Merry Christmas from the Olsons!
We decided to go electronic this year to save paper...
Our year, once again, has been school, school, and more school. We’re still at Regent College, probably until spring of 2009. Keith is working towards a career teaching Latin, Greek, and the Bible at a private high school. Celia is expanding her knowledge of liturgy and worship, while studying Hebrew on the side; she will be starting her thesis this spring.
We had an exciting year—we went to Europe and Boston, and made trips to Seattle and the Midwest to spend time with our families. We became godparents to Elizabeth Ann, our niece, daughter of Keith’s sister, Sarah, and her husband, Nate. Please look further on our blog; there are many more pictures and stories from this year!
We had a wonderful time catching up with our friends in Europe. Traveling overseas helped us appreciate some things we take for granted in our own culture, for example free toilets (the sit-down kind), soap, and running water in public bathrooms. We wish, however, that wine and cheese were as delicious and cheap here as in France and Germany!
Recently, I (Celia) began work as a cello teacher and as a worship intern at our church. I teach three students who live in inner-city Vancouver. At church, I plan worship services and work with musicians in preparation for the services. Recently, I have been busy planning advent services, for which I wrote the litanies (responsive prayers) myself. This has been good training for my intended career, and a welcome chance to serve the community.
This last semester, I (Keith) have been translating the Christmas story from Luke in the original Greek. The thing about trying to read the Bible in a different language is that it makes you slow down, a lot. I could go on about several different things that stood out to me from this often heard story, but I'll just talk about one. Without diving too far into the Greek, we all know they put Jesus in a manger because there was no room in the inn. The Greek word for “inn” is the same word for the “dining hall” where Jesus had his last supper. I would not make too much of a deal that Luke uses the same word in both of these cases, but it is a subtle allusion that the foretold birth of the Messiah needs to be held with his foretold death and resurrection.
Blessings to you this Christmas and in the New Year!
Love, Keith and Celia
Some highlights from our year...
I threw in my lot with the Latin Americans at our school's "Taste of the World." Our table was by far the most popular!
We attended the baptism of our niece and goddaughter, Elizabeth Ann.
We spent four days hiking in Derbyshire, England!
