paved beauty

Man, I am on overload lately! I'm really awful at keeping this updated in recent weeks, not to mention...awful at every other thing I try to accomplish as well :) For the past four weeks, married life as we knew it ended. I went from not working at all to working about 40 hours a week at school and then occupying another 5-10 hours of my time writing a thesis. Matt is a trooper though and is great at helping with everything. He loves to cook (and is great at it...thank you Julie Waller!)

I love all 29 of my little 2nd grade munchkins...they bring so much joy to my life and are constantly making me laugh. It is a definite challenge but I leave the classroom everyday feeling refreshed and like I said before, that they have taught me more than I have taught them. Each student comes from a different family life; many of them not having a great home life which makes me want to take every one of them home with me at the end of the day. Be praying for them even though you don't know them!

Also, I am beyond grateful for new friendships amongst my co-workers and community group. I'm finally finding my niche in this big city...very refreshing and exciting! Let's see, what else? Well, I'm not sure what I was thinking but Matt has talked me into riding in the STP! The STP is a bike race that begins in Seattle and ends in Portland. What am I thinking? Not exactly sure...but it does give me a reason to ride my bike a lot and with the temperatures being in the 50's with the sunshine, I won't complain about that. Our friends, Duncan & Steph, are riding with us too! Let the training begin...the race isn't until July so let's keep our fingers crossed that I can be ready to ride at least halfway and that my adrenaline keeps me going for the last half :) So today, I am grateful that I can leave my garage, ride two blocks to a paved, 27 mile bike trail that lets me ride alongside Lake Union, Lake Washington, Husky Stadium, and the Ballard Locks. One more thing to love about Seattle.