It's been a very hectic year, and January isn't even over yet! Lots of things happening, mostly good, and a few bad. Guess we can start with the end of the year.
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For a Christmas present, Jen's sister, Bertha, bought her family tickets to go to Safari West in Santa Rosa on New Year's Eve. The entire family was able to go: Jen's parents, her sisters, brother in law, brother, sister in law, nieces and nephew, 13 in all. It was a lot of fun to go on "safari" at this animal refuge, and there were tons of animals throughout the site. We posted our album off to the side (hopefully it's up and running, anyway!) and you can see some of the great photos we have taken.
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Unfortunately, soon after the beginning of the year, we were hit with bad news. Jen's sisters called her early on the morning of the 4th to let her know that her cousin, Jim, had suddenly died. It sounded like he suddenly was ill, and within a day they had lost him. Jimmy was Jen's oldest cousin on her mom's side, and such a fun guy. He was always so sweet and his smile lit up a room. Jimmy was a surfer bum, and everyone was "dude" to him. Jen and I can't watch Finding Nemo without thinking of him when the turtle, Crush, comes on the screen. The family was very sad with the loss, and we attended his rosary and funeral the following week.
RIP Jimmy. We Love You!----------
The week following Jim's death, Jen came down with a horrible cold. Jeff originally had a little cold at the beginning of the year, and a few of her coworkers were also sick, so we don't know where the source was. She started getting sick Friday evening, and had hoped to be better by the end of the weekend, but no such luck. Her fever didn't break until Wednesday, and we worried she would not be able to make the drive to Pacifica and San Francisco for the services. It's been over two weeks since she has caught the cold, and although she's feeling a lot better, her cough hasn't gone away entirely and she still isn't quite 100%.
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Our routine is getting back to normal. After a few weeks off from school, both of us started back this past Monday. This semester, Jeff is enrolled in five classes online through Colorado State, and is in the process of adding a statistics class at Ohlone. If he succeeds at adding the course, Jeff will be on track to graduate this year, much to everyone's delight. It will definitely be a tough semester, especially taking into account not only that he is taking 18 units, but the math class will be in person two nights a week.
Jen's workload isn't nearly as big as Jeff's but is just as exciting. This semester is her first externship, and she was lucky to be so close to home. After some difficulty, Jen was able to have her externship at Lincoln Elementary here in Newark. She is there from 8 AM until about 11:30 AM, then drives up to Stanford to finish the workday, and works longer shifts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to make up for the extra hours. She will have very early days from now until May, and then a slight break in externships until the fall. She will have to complete 4-5 more externships before she finishes her degree, but she is on her way.
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Well, that's everything we can think of for the time being. The next big events coming up soon are Jen's birthday and Valentine's day. Because of the funeral, a lot of thought hasn't been put into either day, but hopefully we can have some fun for these days!
Hope all is well for everyone!
The week following Jim's death, Jen came down with a horrible cold. Jeff originally had a little cold at the beginning of the year, and a few of her coworkers were also sick, so we don't know where the source was. She started getting sick Friday evening, and had hoped to be better by the end of the weekend, but no such luck. Her fever didn't break until Wednesday, and we worried she would not be able to make the drive to Pacifica and San Francisco for the services. It's been over two weeks since she has caught the cold, and although she's feeling a lot better, her cough hasn't gone away entirely and she still isn't quite 100%.
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Our routine is getting back to normal. After a few weeks off from school, both of us started back this past Monday. This semester, Jeff is enrolled in five classes online through Colorado State, and is in the process of adding a statistics class at Ohlone. If he succeeds at adding the course, Jeff will be on track to graduate this year, much to everyone's delight. It will definitely be a tough semester, especially taking into account not only that he is taking 18 units, but the math class will be in person two nights a week.
Jen's workload isn't nearly as big as Jeff's but is just as exciting. This semester is her first externship, and she was lucky to be so close to home. After some difficulty, Jen was able to have her externship at Lincoln Elementary here in Newark. She is there from 8 AM until about 11:30 AM, then drives up to Stanford to finish the workday, and works longer shifts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to make up for the extra hours. She will have very early days from now until May, and then a slight break in externships until the fall. She will have to complete 4-5 more externships before she finishes her degree, but she is on her way.
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Well, that's everything we can think of for the time being. The next big events coming up soon are Jen's birthday and Valentine's day. Because of the funeral, a lot of thought hasn't been put into either day, but hopefully we can have some fun for these days!
Hope all is well for everyone!
