Holiday Letter

Well I have been getting several Christmas cards and some of them even have the annual update of the family who sent the card. I for one do not send Christmas cards to anyone, in fact I only bought one Christmas card this year and it was for my secret pal at work. I guess the main reason that I do not send out cards is because there is not much going on and I do not want to send any of my spare time addressing or writing Christmas cards - that might be rude but it's true. So since I am now considered a "blogger" I figured that I could write one letter and whoever checks out my blog will get to read it.

First of all Happy Holidays to you and your families.

Update on Me:
Well the last year has been a little bit more exciting than normal. In June I had Arthroscopic Shoulder surgery on my right shoulder. The doctor thinks that it was due to the wear and tear that I put it through playing softball all those years and then one day while teaching/playing PE with the children it had enough and popped. The doctor repaired my cartilage in my shoulder and with some fun therapy and a beautiful brace I am happy to report that it is fully healed. I got to wear a full brace that had my arm attached to my stomach 24 hours a day for 5 weeks and I did some physical therapy for about 9 weeks. Overall it was not that bad, I did get bored from being limited on what I could do, I did hear some reports that I was not such a great patient the first few days - I am sure that had something to do with the pain and lack of sleep due to uncomfortness. To be honest there were only 2 things that were extremely painful 1.) the day that Yoh and I tried to take the surgical tape off my bandages - it was so painful that it brought tears to my eyes and tore some of the skin off my back and neck. 2.) the third time I went to therapy she pushed me real far and whoa it was painful.
In December I turned 30!! Yep that's right the big one. It was a good time, my friend Yoh through a surprise party for me - which I found out about - it was fun and I appreciate all that came to enjoy my day with me. On my actually birthday my car broke down and I spent many hours dealing with that and waiting for the tow truck. Let's just say I was really glad that I got to do something the night before to enjoy my day! I am going to Jamaica to celebrate with all my other old friends in July I can hardly wait - its 210 days !!! Also in December I finished my Master Degree from Baker University. My degree is a Master in School Leadership, which is just a fancy term for saying I could be an assistant principal or a principal in a school if I wanted to. However at this time in my life I am comfortable where I am.
I am still teaching at the same building that I started, I am teaching physical education in a middle school in the Blue Valley School District - this is my 6th year. I have been coaching 3 sports since I have been at this school, however this year I felt that the Lord told me I should only coach 1 so that I can focus on my masters and spend more time doing the things that I enjoy and also this would allow more time for me to do things for the Lord and strengthen my walk with Him. So I am the Junior Varsity girls basketball coach at Blue Valley Northwest High School. I love it - it is one of the best things that I do every day, I look forward to it!
The answer to the question that I get asked the most is no! I do not have a boyfriend at this time. I am still waiting for the Lord to bless me with one of those when the timing is right. So if any of you know a nice man who loves Jesus, wants to learn about Jewish roots, and likes an athletic girl who has a busy schedule - you just tell him to check out the blog and give me a call :) :)

Update on my family:
My mom started a new job at Key Bank in downtown and she loves it. Yes she would still love staying at home and not having to work more, but at least at this job the people she works with are nice to her and pleasant to be around. She enjoys her job now. My little bro, Mark, is living in Wichita Kansas and working in theater down there both as an actor and as the technical directory - so he is busy as well. I think that he likes the work for now, I do think however that he is almost ready to move on to something a little bigger. However there are some things that will probably keeping him there. My dad is doing good also he is an electrician for a company and he is working on his own company called Clay-Platte Electrical. My dad and I recently went to Washington D.C. for veterans day, my dad goes often and this year he invited my brother and I - I was the only one who could go. It was a really fun time and a good experience to see my dad with all of his old army buddies. I took several photos which are on this blog site somewhere so check them out.

Spiritual Journey:
Alright they say you save the best for last, so here it is, my walk/journey with the Lord. I belong to a small house church called Kingdom Living, check out the website: www.merriamhop.org. It is a group of people who are going hard after the Lord and trying our best to do what the Lord asks us to do. We also are learning lots about Messianic Jews, I have even taken one course on Jewish roots. Which was mind blowing but amazing all at the same time. I have also been attending the services on Friday nights(when my schedule allows). I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be, however it is truly different than the way I grew up, but I do enjoy it. But at the same time I am learning many things about the way Jesus wanted things and meant for things to be before we as humans tried to do our own things without listening to what the Lord wanted us to do. Okay that might have been too much or hard to understand - so I will stop now, but if you have questions please don't hesitate to ask me.

Okay well I wish you all a great holiday and a happy New Year. I also hope that you have many blessings in the year 2008!