Just a bit of an update: we finally bought a house and moved! Five 28 ft. truckloads and three days was all it took to totally wipe us out. In the process our oldest son Noah got very sick and was admitted to the hospital. At first the doctors feared that he had meningitis. He was immediately taken to the emergency where they gave him a whole host of tests. Thank God, they eventually ruled it out. They were unable to diagnose his symptoms, however, leading to a weeklong stay in the hospital. They finally concluded that he had a staph infection combined with a reaction to an antibiotic he had been taking. He’s now back at it and for this we are very thankful. As a parent, events like this shake you; your sick child usually deals with it much better than you do. Among the many things that kids usually do not know about their parents, heading the list is surely how much their parents love them. As a kid I always knew my parents loved me, but it wasn’t until I had my own that I knew how much.

I wish I could say that I was upbeat about the political and financial situation of our nation/world right now. I have been very skeptical of our political system for some time. Although we have probably had eras that were more partisan that today, that is no relief to me. I am so disappointed with a political system in which important issues cannot be dealt with because one side or the other refuses the to allow their opponents to get the credit. Nothing important gets done and each side blames the other. I want to scream when I hear otherwise intelligent people blathering on the airways that one side is “totally to blame” for the mess we are in. It is shocking how many people buy into the rhetoric.

I am looking forward to SBL this year in Boston. Have been teaching six classes this semester, something I told myself I would never do again (frowning face here). I enjoy the time to get away and be challenged as I listen to others talk!