One Day Down... School Year to Go!

New school. New class. New year. It went well... as well as can be expected for the first day! As a teacher, what you mostly hope for is no catastrophes... and there were none. I am really enjoying this co-teaching thing.. especially as the first day brings a lot of extra responsibilities. I think we have our work cut out for us- but I enjoy the challenge. Eric started today as a para (aide) as well. I think he had a good day. He spent time helping in music class and in Kindergarten with our good friend Sarah. And now it's time to relax!

11 Aces

I have been so busy with starting a new job! But I wanted to post some pictures from the weekend before all this craziness began, especially for my friend Megs who is about to return to China. The first weekend in August, my close JBU friends from college convened for a mini-reunion. Some of us thought that meant we should go ahead and move to Denver to make meeting for a reunion easier... and some people just came from halfway across the world. I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends who I have grown with since college. We may all be different- some speak Chinese, some speak Krio, some speak Arkansan; we may have to put a moratorium on political discussions; we may like hiking, jazz bands, and swimming to varying degrees... But we all love the card game Hand and Foot. Love you friends!

Eric's New Jobs

So, I'd like to take a moment to update people as to my work situation this coming year. Many of you know that when Nicole and I arrived in Denver she had a job lined up teaching but I was still unemployed and searching. God has definitely answered our prayers for provision and I'm excited to share with you my three upcoming work situations!

1) The first job I lined up was a part-time computer teacher at a Private Christian High School for Homeschool families. The school meets full-day on Tuesday and Friday. I'll teach on those two days and then send home work with the students for them to work on with their parents during the rest of the week. In Computer 1 I'll be covering basics of Operating Systems, Hardware, Office software, history of computers, how to do research online, and a few other topics. In Computer 2 I'm hoping to get into some more advanced stuff like introductory web design, computer programming, and graphic design.

2) The second job God gave me was as an assistant at Nicole's school. I'll be there full-days on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and basically doing lots of everything: tutoring, errands, student support, etc. I'm excited to have a chance to work with some younger kids and also be in a more traditional/structured school environment.

3) Lastly, and most unexpectedly, God opened the door for me to take a job as a part-time Youth Director at the church where Nicole and I will be attending. As a fairly new church plant, I'll be working with a small group of students and praying that God would grow our group as He does the church. I was able to go to a Leadership Conference (telecast of Willow Creek's Summit) with the staff on Thursday and Friday and really had a wonderful, enjoyable, encouraging time. I'm super excited about this job, the church, and the possibilities - we'll see how God works!

All in all, it should amount to somewhere between 45-55 hours a week, so I don't think it'll be too bad. I was pretty seriously considering starting at Denver Seminary this fall, but Nicole and I decided to postpone till this coming fall (2009). Lord willing, I'll be able to start back at school full-time then.

We're so blessed and excited to be here, so thanks for all your prayers in the transition!

Back To-

School. Yep it started, bright and early Monday morning. So far, so good. And by good, I mean good. I will post more later, but for now, suffice it to say, I think I might have died and gone to teacher heaven. And now, it's back to training myself for an early bedtime...