The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This has been a busy fall and winter for us, but I absolutely love this time of year. I wish we could see our family as much as we do during the holidays.

We went to Rockdale for about five days over Thanksgiving. We spend most of our time with Joel's mom, and we were able to spend time with both of his brothers. We even got to meet our new niece, Josie, in Dallas. She is precious and very, very sweet. While in Dallas, Joel was able to spend time with his Luke and Noah. We all played in the leaves; the boys had fun burying each other and jumping in the piles.

Most of Joel's extended family got together at his grandmother's house on Thanksgiving day. We had a nice gift exchange and a wonderful meal. We never go hungry when his family get's together! All of his cousins are married now so we were able to meet all of the spouses. Everyone is healthy and doing well!

Back at his mom's house, the girls took on making tamales while the boys watched endless football and basketball. We made chicken and pork tamales, and they were delicious! It's the first time any of us had made them, but it sure was fun. I enjoyed working on a project while sitting around chatting. We also went out to the farm and fed the cows. Jackson and Andrew seem to love the outdoors, and we all had a nice hike up the "mountain."

In early December, we learned we will be moving to Boston in June. Joel will be starting his Peds EM fellowship at Boston Children's. Last week we received the official letter offering him an Associate Professor of Pediatrics position. Wow! We've finally made it to last stage of this journey.

We had a great trip to Boston at the end of October when Joel interviewed. We were able to tour almost all of the Freedom Trail, and my favorite part was going to the Old North Church to see where Paul Revere's

lanters were placed. The city is full of so much history, and I'm looking forward to exploring it more once we move.

It turns out that crew is one of the biggest "sports" in the northeast. The Head of the Charles Regatta was happening the weekend we were there. We took the T out to Cambridge, toured Harvard and MIT, and then walked along the Charles River to watch the Regatta. It was a huge affair, where all kinds of people set up picnic areas to watch the race. There is a lingo we have never heard of, and we both decided we will have to study up.

While there, we also enjoyed a delicious dinner in Little Italy, where we swore we saw cigar lounges made just for the mafia. As we walked to our restaurant, we could hear lots of Italian being spoken on the streets. We twice visited an authentic Italian bakery and ate several cannolis. I also got Joel to have a dim sum brunch in Chinatown. I was so proud to be able to order dumplings and treats that I remembered from my trip this summer. The look on Joel's face was priceless! He even got brave and tried to order some things on his own, but neither one of us could eat them. After we left the restaurant, I told him what he actually ordered. :)

I've started the paperwork to transfer my teaching license, and I have applied at two different charter schools. The public schools won't post positions until February so I will have to wait a bit before the real job hunt begins. The hospital is located in Brookline (look west and a bit south on the map), and the T runs right out there so we will have easy access to most places. It's going to be a huge culture change, but it will be a fun adventure for us! 

 Today we went down to the Denver Museum of Art to see the King Tut exhibit. It was fascinating!! The actual coffins and mummy have never left Egypt, but we were able to see amazing busts, vessels, and statues - some of them had traces of the original colors. I just couldn't believe we were seeing original artifacts that are over 3000 years old.

On Tuesday we are heading to the ranch for Christmas. This will be the first time since we have moved to Denver that Joel and I are able to travel together for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will get to stay through the following Monday. I'm looking forward to our Christmas hunting and seeing my family. Hopefully, Joel and I will have some hunting luck, even though the weather will not be cooperating.

Job Security

To say the least, it has been a whirlwind two months since I’ve been home. I had a difficult first few weeks adjusting back to my American life, but I am so glad to be home. While I was gone, I accepted a full-time teaching position at Martin Luther King, Jr, Early College, a 6 -12 public school in Denver, as the lead 6th Language Arts teacher. If I thought coming back to the states was hard, I had no idea what moving from high school to middle school would be like. Whoa! It’s not human sometimes!

But I have to admit that I am having fun being back in the classroom. I really do enjoy the teaching, even if my audience isn’t ideal! I am thankful, though, that I feel needed every day. For example, check out the recent student-made posters for picture day. Don’t let the whole “Early College” label fool you – my new babies need all the help they can get in all the languages they try to speak. :)


We were 300 kids over projections so the entire 6th grade moved to a new building about three weeks into the school year. Because we don’t have paras or support staff at the new place, the teachers have been working some long hours. The kids arrive at 6:50 in the morning and we usually stay until 6 working and planning. But when we do leave in the evenings, we have this view to guide us home. Now, I can’t complain about that!

And in other news...
In early September, Joel and I went on a camping trip. We’ve finally upgraded all of our camping gear. Our new tent sleeps eight, but it’s just big enough for our cots, card table, and gear. We camped just outside of Aspen next to a little creek. On Friday night, we went to the Aspen Jazz Festival to see Wilco. Joel and I don’t love most of the same music, but Wilco is a definite favorite for both of us. Apart from the concert, the food was the best part of the weekend. With our new stove, we ate like kings…ribeyes, mashed potatoes and grilled veggies for dinner and a full Paris Ranch breakfast each morning.

I've been teaching the two year old class at our church on Wednesday nights. (I am just not sure how or why I keep experimenting with younger and younger kids...it's so unlike me!) I have a really small class, and my first night showed me how unpredictable kids can be (or maybe how unprepared I am to work with them!). We were learning about the creation story, and to make it "real" for such little ones, I brought in pictures of animals, ones I knew they could mimic the sounds. Following the advice given to me while I was in China and working with primary teachers (thank you, Debbie!!!), I was focusing on repetition with sentence stems. For example....
      Me: What animal is this? (Holding a picture of a lion)
      Kids: A lion
      Me: What do lions say?
      Kids: ROAR!
      Me: Who made the lion?
      Kids: God made the lion.
And so on...the same basic conversation for pigs, ducks, cats, dogs, cows. And right in the middle of it all, one of my precious angels farts. And with a bold and proud posture, turns to me and says, "That's okay. God made farts too." Gotta love it! And I am sure that when their parents asked them what they learned, they will only remember that God made farts. Awesome!

The interview season is upon us, and October is going to prove to be an extremely busy month of travel. We are looking forward to the holidays since this will be the first time Joel will be off for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. This will also be the first time in many years that we will get to spend the entire holiday season together and with our family. Finally, we are living a somewhat normal life.

There's No Place Like Home!

I arrived safely back to Denver Sunday evening. I had a good flight back and no troubles at all. I can't wait to get my hands dirty in the garden today. Looking forward to finishing up the summer and welcoming fall in the Rockies!