December 2023 & January 2024: Hello, Winter
And hello, winter break!
Forgive me for not updating this blog in December, but…well, I think you probably understand. December is December, right? Between making sure all the gifts were purchased and wrapped, attending the Church School Nativity program and Theodora’s PreK Nativity program, finalizing my annual Christmas card mailing, traveling home for the break, shopping for three different Secret Santa exchanges, and — oh yeah! — remembering to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus (!), the December post got a lil neglected. So, here’s a combo, with a little bit of everything in it.
In all seriousness, the break was exactly what it needed to be — a break! The end-of-semester madness was a lot, but Jarrod made it through all the necessary papers and finals, and came out on the Dean’s List. Excellent work for what’s commonly referred to as the toughest semester at St. Vlad’s!
(Oh yeah, and there was a really wonderful St. Nicholas Day party for the kids!)
Since Jarrod’s break was quite a bit longer than the kids’ school break, we took shifts in going out to and coming back from Kansas City. The Saturday after finals week ended, we all attended Breakfast with Santa at IHM and then I jetted off to Kansas with the girls. Jarrod stayed an extra week with Ambrose, which meant that they both got to enjoy some much-needed one-on-one Bub/Dad time. (He also got to attend Ambrose’s Nativity concert, while the girls and I watched the live stream from across the country.)
We had a wonderfully relaxing time in Kansas, which was a great relief after the last grueling bit of the semester. I got to work from the office and see all my co-workers the week before Christmas. I also got to be a part of the choir at Holy Trinity the Sunday that Bishop Daniel stopped through! Jarrod and Ambrose arrived on Theodora’s 5th birthday, and we all enjoyed mermaid cake.
Other highlights of our time in Kansas include taking the older two to the Nutcracker…although next year we will go for the earlier showing, because both were dead asleep at the end and had to be carried all the way to the car!
After New Year’s Day I went back into the office one more time, and then left with Ambrose to go back to Yonkers the next day. This time it was my turn to enjoy the much-needed Bub/Mom time! I had a really nice time hanging out with Ambrose while Jarrod stayed with the girls in Kansas City. We got to go on several dates — Martine’s, our favorite bakery in town, to celebrate Ambrose’s straight-A report card; The Cheesecake Factory for his yearly slice of Celebration cheesecake; and a trip to the movies! We also attended the Theophany service on Saturday morning, and got sprinkled after a very cold blessing of Troublesome Brook. Finally, Jarrod and the girls arrived home mid-month, and the madness of Jarrod’s second semester began.
I say madness, but honestly, it hasn’t been so bad. Like I mentioned in November, we’ve established some good family routines, and have been intentional about continuing to hone those routines in ways that work for shifting schedules. (It also helps that it’s the beginning of the semester, and things haven’t gotten too crazy yet!)
One fun happening this past month is that Jarrod decided to drop his Dogmatics class and step into Greek II the second week of the semester. He’d been sitting in on Greek and casually studying it with friends as a means of keeping up with it, but is now in the process of catching up on the coursework he missed doing when he wasn’t signed up for the course. That, plus his Hebrew class, means that he’s getting a lot of language in right now!
Anyway, I think that’s about as much of an update as I need to give to account for the past two months. Please continue to pray for our family — for sanity and patience as we navigate our way through long days and weeks! Jarrod also has a stomach scope coming up next week, so pray that everything goes smoothly with that, and that he can find some sort of relief for the digestive issues he’s been experiencing. Come back in February for more!
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