Jeff's Graduation: That's right, folks. My PhD earning husband got hooded! The whole family headed up to Athens for Jeff's graduation in mid-December. I am so proud of him!! All the Newberrys came as well as my mom, Ted, Kim, and Jonah, Grandmother, and Uncle John. It was craziness and super awesome fun! My super cute nephew Jonah is getting so big and he is such a great baby! It was fun to see him before he is not a baby anymore. :-)
Pre-Christmas: After Jeff's graduation we had an early Newberry family Christmas It was great to hang with the family and have a great time eating and exchanging gifts! Also, Joe and Ashley came to my Tifton Choral Society Christmas concert, so that was super special!
Mourning The Loss of A Friend: Our friend Eric Cash passed away on the 18th, the day we came home from Athens, after an 8 month battle with lung cancer. His funeral was on December 22. We are still missing him very much and grieving for Erin, Elizabeth and Eliot. On a wonderful note, Jeff and I became Eliot's godparents on the 19th when he and Elizabeth were baptized at St. Anne's Episcopal.
Illness: I began what ended up being an 8 day long stomach illness the day we left Athens that continued until Christmas day. It was awful. Blech!
Christmas Eve: On Christmas Eve we went to our church's service and it was great. I love our church family!
Christmas: My parents came up from Tally for Christmas and enjoyed present opening and our traditional ribeyes on the grill! Ben played Santa and watching him open his gifts was lots of fun and the steaks were AMAZING!! My hubby is the grill master!
Boston: From December 29-January 5 I went to visit my super awesome brother and his family in Boston. It was so great to see Chip, Shannon, Aurora, and new baby Escher, especially since it had been so long since the last time I had seen them. Aurora has gotten so big and Escher is such a cutie. I am a blessed Aunt. :-) Boston was super cool - literally. Thankfully I got there post blizzard so while I got to enjoy several feet of snow, it did not actually snow while I was there. Chip and Shan took such good care of me, got me shoes I could wear it the snow, took me to Salem and got me a lobster, and took me into Boston too. It was a great trip!
Illness: I got a cold while I was in Boston and it took forever for it to go away! Also, I got diagnosed with carpal tunnel (yay! :-( ) so I am wearing a brace on my right hand and getting treatment for that.
PresWIC: I finished my second term as PresWIC secretary for Central Georgia on January 8th at our meeting in Macon. It was such a great experience and after a couple years of burn-out recovery, I hope to serve on the Council again. Working for the ladies of Central Georgia is truly a blessing.
Teaching: A few weeks ago I began teaching a website creation class for the home school co-op that meets at our church. I have 15 7th-9th graders and after three classes, I can say that they are doing a great job. We are using a free online website creation site call Weebly.com. I made a site for our class (heathernewberry.weebly.com) and after discussing with my kids terminology, good and bad design, elements of design, etc. they are now each making their own sites. In a few weeks they will present their sites to the class. Most of them are really making the most of it and seem to be having a great time. :-)
Illness: Ben got the flu on MLK day and within a few days gave it to me and Jeff. It was awesome. :-( After a week, we were essentially recovered and have now all gotten back to school and work.
Well, as you can see the last few months have been crazy. I hope yours were not nearly as busy as mine and that you have been much healthier than us too! Unless providentially hindered, I plan to update a bit more frequently now that things have calmed a bit, but no promises! :-)
