Here’s what I sent in an e-mail to my friends, just what’s going on in my life these days:
It’s now been almost a year since I came to Virginia with Timothy and Josh. I’ve been very blessed this year.
We spent the first few months living in Darlene’s basement–so generous of them to let us stay there! I especially enjoyed the chance to get to know Darlene’s brilliant and adorable kids, Ryan & Michelle. But by far the hugest blessing of living here has been the chance to interact so frequently with two such wonderful friends–Darlene and Kathe.
And they go to a wonderful church, Gateway Community. I joined the home group that Kathe and Darlene attend, and that group helped me tackle the daunting job of moving in when my furniture came in October–completely dissassembled. I still haven’t completely finished the job of unpacking and moving in, but it’s getting close, and these dear people pitching in to help, right at the start, made an enormous difference.
Josh left in October to attend Full Sail Real World Education in Orlando, Florida. He’s studying film, and is already only a year away from getting his Bachelor’s degree. (It’s an accelerated, intensified program that goes year-round.) He has already directed his first short film, and he loves it! I’m thrilled to see him enjoying it so much, and excelling.
Timothy attends the school where our church meets on Sundays. I can’t say that he enjoys it, but I can tell it’s a great school–You know it’s a good sign when every teacher at Back-to-School Night says how glad they are to get to teach there. Timothy did have a rough year, but at his lowest, I was impressed at how his teachers noticed and cared and helped him get back on track.
Though his biggest boost came when he got to visit his Dad in Japan over Spring Break. And he’s thoroughly enjoying having the summer off. In this year, he became a teenager and shot past me in height, and seems to be still growing. He completed Geometry in 7th grade, and at this school that’s not even unusual, so he will smoothly go into a computerized Algebra II class next year.
I’ve been taking online classes with Drexel University to get my Master’s in Library and Information Science. I’m now on my 4th quarter. I’ve loved my classes, and only have two classes left–I’ll finish in December. It worked out nicely that I was able to be a full-time student until this summer.
And I got a great job! I was starting to feel desperate, applying for jobs that didn’t show any interest. I had started looking at jobs in DC, even though that would be an awful commute. Before Spring Break, I hated the thought of spending so much less time with Timothy, as well.
And then, at just the right time, when Timothy was doing better, and I had almost finished my 3rd full-time quarter, a job came up at the local library my friend Kathe uses, and I got it! It’s a half-time Library Assistant position in the Children’s Department–perfect for me. On a good day, I can get to work in 7 minutes, which is fabulous as well. Sometimes I get to see my friends at the library, or get to have lunch with them. It’s a real treat to work there.
And they are very supportive of my classes, and very encouraging about the possibility of getting a promotion to a librarian job after I finish my degree. So that’s tremendously encouraging.
Lately, I’ve gotten my website of book reviews revised and I’m posting again: www.sonderbooks.com. I’m also enjoying writing a couple of other blogs. To keep an attitude of thankfulness, I’m trying to post every day something I’m thankful for at www.sonderbooks.com/sonderblessings. And I’m also collecting inspiring quotations at www.sonderbooks.com/sonderquotes. For just “ordinary” blogging, and pictures, I’m using www.sonderbooks.com/sonderjourneys. They all have links to each other, so you can go to one and be able to access the others.
I guess using these blogs, I’m not feeling as much need to send out general e-mail newsletters. With the blogs, people will only read it who want to read it, and I don’t feel like I’m clogging anyone’s inbox. But I did get to thinking that I should let people know they are there! So now I’m telling my friends and family: take a look at my blogs now and then! 🙂 Life is good, and I’d like to share it with you.
God has been very faithful this past year. I feel very loved and cared for by my friends and the people at church.
I got to go to the American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, DC, this past June and got to meet lots of authors and got very excited about becoming a librarian.
This month, Steve will move from Japan to Langley AFB, in the Southeast corner of Virginia. It’s about 3 to 4 hours away. We are still married, and I am still praying with all my heart for our marriage to be restored. In the meantime, it’s a distance where it will be much easier for Timothy to spend time more regularly with his Dad.
On August 26, Steve will arrive, and on August 27, I’m going to drive Timothy down so he can spend a week with his Dad before school starts the day after Labor Day. My own summer quarter ends at midnight the night of Labor Day, so Timothy and I don’t have any overlapping vacation left–but at least I can do most of the hard work on projects during that week when Timothy’s with Steve.
Timothy and I didn’t really do a summer vacation this year. Josh came to spend a week with us around Independence Day, but with my classes, we’re mainly just hanging out at home–which is what Timothy prefers, anyway. Next year, I should have some vacation time built up, so maybe we can begin seeing America. (Oh, and next year, ALA Conference is happening in Anaheim–sounds like a great reason to visit family!)
So–that’s the latest with us! I love hearing from you all–and will do my best to answer. Please forgive me if I’m too scatter-brained to do it–just e-mail to me again! Right now I really should be working on my class projects, but it was nice to take a break!