Life Update for December

So much to update about! This might be a rather long post, but it should be interesting. We’ll start from the date of the last post (end of November) and head toward the present. Of course the Christmas season is upon us and so there has been lots of cutting down of trees, wrapping of presents, and celebrating with parties throughout the month of December. We got an early Christmas present with a joint “SNOW DAY” where we got to sleep in, go cross country skiing, and snuggle up together with a cup of hot cocoa. Snow days are one of the big pluses of both being teachers! We had a sad turn of events when our pet hamster, Chestnut, passed on to the great hamster-ball in the sky. He was a fun little guy but we are glad that he is not in pain any more. On a much, much happier note Jocelyn’s younger brother Stuart just got engaged to his long term girlfriend Carrie! They are a wonderful couple and we are sure that they will have a beautiful future together. For more details and pictures from the engagement you can go to Stuart’s blog (see the link S. Loe under Friends and Family on the left side of our blog) and read all about it. Most recently David competed in the Madison West High School Alumni Swim Meet. He did a great job and it was super fun to watch him swim again! We are now celebrating Christmas with family and having a very relaxing vacation. We hope all is well with you and that the blessings of the season are yours in abundance.

Compassion International

We just started sponsoring a child through Compassion International (http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm) and wanted to share his story with you so he could be in your prayers as well. His name is Nshimiyimana, he is almost 8 years old, and he lives in Rwanda. Nshim lives with his mother, father, and 3 siblings, and he enjoys singing and playing ball games. His mom and dad are sometimes employed as farmers and Nshim is responsible for carrying water and gathering firewood. Nshim lives in an area that is being devistated by HIV/AIDS, as well as still bearing the deep scars of a terrible civil war. We are excited to get to know Nshim and be a part of his life even though we are thousands of miles away. We have been so blessed in so many ways and we want to pass these blessings on to others who are in need. We hope you will join us in praying for Nshim and his family, as well as taking a moment to be truly thankful for all that you've been given.

Happy Thanksgiving

We just got back from celebrating a wonderful Thanksgiving with all of David's extended family up north in Minocqua. Lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins to chat with and as always, way too much food! To accommodate all the fun we had the Thanksgiving meal at a local hotel, with the additional bonus of being able to spend time in the pool and hot tub. We even got some snow to start off the Christmas holidays. It is fun to be part of such a large, loving family and the best part of any holiday is that it brings us all together. We just want you (yes you reader) to know that you have touched our lives in some wonderful way and we truly thank God for you.

Music Extravaganza

We have had the opportunity to see three fantastic concerts in the last few weeks. The first was a concert performed by the Oshkosh Chamber Singers. Jocelyn's Dad is a member of this choir and sang beautifully in their concert! This concert was called "Reflections on Peace" and was a very touching collection of music and prose that encouraged the listener to understand the value of peace in our world. The second concert was a very high energy performance by Nickel Creek, a bluegrass rock group that has enough talent to knock your socks off. We really enjoyed getting to see this concert with friends and we were all so impressed with the depth of musical talent shown by the performers. It's the kind of music where when you listen to it, you just can't sit still. The third concert was Celtic Woman, and it was phenomenal. We got to attend this concert with, and thanks to, David's parents. The musical selections are a fun mix of Celtic and modern music and the 5 lead women are stunningly talented. We first heard them on PBS and have loved them every since. We so enjoy attending concerts and hearing live music! There is so much talent out there, you've just got to listen to the right stuff.

Fanfares & Flourishes

Last night was date night for the Pinkerts! We started with dinner at Buraka, a great Ethiopian restaurant on State Street, then we headed to the Overture Center for Fanfares & Flourishes: Music for Organ, Brass, and Percussion. It was fantastic! The best part was getting to see the 32-foot pipe organ in all its glory. All the musicians are members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, so their musical resumes were pretty impressive. David's favorite part was the low, feel the rumbling in your chest, organ notes and Jocelyn really enjoyed the song "Praise the Lord with Drums and Cymbals". With a title like that how could it not be great?! We were really impressed with how well the brass and the organ complimented each other, which isn't a typical instrument pairing. We decided we need to own more instrumental music (which pretty much always happens after a great concert)!

We HEART Bucky

We love going to live sporting events! Soccer, volleyball, track, swimming, tennis, basketball, hockey, baseball, you name it! Being here in Madison has given us many opportunities to see fantastic athletes play their heart out for only ~$5 a ticket. Yeah Badgers! Plus they are always giving away free stuff at the games. And since we tend to go to the less "popular" sporting events there is enough stuff that we end up with some of it. We have gotten at least 3 T-shirts, 2 pairs of crocs (shoes for those who don't know the lingo), and a flashlight! Here's a picture of us with some of our winnings:
We are still trying to snag a picture with Bucky, but we're sure our persistance will pay off eventually. Since we're such science nerds it would be fun to get a picture with Chemistry Bucky (he is wearing safety goggles), but we'll take what we can get. So if any of you reading this post are also sports fans we would love to connect and go watch a game together!

Stuart in Cyprus

Jocelyn's brother Stuart just left for 6 months in the Republic of Cyprus, a small island country off the coast of Turkey. He will be taking part in Discipleship Training through Youth With A Mission (YWAM) http://www.ywam.org/contents/get_dts_purpose.htm, specifically focusing on bridging cultural divides by sharing the gospel with people who have no knowledge of Christianity. Stuart has a heart to serve God in the missions field and he hopes that this program will equip him to do so. All our prayers are with him. On a less serious note, you should know that Stuart brings craziness wherever he goes, so if you take a look to the left the top video clip is Stuart jumping into the Mediterranean Sea. Just click on the video and it automatically starts playing at the top of our blog. He says that if you play the video slowly enough (frame-by-frame), you can see where his expression changes from one of glee to panic. Go Stu!

So we started a blog...

Apparently all the cool kids are doing it. Now we will have to go on all those adventures we always talk about so we will have exciting things to write about in our blog. But right now the thing that takes up most of our time is school. Who would have thought that we would still be in school at 26? David works at Oregon High School teaching Physical Science and Adaptive Science and Jocelyn is student teaching at Abundant Life Christian School in Chemistry, Physics, and Physical Science. Boy are we nerds! But thankfully we both enjoy our jobs and are attempting to get back into the swing of things this semester after summer break. That's right, we still get summer break. But during the school year it can be pretty hectic and stressful. But someone has got to teach the next generation!