Challenge 6... to do...

The To-Do list for the week. I'm starting the To-Do list on Tuesday because Sunday we recovered from graduation festivities and Monday I was busy turning 50.  That brings us to today.

1. Call about insurance on the condo. Goodness, I wish it were more glamorous, but that's it. We need new insurance on our condo. Our little renter is in there, and the insurance we currently have runs out at the end of this month. Because we first got insurance in 2005 we couldn't find an NC-underwritten company that would carry insurance on NC coastal properties, but I think maybe we can get it through the same company that carries our homeowners, auto, and umbrella policies.

2. Call the painters. I have finally found a color I want to pain the kitchen/family room area. Woot. On Saturday, hours before we were hosting several dozen guests (mostly football players) for a graduation party, I was shopping at Target and found a couple of lovely stools and a metal serving tray. They're an off-white/antique white color. As I've stared at them over the past two days, I see that the color coordinates perfectly with the furniture and rugs and cabinets and countertops. I've been waiting five years to find a color I like; this is it. So, callin' the painters...

3. Read. I'm on vacation-- I get to read.

a. Summer Reading. Zack had to choose between Voyage of the Dawn Treader and A Wrinkle in Time as his summer reading for seventh grade. He selected Voyage yesterday, and we started reading. Since it's C.S. Lewis, it's going to be a family affair. Nobody's going to Narnia without me--it's my happy place. However... after reading Chapter 1, I realize the boy hasn't seen or read Lion or Caspian.  Whoa, Nellie. How did this happen? He's read Percy Jackson, but not been to print Narnia. SMH. Child #3. Had to download them onto my Kindle. We'll be heading through the wardrobe later today. 

 b. Norma Reading. As a high school English teacher, I usually get to read two things: works I'm teaching and student writing. Sometimes, I read a title the kids are reading, especially if they sneak it into class and try to read is while we're supposed to be diagramming sentences or something equally as scintillating. {Must be good stuff to detract from sentence diagramming.} But on Sunday I started reading a book by Anne Graham Lotz, recommended to me by my sweet friend of many years. It is EXACTLY what I needed. I can see how the Lord has been preparing my heart for this book for a long time. If you get a chance and have ever had a moment's worth of conflict with anyone who is a believer, read it. It's titled Wounded by God's People. SPOILER ALERT: It's not them; it's you. 

4. Call and schedule checkups. For the one with Osgood-Schlatter's; for the one who needs retesting for tree nut and shellfish allergies; for the one who has to have a sports physical; for the one who has to have a college physical; for the one who has 50-year-old eyes and probably needs bifocals now. That should do it. Everything else has already been scheduled.

5. Load up on Vitamin D. There is something healing to my soul about being in the sunshine by the water. It doesn't even matter what water, just that it's water.

Five is enough for one day. Off to make this list happen...

Senior joy

Senior Portrait

Best internship ever

Class of 2012 started campout-before-senior-field-day tradition.

Joy Prom

Out with Josh

Senior Field Day

Senior Superlative:  Best Leaders (Jack & Kelsey)

Seasons change...

Obviously, for me the blogging season has changed. There is so much to do interacting with real life that I have precious little time to blog anymore. And to be honest, much of my blogging was for my dad, who used this blog to keep up with the dailyness of our family. That doesn't mean I won't ever blog anymore... goodness, it's in my blood to express myself in writing, but there are so many other outlets that this has fallen by the wayside for the time being... in case either of you have noticed. :)

Our seasons are changing, and here's how:

1. Kelsey is heading to Chapel Hill in a few months to begin living the dream she seized hold of back when she was in middle school.  She has a dorm and a roommate already. Yay! I am so proud of her; she has worked tirelessly, tackling countless hours of AP courses and volunteer opportunities. She has turned into an amazing young woman of God. I am in awe.

2. No prama this year. Kelsey and her boyfriend broke up in September. (His mom is still one of my best friends on the planet. No teen season of love/breakups will change that.) Blessedly this time, in one of those scheduling debacles that plagued our entire time at our old church and Kelsey's current school, the Joy Prom is the same night as the Junior/Senior. It took her about 1/2 a minute to decide she was going to the Joy Prom instead. So, no prama posts for 2012 either.

