Our lives right now

For those who we haven't seen in a few years, this is what is going on in our lives.

Jake and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary!! We were high school sweethearts (even though we went to different high schools) and in October we will have been together nine years. In April we bought our first house, and we love it!! We are back home in our small town, and even though our house is in town, it really doesn't feel like it. Our house was built in the early 40's, and still has the original hardwood floors throughout. The couple that we bought the house from spent five years COMPLETELY remodeling it. This is the way to go. We didn't have to do anything but move in! Every room is painted a different classic color, crown molding throughout, beaded board in many rooms, remodeled bathrooms, a brand new kitchen made to look old except that the counters are about six inches taller than normal, and each ceiling is different. Our dining room has the old painted tin look, the master bedroom has tin roofing for the ceiling, and the kitchen celing is vaulted bead board. The house is full of charm and character, and we love it! We still sit outside on our huge patio and can't believe that it is ours! Our backyard has a gate into a small neighborhood park with a playground. The park really takes us out of the city, because there is an open treed 2-3 acre area right behind us instead of other houses.

Living in a house has also allowed us to have pets! We never could before because we were always in an apartment, and we really missed that. We have a Red Heeler puppy named Tex and brother and sister Siamese-looking kittens named Barnes and Noble. They are all so cute!!

I just finished my first year of teaching, and I still love it!! I am not sure right now if I will still be at the same school next year, though. Our district has gone through an overhaul with a new superintendent and all, and my campus was told to cut teachers, especially math teachers. How do you cut math teachers in a middle school? Isn't that a critical area? Aren't math scores down in the state? I am not sure how fewer teachers is going to help the district go "From Good to Great," but anyway, there was another teacher hired the same day as me last summer, and so they told her to find another job in April. In the beginning of May, I was told that another math teacher was wanting to go to one of the high schools, all she had to do was pass the high school TExES. If she passed, she goes to high school and I am allowed to stay at the campus that I love. She didn't find out her scores until June 30, and I have had to wait patiently. I contacted her when I hadn't heard anything, and our district seems to be on vacation until July 10th. She missed passing her test by 2 points, which is less than one question. (For those who don't know, the teacher exams are set up where each question is worth a different number of points.) She also had a horrible testing environment, and is fighting that with the testing agency. The high school might still hire her, because she would be able to pass her test if she tried again, or they may not hire her. Also, we have recently had one of our teachers leave to be an assistant principal, so that may open a position for me, and another math teacher said before the end of the year that if she found another job this summer, out of teaching, then she is gone. Why are there open positions for all the people that want to leave and not for me? Well, I am continuing to pray and to wait!!

Jake started working at the University in January as a Hardware Engineer, working on all of the faculty and staff computers, including the President of the University!! He really likes his job, and in May, after working there for only six months, he received a promotion! He is now in charge of the entire network for the campus. He has all summer to get used to the new position before the campus is full again during the school year, although until they hired someone to replace him, he was doing both jobs full-time!

Well, I think that includes most of the important things going on, and I will keep you posted.