Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone was blessed to be together with family and friends this Christmas season. This year was JJ and my first Christmas together, and that made it the best ever! We were in Milwaukee with JJ's family, and I had my first white Christmas. Spending time with my new family was wonderful, even though I did miss my family back home in sunny Florida. It was very special to have family around, aunts and uncles, grandma, cousins and second cousins. My extended family has not been able to get together in many years, so being together with family meant a lot to me. It is a big blessing to be brought in to a new family and be able to spend time with them in remembrance of our Lord's birth. (~brought in to a new family? reminds one of baptism, doesn't it?)

JJ was privileged to preach at his home church, and we were encouraged by the support of the saints there. Family includes brothers and sisters in Christ, and being fed by YHWH with them was one of the best gifts of our Christmas. We were truly blessed by God to be united at the altar, partaking His body and blood with our families, those near, far, and in Heaven with our Lord. We indeed did celebrate Christmas with family when we partook in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb!

We pray that you all, as you gave and received gifts and enjoyed good food with family, were able to eat and drink the good gifts of God with the whole family of God. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Chanukkah! I say that because JJ and I got to go to a Chanukkah party last week. He is doing his cross-cultural module with Chai v' Shalom, a Jewish-Lutheran congregation affiliated with Apple of His Eye. The Chanukkah party was a lot of fun and very interesting! There was a potluck. I brought macaroni and cheese, but foods cooked in oil are traditional, we found out, in remembrance of the miracle of the oil at Chanukkah. So there was fried chicken and potato pancakes (called Latkes). I'd never had potato pancakes before, and they were very good! We were able to get the recipe:
Blend well 1 egg, 1 small chopped onion, dash of pepper, 2 Tablespoons of flour, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Peel or scrub (the peel gives the the pancakes a nice texture) 3 medium potatoes. In a food processor, shred the potatoes and add the other ingredients. Mix well, make into pancakes, and fry in hot oil. Makes 8-10 pancakes.
We ate our pancakes with sour cream or applesauce and were told that applesauce is the "Gentile way" of eating Latkes! I tried it both ways and couldn't decide which I liked better. JJ liked them better with applesauce which is apparently the more German way of eating potato pancakes.
Along with some good food, we also got to hear the Chanukkah story told by Rev. Kevin Parviz, the pastor of Chai v' Shalom. He gathered all the kids around and told the story of how two thousand Jews led by Judas "the hammer" Maccabees successfully beat ten thousand Assyrians with drunk elephants! The Jews then purified the temple but only had enough oil to keep the candles lit for a day while it would take ten days for enough new oil to be pressed. Miraculously, the one day supply of oil lasted the full ten days.
We also got the chance to play the dreidel game, which Pastor Parviz called "sanctified gambling." JJ and I won a few chocolate coins, which was nice!
Part of JJ's cross-cultural module will include going to services at Chai' v' Shalom, attending an Orthodox Synagogue (where we'll have to sit on separate sides of the sanctuary since men and women don't sit together), and visiting a Holocaust Museum. I think it will be a very educational experience for both of us.
But now we are gearing up for Christmas! This is our first Christmas together, and that is making it very special. We will be going up to Wisconsin to spend our break with JJ's family. I'm hoping for a white Christmas, but I don't plan on going outside at all in the cold! We wish you all a blessed Christmas celebrating the Incarnation of YHWH.

Well, the Winter Quarter has officially started, and we are almost done with our first week. Time flies when you're learning! JJ has a full load this quarter with fifteen credits. He is taking Systems II with Dr. Biermann (which I am auditing with him), Homiletics II with Dr. Lessing, Genesis with Dr. Adams, Acts and Pauline Epistles with Dr. Kloha, and Theology of Missions with Dr. Raj. So far he is enjoying all of them a lot. He comes home from class everyday exuberant and bursting with things to tell me!
And I so enjoy being home when he comes back from class. It is such a simple pleasure really, but it has filled my heart with unexpected joy! This is my first week of being a full-time stay-at-home wife. Last year, before we were married, I was in school full time. And after we got married, promptly after our return from our honeymoon, I started working full-time with Concordia Publishing House. I finished my temporary stint with them right before the Thanksgiving break. (I was working at the CPH Bookstore all summer and at the Seminary Bookstore during the fall.) I looked in to some other jobs after this one ended, but my heart wasn't in it. I may have to go back to work if our savings run dry after this quarter, but we're praying and waiting to see how the Lord provides. Right now I am thoroughly enjoying my new vocation of wife. I am trying to get caught up on all the things that didn't get done while I was working outside of the home and trying to get the hang of being married and balancing all the things my mom makes look so easy and effortless! (She reminds me that she's been married and a stay-at-home wife for over thirty years, so she's "had lots of practice"!)
Advent services started at JJ's field education church. We're using the Evening Prayer service from LSB (pg. 243 ff.), which I really enjoy. JJ led the service as the liturgist, and next week he will be preaching. He will also be preaching on break at his home congregation in Wisconsin when we go to his parents house for Christmas. With all the homework and assignments he has, he certainly has a lot to do in the next couple of weeks! But Advent is a blessed season, and we will enjoy all the work and preparation that goes in to it! May you enjoy it as well with us whether near or far. God's peace!