Closer and Closer (2015)

As an analyst, I (Rebekah) spend time thinking about limits pretty regularly. We analysts often describe limits as "within epsilon" of whatever value we want something to be, and to the uninitiated, we say that means that the function/sequence/whatever is getting "closer and closer" to the limit. There's even an introduction to real analysis book entitled Closer and Closer. This has been a year of getting closer and closer to many things for each of us.

Ryan is getting closer and closer to finishing his PhD in computer science from the University of Rochester.  He continues to enjoy his research and hopes for endurance in the new year for the final stretch.  He has also been enjoying collaborative building with Judah with his childhood Legos before bed at night.  So far they have constructed an airport with a working jet bridge and numerous airplanes, a firehouse with sleeping quarters and pole to slide down and several fire trucks, a horse barn with horse jumping fences and a press box, two high speed hand crank windmills, and the music building from Houghton so the Lego people can go to music class.

Rebekah is getting closer and closer to tenure (we hope!) at Houghton as she is halfway through her 7th year and just waiting until February for the final decision. This is a risky thing to write in a Christmas blog, I suppose, but you'll all know next year either way.

Judah is getting closer and closer to school age (ok, this one is a bit of a stretch). He started preschool in September 3 mornings a week, and he seems to be enjoying it, though he does not divulge many details about his day. He spent almost the entire Christmas program dutifully standing on stage not singing or talking (the only child to achieve this level of public non-participation), though he has recited the entire program and sung all the songs to us at home—apparently he does not have a future in theater. But then he got a toy reverb microphone for Christmas, and now he may just be getting closer and closer to being a rockstar…. He keeps us on our toes with questions and hilarity.

Junia is getting closer and closer to walking, especially in the last few days, and to speaking in paragraphs. She has a lot to say these days and many opinions about how her world should work, but she is still pretty easy going, adores her brother, and enjoys reading, playing with train tracks and cars and big Legos, drawing, and pretty much anything her brother is doing.

As a family, we have been enjoying that Grandma and Grandpa Johnson moved closer and closer to us in June when they relocated to Rochester. It took Judah a bit of time, but he eventually rechristened them from "Pennsylvania Grandma and Grandpa" to "New York Grandma and Grandpa." They've been coming to Houghton once a week to watch the kids, and we are very grateful!

We also had a great trip to California this summer and a great visit from California Grandma and Grandpa in November in which Judah and Junia were able to grow closer and closer to their paternal grandparents.

We're excited, too, to be getting closer and closer to the birth of our new niece or nephew, due at the beginning of February.

We pray that we are daily getting closer and closer to the One whose birth we celebrate in this season, who became one of us that we might be reconciled to Him. We also pray that you may know Him closer and closer throughout the new year. Please keep in touch!

We'll close with some more pictures from 2015:
Judah with the balance bike that Ryan built

Judah insists that the couch is a "more better" place for their monthly pictures. 

We tried to take a nice family picture for Rebekah's birthday this summer. 

First day of classes (Ryan was in Vancouver for a conference and Judah was at New York Grandma and Grandpa's house). 

Judah's 3 and a half picture required jumping. 

Fall picture. 

Junia has a strange obsession with fingernail clippers. 

"Found you!" Junia declares as she opens the cabinet to reveal her hiding place. 

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas: A Recap of 2014

Every summer our church (Sojourners Mennonite Fellowship) joins with the Mennonite church in Rochester to have a worship service in Letchworth State Park. This past summer, the Rochester church asked us to learn the hymn "Thou True Vine." While the hymn is great for many reasons, the phrase that has stuck in my (Rebekah's) head ever since is "make us sane and simple." While our lives often feel anything but sane and simple, we are renewed daily by the true vine that heals the nations. In this season in which we celebrate our savior's birth, we are again awed that the Creator of the universe humbled Himself and came to us in the simplicity of a baby, dependent upon His earthly parents for all His needs, to live and die as one of us and to conquer death that we may live in Him.

We have been especially reminded of just how humble babies are this year as we welcomed our daughter Junia Ivonette on May 25. She's named Junia after the only woman in the Bible who's called an apostle (Romans 16:7, NIV and some other versions) and Ivonette after her Great-grandma Yates.

Judah, who turned 2 in April, has been a big fan of his baby sister from the beginning. He loves to "laugh her" and report on whatever she's doing to anyone who will listen. She's a very content, happy baby most of the time, so she has many fans wherever she goes.

I'm in my sixth year of teaching math at Houghton College, and Ryan is in his fourth year of a computer science PhD program at the University of Rochester. His advisor is on sabbatical this year, so Ryan's only heading up to Rochester once a week, which is a nice change from previous years (though last year it was only twice a week most weeks). We're surviving the challenge of our jobs while parenting two small children, and we are grateful that we have babysitters who love our kids and take good care of them!

With the goal of keeping this post sane and simple, I'll just end with some pictures. If you're interested in a significantly larger volume of pictures and funny Judah quotations (he keeps us laughing every day, and Junia's starting to hold her own in that department as well) and you're on facebook, be our friends. If you already are our facebook friends, then we apologize if we've overwhelmed you with such items!

Judah discovered his inner Clark Kent last Christmas.

Ryan and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary this summer. It's not the greatest picture, but this is not something that should go unmentioned, I suppose!

We visited Grandma and Grandpa J in PA in August and got to go on a firetruck!!!

Judah's favorite pastime this summer was going to see "the construction" (Houghton built a new field house, among other things).

We can hold both kids--we're totally competent parents.

"It has leaves for eyes. I'll call it Levi!"

Christmas kids. Note: Junia's head looks almost as large as Judah's in this picture. This is an accurate representation of reality.

Happy 2015, everyone!