A Day OFF!!!

This is what Washington, D.C. looks like about spring break!

Dad took the day off today. Too bad I had to go to the school for a couple of hours this morning. But, he worked anyway. When I got home, we started on our taxes (I know you are all shocked). Then, we went to Quizno's for lunch and over to Gander Mountain to see what they had there. We did a little grocery shopping at WalMart and found a little whole in the wall...oh...grocery d.i....lots of junk....store. We'll have to explore that one a little more. But, we did find some strike anywhere matches. Marquie is traveling this weekend with a friend. They are taking a college tour of Southern Virginia University (about 2 hours south of us.) They have tickets to "A Midsummer's Night Dream" tonight. A good excuse to get out of school.

Life is good (sometimes stressful), but good.

We made it!

The Blue and Gold Banquet was a success!  James carried me through the day and filled in all of the gaps as they arose.  He was definitely my hero!  As were many of the other parents who jumped in to help when the need arose.  The boys put on cute skits, we ate some yummy potatoes (I had a little cottage cheese and my stomach allowed it!) and we had some amazing blondies with chocolate sauce and ice cream!  I didn't care what my stomach thought, I was not turning that down!  Mmmmm. . .   Our hammering competition was rained out, but we'll make sure we do it at our next pack meeting.  I don't know that I was very conscious for the event, but I made it through just to come home and work for two hours since I hadn't really worked since Wed afternoon.  Oops.  :)  Do you ever just work and know that you don't have any energy but it still manages to get done.  Mini blessings!  

Today I am much better!  We got the house all cleaned up and even scrubbed some bathrooms . . . super fun!  I know you are all jealous!  Everything seems to be in order, so I can have a super fun date night!  I'm very excited.  I hope you all have a great day!

Possible previous post from Me.....

....But nonetheless hilarious. Happy Foto Friday.

James returns to Foto Friday!

That's a photo of me sitting through my fourth no-show lesson of the day. Not even my rescheduled student showed up (ARGH!) I already planned the meal I'm making us for our date night dinner (Jodi's Gnocchi—I'm so excited!) and gave a test to three student athletes who had to go compete this afternoon, and I think I've caught up all my email. Friday is a-callin' my name, and I'm ready to go home! I hope everyone is great!

New Job

A few weeks ago my supervisor approached me and asked me if I would be willing to take five hours from my classroom-teaching time to work in Development. There has been a large-scale project going for over a year to develop the next generation of the Mandarin TALL (Technology Assisted Language Learning) program...and they have an August deadline. I agreed and had my first five-hour shift this morning. I began designing a grammar lesson using Adobe InDesign. It was an adventure, and after five hours staring at the screen, I started to get a little grasp on the program. It is a steep learning curve. I am excited to be able to use some of the skills I have been developing in the classroom for the last year and a half teaching grammar!

Like Jodi said, last semester is a bit hectic, but wonderful. We couldn't ask for more. We are well taken care of, and we are going to file our taxes today, and hopefully get a little bit of money back to put in savings for China. The government only provides enough money for one person, so we are diligently putting up in store for the times ahead.

Love you all so much!!

I Have Just a Minute...

Okay, so in five minutes I have to run out the door to play for the TESS Choir at Skyline. I love accompanying the choirs in the school where my kids are. This one has taken a lot of practicing, but it feels great to me! I love that I can still play! There is this issue of seeing the music and the conductor at the same time, but his arms make wide enough motions I can do pretty well.

It's so fun to hear from all of you. Thanks for keeping us updated!

Post

Hello everyone!  Everyone keeps asking for posts, so I figured I should post and let you know how we're doing.  We're surviving.  Last full semester of our undergraduate degrees...I ask, why does this semester have to be filled with group projects?  To some it up, we're both very tired most of the time.

James, so sorry about your job!  We've been praying for you, and we hope you can find a job that will be fulfilling to you in every way that you desire.

Marquie, congratulations on everything!  You are so active and seem like you're just having a blast.  Keep it up!

Heather, it seems like your health problems just don't seem to end!  At least this time they are confident they know what the problems are and can fix them for you.  We wish you the best.

Liz, get better soon!  I hope your scout activity goes really well!

Dad, don't over-work yourself, okay?  Remember to take breaks.  Your lovely wife loves to spend time with you, and we love to hear from you too!

Mom, good luck on your medallion pursuit.  Seems like you're well on your way.

I love you all!  I'm proud of you all!  Have a wonderful day today, it's the only February 26th, 2009 you'll ever get.  I'm sitting in World Religions class right now.  It's interesting, but I've found myself having a hard time concentrating in all of my classes lately...