Finally!!

Michael starts finals tomorrow. He's been fretting about it for weeks (not really so much fretting as forgetting; same word, but fewer letters). But he can forget no longer. He has his first test Monday, the next on Wednesday, then Friday, and then the last on the following Monday. That's right, four tests. And three of them are 8-hour exams. The fourth is only three hours though--a veritable cake walk through a meadow of brownies and kitty cats.

Sarah started part-time temporary work on Thursday at Aegerion Pharmaceutical in Cambridge. It's nice that it's so close. She's doing quality control work so it's similar to what she did in Utah, but she won't be working in a lab, so, unfortunately, no lab coat or goggles, unless Michael can convince her to don them for fun. The job should last until around the beginning or middle of January, and it allows us to take time off to go to Minneapolis over Christmas. All in all, we're very happy she got the job.

We also had the chance to substitute teach the 10- and 11-year olds in primary today. We got to teach them about Acts 19-26. Paul almost gets killed by the Jews in Jerusalem, and is saved by a chief captain of the Roman centurions at the last second. And just about when the chief captain is going to scourge Paul to find out why he's been causing so much mischief, Paul drops a bombshell on him: "Guess what? I'm a Roman citizen, free born." It's a complete game changer because the Romans have to have solid charges before they arrest a Roman citizen. It was fun to teach. The New Testament is such a great book. It has all the excitement of a Jason Bourne adventure novel, and all the spirituality of . . . well, of the New Testament.

This last Tuesday, the Cambridge 2nd Ward Relief Society hosted a wreath-making activity and Sarah was in charge of the musical part of the program, four special musical numbers with narrations in between. Sarah had to find the musical numbers and the narrations and weave them into the theme, "Joy to the World." She worked very hard and the program was a resounding success--and we have a wreath hanging on our front door to prove it.

The last great adventure of the week was the ward Christmas party on Friday night at the Belmont chapel. Just after we walked out, Michael said to Sarah, "You know what? Mitt Romney has probably stood where we stood tonight hundreds of times." (Brother Romney called Belmont home for many years). We were in charge of the cookie decorating table at the party. Frosting and sprinkles got everywhere, but mostly on the cookies. We learned a valuable lesson: when you host a cookie-decorating activity for two- to eight-year olds, bring a smock. We hope the kids had as much fun as we did.