Jun 26 Micro-Blogged Vacation Take One 
I’ve joined Twitter @geddert. For those of you that want frequent updates from our trip that’s the place to be.
Jennica and Matthew Geddert's Ramblings
Jun 26 Micro-Blogged Vacation Take One
Jun 18 Many Happy Returns
Well I’m back in Fresno, California. Matthew and I are very happy to be reunited. Very. Very. Happy.
It’s been wonderful to reconnect with Matthew’s family.
We have a great apartment by the airport. It’s nice and quiet, except for the noise of flying things: there are a lot of military jets and a lot of chirping birds (no obnoxious parrots though!).
Classes have begun and I’m enjoying myself immensely. It was slightly awkward to enter in January last time I studied here, but this time it’s strange to know almost all the staff and faculty really well and almost none of the students. I’m a new face for senior students, but I know my way around.
What a treat it’s been to not have to break into a new church. Good old College Community is literally 5 minutes away.
Close friends are only 3 hours away in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
When it comes to sojourning places, Fresno has been really good for us and is shaping up to be pretty good again. Now if only our closest Fresno friends (Chris, Misti, Eleonore, Ryan, Alex, and Carla) weren’t in Korea, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Kitchener. Oh well. If you can’t have everything, having a lot is pretty good.
May 6 First Year of Teaching
I have come out of my first year of teaching with one solid conviction: I love it! What a challenge it is! What a delight! The frustrations are appropriate for the benefits. There was the frantic, daily rush to assemble content. There were the meaningful conversations with people who care about many of the same things I do. There was all the exciting potential of young adults. There were peers with whom to hash out theology. There was a paycheck instead of a transcript. The frustrations? There was the frustration of being smart enough to see what needed to be done to be proud of my work, but not knowing how to achieve it, not having time for it, and not permitting myself to do it because of social consequences. When I compared the amount I earned as an office drone to my paycheck as a teacher with a master’s degree and some Ph.D. study, well, that was frustrating. Overall, however, teaching suits me.
Unfortunately, of course, the year was overshadowed by missing Matthew. I missed Matthew a lot. Even when he visited for three weeks at a time, I wasn’t really there. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I needed to do next and processing what had happened. When we were apart for longer and longer, it became unbearable. Despite video chat every day, I felt like I lost my best friend. Telling each other what happened does not make up for lost shared experience.
My second year of teaching will not be next year. I have returned to MBBS in Fresno for a second degree. This time it will be a Master’s of Theology.
Feb 17 Valentine's Weekend
If I look hard, one advantage of this long distance thing is that we make sure the time we have together really counts. Jennica came down for a five day visit and it happened to coincide with Valentine’s Day this year. We love food, and very little beats steak at the House of Prime Rib or walnut prawns and double skin at Great China. It rained pretty much non-stop but that didn’t dampen our spirits.
In a few more weeks Jennica will be back and we’ll head to the southern end of the state to hang out with some good friends.
Dec 19 Briefly Surfacing Between Semesters 
Whew! That’s what I have to say about finishing my first semester of teaching full-time. I taught Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, Joshua and Judges, and Acts. I sure had a lot of fun with my classes. Now I have a little window of time to hang out with Matthew full-time before Christmas break is over.
Oct 8 Nick Willems, Grandpa
Grandpa died. Matthew was in California at the time. How can Grandpa be dead? He emails me a verse of the Bible every day. Just the other day I used the verse he sent as an example for my class.
Brita flew out to my place the day after so we could mourn together. Caleb and Jaclynn and my parents arrived a day later. Grandpa’s from Waldheim so the funeral was in a church about 20 minutes from my house. The cemetery is only about 3 miles from here. It was really good to be together. We buried him ourselves and we finished at sunset.
I’ll miss him. I’ve been following him around all my life, you know? At Concord College, I’d pass the alumni wall with his photo every time I went to class and I’d think about his legacy.
He was in the first class to graduate from MBBC (as it was called then). I was in the second last class at Concord before the federation into CMU. Grandma and Grandpa met just outside the A.H. Unruh building. Grandma said she was waiting for a man she could respect (she was the ripe old age of 21) and suggested that I should do the same ‘cause it worked so well for her. Every time I saw them, they would show off how much they loved each other. I went to MBBS and Fuller too – just like Grandpa. He helped me pay for my education every step of the way. Now I’m at Bethany – and he taught here too!
Thanks Grandpa. For the help, for the legacy, for the Scrabble, for the books, for the letters and emails, but most of all, for your love. See you on the other side.
Sep 17 The Other Side of the Room
School started with intensity. Wow. You think you know the school thing and then you step on the other side of the room. It’s different. I worked very carefully on my first lectures only to stand in front of a group of students and realize in the first 3 minutes that my plan wasn’t going to work. New plan required. I’m rather overwhelmed, but I sure like it.