Mid-Winter Break!

Last week was a little bit crazy with conferences and in-services. Most nights I was getting home at 9:30 pm. 14 hour days take a drain on me after a while.

I was thankful for my one day off today. Yes, only one day, most schools get two days off for mid-winter break, not mine, that would be too generous. I do love my job though. :)

I decided to make the best of my day, and just have fun. I started the day by having breakfast with my good friend, Shelby. Shelby is thoughtful, kind, and a lot of fun. She is always open to trying new things. We met at the Rainbow Grill. She encouraged me to get a bran muffin, saying they were the best bran muffins around. I decided to venture out and try one. This was a big step for me since I am extremely picky about the food I eat. It really wasn't too bad. I ate half and gave the other half to my sister in the afternoon. Shelby and I had a great visit.

In the afternoon, I visited my sister, Sally. My sister always makes me laugh. We played Scrabble and chatted. My sister beat me at Scrabble once again. I always say, that was fun, but deep down I am irritated because I have never beat her yet. My day is coming. I cannot wait!

In the evening, I had a nice time with my husband and best friend, Rick. Rick and I excercised together in our home gym. We have really tried to be dedicated to a low carb diet and excercise. It is nice that we can encourage each other.

Rick gave me beautiful flowers at 10:30 pm on Valentine's Day since we both had long work days. We also went out to one of our favorite restaurants, Stromboli's, on Saturday night. Rick is so good to me.

Everything is looking really good with the adoption. We may have a picture of our baby girl in two weeks! Two weeks!! We can hardly wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good News!

Rick and I found out this week that we are #1 on China's list. That means we will get the picture of our baby girl soon. We are anticipating a picture in March and hopefully will go to China in May. We are so excited, it has been such a long wait!! We will continue to keep you updated.

We are also happy that our home church, Restore, has been going very well. We are doing great things to promote social justice and wonderful friendships have developed.

I have been enjoying teaching fifth grade this year. It has been a lot of work learning the new curriculum but also a lot of fun. My students are great and the parents are very supportive.

Rick and I watched our nieces and nephew one day recently. Here is Alyssa, Isaiah and Rick with the snowman they built together. I was so touched by their handiwork. Then, Rick said, let's destroy it and gave Isaiah and Alyssa a board to demolish the snowman with. I was shocked but they had a great time!