joys of being a student. (For those of you wondering, he made good grades. The teacher in me is very proud of him. :)) I came home on Thursday to find him cleaning out our office. I was shocked and asked him what he was doing. “I don’t know what to do with myself,” was his reply. “I’m so used to having something I need to do.” We both took a break and went out to eat to celebrate.
It’s been a while since I wrote. The past few weeks have been a blur. We went to Georgia for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to see friends and family! Josh’s family has moved to Villa Rica, so we got to see their new house.
This semester hasn’t seemed to slow down for either of us. I’m not sure if I’ve shared, but Josh has a job at Village Coffee shop. He works quite a few hours each week, which is nice to make a few extra dollars and get him out of the campus bubble. He was going a little stir-crazy only going from apartment to seminary classroom and back every day. Also, he’s had the opportunity to meet a lot of people with many, many different backgrounds, religions, and philosophical views . . . from atheists to anarchists. It’s given him the opportunity to take what he’s learning about in classes and apply it to the real world.
We’ve also become involved at Vintage Church and have joined a community group that meets weekly. We’ve Kaboomed a playground and worn tacky Christmas sweaters together. It’s been nice to make some more friends, especially since that is my only form of social interaction outside of school. :)
I’m looking forward to going “home for Christmas.” I put quotation marks because NOLA has become home for us. We like living here. There are definitely things we miss about Georgia, but I’m glad we like it here. It’s strange to be able to wear flip flops in the middle of December because it’s seventy degrees outside. People here don’t decorate for Christmas or really celebrate it in general like they do in the Bible belt. That makes me sad. But don’t worry, our little apartment is decorated, and I’ve been listening to enough Christmas music and drinking peppermint mochas to make up for some of the people here who don’t celebrate.
My 2nd graders wrote letters to Santa this week. One of my favorite quotes was, “I’ve been a good girl this year. I’m going to leave you some chocholate dounuts with prankles on them there going to be yummie in your big fat tummie!”
Josh has a week off before we head to Atlanta for Christmas. I have a half-day with students on Thursday, the 22nd, have to stay till 3:30, and then we’ll be jumping in the car to drive to Georgia. My mom’s side of the family always celebrates on the 23rd, so we want to make sure to be there in time. I’m sad that we get out so incredibly close to Christmas. Hopefully we’ll see some of you when we’re in town! Merry Christmas!
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