3. Zane has successfully transitioned into the neighborhood school from the Christian school. As we wrestled with what to do for next year when registration time rolled by, he asked to stay where he is now. He has friends. He has a starting position on the highly successful varsity football team. He has a leadership role in FCA. He has opportunities to share the gospel with people who don't know yet.  So, he's staying.

4. Zane is also plugging-in to student ministry at our new church. It's pretty cool how old friends from different places have welcomed him. I have never seen such caring and compassion come from a group of guys. Usually it's a trial-by-fire type of friendship among teenage boys, but here there is genuine encouragement and accountability. It is an answer to prayer after many months of suffering and solitude.

5. Zack is staying right where he is in school for next year. He hates change. Hate may be an understatement. With Zane leaving their school last year and Kelsey leaving school and home to go to college next year, we decided after much prayer that Zack needs to stay right where he is, even though it is very challenging for him academically.

6. Jimmy's found himself in the position of many in the business world over the past few years. As the company makes cut-backs through attrition, his hours working are steadily increasing. His territory is doing great, though. We are blessed. (But we are busy. Who isn't?)

7. Our transition to a new church family is pretty well complete. We don't know how to "sorta" do anything, so we dove head-first into the deep end. After three months of visiting the church and two months of being in a small group, we joined. Thing is, our small group is growing huge, and we find even more people asking to visit. With a void of small groups in our immediate area and several interested families, Jimmy and I felt called to be part of the core team of families planting a new small group, closer to our part of town. We're busy training and learning, and we're totally excited about having the opportunity to participate in our church's gospel mission.

8. In light of college for Kelsey next year and college for Zane two years after that, I am pursuing a full-time job. Last time I crashed and burned on the schedule, but prayerfully, that won't be the case this time. The way positions work now, things are much more streamlined. We'll see. Haven't heard anything yet.

9. Although she has up days and down days, my mom (Miss Daisy) continues to recover well from the fall last September that landed her in the hospital/rehab for several weeks. She is looking into new things to do and does better and better the busier she stays during her retirement. In this season, we help her with groceries and lawn care and housework. She's pretty feisty though, so our roles even in those areas are decreasing. I'm proud of her "fight."

10. Summer Bible study has always, always, always been my favorite activity of the year.  For so many years, I have wished for SBS fellowship to last all year. This year, through our small group at church, I have been blessed to connect with a group of women who are committed to fellowship, prayer, and Bible study on a regular basis year-round. I believe "doing life together" is the current term for such relationships. Jon Acuff would be so proud of us. We "love on" each other too! SCL fans will know exactly what I'm talking about. I dearly love my old SBS friends. Dearly. Yet, I am so very grateful that those types of relationships can be year-round and not confined to just June-July.

11. After nearly two months of searching, we finally found my dad's will, which named me executrix. It didn't go so well. I tried, but living such a full life over two hours away from where everything needs to happen made it difficult to carry out my duties. That and the fact that my brother and I hold very different values systems made it clear that the conflict wasn't worth going to court. So, I resigned the position, after a time of prayer and seeking godly counsel.

12. So far one of the things that hasn't changed is where we live, but who knows what will happen there either. Our "yes" is on the table, as we say at church, so we're waiting to see where the Lord will lead in lots of areas.

Thanks for stopping by. I love and miss so many of you who used to drop by here on a regular basis. I pray the Lord is shining His glory through you each day!

Labor Day...

Thank You, Lord, for Labor Day in the US. I have no idea how I would survive the fall without Labor Day. It's psychological, I know.

School is off to a blazing start. Micro is the word of the year. I can't comment beyond that.

KLC got several pieces of great news, back to back to back. She's locked in the tower researching colleges and writing essays this afternoon. Discovered that Dook offers a special education major. No. That is all. No.

Zn is at the lake with his best bud from the old school. End of summer ski-fest. I'm sure he'll be fried to a crisp when he gets home. He's had two games on JV at the new school. It's really a great program and really a great school. He was struggling to get some PT, until this week's game, when he got a pretty nice chunk a defensive tackle. ALMOST got a sack, but some rude little opponent cheated and grabbed him by the back of the jersey just as he shot through the gap.

