Update: (or why I've been incommunicado)

Susan left for SPU on January 2.

Every year, Steve takes vacation time off between Christmas and New Year's. This year we didn't go anywhere, but stayed home watching episodes of Lost, (much better to follow a show on DVD without commercials), talking, baking, and reading. Perfect! Susan spent hours at my computer preparing grad school applications and dunning professors for recommendations. It will be exciting to see where the Lord plants her.

We sold the sofa so I can get the car back in the garage

Of course that meant cleaning the garage, getting rid of all the boxes and junk that had accumulated on and around the sofa, so the wonderful people coming from Craig's List could actually see it. That entailed some trips to St. Vinnie's. It also meant putting away all the Christmas decorations that had been piled beside the sofa, waiting for there to be space so the ladder could get to the storage space above the garage doors. Amazing how one thing leads to another...

I've been providing/arranging care for A.

So there's this interim between E's departure on Jan. 1 and A's mother's arrival from Teheran on Jan. 16. I've been trying to work with A's husband H to see that A. is not alone with their two year old son M. They wake up between 10 and 11 and A. is usually rested and somewhat energized, but quickly fades after an hour or two. I put out an appeal and it looks like between a CNA friend at Church of the Servant King and a few of us at VCC, we will be able to assist A. Now if H. would only let us know if A. is going to have more chemo, and when we should come.

Epiphany Open House: January 6

Enlivened by Steve's Famous Home-made Egg Nog (eggs, whipping cream, half and half, powdered sugar and lots of vanilla) and wonderful friends, I am now back to my blog. Every year we throw an open house. We've done it during Advent, between Christmas and New year's, on New Year's Day, and even for Valentine's Day; but this year we had it on the Twelfth Day, Epiphany Proper. Lots of candles, gold and white, and star motifs for decorations. Susan made two pans of golden baklava before she had to leave, and I made Judy's extraordinary lemon bars. Now though the Swedish meatballs are but a memory, the fellowship will fortify us for another year!

EBC Winter quarter begins

As if to make up for being laid off from NCC, the Lord has given me an absolute dream class for Intro to Philosophy. Twelve of the brightest, best, most dedicated Christian students I know gathered around the table in Bryan 102 this morning, after being double booked for Bryan 101 with Bonnie Lee's class. I am SO excited to have such a concentration of faith and intellect. This is going to be fun.

Tomorrow at 8:00 am we'll have Fundamentals of Reasoning. What a cruel hour; and that's a class that involves a ton of focus and hard work. Oh well, the good thing is that is will be done with early on, leaving the rest of the day for less demanding fare.