Three is a Magic Number

http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterbokunet/5541689348/ http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0094009/photos/peterbokunet/5541530016/ Jody can ski backward a long way.

Lutsen was great this year.  The weather couldn't have been better.  And the snow was okay, considering it had rained the day before.  Emilee has turned into a great beginning skier.  Samuel does a good job keeping up with Paul.  And Faith... well, I don't worry about her because she skis in control.  After falling last year, I feel like I got my legs back.  Notice that is the lake behind us, not just the sky.

So everything just happened really fast… March 11th – working at Stout. Checked with the program director about my credit load next year. It looked like I would have my current classes at minimum, with possibilities of picking up a few more credits. I decided that was enough to turn in my letter of resignation to my school job. March 14th Morning – Mailed my letter of intent to enroll at United Theological Seminary. March 14th Afternoon – Met with my superintendent to turn in my letter of resignation. Four weeks ago, this would have been a moment I would have dreaded. However, given the events in WI in February and March, and the anticipated cuts to public education, it was not a dreadful experience at all. My words to my superintendent: “I was worried that handing this letter to you was going to be the hardest part of my journey because I love my career, and I think I do well at it. But with everything going on, I just feel relieved.” And that was that. March 16th – Left for v...

You have to love Hudson in Feb.  Hudson has such great community events.  Here is some pictures of the Hotair Moonglow.  Because of the great weather, it was huge this year.  I think there was over 20 balloons.  And you get to walk right underneath them.  It's like being on a different planet.  The kids didn't like it so much this year, but I sure did.  Since I had to park the car after dropping them off, I got to walk through the balloons all by myself, just looking up the whole time--no little ones to wrangle.  Sorry for the poor quality--cell phone pics.  Thanks to Katie and Jody for help with wrangling and for the pic of the kids.

In our Christmas letter, I mentioned that I would post my vocational statement for seminary on the blog.  Then those interested in knowing a bit more about the "why" and "how" of the decisions can read up here.  So, here that is: Career Path and Calling My career path is not one that I ever would have predicted. After earning a Masters in Education degree and an Educational Specialist degree, I have been blessed with opportunities to work in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school settings as a school counselor/school psychologist and to work in higher education training future educators. I have thoroughly enjoyed serving at-risk children, teens, and families. I have been enthusiastic about training future educators who will make positive impacts in the lives of children. Through advising graduate students’ research, I have gained insight, been challenged, and found great interest in using data to inform educational practice. My career has been very fulfilling...

As always, we send our Christmas letter out during Valentine's Day.  I really am not into the hustle and bustle of Christmas, so I find it better to do our Christmas letter a month (or more) later.  I am doing an e-mail version for most people this year, and sending it snail mail to others.  Thought I would post a link here too in case anyone enters the blog through facebook.  It appears as a google doc and takes a bit to come into focus. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B4fkTv_h1SGWMDVkMTYzZGQtYWZhNy00ZGQxLTkzOGMtZjQ3MmI0NWY1NTU4&hl=en

Christmas season around our house ran from December 17th, when we celebrated with the Christensens, to January 23rd, when we celebrated with the Lamons.  Technically, we also celebrate the Souhrada Christmas over Presidents Day weekend, so it is not quite over.  Because of Faith's December sickness/hospitalization, we were totally behind on buying Christmas presents and putting up our tree.  So, once school let out for us all on December 23rd, it was a bit of a mad-dash to get Christmas things done.  On Christmas Eve, I called our local hardware store inquiring whether they had any trees left.  They had 2!  We purchased the $15 Charlie Brown left-over.  It nearly fell off the van on the way home.  Because it was 8 feet, Paul was thilled--he likes tall trees.  The kids decorated it and it was "beautiful."  I actually am thinking this might be the way to do things again next year.  I posted an extra picture of Fait...