Long Time No Blog

I am finally making the shameful, apologetic return to blogging after taking far too long of a break. If anyone is still checking our blog, I'm sorry it's been so long since you've heard any family news from our end! (For those of you who are waiting expectantly for Danny's #1 movie pick, he might need some prodding. He won't even tell me what it is and I'm dying to know, but I think he's run out of steam. Give him a little encouragement!)


My reason for not blogging more is two-fold: 1) we have too much going on, and 2) there's really nothing going on. We are really busy, but since we don't have a cute baby to post pictures of and our lives pretty much follow the same pattern, there's not much to report! Plus, I haven't taken the time to learn how to upload pictures from my new phone yet, so I have absolutely nothing to show for what we've been up to the last few months.


In the spirit of cute baby pictures making for good blogging, here's a picture of a precious little one who I love dearly but have yet to meet! This is the daughter of my Pepperdine roommate, Patty Ortigas Surmann. Patty, her husband Olaf and little Zoe live in Hannover, Germany, and I will get to meet Zoe for the first time this summer!





Here's a quick recap of what I've been up to.

School

Last weekend I finished another quarter of school, and I have a month-long break in between classes! I'm very excited. In fact, this weekend was the first since January when I didn't either have class at 8 am Saturday morning, or I didn't have to write a paper all weekend. It's been fantastic. That said, I really love being in school! I don't always love writing the papers or going to class all day on a Saturday (especially since I work at my school - I feel like I'm working 6 days a week!) but I am loving what I'm learning. The class I just finished was on the Pentateuch and I'm seeing the Old Testament in a totally new way. I actually enjoyed learning about Numbers and Leviticus, which was a surprise!


One of the biggest things I've learned from last quarter is seeing the Sabbath in a new way. It's the longest of the 10 Commandments, but the only one that we have no trouble breaking! We don't take time to rest because it's completely counter to our culture. We feel guilty resting - but we shouldn't! I also realized that the idea of Sabbath was not solely about rest, but also about relationships. I used to think that napping and watching football on a Sunday afternoon was taking my Sabbath (and sometimes that's the rest we need) but the Sabbath was designed not for lazy self-indulgence, but for building relationships with family and with God. So this Sunday, instead of napping by myself, I took a nap with my husband, haha.


Family

The most exciting news we have is that we are going to have a niece or nephew! Danny's brother, Michael, and his wife, Betsy, are due in August and we are SO excited! We're also glad for a decoy from the fact that we're not starting a family any time soon, haha. We are really happy for Mike and Betsy and can't wait to meet the little Fitel. I'm doubly thrilled because I love babies and I love my brother and sister-in-law, and because it's another excuse to go to New York more often!


By the way, you should be thanking me that I didn't play a trick on you by saying "there's a baby on the way!" or "the Fitelsons are expecting!" It was really tempting....


Vacation

Danny and I have high hopes to take a vacation this summer and get some real time away and time off. Last year we took no more then 4 consecutive days of vacation together, so we're hoping for a good long one this year! I came to the realization around the new year that 2007 was the first year in EIGHT years that I didn't leave the continent of North America. I was pretty excited and proud to realize that every year from 1999 to 2006 I left the continent at least once for either trips to Japan, business travel, or mission trips. In 2007 I left the country to go to Mexico for a youth trip, but that was NOT a vacation!


So this summer I'm hoping to see a new country and to take Danny on his first overseas adventure. We hope to go to New York to meet Little Fitel in August, and then go East from there. On a sidenote, several times when I've told people we want to go to New York and then go East from there, I am met with a confused, blank look and the comment "You can't go East from New York." When I say, "Sure you can. Like Italy!" they just laugh. I'm not sure why that's funny. Anyone feel me on that, or is my circle of friends just really that weird?


I hope that our trip will be somewhere in Western Europe because the extent of my time in Europe was 3 days in Germany. We won't be going to Germany because my main reason for visiting Germany (see cute baby above) will be in California. So, if anyone has a suggestion for a European city that would be good for a week of vacation for two Europe newbies (and one who has never traveled abroad) we would love suggestions!! Rome and Florence? London? Athens? Paris is out because we still plan to do that with Danny's family some day, when Little Fitel is portable.

Youth Group

The Youth Group is still great. We've got amazing kids and they keep us busy. I've been bonding a lot with the sophomore girls and trying to spend one-on-one time with a handful of them - which is really difficult with my crazy schedule. Danny is working on a service project for the high school students over Spring Break so they can serve around Oakland and see that they don't have to go all the way to Mexico to help people in need. He's excited about it and it's saving the church a ton of money. He's hoping to take the kids back to Mexico next year.

Work

I'm still working at Fuller Seminary in Menlo Park and after a year there I finally feel like I'm getting grounded and know what I'm doing. That said, there is always something new to learn and it is always challenging. I am never bored or out of things to do! The best part about my new job compared to my old job is that when I tell people what I do it leads to theological discussions instead of a conversation about servers, networks, software, blah blah blah. I'm much more in my element at Fuller!

I think that's about all I have to update. I'm off to cook dinner and enjoy a relaxing Sunday evening with Danny, both of which are rare these days! Is this what weekends and Sabbaths are supposed to like? Because I'm loving it!