Christmas Card Update

Merry Christmas to all! This is my favorite time of year! We sent out our first Christmas card this year! It was very exciting to have our own and not just be included in our parents’. Rather than adding a letter in our Christmas card telling everyone about our lives over the past year, I decided to update our blog and include a link to it in our card instead. It seemed the easiest way and would allow for more communication throughout the year.

For those of you just reading this blog for the first time, I’ll try to condense what we’ve been up to over the last year. I guess I should rewind a little before that. We moved to New Orleans in the summer of 2011, just a few months after getting married in March. Josh started working on his M. Div. at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I was teaching 2^nd grade at a school outside the city.

This past summer, we made numerous trips back and forth to Georgia to be in various friends’ weddings. It was so nice to relax and spend time with friends and family. We also got to visit Josh's sister, Jennifer, who lives in Washington D.C. and show Josh the sights for the first time. Sadly, during this time, Josh’s Maw Maw passed away from Ovarian Cancer. It is good to know that she is cancer-free and pain-free, but we still miss her a lot, especially around the holidays.

After much prayer and consideration, I decided to apply for jobs at a different school for this year. The environment I was working in was very difficult, and I was losing my passion for teaching. A friend from seminary helped me get a job at Belle Chasse Primary School teaching 4^th grade. Up to this year, I thought I didn’t want to teach children older than 3^rd grade. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I love the older kids! They are old enough to know the basics but at this prime age where they still love school and are so curious and excited about learning! Unfortunately, 4^th grade is the year of high-stakes standardized testing in Louisiana. I do not enjoy the pressure that puts on me or my students, but I won’t get into that . . . :) This year has really helped me grow to love teaching again.

Josh started working at Village Coffee Shop in the city last year, and he continues to work there part-time when he is not taking classes. (I must admit that I am drinking a delicious Peppermint Mocha made by him as I write this!) He took Greek this past semester, and I do not envy him! He has spent many hours going over flashcards, and I have fallen asleep to the sound of him saying random Greek words out loud in his office.  He feels called to plant a church after seminary. Maybe New Orleans, maybe anywhere; we are still praying and thinking through that and have time to decide.

We are really enjoying our time in New Orleans. We love it here! We have joined a church, and enjoy our weekly Community Group in addition to serving with the Kids’ Ministry. There are always festivals to attend. Josh’s family came to visit us in the fall, and we took them to the Blues and BBQ Festival as well as the Lousiana Seafood Festival. In November, we attended our favorite one, Po Boy Fest.

We have officially become Saints fans this season and got to go to our first game this fall. It was SO much fun! I won’t tell you who we were playing or the score of the game when we broke their perfect winning streak, but I will say that we had family members disown us over Thanksgiving break when they found out. ;)

We have decided that rather than pushing Josh to finish seminary in three years (which they tell you is doable, but is hard to do), we are going to continue to enjoy our time here and make it four years total. One and a half years down, two and a half to go. This year seems to be flying by. I’ve always heard the older you get, the faster it goes. I am finding that to be true.  I am sure it will feel like no time at all before we are saying “Remember when we lived in New Orleans . . .” For now, we will continue to make the most of our time here. Come visit us in the Big Easy! We love having friends come so we can show them around and eat some beignets.

We hope this finds you doing well this holiday season. 2 Corinthians 9:15 says, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” We are thankful this Christmas for our many blessings, for the gift of Jesus, and for our friendship with you. Merry Christmas and love to you all!