The biggest thing for Heather the last couple months has been the craziness of the Advent season at church. During Advent, music was especially heavy as we geared up for the big service on December 20 - a Festival of Carols: Child of the Manger, Child of the Cross. The program focused on the full telling of the Gospel story - beginning with our yearning for a Savior, revisiting our own sinfulness through the fall and our cry for mercy, and then followed by the promise and fulfillment of a coming Messiah. It was set up as a lessons and carols type of thing, with scripture reading and choral/instrumental music alternating back and forth to tell the story. I think it went really well! And after all the work and stress of putting it together, the morning of ended up being quite a lot of fun! I am definitely glad it is over though! :) Matthew and I also taught an adult education class on the theology and liturgy of Advent, which was a lot of fun to do together. This pic is all of us enjoy lunch post-concert.
Because of the church, Matt and I ended up spending our first Christmas ever alone in Southern California. Slightly depressing, but we tried to make the best of it. However, I don't think we'll ever do that again! We were blessed by a visit from Matt's mom, Gary, and Andrew prior to Christmas (as well as a quick stop in by my dad for the concert) and then I was able to go to Colorado with my parents after Christmas for fun times with friends. So we did see everyone, just in a much more unconventional way than normal. Here's a picture with the Easter's - the girls are getting so big! I'd have more pictures but due to some drama at the Denver airport all my stuff (including my camera) is in Yakima. Long story.
The fall quarter ended well for both of us. Matt is thriving in school and has his fingers in all different kinds of projects. This quarter he is participating in a doctoral seminar with Dr. Mouw and a few other students on Commoness which he is already loving. Next quarter he will finish up his final course of his PhD studies and begin to study full time for his comprehensive exams, to be taken at the end of July/beginning of August. These are four major exams that assure the faculty that Matt is well read in his area, thoughtful, and ready to begin work on his dissertation. Once he is done, he begins his research and writing! So he will be very busy over these next 8 months or so. He continues to look for possible adjunct jobs in the area for next year and is constantly working on having papers published in different journals. An exciting invitation came for him a few weeks ago - Fuller invited him to attend a trip to China for several weeks in March to visit different seminaries and churches in the area. He's thrilled, or course. We're always kind of in awe of the unique opportunities he has here.
Fall quarter for me was my least favorite quarter of all time at Fuller. My classes and professors were often very frustrating to me, so I was just glad when it was over! This quarter I have a full load and begin to really do serious work on my Master's Project, due this May. School has taken a back seat to the church, which I am just loving. Easter is next! Planning the spring music has been the project for me over the last couple of weeks.
Things here are busy but good! Now that the new year is here it feels as though we are in the home stretch! Matt is so close to finishing his course work, and I graduate in June. We're almost there!
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