Sometime around Christmas, I read a Facebook post regarding a friend's decision to shut down her blog. I don't remember her exact words, but the summary I came away with was she was thinking about how to incorporate her life events into a blog post rather than actually fully living through the live event. It came at just the right moment for me. I really enjoy writing but I was entering into the holiday season actually concerned about fitting in time to blog and considering taking that necessary time away from friends and family. So, thank you Henna. Your words hit close to home and I stepped away from my computer just in time for Christmas with friends and family, living and enjoying every moment rather than worrying about how to describe it.
But I'm back! The decorations are down, the laundry is in the washer, Bones is on the TV, the cat is in my lap (trying to lick my hands which is utterly annoying), and I'm excited to get my fingers back on the keys
Here's some updates:
Did you have a good holiday? It was a wonderful Christmas spent in Delaware. We had a whirlwind tour, starting at Ameh's house (Ped's aunt) for Christmas Eve. Over the next 48 hours, we spent the night at the Daneshgars, ate breakfast at the Tralas, ate dinner at the Simpsons and spent the night, ate breakfast at the Taylors, met family back at the Simpsons, then headed up to Shady Maple Smorgasbord for dinner. We were exhausted, overly full, and ready to head home but we know how blessed we are to have the families we do and appreciated everyone's desire to host us. The only piece that made it a little bittersweet was not spending our first married Christmas in our new home. While we love coming back to DE, I think there's a small part of us looking forward to starting traditions here instead of worrying about the travel.
Once we were home, we had a steady stream of visitors until New Years Day which also made us excited to start having more guests over. It makes our home seem so much more full of love than it already is. Two of my girl buddies and one dude buddy joined us for New Years. While we suggested possibly going out to celebrate, our evening turned into a eat your face off/yoga pant wearing/ping pong tournament/dance party. And I would not have wanted it any other way. Meggo, Jess, and Mike - hope you're wearing more hats.
How's school? Fall session ended on 12/20 and Spring session begins on 1/21. While it's been a nice break, I am actually looking forward to learning again! What a huge difference from September when I cried every night I had to do my calculus homework. Going into finals, my grades were great - an A in calculus and an A- in Math Reasoning. I was so proud of myself for pulling it together. My big accomplishment for the semester though was getting a high enough grade on my exams to finish with A's in both classes (i.e. a 97 on my Math Reasoning Final and a 98 on my Calc Final). I actually felt like a genius! However, classes start up again in two weeks and it's just going to get more difficult from here. Subjects I have never taken and 400 level courses are in my future so I just have to learn to take those one day at a time. One semester down, three more to go!
What about work? It's been eventful. Towards the end of the year, I was "offered" more responsibility at both of my part-time employers. It was great to see my desire to work hard paid off. While I love my time spent at Pier 1, my ultimate career goal is to be a math teacher. I turned down the ability to post for a management position in lieu of additional hours as a math instructor at job #2. I'm hoping things fall into a good routine this semester so I can start incorporating some volunteer and hobby time in. (
Hobby Side Note: I'm hoping to get involved in our church's worship team soon. I also joined a book club which I'm meeting with for the first time next week. I'm hoping the girls are uber cool and fun.)
How are you and Ped? With all of the busy-ness that ensued during the holidays, the best part was spending the whole thing together. We are doing really well and, while it's not always easy, we're learning how to work as a unit. Our schedules are full but flexible enough that we get plenty of quality time and plenty of me time. Things will get crazy once school starts, but even that is something we can experience together if we need a support while focusing on our own individual path. I could go on and on but lovey-dovey stuff can get really old, really fast. I'll end this by saying thank you to everyone who has kept us in your prayers these first few months.
Are you going to have kids?/Are you pregnant yet? Haha, cause I would announce something like that in paragraph 8. I actually am only mentioning it to have a soapbox moment since I don't have the balls to say it to people in person. First, the personal answer: Ped and I would like kids. Someday. We would wait to tell people until we knew it was safe. No I am not currently pregnant. Practicing is fun.
Okay, now my soapbox. Many people I know are waiting to get married until later in life. That often means having children later in life. We all know that it's not as fail-safe of a process to get pregnant when you're older as it is to get pregnant as a young, healthy, fertile myrtle. With that being said, if you are wondering if someone is pregnant or trying to get pregnant, only ask them if they would like to have children someday. If they give you a non-descriptive ("hope so") or one word ("hopefully") answer, that is your cue to shut up. If they want to talk about it, they will. If they don't, it's none of your business regardless of whether you are family or a friend. Trying to get pregnant is a very personal thing for many couples and constantly having to make excuses for why they aren't yet is the last thing they should be having to do. I have had many friends who struggled with fertility and the pain I see in them when they unwillingly get pulled into a conversation about it is unbearable.
We don't know if I'm going to be able to get pregnant once we start trying. Maybe it'll be easy, maybe it won't. Maybe I'll post about it, maybe I won't. Regardless, it's a topic that is solely under the ownership of me and my husband and unless you are a sister, a mother, a father, or a brother-in-law to either one of us, what's going on is really none of your business unless we make it your business.
Whew! Was that mean? I apologize if that came off as rude or confrontational. We have not had any issues with people overstepping that line personally. It's just as you start reading articles and hearing others share their stories, it's amazing how much sanity could be saved if you just provide people their private space they so thoroughly deserve.
Anything else going on?
Well my dad is currently in Peru on his first overseas missions trip. I'm so proud of him and happy that he's having this experience. He'll be home soon and I can't wait to hear all about it.
Jess and Mike are engaged and I was asked to be a bridesmaid. I'm so humbled and honored and can't wait until the special day.
Amanda and Jeff had twins and I am DYING to meet them. We're hoping to get out to Portland soon.
Jonathan and Julie welcomed Caleb earlier this month and he is adorable - a little Jonathan mini-me. I can't believe my cousins are having babies. And getting married. Karen got engaged too!
A kid at work made me feel like an idiot, my first experience like that,
so I questioned whether I could be a good educator versus just being a
good teacher. There will probably be plenty more to write on that
topic.
The Eagles lost their first post-season game. What a bummer. Already looking forward to next season though.
Pitchers and catchers report in 35 days. Bring on baseball!!!
This was a long post so thanks for hanging in there with me.
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