Christmas Letter 2008

Merry Christmas friends and family!

Some might consider this late, but I figure what could be timelier than a Christmas letter written on Christmas day itself? I hope that this letter finds you well, happy, rested, and not too stuffed with sweets!

It has been quite a year for this Hackworth clan. Probably the biggest news is that Corey and I bought our first house in May. We’re still in the process of making it our own (repainting some rooms and changes like that), but we couldn’t be happier here! It’s a split level house with three levels: the upper level has the three bedrooms and bathroom, the entrance level has the living room and kitchen, and the lower level contains an office/entertainment area, half bath, and laundry room. Now that we have so much space, we definitely have room to house you if you’re ever in the area and need a place to crash!

Also on the home front, we added a new member to our family in October! Meet Peet! He was born on August 22 this year (the day after our anniversary!), and he’s a mix of Terrier, Lhasa Apso, and Poodle. We adopted Peet from a local shelter called Pets Without Parents, and he’s pretty much the cutest little bundle of black fluff you’ve ever seen, though he’ll be even cuter once he’s finally potty trained (we’re getting very tired of cleaning up his messes). But Sammy sure loves having him as a playmate!

Corey began his second year in the PhD Program at OSU this fall, and he got to teach his first college-level Latin class this past quarter (or as he refers to it, torturing undergrads!) He must be pretty soft on them though, ‘cause they keep coming back for more. He even had two students wanting to transfer into his class since they liked him so much. He also rocked out the house in a Theories of Religion seminar he took, astounding everyone with his matchless understanding of Foucault and applying the French philosopher’s teaching to Corey’s favorite ancient text, Herodotus’ Histories. Every step of the way seems to be another confirmation that Corey is pursuing the right path—he’s doing what he loves and really excelling at it as well.

On my end of things, I’m still bringing in the dough with my mad table-waiting skills. Even though it’s not exactly college- or masters- level work, I’ve really found a job that I love and enjoy going to every day. The people I work with are fantastic, as are the customers. We even have several ‘regulars’ whom I’ve gotten to know somewhat and enjoy getting to chat with whenever they come in. I’m reminded of the ‘career aptitude’ test I had to take in 8^th grade . . . the top three jobs for me were waitress, psychologist, and teacher. And you thought those tests were baloney, didn’t you? Speaking of psychologist, I forgot to mention I finally graduated from Gordon-Conwell with my masters in counseling this past May! Go me! And I am actually using it too, even if not monetarily. I’m currently volunteering with the ‘Peer Counseling’ group at a nearby church, and that is going very well. I’m also talking to the pastors of my church about starting up a similar group in our own church to meet the great need there. It will probably be a slow process, but it’s nice to finally feel that I am getting back on track with this counseling stuff after a detour of sorts.

It can be difficult to keep updated with everyone, especially when they’re far away, so I hope that this fills in a bit where my communication has been lacking. I pray that God blesses you with peace and love this holiday season, and every good thing according to his will. I would love to hear what’s going on with you as well, so keep in touch!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

love,

megan, corey, sammy, and peet hackworth

the party

I'd say it was a success. We had a really good turnout and it seemed that pretty much everyone enjoyed themselves. Yay!

Peet was our Santa Claus, and he and Sammy actually did really well during the party...you could tell that they were really enjoying themselves, and they didn't scare any of the kids too bad either. Dad asked me to post some pictures, and I only took a few, but here they are, just for you Daddy!








Here are a few after-party pics, while I had the camera out... Corey with the leftovers
feeding Sammy a piece of ham...now you understand why the dogs liked the party so...

the living roomthe tree...notice my lovely handmade coat hanger and garland star, just like I had growing up
more of the living room...
where the doggies sleepsince I posted the 'house tour' pictures before I was really ready to show off the whole house, here are a few extras...
the 'middle bedroom' as we call it...it's the tiny one. we use it as a reading/craft (for me) room, and it's actually quite pleasant now. I couldn't get a better picture angle cause the room is to small:the guest bedroom, all decked out in Dad and MA's old furniture...and since of course you're curious about the bathroom, but too shy to ask...

fun in the snow

It snowed a week or so back, and the puppies and neighbor kids really enjoyed it. Here's my limited documentation:

leah's snow angel

blog tag?

Well, I suppose I'll play along.

Virginie tagged me in her blog, and I see that I'm supposed to give you a link to it so here you go. I never knew this about V when we were roommates, but she's quite the food photographer (and quite the cook I might add). Much more adventurous in the baking world than I, she posts pictures of her successes along with recipes and/or links (when you're lucky - not to imply that I have actually used them...me, cook? ha!) So here are the rules to this tag game:

1. link the tagger and post the rules (check)
2. post 5 random facts about yourself
3. tag friends and link to them
4. let them know they have been tagged by leaving a nice little message on their blog.

Ok 5 random facts, in the order they come to mind.

1-My house came with a pooper scooper, which I've gotten quite a bit of use out of lately. The house came with a lot of things actually (guess they have as much trouble moving as we do), but I found the pooper scooper particularly interesting because the former owners don't have a dog.

