Here is what has happened recently:
- Emily returned from her freshman year of college. She had a great year making new friends, taking classes in her major (elementary education with a social studies major), and getting along with two roommates in her triple room. She absolutely loved Hope College, and will be returning there in the fall. She has already been back on campus once to visit a friend who is taking a summer class!
- Avritt made All-State Band (one of 6 kids in the state!) this past winter and also made snare on the drumline for next year, both of which are huge accomplishments. He starts high school in the fall. He is growing quickly these days and now has feet that are a half-size bigger than his Dad's. He is almost taller than me, but not quite. :) He will grow into those feet in the next year, though.
- Isaac is playing lacrosse this spring. This is a new sport for our family, and we have enjoyed watching his games. One of Isaac's good friends was diagnosed with leukemia last week, and we have been helping to raise funds, organize meals, and do other things like cleaning that the family needs. His prognosis is good, and the leukemia was found quite early.
- I am officially enrolled in a class this upcoming fall at Western Michigan University where I am starting my Master of Arts in Mathematics Education. I will be starting a full-time teaching position at the college where I have been an adjunct professor for years. I am excited and nervous at the same time. This summer I am teaching an online course through the end of June. My current project is adding audio and video clips to the Powerpoints that I use in my traditional classes so that the online students get the same presentation. In the past, I have used the publisher videos and the students have not performed as well as my traditional students. I have 31 Powerpoints to create and so far have finished 11. It's a lot of work (3 to 4 hours for each one) but will pay off in the future because I plan on flipping my classes in the fall. That means that the assigned homework will be going through the PowerPoints and filling out the lecture notes and the class time will be for discussions and working on the assignments so that students can help each other and can ask questions while they are doing the problems. It's a trend that has been gaining traction and one that I am interesting in experimenting with.
- We sold our trusty, rusty van and bought a Toyota RAV4. I am thankful every time I drive it. I absolutely love it, and I'm appreciating the better gas mileage. We need to get a hitch on it so we can haul around bikes and maybe a small trailer for camping.
- Things are slowly getting done around the house. Mike and Avritt are going to tackle the shed doors on the new shed, which haven't closed completely since they were built. We are also going to put up a hanging chair tomorrow in the boys' room that they got from IKEA years ago. It has been in storage due to a lack of somewhere to hang it. Since Avritt had to move back into the boys' room when Emily returned from college (he was in her room this past school year), the boys cleaned out their room, got rid of old toys, and made it a better hang-out for them and their friends. The hanging chair should give the room a good vibe for them.
- It's been fun to see the perennials come up this spring and we have had some amazing blossoms on the May Night Salvia! I really appreciate the landscaping this spring - it's just weeding and watering this year and not a huge undertaking like last spring to get it all prepped and planted.
- The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, and I am filled with the gratitude that late spring brings. It was tough to sit at my computer this morning when the sun and chirping birds were beckoning me to go outside. I did eat lunch outside and basked in the sunshine for about 45 minutes while reading a book (for pleasure, not work). It was nourishing in many ways.
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