Christmas has come and gone, and a new year has just begun. I can hardly believe it - how does life go by so quickly? We were completely slammed in December with finals, then we took off for a visit to Scott's family in Ohio. It was a nice Christmas, but much too fast. My baby, Bodie, turned one year on the 27th. We are all doing well, just resting up before school gets started again. We have some cool new things we are attempting this year in our life, but I don't really feel like getting into them just yet. I just wanted to post something, so you all know we are alive and doing ok. Happy 2009!

I am in the midst of an intense study of the civil rights movement, especially in the North, and ran across this interesting quote that rings true today:

"History says, don't hope on this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime the longed for tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme." Seamus Heany

I found it in "Stone of Hope" (an excellent study of how the prophetic tradition influenced the civil rights leaders in the South) For a really great history of the struggle in the North, check out a brand new book called "Sweet Land of Liberty" by Thomas Sugrue. It will open your eyes.  Now you know what I have been up to  Trying to prepare for a mega-paper on civil rights, some of the most riveting history I have ever read.

Woke up this morning to the first snow of the season ... there is always something really special about that first snow, and this California girl never gets tired of it!