2-Not only do I have a MA in counseling, I'm actually getting to use it (sort of, though not monetarily). I had my first appt with my peer-counselee at the Sunbury Vineyard church on Thursday, and we'll be meeting for regular counseling. Plus, I have a meeting with one of the pastors of my church next week to talk about setting up a peer counseling program at our church! cool.

3-Vodka tonic. Corey corrupted me to start drinking when we were at Gordon-Conwell, but I think he hoped I would only stay with his 'refined' tastes of red wine. He was shocked when I admitted that I thought beer was actually not all that bad (he does like beer much more than I do though), and pretty much flabbergasted when he found out that I drank vodka tonic when I went out with friends after work. It's a slippery slope you see.

4-Sometimes when it's cold and I'm knitting, I have to take off my engagement ring because it slips around on my finger and goes underneath my hand instead of staying on top where it belongs.

5-I'm having a Christmas party this year. I have a house now, so what better way to celebrate. We'll see if anyone comes to it! ;)

Well, you did say random.

Now for the tagging bit...who has blogs?
Grant Wentzel: Ouch. That's Hot.
Jarrod Justice: jarrod justice paintings (can you play tag on a painting blog?)
Praveen & Rebecca: Baby Sethupathy (want more baby updates, by the way!)

So now to just leave the nice little messages and call it done.

adios amigos!

Meet Peet!

We just brought him home from the shelter this evening!

He's a feisty little fellow, only 9 weeks old. Lhasa Apso, Poodle, and Terrier mix I believe.

He likes to perch on people
And he's already trying to establish dominance, stealing the bone right out of Sammy's mouth!

And he came home from the shelter kinda filthy so he got a bath!





Isn't he just adowable!!!

committee for "truth" in politics

Kinda hilarious, in a really sad way.

The Committee for Truth in Politics ran this ad accusing Obama of voting for the early release of sexual predators. While this may technically be true, it's a blatant misrepresentation of what really happened at the Illinois senate vote in 1999:

Presiding officer: Take the record. On that question, there are 54 Ayes, one Nay, and two voting Present. Senate Bill 485, having received the required constitutional majority, is declared passed. Bottom of page — Senator Obama, what purpose do you rise?

Obama: For purpose of correction. I pressed the wrong bottom [sic] on that. I wanted to vote Yes.

Presiding officer: Record shall reflect your intent, Senator Obama.

Wow. Bad time to push the wrong button I guess. Apparently the record doesn't actually reflect his intent after all...oops! (I read about this at factcheck.org)


And this same group has run another ad about Obama's voting record on late-term abortion




What they fail to mention in this ad is that the reason he voted against those bills was because they didn't include a provision to protect the mother's health . . . well, I'll just let you read what Obama has to say about it:

On an issue like partial birth abortion, I strongly believe that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. I have said so repeatedly. All I've said is we should have a provision to protect the health of the mother, and many of the bills that came before me didn't have that.

Part of the reason they didn't have it was purposeful, because those who are opposed to abortion have a moral calling to try to oppose what they think is immoral. Oftentimes what they were trying to do was to polarize the debate and make it more difficult for people, so that they could try to bring an end to abortions overall.

As president, my goal is to bring people together, to listen to them, and I don't think that's any Republican out there who I've worked with who would say that I don't listen to them, I don't respect their ideas, I don't understand their perspective. And my goal is to get us out of this polarizing debate where we're always trying to score cheap political points and actually get things done.

(from ontheissues.org)

Isn't it fun sorting out all these "facts"? And they call us "undecideds" the Stupid Vote!

political confusion and navel-gazing

Last night at work I was telling Doug (a coworker) about my political confusion, and something he helped me realize is that I need to do my own thinking and soul searching and research, and not be worried or influenced by what others think (or think I should think). The main thing that holds me back (I think) from actually doing my own thinking about it is that I have a feeling that I may be a bit (or a lot?) more liberal in my thinking than Corey, and that makes me uncomfortable, especially because he's so vociferous in his dislike of liberals, so I'd rather just remain ignorant and not have to choose a position rather than risk being on the other side from him (and my mom). Also, as I was telling Doug, I think a large part of my problem is that I'm lazy. I'd rather just go along with someone who I trust and who is intelligent and has thought things through than actually have to think things through myself....just make them do all the work. And I largely haven't been paying attention to the political scene (like my whole life), so when people throw out things about the Clinton administration or the Bush or Regan administration I just have to trust that they're right, since I don't know the facts myself. And how can I argue about what's good or bad about what has happened if I don't even know what's happened? So yeah, I'm uninformed and too lazy to go inform myself.