Zk is busy melting down at the moment, mad that he's not able to throw a ball over his shoulder and catch it. Jimmy's trying to school him in the ways of the quarterback. My baby will be ten in just a short while. Wow. Wow. Wow.  And now, he's doing some fingertip drill Jimmy taught him today. He did it 103 times in a row. I guess that's good. I am not privy to the ways of the quarterback tribe.

Jimmy cleaned the pool and put the final supports under the deck rebuild from this summer. He also stepped in and finished the wallpaper-stripping I was doing earlier this morning. A good man IS hard to find.

I feel like ... well, I'm not allowed to use that euphemism anymore due to new rules at work. I don't feel well. My head if full to the brim of goo. I have my annual September throat and head muck that comes from swimming in the viral cesspool of school. hack - sniff - achoo - squeak - cough


The condo made it through Hurricane Irene with flying colors. Didn't even lose power. There are a couple of water spots on the ceiling again, and the HOA is taking care of those. We are grateful, grateful, grateful.

I am starting CJ Mahaney's Humility. I figure if I'm going to survive this year of schwork, I'm going to be a slightly more willing participant in the battle against pride.

That's us in a nutshell. Gotta go now... Kelsey found an old helium balloon, and hilarity is occurring in the other room.

Hypothetically speaking...

... what could happen if you are watching a sermon online and decide to take the laptop upstairs to finish watching because everyone else is already in bed. Suppose you hypothetically put your ear buds on the keyboard and close the laptop. What do you think might could happen?

If you guessed that your laptop screen might look like this when you open up the computer, you're a winner!

No, it's not a modern art print. It's a cracked LCD screen. *sigh*

4th of July weekend...

The pool is back on track...

Zack had a sleepover with his best bud...

Zane got home from Impact...

Kelsey got back from a sailing weekend with Hayes' family...

We had a delightful cookout with Hayes' family. They pretty much rock. Then we had a lovely cookout with my mom. She, of course, rocks. And then we watched the DC fireworks on PBS because ours were rained out. I don't have a picture of any of those three things, but I do have a shot of my new favorite home decor sign (from Carol's kitchen)...

Happy 4th of July! I hope you had a sweet time with friends and family too!

I get by with a little help from my friends...

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

It has been an odd and difficult time, but the sun is shining in my heart again, and I am full of praise for first of all the Lord. Can't even breathe without Him. And then for my friends who have reached out. Some have said and done little things that have had a huge impact. Some have climbed into the trenches with me and launched a few grenades at the enemy. I love you ALL--very, very much.

Frah-jee-lay...

For the past month or so, life has been hard around here. We have hit a patch of trials and tribulations. Make no mistake that I still know that I know that I know that God is good. There is no doubt. I also know that He gives beauty for ashes, heals the wounded, raises the dead, works all things together for good and gives grace beyond measure.

That said... right now, my heart is a bit broken. I'm having a tough time. Poynter says that in times of tragedy, understatement is best, so I'm leaving it at that.

I am stepping away for a little while to seek healing that only the Lord can give. He makes all things new, which is my hope right now. I appreciate your prayers.

Achoooo!...

That is all.

Pumpkins and such...

It took me until mid-October to have time to take down all the beachy stuff and replace it with scarecrows and pumpkins, but it did get done without bypassing fall and moving on to Christmas. (Ah hem... CVM and TTC, I'm talking to you.)

Here's a brief recap of what late-October looked like around here:


Kelsey has always loved football, and since she discovered there was such a thing as Powderpuff football, she's been gunning to play quarterback. On October 16th she got her chance. Quarterbacking was OK, but what she fell in love with (almost by accident) was playing... LINEBACKER! Yes, our little princess played linebacker. In the first series of the game, she got three sacks. Three. I kept hearing the PA announcer call her name. It was great. She had a blast. We had a blast. You know Jimmy was working the chains. He had to find some excuse to be on the sidelines.

