Things have been going pretty well lately, but I’m definitely ready for Christmas break to start. We’ve both been pretty weary these last couple of weeks, and are about ready for a recharge. Tuesday is the beginning of Christmas break, with regular classes on Monday and then high school caroling and bowling all day Tuesday. Semester exams don’t come until after break, with a week of classes and then exams when we go back in January. I’m not sure what to expect there, having not dealt with a split semester before.

Teaching has been going about as well as ever, but I’ve been increasingly concerned by the spiritual/character needs of quite a few of my students. I don’t have particularly vivid memories of what it was like to be in high school, but I’m disappointed that many of my students don’t seem to have much spiritual appetite, and so far their influence seems to be infectious to the rest of the student body. I really need a lot of wisdom to know how to deal with several of my students, and I’ve been especially convicted by the need to pray for all of them more.

Our plans for Christmas break involve a lot of travelling, as usual. The difference is that this time we will be together for Christmas Day for the first time, which we’re really looking forward to. Our plans are to stay here for the first week or so (through the 26th), after which we’ll be leaving for Maryland to spend time with Elisabeth’s family and extended family on the farm. We’ll then be coming back on the 1st to have a couple of days to rest and recuperate before heading back to school later that week.

To wrap up, Jon finally got back today. His deployment ended back on the 6th, but he had to wait a little over a week to go on leave. Elisabeth and I drove down to Indy to pick him up at the airport. I think he’s back until New Year’s, or around then.

I’ve been borrowing Jon’s truck during his deployment, but since he’s planning to take it back to N.C. with him we’re looking for a car right now. Elisabeth is especially looking forward to it since she has been unable to drive due to the truck being a stick. We have two brothers in the church who deal used cars looking for something for us, but so far we haven’t heard anything.

I’ll close for now, and I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to post again before Christmas. Besides school and Christmas shopping, a lot of my time will be taken working on the technology project at school that I mentioned previously. I’ll try to post again soon, and we’d love to hear from any of our friends we haven’t heard from lately. Have a Merry Christmas!