That aside, I'm discovering that I've been letting my non-confrontational/people-pleasing nature hold me back. I'm scared to argue or debate with others, but I think it's mostly because I haven't exercised my thinking-on-my-feet-in-difficult-situations muscles, and that is a definite area of weakness in me. Doug may be right that I don't give myself enough credit in the area of my own intelligence. Because I can think/argue/articulate points just fine by myself in the comfort of my own living room, but I'm always scared to speak up in public if what I think might be controversial (I often find myself not speaking up at work). I'm starting to think that my keeping quiet when I disagree with people might be a fault in certain situations (not all, of course) because it keeps me from fully engaging in the world around me. I'm not able to argue what good points I have, or have my thinking refined by others, or fall flat on my face, which is also good for me. I think when I keep quiet I do myself (and sometimes others) a disservice, so that's my new goal - to engage in dialogue/debate when I'm scared and would normally keep quiet. We'll see how it goes.

I will change my name to Paul. I am Paul the missionary!!!

I love our new theatrical teammate for kids church! Corey and I have been volunteering to help out with kids church (they meet in small, age-clumped groups, but all the school age small groups come together for worship and a bible story, and that's the part Corey and I do). Anyway, it's been OK with the two of us, but I'm so psyched about our new teammate. She has a theater background, and she's also a Spanish teacher, so she really knows how to engage kids (and did I mention be crazy?) She completely rewrote the pretty pathetic script we were given about Paul's determination, and made it awesome....the title of this post is what she (as Paul) declared at her conversion. I just love being around crazy silliness...

I also discovered a fun new tasty snack that was in my "Wok & Stir-Fry" cookbook. It's deep-fried collard greens. I would have posted a picture, but we ate them all already. oops. I saw a week-old baby tonight. Mary and I made food for her parents (yes, including the fried greens) and took it to them. And I decided maybe I'll volunteer to make food for people more often, whether I know them or not, and use it as a way to get to know more people from church. Maybe. We'll see.

In other news, I'm really proud of Corey! We already knew he was a phenomenal teacher from his experience teaching at Boxford Academy in MA, and from the summer reading program (IRD), but now we know he's great with college kids too! He's already had two kids ask to transfer to his Latin class from another one cause they like his teaching style better (OSU is on the quarter system, so classes have only been going a week or so). One of 'em sat in on his class, and the other one had him for their mythology TA last year, and liked him so much from that they wanted to take Latin from him as well. YAY - go Corey!

for Virginie

So . . . here's the virtual tour of parts of my house. We'll start off with the basement/lower level of the "split", which we (re)painted and (re)carpeted. It serves as a combination study and entertainment area. The entertainment center and TV (and futon, which you can't really see from this first angle) all came courtesy of Dad's house.

NB - The bright pink you see in the background is the half-bath. We did not paint that, and it will be repainted with a color more suitable to our eye health, but it's not high on the priority list.



Another view. Corey's built in bookshelves are only partway done. Eventually the center will have shelves, and there will be trim around the edges on the front so it looks all nice and even. And that middle set of shelves should get all those books off the floor!


Our bedroom, as viewed from the door to the bathroom (ignore the messiness)

Another view of the bedroom (from the hallway)

View outside from living room:


This should give a better idea of what the "split" aspect is. You walk in on the main level with the kitchen and living room, and can either go upstairs to the bedrooms and bathroom, or downstairs to the basement, utility room, and half bath.


The eat in kitchen as viewed from the living room. We've put one coat of paint on the left wall, and eventually the whole kitchen should be that color, getting rid of the awful border.


Look at that adorable little dog! To his right you will see the half staircase down stairs, and behind him the living room.


View of the living room from the upper landing.


This picture is taken from our guest bedroom which isn't set up yet, and I'm not showing a picture of till it looks a bit nicer. Down the hallway on the right are the middle bedroom (which will be a reading/craft area), and our bedroom to the right, the bathroom straight ahead, and the linen closet to left next to the bathroom.

For comparison to how the house looked before we bought it, you can view my photobucket album here.


I hope you enjoyed your tour. Come again soon!

I may have found a new hobby

I went to my first public auction today, and I was really amazed at how cheap stuff was selling! I think you could probably make a living buying at auctions and selling elsewhere, or at least supplement it handily. :) I mean, I almost feel bad for the people whose stuff it is, but then, they're the ones that decided to have an auction, not me.... Anyway, so here are my steals...all for less than $20 total.

leather chair: $6


"jewelry" for corey: $6


prints: $1


books: $1


classic Schwinn bicycle: $4


(Granted the bike does need some work - it's really rusted, the wheels are flat, etc. but hey for $4, I think I can afford to fix it up!)

Self satisfaction: priceless.

Ike the destroyer

Columbus was far enough north to be spared most of the wrath of Ike...no major destruction of houses and such that I've heard of. However, our trees and power lines didn't fare so well. Some images from my walk with Sammy the morning after our big windstorm:





















And of course with power lines going down comes the fun of candlelight, which actually starts to lose its novelty by about the 3rd or 4th day. But I'm not gonna complain; a few days without power is nothing compared to what some people have gone through!



While I'm showing off pictures, and on a completely different note, here's corey before his first day of teaching latin at OSU (which was yesterday):



And our living room actually looking mostly like a living room...YAY! And about time!



THE END.