We are grateful for Powderpuff. It was a bright spot in Kelsey's fall sports season. Volleyball was horrible. Many, many issues arose surrounding the coach and team dynamics. I have no complaints about what happened on the court or in the games, but some of the no-parents-allowed-behind-closed-doors-practices allegations left us deeply concerned and prayerfully considering how we should handle things (beyond letting the coach and athletic director know our concerns. We have done that.)

Other than that, Kelsey has learned what life is like when you opt to do everything all at once. :) Lots of late nights and sleepy mornings.


Zane found his dream costume: the gorilla. As you can see, he made it part of his normal wardrobe around the house. Silly boy. He wore it to school on Animal Planet Day during Spirit Week. It was hot. The body of the costume has been in the back of the Suburban for a couple of weeks now. I don't know where the head is, and that means I don't know when or where it might show up. That scares me a little.

Zane had a great football season and played center on offense and linebacker on defense for the JV team. They finished 8-2, with both losses coming against their arch rivals down the street. Zane dressed for all the home varsity games and even got on the field for a kick-off (or kick-off return or punt or punt return or something else special teams... I'm not sure which. I'm pretty ADD at football games.)

He hit a couple of bumps early in the transition from middle school to high school, but he's rallied since and done MUCH better. :) I love it when my kids' teachers stop me in the hall to tell me how well my babies are doing in school.

Our fall play at school is You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, and they have been manic in promoting the play to elementary students. Zack has been in a near frenzied state about the production and hounded me to no end for tickets. Bless his heart. So when we heard that It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was on TV, we HAD to watch it. Mind you, we have it on DVD and it's readily available on the interwebs, but hey... nothing like the real live broadcast to create a sense of excitement and urgency.

I wouldn't trade those little boy giggles and belly laughs for anything. He thought it was absolutely hysterical. And as a result, we HAD to get a pumpkin from the most sincere pumpkin patch and carve it according to The Pumpkin Patch Parable. If we aren't both culturally-relevant and super spiritual, then I give up (that's a joke, peeps. Don't get up on the ledge over it.) Conveniently enough, the most sincere pumpkin patch was just around the corner and had a gargantuan inflatable jack-o-lantern anchored mid-patch. We arrived there at 2:30 p.m. on October 31st. Discount! Free little pumpkins! Boo-ya.

The Zackster loves third grade. He has a rockin' teacher who is funny and fun. And he genuinely likes the rest of the kids in his class. He's making some bffs and we're having sleepovers and doing things outside of school, which is probably late in happening, but when you're the youngest and have been raised in a car shuttling the older sibs to their activities for nine years, carving time for little guy activities isn't easy.

Speaking of carving...

Happy Fall-Festival-Harvest-Season-Pumpkin-Patch-Parable-Carving-Reformation-Day-All-Saints-Eve Celebration!

So... yeah... Earl...

End of the week...

It's Friday night, and here's the summary:

I love teaching this year. Wish I could teach four classes every year and still get full-time benefits. That would be cool. But short of that, teaching three writing classes and one English class is ah-may-zing!

My students are funny. Today two of the football players got me going about tonight's game. I was asking if they were ready for it, and they said there was no game. We went back and forth before one said, "We've canceled the game, and we're having a banquet. We're going to eat them alive." Ew... but I get it. Love the passion they have for excellence. They won, 35-14. Proud of them.

Zane's playing JV. Their first game is next week.

Volleyball is underway for Kelsey. She's a serving specialist. It's fun to watch her play. She's had three games so far. Tomorrow, she heads to an all-day tournament. Jimmy's on call, so he can't go out of town. I'm staying here too. We had a little drama earlier over how she'll get home, but a sweet mom-friend offered to either bring her back or have her girls ride the bus, if Kelsey is the only one not riding home with parents.

Zack loves school. His teacher is big on rewarding the kids with prizes... I think prizes and trophies are Zacky's love language (shout out to SD).

Jimmy is enjoying a season of the best of both worlds, working all day and coaching all evening.

Last year I had a tough year because I had a divided heart. I was torn apart by the schedule vs. my idea of what life should look like. It was hard. Very, very hard. Each day this week I have seen God's merciful hand in making my job half-time. I have cooked dinner every night (except tonight, which was a planned treat for the kids). I have done laundry. I have had quiet times. I have straightened up clutter, read books, slept more than three hours a night, and had energy and focus for heart-to-heart talks with the kids in the evening. God's plan is best.

