Okay, here's a sample schedule of what I do each week...
Sunday--Church & Youth Group (we help set-up for church, I sing/play keyboard for the worship team, we have evening meeting for youth)
Monday--Work (at school)
Tuesday--Work (at school), Cheerleading practice & Worship Team practice (evening), Work at Target (at night)
Wednesday--Work (at school), Bible Study and Football Practice (evening)
Thursday--Work (at school), Football practice (evening), Work at Target (at night)
Friday--Work (at school)
Saturday--Football games/Cheerleading (morning/afternoon), occasional youth activities (mostly afternoon/evening)
On top of that, I drive Nick to the allergist once a week to the other side of Tampa, and pick Jerry up from work every evening (20-ish minutes from home).
...then it starts over again! Basically Monday and Friday are our "family time" and we go to the Middle and High School sporting events.
We got to go to a USF Bulls football game last Saturday evening for FREE (thanks to 5 free tickets from my principal). That was really a great time, we had awesome seats in the lower level on the 50 yard line, and Nick was able to bring a friend too. For my birthday we went to a local Japanese steakhouse and watched the chef cook our dinner right in front of us. The kids really enjoyed that and Elisabeth was very grown-up acting while there, it was fun. Other than that, we basically stick to the busy schedule.
My job at school is going well, I'm working with a great team of teachers this year and I still love my school. I'm really hoping to get back into college in January, the reading specialist has been hounding me to finish my degree so I can teach (she's even offered to write any recommendation letters I might need). It's a nice stroke to my ego too. haha I'm hoping to get some more tutoring students (I have one that will start next week probably) so I can cut back my Target hours to just one night a week (just to keep the discount, it really helps).
Nick's enjoying Middle School. He's got some great teachers this year. He's been sick a bit with his allergies and asthma and is fighting a cold right now too. Football has been fun for him, and soccer season will be starting up in about 8 weeks. He's trying to learn to play the guitar better. He's been invited to join People to People (it's a prestigious organization that picks students to invite based on academic achievement, several Presidents have been on their board over the years) on a trip to England/Scotland next summer (he was invited to go to Australia this past summer, but didn't go). He's trying to think of ways he can start raising money to join this trip.
Elisabeth is in an accelerated 1st grade class, rather than promoting her on to 2nd grade a year early. She seems to be doing really well and is starting to grow up too quickly. She has started reading chapter books and is really excited to be able to do so. She's having a blast at cheerleading, and I'm hoping to get her in dance again sometime. She really wants to learn to play the piano and keeps asking when I can teach her, so hopefully we can get on that soon! (That's on the Christmas list, so we'll see.)
Jerry's doing a great job with the youth at our new church, he's really in his element when working with them. It's definitely his calling, and I enjoy watching him! He preached twice during the summer, and I know that if God ever called him in the direction to be the Senior Pastor he'd do a great job....but youth is our passion right now and we're very happy to stay in this area of ministry. Since our church is only 5 months old, our youth group is still small but there has been some good growth and we have some faithful families who have stepped up to host activities and help chaperone. It's really exciting to start a church from scratch and see it grow, we're really having a great time working with Jeff and Heather and getting to know their family. The youth are going to Rock the Universe tomorrow night, wish I could've gone. I can't believe Carl Cartee is playing! He was our music guy at a SBC camp we went to while in WV. I told Jerry I was perterbed about not going...we played the cup game AND the animal game with Carl that summer! He's a super guy, listen to him sometime if you get a chance!
That's about all we've been up to lately. (It's enough, right?) We need another car, and I think it's coming together better than we had hoped. It's really hard to keep our schedule with one vehicle! Also, we're looking for a new place, mainly because our current house isn't the healthiest place for Nick's ongoing respiratory issues, but also because we really need a little bit more space. The possibilities are numerous right now, so we're hoping to get a really good deal on a bigger place than we could've hoped to get this time last year. The prices have come down, and I found 8 places available just by driving through two neighborhoods, so it shouldn't be too hard to get something squared away. Our lease is up in October, so we're hoping to find something and get moved and settled soon. So pray that everything works out for us in both of these areas!
