Both the kids are in high school finally! They go to Corona Del Sol in Tempe. Erik is a junior and Sarah is a freshman. Erik just took the practice SAT in preparation for the real one in March. He decided to not wrestle this year to instead focus on his grades as he's in honors courses. He wants to be a nuclear engineer, specializing in fusion technology, and so will need to work hard to get into a good college who specializes in that. No steady girlfriend yet, but not for lack of trying. The big news for him is he is driving!
Sarah started out her freshman year doing well, but has been struggling lately when it came time for final exams. She's lobbying to be home schooled, but the problem with that is I'm not home...so that's not going to happen. Her good news is she has a “boyfriend” named Alex. They don't actually see each other outside of school but I did make him come over once so I could meet him. Seems like a nice kid. Sarah is leaning towards being a vet tech working with animals, and perhaps one day a K-9 police officer. She'll probably go to the vocational school starting in sophomore year because they offer a vet tech certificate.
Lynda’s biggest news is she left ASU and took a job as the HR Manager for Chandler-Gilbert Community College. There’s 1,000 employees counting adjunct faculty and 18,000 students. It’s a very nice campus for being a community college. It even has dorms, sports teams and a performing arts theatre. She’s learning a lot and enjoying the people she works with. She has one more class and then will have a graduate certificate in educational technology and instructional design. She plans to start teaching one class on the side as an adjunct professor at Chandler-Gilbert next fall.
The biggest change for all of us though is that Lars got a new job, but it’s in Novi, Michigan! It’s been nice to have a steady income again, but it's difficult to be apart so much. We try to see each every other weekend but that doesn't always work out. He's renting a room in a nice house from an older lady who has adult children there and one other renter. He's liking his job although he's travelling a lot more than expected to Kentucky and Ohio. We are waiting it out for now - we have to live in our AZ house until next September or else would have to pay back the $8,000 tax credit that the government provided to buy this house. Don't want to have to pay that back!
We are looking forward to seeing each other, friends and family for Christmas in OH/KY/TN! We're flying out Christmas Day to meet Lars in Ohio and see friends for a few days. We'll go to Kentucky Tuesday after or so to visit family and friends and then all my siblings and mother are driving to Gatlinburg in TN where we rented a house in the Smokey Mountains from Wed through New Year's Day. Should be a blast!
We wish you and yours a very wonderful holiday season. Remember it's not about Christmas presents, it's about Christ's presence! Love, Lars, Lynda, Erik, Sarah
