Christmas letter.

Dear family & friends,

Per request of my sweet husband, we are writing a Christmas letter. Sam has always enjoyed the letters people send with their Christmas cards, as I have always enjoyed picture cards. Therefore, we sent out our picture cards and have decided to write our letter via our blog. Great compromise.

Sam is continuing to chug away at seminary. 1 1/2 years down, 2 1/2 to go. He is still enjoying everything he is learning, with the occasional distaste for Hebrew. He is taking a three week Hebrew crash course for J-term, which he seems to be dreading.  He is also still working part time at Shaw's Coffee Ltd. - still loving it. If you talk to his bosses, they will brag and rant about what a wonderful employee Sam is, and a very talented Barista. He has been busy training new employees, as well as making delicious drinks. The "regulars" at Shaw's think Sam is simply the best as well (I would have to agree). On top of school and work, Sam has also stepped up his responsibilities at church, playing drums almost every Sunday and helping with our youth group on Monday nights. Although I don't enjoy the 7:00am departure time on Sunday mornings, he is very gifted musically and adds a lot to our worship at South City. In the few hours of free time he has, he enjoys listening to vinyl records, combing and care-taking of his new beard, and, of course- reading.

As for me, I've been keeping busy. In the past year, I was hired and left a job that was the most challenging  and character- enriching job I've ever had (and that says a lot, seeing that I cleaned toilets for three summers). I was working as a two-year-old teacher for Bright Horizons. Enough said. I stayed at that job for 8 months, before being hired on by Hancock Elementary again to cover maternity leaves in November. Hancock is employing me from November 2011 to May 2012 as a Permanent Substitute. I'm LOVING my first grade class right now and looking forward to covering my next maternity leave in February in 3rd grade. Other then working, I'm babysitting on Saturdays and enjoying being a Nursery Coordinator and teaching Children's Worship once a month at church. In my free time, I'm cleaning, doing laundry and snuggling with my dog.

Speaking of dog, could we have a cuter pup? We love Ethel. She brings us so much joy. Her excitement when we get home, her funny quirks, and the strange things she is terrified of. She has such a funny personality. We rescued her last March from a shelter downtown St. Louis and she has made almost a complete transformation from the scared dog we brought home that day to the dog that won't leave our side. LOVE her.

Sam and I are loving being married. There is nothing sweeter then waking up next to your best friend every morning. I so appreciate the little things my husband does and will probably always see a million more things he could do :) but even the little arguments are well worth it. We are loving St. Louis little by little as we learn more about the city and explore new parts. We especially love our church and feel so blessed and challenged by our church family.

That's about it. We hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus. Considering the fact that God actually came into our world as a real, live, baby, lived a perfect life on our behalf, took our sins on the cross, and rose again to give us new life and the hope of resurrection, it is an understatement to say the birth of Jesus is the most important event in all of history. It deserves a party!

Love,

The Haists

Merry Christmas, 2011! (Photo by Amber Duncan)