The Incredible Disappearing Post...

Where'd it go?

If you read the post on "Paul Revere's Ride" and my subsequent clarification about my concerns being for parent involvement and not about the quality of education at our school or any other school, you'll notice it's not here anymore.

There are three reasons for that.

First, I noticed some comments mentioned the name of the school where I work. I have tried to keep that out of this blog for privacy reasons. Our kids go there. It's just not safe to tell people on the Internet lots of specific details.

Second, I didn't want to call into question the quality of education at our school. I firmly believe it is the best around. I am excited Kelsey will be taking APUSH (AP US History) next year. She took Honors Constitution this year and has studied in detail the entire document. I can't begin to tell you how many conversations we have had about our own government's recent decisions in light of exactly which article they violate. Down to the paragraph most of the time, and sometimes down to the sentence. The prospect of discussing the Federalist papers next year is exciting. We'll get to interact with Kelsey about her school work, and in the process Zane and Zack will learn a few things about our nation, our family, and how our faith impacts our role as citizens.

Third, in all honesty, I sincerely think each of the students who asked the shocking questions is new to our school this year. Yet, I don't want to slam any other schools because, well ... you know ... there's the whole not-boasting thing. Those kids are in seventh grade. Before they're part of the voting population, they too will have the opportunity to dissect the Constitution and study American History in great detail.

That said, I am grateful to know that I have friends who are so passionate about our great nation. I am right there with you.

Looking up...

Things are looking up around here. Thankfully!

Through a rather amazing and wonderful sequence of events that I can describe only as God-things, I am teaching part-time next year.

Honors Creative Writing. 10th Grade College Prep English. Journalism (my baby). Middle School Creative Writing. That's going to be my day. Yay!

And the super-cool answer to prayer is that I'll get my own classroom. After two years of being the visitor, I will finally have a home.

Life is good!

Mother's Day...

... with family....



... and friends ...



What a beautiful day!

Completion grades...

I've decided to give my students completion grades for their Treasure Island study guides. It's an act of self-preservation on my part. Normally I am all about accountability for quality work, but there are 25 days left in the year and I have a gazillion papers to grade and two, no three, new units to write, complete with handouts and tests.

Yep, 25 and counting.

Spring Break 2010!

It is Spring Break! Finally!

So here's the quick update:

1. The picture is old, but pretty... yes? I love the beach.

2. My USB cable for uploading pics is MIA. I have good new pics, but...sigh... they are stuck on the camera.

3. My job almost ate me alive again. Back down to 4-5 hours sleep a night for 3+ weeks straight... including weekends.

4. Due to #3, most everything else in the world went on hold, including laundry, cooking meals, cleaning house, and (sadly) family time. Our house is a very scary place right now. Eek.

5. I still love working with teenagers, but I've discovered I'm not really called or cut out for teaching middle schoolers all day long. There will be a post in a couple of weeks; I can't 'splain it more yet.

6. I simply adore my journalism class, from my teaching partner to our editors to each and every student in the class.

7. I simply adore my fifth period class... freshman English. I spent April 1st hiding my cart from them and their duct tape. :) Yet they are learning to write and "getting" the literature. I am proud of them. They make me smile.

8. Parenting a teen girl is WAY harder than I imagined. Her disappointments filter through my own memories. It's like a megaphone for emotion. I pray a lot.

9. As a result of doing Beth Moore's Stepping Up, I am finding that the best place for me to pray is on my face.

10. Jimmy decided shortly before the SuperBowl that we needed digital TV. Now no one can figure out how to work the remote. It's been nicely quiet in the house.

11. I am going to paint furniture like a crazy lady over this break. Kitchen table and chairs. Chairs that once belonged to my Granny. A bunch of picture frames.

12. Our pool looks like a biology experiment gone horribly wrong. Ick.

13. Working on getting taxes together. Yeah... we're a little behind where we usually are. See #3.

14. I am trying to figure out what Bible study to do over the summer: host study for teens, do study with my friends, go to whatever study they have a church... ???... I NEED a Bible study group this summer. I desperately miss the fellowship and depth of discussion.

