Merry Christmas

...or, as the full page Zondervan ad in the paper said "It's a boy!"

Most years my Christmas letter doesn't get written until well into the following year. Here it is December 27 and I'm sitting at my computer and writing to you-all. And thinking of my family and friends spread all across the world, and thinking myself lucky indeed.

This last year has been one of great change, and not a few dramas. (If you missed those, read back to, I think, my first posting on this blog spot.) And now, at the end of the year, I have survived, nay thrived on, my first semester at the University of North Carolina. In many ways I would say it is the easiest and one of the happiest I've had in the last seven years of grad school. I finally seem to be getting the hang of how to get the most out of my studying without completely stressing out and wearing myself thin. Which is not to say that I was idle, but just that I managed to stay off that treadmill of endless busy-ness.

I enjoyed my classes. I greatly enjoyed researching and writing my three term papers. I would say that the most exciting one for me was working with a mere scrap of leather (well, just a photo at this stage) that was written over 2000 years ago - from the Dead Sea Scrolls. I become more and more focused on working with text, and the more I zoom in on it, the more I love it. Not everyone's cup of tea, but full of possibilities for me and my future contribution to scholarship on ancient texts.

I worked in seven different languages this last semester: Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin, French, German, and, of course, English. The Latin is for a blind grad student whom I work with several times a week. The French and German are for research. I'm looking into a fellowship for next year that would require me to learn a new modern language - aw shucks - and hoping to do either modern Hebrew or Arabic, either of which would be extremely useful in my field.

I finished out my semester of teaching 60 undergrads Introduction to Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and loved them - and they seem to have loved me and my approach (one of enthusiasm and excitement and passion) and learned a lot - I was thrilled with their performance in the final exam - and saw a very high calibre of work.

I returned to my "home" in Grand Rapids for Christmas and spent a relaxed, laid-back five days with the Hrubys - aunt, uncle, and cousins. I'll be here for another week or so, catching up with friends, and then return to Chapel Hill for another fun-filled semester.

I have a wonderful two bedroom apartment in Carrboro (just on the edge of Chapel Hill) and love having visitors. Even at short notice! I continue to contra dance and bike and walk and have hopes of getting on to a masters rowing crew in the spring. I continue to proof read for foreign students. My church is building a Habitat for Humanity house this year and I'm involved in that project. I've met all sorts of interesting and lovely people these last few months. Isn't it amazing how a heart seems to be infinitely expandable, always making room for new friends?

I pray for you a blessed new year, my dear friends, - one full of growth and blossoming and love.

Love to you all.