A Visit from Profe Ray

About a week ago, I asked my former high school Spanish teacher, and author of our Spanish curriculum, if he'd be in Atlanta anytime soon. After all, Profe does conferences and seminars all over the world. As luck would have it, he was planning a trip to Amsterdam and would be coming through Atlanta! He changed his flight to a red-eye from California and arrived in Atlanta this morning. Then, he rented a car, came to my school and taught a Spanish class, ate lunch with me, and went back to the airport to catch his flight to Amsterdam. What a guy! He was so sweet to make the effort to reconnect and inspire my students at the beginning of their journey to learning Spanish.

Profe also encouraged me by telling me that my Spanish was still beautiful. :)

Deepest Apologies

So, I've been on a blogging fast for a couple of months. I apologize to both of my loyal readers (Kristi and Bekah). There are a couple of reasons for this: 1) My precious friends Bev and Natalie moved away, therefore eliminating my local internet access over the summer, 2) School started, therefore sucking up an additional 60 hours of my week I could have been blogging, and 3) Nathan lost the camera, therefore making me SO mad (until he found it yesterday :)).

Hopefully I can bring you some pictoral updates of our lives recently. I painted the bathroom, made some exciting changes in my classroom atmosphere (maps, charts, anyone?), and other such nailbiting activities. I hope you can sleep at night with the ancticipation of future postings.

In parting, I thought I should share about one exhilirating event that took place a few nights ago. I woke up in bed at 4:06 a.m. to a cockroach crawling up my arm. After my shrieking subsided, Nathan turned the room upside down to attempt to find and kill it. Despite 30 mintues of searching and taunting and threatening (the cockroach), we had no peace. We decided to sleep in the guest room. The next day I came home promptly at 3:15 and cleaned for four straight hours, doing every piece of laundry, disinfecting every surface, and giving myself a thorough washing. Sigh... the perils of living in the South.

Bye for now.

Nathan's 30th birthday surprise #6

Books!  Could he be any happier?  From my parents, Nathan received the complete works of John Owen.  At first he though the book company sent all 16 volumes to him by mistake (and was getting mad just thinking about the return shipping fees for such a heavy box).  After all, he'd been eyeing this classic collection for over a year and had even put them in his virtual shopping cart.  However, he scouts honor swore that he didn't buy them.  The first picture is of the exact moment I told him they were a gift from my mom and dad.  It's a look of genuine surprise! :)

Nathan's 30th birthday surprise #5

Jeff and Hannah Heck told us that they're expecting their first baby. Congratulations!

Jim and Courtney are getting married on 10-4.  Can't wait!

Jen, Jen, Hannah, Will, and Janna.  Great friends!

Hostess Beverly and me!

Newlyweds and neighbors Aaron and Becky make an appearance. :)

Baby Oliver takes a gander at his new friend Sophia.  Moms Laura and Aubrey and dad J.R.  hope for a play date soon.

Carter and his first underage Facebook friend Joy share a special moment.

Liz sure does enjoy that delicious home made mint chip ice cream...

Andrew, why are you all wet?

Luke, Laura, and baby Oliver enjoy the party.

Emma, Sally, and Laura support Nathan in his old age.

Joyfee and me.  Joy, I think this should be your new Facebook profile picture.  That girl you're with now is entirely too pretty.

Yay for friends!

The grillers.  Such pals!

Holy cow.  This one was tough to pull off.  The weather was horrid and the president was in town, thus shutting down several roads during rush hour.  Nathan kept pestering me about a surprise party, and I had the toughest time making up excuses and lies.  It all came apart when Nathan spotted the Henry's 15 passenger van out front, with kids piling out and rushing into Bev and Natalie's house.  Anyway, I think it was successful despite the setbacks.  We grilled out (the Kirbys and David grilled out under umbrellas!) and had cake and home made ice cream.  Yum!  Thanks to Beverly and Natalie for hosting the big event, and thanks to all who made it to support Nathan!

Nathan's 30th birthday surprises #3 and #4

I also surprised him on the morning of his birthday with breakfast for him and the staff at church.  I forgot to take pictures, but we had pastries (thanks Robin!), juice (thanks Beryl!), potato casserole, fresh fruit salad, and lots of bacon.

Later in the day, his best childhood friend, Ryan, surprised him with a visit at our house! 

Nathan's 30th birthday surprise #2

Okay, this one wasn't a surprise, but we had a lovely dinner at his folks' house to celebrate.  I made his favorite chicken and gravy, and his mom and sister supplied the rest of the meal.

Nathan's 30th birthday surprise #1

I popped into the youth room at dinner time to surprise Nathan with birthday popsicles.  The kids sang the traditional birthday song in addition to "Skip Around the Room."  Good times...