15. Zack and I have watched specials on the lost city of Atlantis, the lost City of Gold, and the lost Ark of the Covenant this morning. The Ark special is sparking some pretty cool theological discussions with the eight-year-old. I love Jesus. He is doing awesome things!

16. We've gotta help Gramma get her garden space set up. Zane is her landscape maintenance specialist this year (mowing her lawn... ftw).

17. Oh goodness... I have Sweet Sixteen party to plan this summer. Yowza!

18. I like to vacation in two places: home and Carolina Beach. My world is small, and I am good with that. Unfortunately, the rest of the family doesn't feel the same.

19. Our summer hasn't even started and we have already maxed it out with camps and mission trips and sports. Sigh...

20. I am waiting for some news about next year. See #3.

And that is all for now. That's quite enough, don't you think?

Grace and peace, friends! And much, much love...

Thanksgiving flu by...

We knew that Thanksgiving was going to involve some oral surgery for Zane. He was blessed with more teeth than mouth, and we knew we were getting to a critical period for making room. With the entire week of Thanksgiving on the calendar as a break from school, we scheduled Monday as wisdom teeth extraction day.

He did great! Oh my word, I have never seen a child bounce back that fast. He had surgery at 8:30a.m., and by 3:00p.m., he was beginning to eat us out of house and home. Thankfully he doesn't remember a bit about taking twice as long as most people to come out from under the anesthesia... or throwing up when we got home.

Pepper was a wonderful doggy nurse, once again. Just like with Kelsey when she had her wisdom teeth out.



During his recovery, Zane ate six large boxes of Jello, approximately 10 lbs. of mashed potatoes, and we lost count at 8 qts. of ice cream. :) He was off the pain meds by Tuesday evening. So far, so good. He headed back to the weight room for workouts this past Thursday and did great.

In the midst of it all, I managed to come down with the flu. When I got home from school on the Friday that kicked off Thanksgiving break, I had a fever of 103. It dipped to 100.2 on Monday, long enough for me to take Zane to his oral surgery appointment. Then it spiked again to 102ish Monday night, where it stayed until the following Saturday morning. Jimmy had to work, so I did what all good health care providers do when they have the flu. I masked up and gloved up and went right on taking care of Zane until Jimmy got home.

It wasn't fun. I don't like the flu. Once I went to the doctor and got on antibiotics for the secondary infection, I rounded the good corner and was fever free 48 hours later. My sweet, sweet friend Dorothy had Zack over to play with her boys one afternoon and when she brought him home, she decided I needed soup. I started the soup the same time I started the antibiotics, so I guess we may never know which one the Lord used to do the trick. :) [THANKS AGAIN, DOROTHY!!!]

The hardest thing about Thanksgiving flu was not being able to be around friends and family. For that matter, it was hard not being able to be up long enough to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Jimmy did that all by himself. My dad and brother were in town, but I missed them. My mom tried repeatedly to bring something over, but I wouldn't let her get near us and risk getting the flu. I had so many plans for what I wanted to do, but what the Lord gave me was what I really needed... rest.


Since the flu, I have turned over a new leaf. I'm in bed early, regardless of what is still on the "To Do" list. I am asking for (and getting) lots of help from others. For that, I am very, very thankful.

Back to school...

This week is actually the fourth week of school. I know that because I stayed up until 6:00AM writing lesson plans for the coming week. There's a blank on the form that says: Week _____. I wrote a 4 in the blank because last week's had a 3 in that blank.

School is cranking. We are getting used to getting up at 5:45 and being out the door around 6:30. That's AM for all you who know me well. Stand in awe.

Going back to work has had quite the learning curve. I never really missed teaching. Missed the students, but not the teaching drill. The bottom line of the return to teaching is that I love working with the students. I'm not feeling quite so much love for the hoops, but it is what it is.

