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Can it be Christmas again already? It seems like just yesterday that we didn't get our Christmas cards mailed -- for last year! Our apologies to all those who are dropping us from their own Christmas-card lists for non response; we promise to get it together one of these days.
It has been the usual busy year for the family. Jami Sue is in the middle of her fifth year of teaching math and science at Rogers Middle School in Oklahoma City. This will be her last year with the OKC school district; Jami Sue will resign this spring and look for a position somewhere on the north-west side of the city. If anyone knows of any job openings in the Piedmont, Cashion, or Deer Creek school systems, let us know! She is also playing keyboard at Calvary Church of the Nazarene and operating a thriving wedding-cake business on the side. Between church, school, and weddings she is pretty busy and has little time for her hobbies, smocking and geneaology. With her encouragement we have obtained the goulden.org and yarger.org domains (Yarger is Jami Sue's maiden name) and hope to host a decent geneaology site on them one day.
John is halfway through his twelfth year of teaching at Southern Nazarene University. Although he's still chairman of the SNU Physics Department, his teaching load is more and more computer science these days. This year it's Introduction to Computer Science using Java, an advanced C++ programming course, an operating systems design course, the General Physics sequence for pre-medical students, Astronomy, and a senior-level 'capstone' course called Science, Technology, and Society. He's also doing a bit of adjunct teaching (all computer science) and consulting for local corporations such as Seagate as well as trying to keep up with all of this World Wide Web stuff and work through some computer-related certifications. Like Jami Sue, he's also involved with church music, singing in the sanctuary choir and occasionally playing in the handbell choir. The latest entry on his resume is the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music -- the result of ten years of part-time work at SNU. Sad to say that since his recital -- works by Beethoven, Debussey, Rachmoninov, and Kachaturian -- he's hardly played a note. John now spends his evenings wondering why he didn't have the foresight to buy "business.com" five years ago so we could retire.
Laura (six-and-three-quarters) and J.P. (eight) are in first and second grade at SNU School for Children. They have excellent teachers and are both doing well. Having them right there at SNU is pretty convenient for us; they just go in with John in the morning and walk over to his office in the afternoon. They are both quite computer literate and they have no problem logging into the network and surfing to their favorite on-line game sites. They also have their own computer at home -- we were one of the lucky few who got a "free pc" from free-pc.com before they bailed out of the computer-giveaway business and the kids have pretty much taken over that one. Laura has left ballet after two years and has started a gymnastics program at Dynamo, the studio operated by Olympic coach Steve Nunno. We met Steve at the Dynamo Christmas program earlier this month; he's quite a personable fellow. J.P. just successfully tested for his blue belt in Tae Kwon Do, which puts him halfway to the rank of black belt. He doesn't much care for the sparring aspect of the sport, but already has a gold medal in 'forms.' Both kids are also active in Bible quizing and maintain social schedules that make John and Jami Sue just a bit jealous. We don't remember attending that many parties when we were kids! They are also ruthless dominos players and love it when they beat Mom and Dad. It is so exciting to watch them grow in wisdom and in stature, finding favor with God and with man.
Now for some big news -- Katherine Ann Goulden was born just six months ago on June 25. Laura and J.P. just adore their baby sister and help out with bottles, diapers, and keeping 'Katie' entertained. John's mother, who lives nearby and helped us out with the other two kids, is coming back out of child-care retirement to watch her new granddaughter during the day this spring. Laura has graciously offered to share her room with Katie and has quickly learned to sleep through any early-morning cries from the crib.
Our other news isn't quite so big but is still exciting. We purchased a five-acre lot just south of Cashion in the summer of 1998 and have been planning our move to the new homestead ever since. If all goes well, we'll begin construction on a house this summer. John and Jami Sue have spent a lot of evenings poring over books and sketching potential floor plans. We will act as our own builders and will do most of the work -- the ultimate do-it-yourself project. John's father, who built his own house some twenty-five years ago, has already announced that he'll supervise and watch kids but won't lift anything that resembles a tool or weighs more than Katie. We're also learning that almost anything one wants to do with an unimproved piece of former farmland -- be it digging a well, leveling an area, or whatever -- comes with a four-figure price tag, and that Oklahoma red shale doesn't wash out of light-colored clothes under any circumstances.
With all of this going on it's no surprise that we're again weeks behind on Christmas cards. The little house on Wilburn Avenue is bursting at the seams; we don't even have room to put up a tree this year and the presents are stacked on the stereo with care. Well, Jami Sue has now inherited four complete bedroom suites, and they have to go somewhere! We've already started some packing -- John figures that at a rate of two boxes of books per evening he just may get them all packed by mid-summer -- and we haunt the local auctions whenever we can, watching for tools and building materials. But amid all the hustle and bustle we hope and pray that everyone can pause and remember the reason for the season. God has blessed us in more ways than we can describe and we give Him the praise and the glory.
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