Christmas Letter/Annual Report 2006

Greetings and Salutations, So you’ve actually typed in our web address to read our Christmas letter. You must be bored or really love us. We’ll believe the latter. First off, when we were in Grand Rapids over Thanksgiving it became apparent that many of our family and friends check this website for updates and are often disappointed with the lack of any. So, we would just like to announce that we promise to be more faithful in our posting and picture updating in the year to come. This promise will most likely join “flossing daily” as an annual New Year’s resolution that is broken, but we would like you to know that our heart is in the right place. Also, just to dispel any confusion about the Christmas card photo – it’s just a photo we liked. If you thought we looked disgruntled and wondered if we were still happily married there’s also some photos with us smiling along with others. Okay, now we’ve got that out of the way let us get on to the substance. Technically this is our second annual Christmas letter, but considering Melissa and I ran late and only five people actually received that letter in the end, some of you may not be aware of everything Melissa and I have been doing. If so, you can also learn more about us by reading past posts below. With no paper restraint this is kind of long. For navigation purposes the more standard accomplishment-update segments are up front in this post with the more random, and perhaps more amusing, tidbits toward the end.
Melissa is still working as a staff assistant in a social psychology lab at Ohio State. However, Melissa continues to impress with her many additional jobs and activities. This spring, Melissa finished up her year teaching art in an after school problem at three Columbus middle schools. She really enjoyed the program in some respects but decided teaching really was not for her. However, the experience did spark her greater interest in public arts programs culminating in her enrollment in Ohio State’s Master of Arts in Arts Policy & Administration Degree. The program is great in a couple respects. First, it one of the only one’s in the nation and fits great with Melissa’s interests. Second, she can take 2 classes a quarter for free as a staff employee at OSU. Although Melissa was a little rusty getting back into the classroom she ended up really liking the courses and getting good grades as well. She hopes to get an RA or GA-ship soon so she can pursue her studies full time, but such opportunities in master programs are hard to come by. Melissa has also increasingly worked as a wedding photographer. Starting this winter, she has worked with her friend Ryan in shooting a number of weddings for some Calvin friends. Beginning this past summer, Melissa has also really enjoyed and benefited from an apprenticeship in Columbus with Karen at Kisophotografia (who also did a great job taking the photo you see above). Melissa loves shooting weddings and is really good at it but is somewhat ambivalent as to whether she wants to pursue wedding photography or a career in public arts as her full-time occupation. My view is that is a great problem to have.
In contrast, my life remains the same and boring. I am writing my dissertation and am in my fifth year at Ohio State’s Political Science program. I was lucky enough to present papers at conferences in California, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and Melissa tagged along for the later two to enjoy the sights and shopping. I also taught courses for the Winter and Spring quarters, and enjoyed those. Now I am on fellowship so I can concentrate on research. This allows me not to teach but it also makes my life more boring since I sit at home most days typing and reading. Perhaps the most notable events this year were the marriages of a number of good friends. My former roommates Peter Cummings and Jason Kolk both got hitched and we had a great time at both celebrations. I was also able to return a favor and be best man for Jason in his and Carol’s wedding in July. These weddings also had some fun bachelor weekends attached involving shooting guns in Michigan and watching some baseball in Chicago. Sports events have been a highlight of my year and a lowlight in Melissa’s. The Cardinals stunk this year, compared to years past. I went to two ball games and they lost both in terrible fashion. I was quite angry at the team all year for their poor play and this resulted in me almost swearing them off for ever during their losing streak that almost cost them the playoffs. Melissa had to deal with the brunt of my sour demeanor. Of course, then this happened. Baseball is an odd sport. Furthermore, Ohio State football and basketball is big this year. The football season was so big that we ended up selling our Michigan tickets on ebay (in what I like to call our Tressel grant) and were then able to buy a new computer.
In other events, as documented earlier, Melissa and I had a great time with my side of the family at the state fair. We've also been of mostly good health. Melissa and I both had our wisdom teeth extracted in the spring. Melissa’s required oral surgery and she made me take a picture of her bloated jowls. Technically, four of my wisdom teeth were fine but I have an extra tooth on the lower jaw on each side. The two extra wisdom teeth explain why I am so wise. One of these needed to come out so the other two teeth on that side were removed as well. Melissa also had a run in with her dermatologist after being prescribed the wrong medicine. She also made me take a photo documenting her skin’s adverse reaction. Finally, our terrier mutt Hector remains as great a dog as ever. He enjoys his lazy days sleeping in with me. His most endearing trait occurred this fall. Hector now knows when to wait for Melissa to come home at the back door around 5 o’clock. It’s very impressive.
The Lord has blessed us throughout the year and we are continually grateful for His grace. There are plenty of uncertainties about the year to come as I enter the job market and Melissa will need to make some decisions regarding her program. However, we have no doubt that God’s blessings will continue to reveal themselves. Thanks for reading and we wish you all a merry Christmas and God’s blessings to you and your family in the year to come. Love, Cory and Melissa