The first week of school I slept a total of fifteen hours over five days. Brutal. My friend, Holly the school nurse, appointed herself my accountability partner after that week. Every morning, I have to go in and tell her what time I went to bed. For that, I am grateful. I've gotten much better at screening the possibilities just because I'm skeert of Holly. :) Seriously... I love Holly. That's what friends do for you... help you find the boundaries when you aren't quite certain where they should be yourself. I am grateful for Holly.

I have no classroom. I have no office. I do have a rockin' cart that looks a little like an ice cream cart on wheels. The students ask me each day what I'm selling. So far, we've come up with ice cream, hot dogs, snow cones, coffee, vitamins, and smoothies. The other teachers have been gracious beyond measure, as I am literally the only full-time teacher with no classroom or office at all. I keep my rolling tote parked in the teachers' workroom and my cart lives in Gail's room overnight, since her room is where my homeroom meets. I could technically teach in a total of seven different rooms, but most of the time I visit only six.

For the first time ever, I'm teaching middle school. Much to my surprise, I really like it. They are sweet. Clueless sometimes, but sweet. I'm also teaching ninth grade. Here at the beginning of the year, they are teetering between middle school memories and the welcome-to-high-school-wake-up-call.

I'm also back with the journalism half of journalism/graphic design. We have 27ish students this year, which is a huge increase over last year. Most student publications have a staff of 12-15. We are so above average. :) I am excited about this crop of new writers. They are gifted. God has been good to us to send such talented kids to our class. And as good as our leadership was last year, this year's editorial team is already knocking it out of the park. They are every adviser's dream: they lead and we truly get to advise. This year is going to be a blast!

Jimmy has been my knight in shining armor. He has held together home as I have jumped in way over my head at school. As I begin to come up for air, he is there encouraging me to do what it takes and standing in the gap. I hope I honor the Lord most of all, but in a comfortable second, I hope I make Jimmy proud too.

Kelsey is playing volleyball, though some coaching changes have made this year a difficult one on many levels. It's her story, so I won't air it here on my blog, but let me put it in a nutshell: she has handled overwhelming adversity with grace well beyond her years. She's handled it better than I have. I am proud of the young woman of God she is becoming. She has a killer-intense schedule, with the crowning jewel being AP Biology. It is a college-level class in both theory and practice and takes a HUGE chunk of her time daily. She's got the most rigorous academic load she can possibly have with the exception of math. Even though she qualified for Honors Algebra II, she's opted for the regular class. We are not of the math tribe.

Zane is enjoying his final year of middle school and having a ton of fun on the football team. Once again, he is leading team devotions, and we are right there on the verge of starting a new middle school FCA that meets on Friday mornings. Still working out a few details, but it's been high on Zane's wish list for a while to get one going. He is doing great in school. His English teacher stopped me about a week ago to tell me he'd given a massively hard quiz that no one should have passed without taking extensive notes on the reading. Zane just read and forgot to take notes. He made a 95. :)

Zack LOVES second grade. We had a moment of hesitation before school started when he found out his best bud --- the one he's been with since preschool --- was in a different class. But his teacher is awesome and he's gotten to know some new friends too, so we're cruising right along. His birthday is next weekend, and we are STILL figuring out what the party will look like. I can't believe my baby is growing up so very fast. He's decided he wants to play football, but not by the rules. Basketball and soccer met the same fate. We're encouraging him to take up tennis next spring and we've even bought him a racket. We'll see what happens when he hits the courts for real.

The picture at the beginning of this post is from the first day of school. Jimmy took Zack for a haircut the day before. It didn't turn out so well. I gave them some more specific instructions and they went back for a fix-up appointment the evening of the first day of school. MUCH better the second time!

Well... that's about it. I still have about five journalism articles to evaluate, a short story to read and prepare to teach, and a quiz to make before I can call it a day... or night. And I most certainly don't want to have to tell Holly I stayed up too late again.

Thanks for your prayers!

And having uploaded a ridiculous number of posts...

... I am pretty well caught up on summer. And summer is pretty much over, as I go back to work full time on Monday.

I'll be here periodically, I'm sure. After all, I have to vent somewhere. But my attention goes back to school after a nice 15-year SAHM run. So, if you are just itching to see what some high school journalism class blogging looks like, come on over and visit me at Journalism Class.

Grace and peace, friends. And love... of course.