Some New Beginnings

2008 swept in on our feet with an array of activities. We were mired in establishing new routines for the past few weeks that only now do I have time to take a "new year's" inventory. I have long abandoned the "new year resolution" practice - setting goals for a whole year creates a more daunting outlook than it should, so I resort to the more tangible approach (for me) of quaterly inventory, and set goals along the way as my routines allow. So these are some new projections for our fresh new quarter (now I sound like I'm doing forecast for a bank...):

New work schedule (me):
It's been a helluva few weeks for me to schedule my students. It's always chaotic at the beginning of a new term because parents all have to work around the kids' school schedules and activities. But it has been extra challenging since some of my students have switched to afternoon school (here they do half days for elementary) so I have to teach some mornings. I only want to teach when Luke is in school, which posed a problem because he only goes two mornings a week but to squeeze in everybody I need three mornings....anyway, it has been a stressful few weeks juggling the needs of my students and the "I-need-to-be-there-for-my-child" guilt. I ended up dropping two students to make my schedule more flexible (and human), which set us back financially a little bit, especially we are saving up for the birth of the baby. I guess these are just one of those common challenges for working mothers...

New routines (Luke):
School
Luke is going to school! He will be attending a montessori school two mornings a week. We have already gone to his orientation(!) and Luke is ready for school. He loves the school and is very excited about being a "big boy." While our big boy is eager and happy, mom and dad look on with misty eyes - where has all the time gone? Where's our little baby? Well, Luke hasn't officially started yet - he will start on January 28. And yes, we are already thinking too much about it.
Potty training
Luke is all trained for #1, but #2 can be best described as an obstinately constipated experience. We've tried on and off encouraging, bribing, psychologizing, and coercing since Luke was 18 months, but after a year and a half we are still at ground zero. Now that he's three, and with the threat of double duty on the diaper changing when Baby #2 comes, we are kicking the training up a notch - which has been met with a lot of resistance - but we intend to stick with it to the end.

New Church (for all of us):
After attending our current church for 3 years without hearing more than five sermons within the whole period of time (we were eternally trapped in the nursery as childcare is not sufficiently available), we finally decided to move on to scout out other options. The reason we stuck around our old church for so long is because we belonged to a smally group that we like, and I enjoyed the liturgical (and sometimes theological) element of an Anglican Church (though obviously I didn't get to enjoy these elements too often because we couldn't participate in service). So with the hope of the possibility that we can be rehabilitated into the adult world of attending church services, we checked out International Baptist Church(IBC) - and liked it. We've been there before, but I had a bad first impression because that time the pastor was preaching on the famous (or infamous) passage in Ephesian 5, which he went heavily into stereotypical gender roles and hit many other wrong buttons in me. However, we remembered that their childcare was state-of-the-artly well-organized and well-run. This time around, childcare was still first-class impressive, but the sermon also went down well with me, to my surprise. It could be my low expectation, it could be the long-deprivation from hearing God's word preached, it could be the preganancy....but we kept going back each week, feeling spiritually nourished and refreshed, and get to pick up a happy toddler who does not want to leave his weekly Sunday school class. So the verdict is clear: we decided to switch and start getting involved at this new church. Of course, somewhere down the line there maybe sermons or theological inclinations that I will disagree, but this has been a great learning experience for me so far (Matt has less resistance to the switch than I do, but he also benefited from having a baptist background) - of how my theological snobbery and denominational stubborness can bar me from experience fruitful Christian fellowhip (for a long time I refused to consider IBC as an option for switching), and how God can work through all my faults and vanity and break down these walls so that I can get pass my hiccups and enjoy Him and His church. So for the next few months, we will be busy checking out opportunities, small groups, and ministries at the church, and we are looking forward to it.