It's Been Awhile!

To all of our blog readers - it's definitely been awhile! We've already completed our first quarter of the school year, and we are almost halfway done with the 2nd one - CRAZY! We've been so busy this quarter, but thankfully everything that has been going on in our lives has been wonderful. Jeremiah has been working on his lessons for 2 different classes at his school, finishing BTSA (a teacher induction program that requires 2 years of added work in order to receive a teaching credential that will never expire) and his masters classes - he's almost finished, looks like he'll graduate in March if all goes as planned! I have been working on my own lesson plans including a new drama class that I've been assigned to teach this year, I'm also finishing BTSA, and I've been taking classes sponsored through my school district to get certified in a program that we are about to implement at our school called IB - International Baccalaureate - it's a very rigorous academic program that we'd like to offer - we just changed our name to Summit Charter COLLEGIATE Academy, so we're trying to live up to our name! The class I'm taking is currently online, and my other classmates are literally from all around the world, it's pretty amazing! I've also found myself the coordinator of all sorts of other programs at my school like field trip coordinator and ASB (Associated Student Body) Leadership coordinator for 7th and 8th graders - which means I'm helping to get together fund raisers, school dances, and other activities like the Spookfest that we had on Friday night - we set up a ping pong table, and had kids try to bounce a ball on one side of the net into one of three "fish bowls" on the other side of the net - and if they did, they won a goldfish - it was lots of fun, we made lots of money to help fund raise for the kids...but I am so tired!!! Anyhow, can you tell we've been a bit busy??!! But we're both having a blast this school year.

Regarding the pictures, we've made some new friends here! I met my friend Nancy at the church we attend in Porterville last year before the school year even began. Turns out that she is a substitute for my school district, and she has subbed for my class almost every single time I needed a sub, and she is WONDERFUL! Well, we've gotten to know one another pretty well over the last year, and this year I finally had a chance to meet her two daughters - one is my age, and one is just a couple of years older. They are both married and both have a child. Last week, I went up to Nancy and her husband's mountain cabin that they've been building for the past 2 years and had a scrapbooking party with her daughters, and this week we brought Cindi, Steve and Charlene up to that home and hiked around the area. (It's called Camp Nelson). The weather was beautiful up there today (about 45 degrees, so chilly!) and the hike felt so great! We brought Sandy and Clara along as well, and they've never seemed happier - but it wasn't much fun cleaning up their muddy paws and fur afterward! Pictured above is the living room of their mountain home, and Sandy and Clara are sleeping on my lap with Jacob, one of Nancy's daughter's sons, posing with us! Nancy is the lady in the chair to my right. They are the greatest family, and we feel so blessed to have friends! (Below, by the way, is a picture of a bunch of ladybugs on a log - perhaps they're trying to get warm??? - well, it looked pretty neat) You can also see the snow-capped mountains in one of the pictures - the scenery is so beautiful up there -it's hard to believe it's only 35 miles north of Porterville!

So anyhow - sorry we've been so busy, we'll try to be better with our upcoming posts...so continue visiting!